How much will a B+ hurt me on a midterm report? (as a sophomore transfer applicant)

Transfer Students
1

So my midterm report will look like this as of now:

  • Writing course: A
  • Microeconomics course: A-
  • History course: A
  • Psychology course: B+
  • Calculus II: “Pass” (I’m taking this one on a pass/fail basis)

I’m applying as a history or anthropology major at other T20 universities. How much weight will be placed on these grades versus my straight A’s in all five of my courses last semester?

2

@transferguy2019
I don’t think it will be weighted much in your case. The midterm report only becomes more important if you’ve had an upwards grade trend and your midterm report is a 4.0, or if you’ve been a top student and suddenly got a slew of Cs or Ds on your midterm. In your case, with mostly As and a high B, I doubt they’d even blink. They’ll be aware these grades are only tentative and not a guarantee of your final overall grade – you’re basically still showing strong academic potential so it will neither hurt you nor help you.

3

I also got a B+ on my midterm repot, I do not think it is a very big deal

4

@genedorbust
Thank you, very helpful response! I also had the instructor make a note of the fact that we have an optional final exam that can replace our lowest test score, which should help slightly.

5

@transferguy2019

Again, just realistically and honestly speaking, I don’t think adcoms will care. Good for you that you can boost your grade but it’s not going to shift decisions in any direction. A good mid-term report won’t improve your application if you already have great stats and people here underestimate what makes a good mid-term report.

6

@genedorbust
Well that’s good to hear, I just want to the midterm report to be a neutral factor and for the adcoms to focus on my completed coursework, which it sounds like they will.

7

@genedorbust
It looks like this psych class is actually going to be a B rather than a B+, I had miscalculated my grade. This is still only based off one exam and I had my instructor take note of that. Does this influence my chances at all? All the other grades will be as I predicted before (A-/A/A/Pass).

8

@transferguy2019

I doubt a school will base your admission decision on how your mid-term report contains a grade that is 1/3 a letter grade than what it should have been.

9

@genedorbust
Do you think they will bother to recalculate my college GPA using these midterm grades?

10

I’d guess if you don’t get admitted it’s not because of the B+.

11

@lostaccount
Looks like it’s actually going to be a B :(. But yeah, it shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.