GPA and UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA

<p>omg... i feel like my blood is getting drained out of my body as I write this...
From my freshman year to my junior year, I did pretty well with my classes, with all honors and ap classes with A's and B's. However, I just took my finals for the first semester senior year, and my grades are absolutely HORRIBLE. My friends don't even imagine me with these grades.... They think I still do pretty well in school.....
AP Spanish - B
AP English - B
AP Physics - D
Orchestra - A
AP Chemistry - D
AP Calc - probably C</p>

<p>SAT: 2160
SAT II's- Math II (720), Korean (780), Spanish (640), US Hist (680), Literature (580)
I have a pretty strong background of community service and extracurricular activities in music...and my grades were high enough to qualify me for a guarantee in a UC.
I've applied for: UC Berkeley, LA, SD, Davis, and Irvine......
..........BUT What am I going to do now?????!! My GPA for this semester is going to be somewhere around 2.6 ......... I think that I can do much better in second semester, but when UC says "3.0 average GPA" do they mean 3.0 each semester? or GPA from both semester added divided by two? Would they look at my entire senior year and see my improvement?? Someone.. anyone... help me.... I am so embarrassed to tell anyone around me to council......</p>

<p>Even if you do get the 3.0, you can't have any D's. And since you have a D in both Chem and Physics that might get your application rescinded.</p>

<p>If I was in your position I would be extremely worried. I hope you have a back up plan....bc things are looking to good for you. I'm just being honest.</p>

<p>Apply to a rolling admissions university as quickly as you can, or one that hasn't closed its admissions, just in case your admission is revoked because of your grades.</p>

<p>Take Christalena's advice: apply to schools that are still accepting applications but which are less selective.</p>

<p>Then, if you can't get into a UC, accept a spot at a lesser school and work your butt off to get good grades. If you are unhappy at this other school, you can apply to transfer after a semester -- as long as you have excellent grades. Your strong high school record (up to 1st semester senior year) combined with a stellar college record will get you seroius consideration at a more competitive school. If you can get great grades for the rest of the hs year, that will also help your transfer case, if needed.</p>

<p>I don't recommend a gap year because those grades will remain on your transcript without anything to counter them.</p>

<p>This is not the end of the world. Trust me on this. You'd be surprised by how many successful adults went to colleges you've never heard of.</p>

<p>so does this mean that it is very likely that I will be rejected from UC?</p>

<p>I don't know if anyone can answer that, Elizz. You'll have to prepare yourself, however, just in case.</p>

<p>Dang, a lot of these posts are on how people's grades dropped during senior year, especially in the AP sciences. Shows what we have to prepare for and expect...</p>

<p>"bc things are looking to good for you."</p>

<p>I meant to say aren't.</p>

<p>As for schools check out ASU....</p>

<p>Or find a good community college (Santa Barbara City, College of Marin, Cuesta, etc.), get A's there and apply to whichever UC's you most like.</p>

<p>On another thread, someone said that the UC system says, right on their site, that accepted students should notify the UC <em>immediately</em> about any grade lower than a C to see what the student might do to overcome the deficiency. The implication is that waiting to see what happens is perhaps the worst thing you can do.</p>

<p>I suggest talking to the teachers as well. See if you can do an extra project or something to bring up the grade. Explain to each what the stakes are. While you certainly cannot expect a teacher to change a grade, you can't know until you've tried.</p>

<p>I agree with Momwaitingfornew about approaching the teachers. You never know...Don't call UC until you've attempted to see if you can bring the grades up. The Ds do not transfer for credit so if you needed those classes for lab science requirement, you have a major problem. </p>

<p>On a long shot, if you can get one of the grades to a C-, and you have met the requirement in lab science w/o the other D and have an excellent explanation for what happened here, you may have a chance at Davis. That's the best honest opinion I can give you.</p>

<p>Have you spoken with your counselor? You should. You are not the first person to do this.</p>

<p>CA community colleges may not be the best option if you want to try and transfer after only one year. If you're in California and can go private, look at USF, St Marys or Santa Clara...they are a litttle more forgiving and sometimes accept applications after the deadline. If you're watching costs, try Arizona. Somewhere on this site there was a link to colleges still accpeting applications.</p>

<p>^^</p>

<p>If you do choose to apply to a rolling admissions, I really recommend either ASU or UofA. Both close to California and really good schools, and it will be easier to transfer from a University</p>

<p>ASU most likely will accept you, they have a 91% acceptance rate, and they get back to your fast...which will lift a weight off our shoulder. Not sure about UofA. Their applications take around 30 minutes tops, so just do it, and feel better.</p>

<p>Good luck though.</p>

<p>so, would it have been better to take a few less APs, done better in "regular" classes, would the student have chance with say 4 APs senior year, getting the grades then overwhelming themselves and getting Ds</p>

<p>this student doens't look like they have senioritis</p>

<p>btw you counselor has seen the grades, and they have seen it all, so talk to them...</p>

<p>First, go to your teacher and see if you can work something out with him/her. Some schools allow a grade to be changed after the semester has ended so perhaps if you can re do someof your Physics work, your teacher will give you a C. If that won't work, check your local CC, see if they have the Physics class there and then call the UC and ask if you can repeat the first semester of Physics at the CC concurrent with your taking the second semester at the HS. THEN, get a tutor and try to avoid any D's. The admissions people probably see this frequently. If you call, they may have ideas on how you can work this out. You may even be able to work into the summer with your fall admission based on a good grade in the repeated course. Good Luck</p>

<p>Since you are in the top 4% of your HS class (ELC), you've obviously had mostly A's on your transcript, so a drop to a C is significant.</p>

<p>Definitely visit your HS counselor for suggestions wrt the UCs. Do you have any explanation for the grade drop, such as family situation?</p>

<p>As Bessie suggests, re-taking at a juco might help. Unfortunately, Cal, UCLA, SD are now super reaches.</p>

<p>Now that I think about it, you probably shouldn't call the school yet because since you are not accepted, it just doesn't matter UNLESS you are one of the very few applicants who was asked to send in their mid semester grades. If you are not one of those supplemental review cases, just go to your hs GC and arrange to get the credit on your hs transcrpt by the close of your senior year. You can do it online with a tutor, at the CC, or however it needs to be done so it is included on your transcript. You are ELC so you have a good history at your school... they will want to work with you. Don't tell the university anything if unless a) they ask to see 1st semester grades or b) your GC can't help you figure out how to get this taken care of so the class shows as a re-take for credit on your transcript by the time you graduate. You can GET a D and still go to a UC, what you cannot do is get a D and not retake the semester for a better grade. The reason kids admissions are revoked for a D is that by the time they are admitted, it is usually too late to re take the class for hs credit. You may still have time to fix your problem.</p>

<p>i got D/D in 10th grade for ap bio. does that mean im out? in tenth grade i took physiology and got a B/C.
bessie, what you are referring to, is it only towards the senior year grades?</p>

<p>i meant in 11th grade i took physiology..</p>

<p>Thanks... people have been very helpful to me and I'll try to do what I can... My cousin actually had a same problem in his senior year and his application was not rescinded because he retook the course at a CC. He now attends UCI. So hopefully everything will work out...</p>

<p>Nobodyjay, you do not need to worry about any information the school has already received as part of your application (i.e. grades through junior year)-the OP was asking about having a decision revoked because of D grade in the senior year. I believe what you are asking about is how a D affects getting accepted, not revoked, which really depends on which UC you are talking about and what the rest of your application looks like. Good luck!</p>