<p>My son is taking a full IB Program, it is VERY rigorous and involves hours and hours of homework and writing papers.
He was not always on this track so this was a major challenge for him. He is getting all A's, but possibly a C in math and definitely a C in IB Physics, considered to be the most difficult course to master. Actually his teacher told me 65% of the class has a C or below!</p>
<p>So......how damaging is this? In addition he was out a total of 9 days because he suffers horribly from allergies and was quite sick in Sept/October.</p>
<p>His top pick schools are, BU, MIAMI, BC, NORTHEASTERN AND GW.</p>
<p>The C in math may go back to a B because some extra credit he did was not accounted for, he has a 700 on Math SAT so its strange that he would get a C in math. Any advice, comment or input? Be gentle, I know some of you love to go "in for the kill" I know he will read this when he gets home and is so upset about it himself he cannot feel any worse. Thanks!</p>
<p>....what? I'm assuming his GPA is still going to be what a Weighted 4.3-4.5 and an UW of like 3.8? None of those schools up there even require such high GPAs, with POSSIBLY the exception of BC (still a 3.8-4.0 W is fine for there).</p>
<p>Plus, this is FIRST QUARTER right? Not first semester? They probably wont even see it, they will just see his average, unless you have to send in a mid year report which will affect NOTHING. As it is, they won't even know about it until jan/feb when they request mid year reports, and as long as they dont drop below cs he's fine.</p>
<p>I don't think those Cs will hurt him that much considering the schools he's applying to, the rigor of his curriculum, and the fact that he's male, which is a big plus because except for things like engineering schools, more females than males are going to college.</p>
<p>My older S got the IB diploma, and younger S started IB, but switched to another school senior year so he could take AP physics and another math (Due to the other courses he'd taken, he couldn't fit those courses in in his IB program).</p>
<p>I would have been thrilled if either S had the grades that your S has. For example, my sons had 750, 760 SAT CR scores, yet carried Cs in their English classes for most of high school. Younger S's SAT scores were all 99-98th percentile, yet he graduated with a below 3.0 unweighted.</p>
<p>Give your S a big hug. He's doing very well, and I predict he'll get some nice acceptances.</p>
<p>A couple of C's (especially in rigorous classes) are fine for Northeastern, and probably BU. BC might be a slight stretch, but couple of C's won't be "kill" his chances.</p>
<p>You both put a huge smile on my face! THANKS for making me feel better, and I know this will make him feel better also. Unfortunately his GPA is not what was suggested above, he has a low 3.2, because of his disastrous 9th grade year but has been on a steady upward swing since and is taking the most challenging courses in his senior year that the school offers. Without his 9th grade though he is probably around a 3.6+, I am guessing. </p>
<p>You pointed out that this is not the semester just the quarter, so thanks for spelling that out for both of us. Hopefully what the schools will first see will be all A's and B's. </p>
<p>ct: We also have had a rough quarter, not due to sickness, but due to a peer leader program that has pulled the kids out of academic classes multiple times during the marking period....we were advised that if the grades went up for 2nd quarter to have the gc write a few lines on the mid-year report about why 1st mp was an abberation....if grades do not go up, just ignore it....as the earlier posters have said, your s grades are above the required for those schools....should not be a problem, especially with the rigor of the curriculum....</p>
<p>I see a number of questions about this just on this page. You and your son should know exactly what his high school sends to the colleges. Most schools send year end grades only, a sanitized version of the transcript, deleting all of the quarter grades, exam, effort, comments. Some schools even remove the pluses and minuses from the letter grades. So the initial grade report does not even show the senior grades, just the courses taken. The mid semester report is usually a single grade comprised some average of the first and second quarter grades, and the exams. They are not broken down.</p>
<p>However, this is not a "required" format and your son's school may or may not be using this method. Do have him ask and get a copy of the actual transcript that the school is sending to the colleges so that he and you can see exactly what the colleges are seeing.</p>
<p>An upward trend is particularly important for guys because college admissions officers know that guys often are late bloomers.</p>
<p>Assuming he's not going into something like chemistry or engineering, I don't think Cs in physics or math will hurt him much. Everyone knows how difficult those classes are.</p>
<p>Due to its popularity as a "safety" for people aspiring to the Ivies, BC is a stretch, but he probably knows that already.</p>
<p>cpt......good advice, hopefully you are right and perhaps the schools will not even see the first quarter grades, it is my hope. Will call first thing on Monday to find out just what they do send, thanks for easing my mind a bit.
I feel better already and so does he. Thanks.</p>