<p>I am in my senior year and I took Math Analayis 7/8 Regular for math. I recieved a D in the class.</p>
<p>I was recently informed that if the applicant receives a grade of D or F in a course that falls into the “a-g” course pattern (even if the course is not needed to meet the minimum number of years of the subject area requirement). If this occurs, the student must notify — by mail — the UC Application Center. We encourage students to explain the reason(s) for the academic record updates in the letter. The letter must also include the student’s name, UC Application ID number and signature, and will be shared with all the campuses the student applied to.</p>
<p>My story:
During my Junior year, I took the Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry course, however I had a horrible teacher that did not even teach the curriculum or reference the textbook in a single instance. Our class never learned what we should have for the courses’ guidelines. I ended up taking Math Analysis my senior year, which practically piggy-backs on what we have learned in “Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry”. But, because I had never learned anything, the class was very hard for me…which is why I received a “D” </p>
<p>For my second semester, I have moved to Probability and Statistics which is a much easier class</p>
<p>What suggestions do you have for me in writing this letter to the UC schools?</p>
<p>Damn that sucks. my guidance counselor told me not to put the blame on the teacher or how the class was ran, etc. That’s one tip right there. I also had something like this happen but i developed a concussion from wrestling and that was my reason.</p>
<p>it should help because with it I also mentioned how eventhough the concussion was holding me back it also helped me in the sense that i was fighting to recover so i can return back to the mat and get back in shape for the classroom. that right there also showed the college that i had a positive attitude. Good luck btw! which UC’s did you apply to?</p>
<p>I don’t want to tell you to lie. so dig in deep and try to find out other reasons that could have led to your grades dropping. Maybe you can talk about family problems, senioritis (you have to be careful with it though), maybe a par time job and stuff. Blaming it on the teacher would really lead to a negative feel about your character. And thats great and pretty comical because i applied to the same four! I am really hoping for Davis!</p>
I’ll bet in your mind this excuses your grade. No, it doesn’t. As pointed out earlier, do not blame the teacher. First off, every kid that does bad tries to lay the blame on someone else. So nobody cares if what you said is true, because they’re not going to take the time to investigate. </p>
<p>Second, you seem keenly aware of the course guidelines and that the class didn’t cover the material. Case closed, as far as you are concerned, right? Wrong! You need to accept responsibility here. If the course wasn’t teaching the material, I’ll bet you were aware of this well before the end. You should have had your parents contact the school. And ignoring that, there was nothing stopping you from learning the material independently. Lots of kids do just that. </p>
<p>A friend needed a trig course in HS and it just wouldn’t fit into his schedule; he found a math teacher that would supervise him and spent a study period each day working problems from the book; when stuck he met with the teacher. You and your buddies could have learned the material independently if you wanted to. There is tons of material online, in iTunesU free courses, forums to ask questions, etc. to help out. </p>
<p>But instead you took the passive approach and figured that if they didn’t teach it to you at school all tied up in a bow you were off the hook. Sounds harsh, but that’s the way things work in the adult world. In college. At work. You commit to something, you get it done or go down in flames trying. </p>
<p>I suggest you work with your counselor to come up with a letter that accepts responsibility, explaining what you’ve learned from this episode and how you’re going to make sure that in similar circumstances the outcome will be different next time.</p>
<p>Thank you so much, I really appreciate that you took the time to write all of that. I will definitely come up with a better letter…Thanks again!</p>
<p>I suggest trying to find a counselor or perhaps teacher that will review your letter before you send it. It can be hard to distance ourselves from a letter when its our story, but you want an independent opinion of how it comes across. Ideally you can find someone that understands what was mentioned in post #2, blame is not the way to go.</p>
<p>In public relations there are 3 talking points when explaining a disaster. (1) It’s our responsibility. (2) We’re sorry. (3) Here’s what we’re doing to make it right and so that it doesn’t happen again. This gives you one approach for the letter, focusing more on the what you learned aspect.</p>