Since she got a 3 on the AP exam, maybe Princeton will not rescind if she takes Calc over the summer at a community college and does well? Just trying to think of options in case they are harsh about it. Very much hoping they are fine with it.
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Calc is not a requirement while at Princeton and while preferred, not required for admissions either. Plenty of kids donāt have it. I think they will either accept it or not. It would make no sense for them to require the class itself.
What I am confused about is transcript format. Ours only shows the final grade for the year. Princeton would have no idea if someone had a one term bad slip up. It seems unfair to judge a student on anything but the final grade for the class,
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I hope the student gets in but their major is math heavy so hopefully there will be remedial opportunities once there.
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Oh! I didnāt catch that!
The composition of the final transcript varies from school to school. Some do show every semester grade, the final exam grade (if applicable) etc.
But that I why I think (hope) if the student will end up in the C range as a final grade it should be OK ā I know Princeton can do what it likes, but to me it seems wrong to rescind based on a quarter grade when many final transcripts donāt show that level of detail.
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This seems so unfair- I am sorry you both are having to deal with this. This is should be a nice summer for you both. Hoping the best outcome. 
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Thanks for the kind words. Princeton agrees to let us know by next week. If it does not work out my daughter will take a gap year and reapply(not to Princeton lol). Unsure if she wants to continue with physics regardless of going to Princeton or not. On one hand she is reluctant to let one semester curtail years of hard work especially AIME and her A+ in AP Physics C, while her inability with BC topics is a major red flag
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Princeton math courses include MAT 103 and 104 which are ordinary calculus 1 and 2 courses, as well as MAT 100 which is a precalculus course for those who need more preparation before taking calculus.
Princeton has a math placement recommendation page. They seem to be claiming that MAT 103 and 104 are harder than 5 on the AP exams, although the general topics are similar to the AB and last part of BC respectively. (Note that if the student took AB and BC over two years, typical college pacing of single variable calculus over two semesters is twice as fast.)
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I agree it will work out one way or another. You are doing a good job supporting her.
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Some kids do hit a wall at calculus, and the Mat 103-04 sequence is indeed signifigantly harder than getting a 5 on the BC calculus AP test, per my D who did both. But hopefully she will be admitted, she can take the intro math and physics courses, and decide from there. Wishing her the best.
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I hope you get a good outcome. But regardless she should not give up her goal. No reason she canāt pursue physics still but if in a gap year, maybe she can retake the math at a community college.
You donāt run from adversity. You conquer it.
That said what kind of message would they be sending by rescinding ? They should support her and do the right thing.
Hope they do but if not she can crush it at a lot of schools.
But she shouldnāt let a minor hiccup change her academic desires. Imho of course.
We all stumble. But thatās when you find out what youāre made of.
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If the student does do a gap year, note that any college enrollment after leaving high school may disqualify the student from applying as a frosh to some colleges. Colleges do vary on this, so each potential college of interest needs to be checked on this subject before enrolling in any college courses during a gap year.
From Princetonās point of view, one of their considerations is that they want to avoid setting a precedent that severe cases of senioritis are acceptable after one gets the admission letter, or that overloading a hard 12th grade schedule on the assumption that doing poorly in it (with grades not revealed until after college admission) does not matter is acceptable.
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I donāt think it is time to consider gap year activities yet.
The answer will come soon enough.
Hopefully things will work out at Princeton ā Iād hate to think that a grade for one marking period would cause a student to be rescinded.
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She can take and not report. Can do khan academy. Mainly Iām saying no reason to give up the dream. Many of the top physics schools are not the top overall - so she can still go to a top program if desires.
If sheās always dreamed of physics, stay the course and win the battle.
All I know is that the kids in those classes (presumably most of whom got a 5 on their AP) do seem to sweat quite a bit.
Taking an actual college course during a gap year and not reporting it on a college application that asks for all high schools and colleges attended would be a verifiable lie.
On the other hand, self study with Khan Academy, MIT OCW, etc. without officially enrolling in a college course during a gap year would not be a problem.
Sadly, I need to close the thread. While everyone is waiting with bated breath to learn the outcome, the believability of the story fell apart (for me) when the OP said DD received a 3. In digging deeper, the entire thread is a hoax.
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