I’m a relatively competitive student in high school with a relatively decent academic background: GPA of 3.7, good extracurriculars, president of debate team, strong AP course load, and an upward trend of academic improvement over the years. However, math has always been challenging for me and I’ve tended to struggle with poor grades during my 1st semester to usually around a B during the second semester. This year, I’m taking AP statistics since the subject makes more sense to me, and even then I’m only holding around a C. In circumstances where a student gets a C on a transcript, what usually gets considered upon admissions?
I just posted elsewhere that my daughter had two C’s on her transcript. One was a tenth of a point below a B. (They were terrible math teachers.) She took only honors and AP courses, her GPA was 3.4/4.3, and her extracurriculars and recc letters were outstanding. From her experience, I saw that these two C’s did not prevent her from being admitted to her preferred schools (like Berkeley, Smith). However, we were also realistic, knew these would stick out, and she made sure the rest of her app was as terrific as it could be.
@Erin’s Dad Why disagree with explaining? I’m having the same issue with my D. She is getting a C in AP Physics because of a very poor teacher and this is what she wants to major in. I think it would warrant an explanation.
Don’t try to explain. It’s not going to change the grade or work some magic. Post #1 is right, you focus on the rest of the app being as terrific as possible. You need to understand what that “rest” is.
OP, if you’re not majoring in STEM (and the rigor, grades, and scores more closely related to your major are strong,) you’re probably ok. Know what your targets look for.
But in some cases, a GC can say something helpful. Especially if he/she has some positive feedback from OP’s teacher, how how OP is diligent, trying.
We had a situation with a lousy teacher who simply couldn’t be pleased, obviously played favorites, etc. (A long time teacher there, losing interest, and eased out of his job, the following year.) The GC helped in our case.
My brother goth a C in a class that was irrelevant to his choice of major/careers and ended up with a Presidential Scholarship as an OOS student, so I think a lot depends on what the C is in, and how you do in your other classes. Like, if you don’t want to be a science major it will matter less.