Failed Pre-cal = No Wharton right?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Ok, so I didn't actually Fail Pre-cal with an F. </p>

<p>I failed pre-calc with a C. </p>

<p>Quick explanation:</p>

<p>My pre-calc teacher is the ONLY pre-calc teacher in the entire school. It's an honors class, and my being a ghetto school and all, only the really top students take it as everyone else does not care. </p>

<p>But this teacher is practically impossible to pass. </p>

<p>Out of 20 students in my class, 20 high-achieveing, As and Bs students AP students, the highest grade was one and only one C. </p>

<p>Everyone else got Ds and Fs (half of them Ds and the other half...)</p>

<p>And we are talking about brilliant students. But this teacher is killer. </p>

<p>Anyway, so her graduates usually get a D (average grade in her class) and move to a good (although not super prestigious i.e. Penn) university. They always come back to us- her current students- and let us know how they are super cruising wherever they are in Math and how they are getting straight As in math and all because her pre-calc class super prepared them. Even though they had a D in their transcript thanks to her. </p>

<p>I am a Junior. I am scheduled to take College Calculus 1 and College Business Calculus during the summer. Starting Fall, I'm scheduled for College Calculus 2 and College Calculus 3 plus College Physics with Calculus. </p>

<p>I am a REALLY good student. I am not trying to brag cause Ive seen kids here in CC that are just incredible.</p>

<p>But I am good. I am really good. </p>

<p>I know that Wharton BUSINESS SCHOOL obviously emphasized math. Loads of it. They want kids who are incredible at math. </p>

<p>See, I am so sure that when I take all those Calculus courses they are going to be easy for me and all. Everything else is. </p>

<p>But Pre-calc with this lady is not. And she doesn't care that she is messing up people's transcripts. </p>

<p>So am I a goner now? Am I like out of Wharton thanks to one pre-calc class? I still have hope because by the time I apply to Wharton, I will have completed College Calculus 1, 2, 3 and College Business Calculus. But still. They want math. </p>

<p>A C in pre-calc.... Maybe even a D. Am I out?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>That’s pretty extraordinary that the top grade in the class was a C. That was you, right? Make sure Penn knows that (best to let your GC tell this story, but you do it if necessary) and they should give you the benefit of the doubt.</p>

3

<p>well you said that people who have gotten D’s in the class have gone on to prestgious universities, so why would you think your situation would be any different. if it really bothers you, you should have your guidance counselor mention in his rec that the class is insanely hard and your C was the highest grade. i think you’ll be fine</p>

4

<p>Have your GC mention something, and back up your claims with 800’s (or near 800’s) on both the SAT Math and the Math II.</p>

<p>If you did not do good on the SAT Math and SAT II Math, then you’re probably done for anyways so who cares!</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

5

<p>Not a big deal. Explain it. Most of the grades here at Penn are based on relative performance anyway.</p>

6

<p>my school is like that too. but not just in one class, basically in every class. the tests are usually 3 periods long or on like 2-3 consecutive days. a few guys from the ap bio class last year came back from cornell and said that they didn’t have to even go to their bio class and could get 100s. now i’m not sure if that would be true if it was, say, MIT or CalTech, but many people were able to test out of freshman biology and take advanced bio in college and still found the tests to be super easy. </p>

<p>in bio we were taught wayyyy beyond the college campbell book and because of our insane curriculums and teachers every single person (about like 100) got a 5 on the AP test, even the people who got Ds and Fs for the end of the year grade. and most of them still got into top 10 colleges. it’s not just in bio, but in english or history or calc classes, too. it may not be as severe as nobody getting above a C, but certainly many classes have nobody getting above a B. and it’s not just one class, but most of them (unless you take standard instead of AP). some guy from a seemingly competitive and expensive private school came to take our AP US history course and got a D, when he was getting an A before. nobody ever gets straight As or A-s, our school has about 30 ivies a year, not to mentin other top colleges like MIT and stanford, etc. so it’s a pretty safe bet that colleges like wharton/penn have seen situations like this before, where the class is insanely hard but a lot is learned. they’ll probably see it especially from your test scores. if ur test scores are high, they probably won’t assume that it’s cuz ur stupid or lazy that you got a C in precalc.</p>

<p>just wondering, if you have such an innovative precalc teacher, have you ever tried taking the AIME/USAMO (math competitions)? cuz the USAMO is strictly precalc. if you’re able to do well in something like that, admins will probably figure out how hard your classes are.</p>

7

<p>Nice to see you’ve got your confidence back :)</p>

<p>Yeah, definitely have the guidance counselor mention the relative difficulty of the teacher. But, IMO, if you do extremely well in Calculus, that’ll definitely offset a seemingly poor precal grade. </p>

<p>Just curious, but did you ever get around to dropping AP Physics? And how did the whole PSAT debacle go?</p>

8

<p>You need to stop making excuses. If you are so amazing, why do you need us or Wharton to validate how great you are?</p>

9

<p>Lol no I never dropped AP Physics. :slight_smile: It turned out quite easy afterawhile. Well not simple. But you know, normal. I don’t know why I found it so tough at the beginning although projectile motion still kills me. </p>

<p>I never bothered with the PSAT. It was really stupid that I missed it and all. I contacted the ppl and they said to send a letter before March and I could retake it. But I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. Which is probably stupid seeing as how it’s just a letter. But that’s how it went. :)</p>

10

<p>Good for you!</p>

<p>You should be really proud of yourself.</p>