How will college admissions look at a 'D'?

<p>yes I got a 65 on pre calculus H, last quarter. I am ashamed. I want to apply to Northwestern Univeristy. I do have a history of bad grades. I did take all AP classes. I do have great ECs though including 150+ hours volenteering at an ER, did volenteer work in India in the slums - trust me you havent seen slums till you've been there, editor for school newspaper, etc.. and I have competent SAT & ACT scores (1530/1600 SAT, 35 ACT). Excellent scores on the NY state regents (All high 90s). I have pretty much everything I need except grades. This year I will be a senior. I have put together a plan, seriously I have it written out in detail in a MS spreadsheet document to coutn every single day of how I plan to ace my first semester in my senior year with high 90s, it will be tough but since this school year ended I finally let go of the things that were pulling me back (I don't what to say what it was..for the fear of being ridiculed).</p>

<p>About the D, it is my first D in my entire life. Yes it is horrible, tragic, and absolutly dispicable, but there is currently nothing I can do except to kick ass next year</p>

<p>With that being said with my current stats & a good pair of report cards next year, what are my chances? I have seen a few miracles of people getting into high instituitons with low grades, and I know CC is a place where my GPA will be looked down opon, but there is little I can do about that then breaking into my school and hacking it to change my grades or just doing excellent next year</p>

<p>thanks for help</p>

<p>um, colleges look at grades more closely than some volunteer work... I'm sorry, but top tier colleges DO NOT accept a lot of students even if one C and EXTREMELY FEW/NO kids who get Ds.... </p>

<p>Seems like you spend a lot of time on ECs, maybe balance that time with studying and doing homework so that you can actually get DECENT grades, not Ds...</p>

<p>Do you have any specific reasons like family problems or extreme sickness??</p>

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<p>A 65 is a D at ur school?
anything below a 70 is a F here.</p>

<p>define top tier? I will be happy with Emory and Wake Forest</p>

<p>I remember there was one guy on CC that got into Northwestern with a 1950/33 ACT and a 3.6 GPA with the same ECs as me. He said he got good recs and had a great essay, I despise playing the 'race card' but the guy I was talking about said he was middle class white</p>

<p>I also found this:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/apply/eyeonapply/2006/alex_final.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/apply/eyeonapply/2006/alex_final.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>really, even 1 C? cuz i got my first C+ in Ap US history and want to aply to like stanford..</p>

<p>a 65 is a D, the reason I got that was because I was studying for the SATs and broke up with girl I was seeing which has done me well, now I am much more goal orientated..still an embarassing,not going to tell the colleges..but hey atleast she was hot</p>

<p>just apply to wherever you'd like to go... the only way you have no chance is if you don't apply</p>

<p>i remember about a month ago a kid was talking about how he had a D and multiple C's and got into Northwestern, he had no hook, no stellar ECs, and was Asian... anything is possible</p>

<p>It kinda makes me angry, I worked my ass off to get a decent SAT score, am doing so to ace the ACT, so I sincerely hope to experience some fruits of my multiple-all-nighter-skipping-surfing-to-study labor sessions</p>

<p>in the end I have no one to blame but my self, and I accept that and I dont have stellar academic performance, but I still have 1 semester to change all this</p>

<p>Agree with Shazilla--you won't know until you try. Have a safety ready just in case. Wake puts alot of emphasis on their essays and your test scores are good. Do well in Calc first semester. Hang in there and stay with your plan. Good luck.</p>

<p>Its your fault that you got a D... IT's your fault that you were fantasizing in your ex-girlfriend...</p>

<p>Having a "D" junior year is going to hurt you big time. Colleges particularly have concerns about students whose grades seem to be sliding junior year: The colleges are concerned that those students may have peaked or may lack the maturity and sense of responsibility to handle living away from home and keeping their grades up.</p>

<p>Make sure that you apply to true safety and match schools as well as those reach schools.</p>

<p>If it's only last quarter, it depends what you got the other quarters. I think colleges usually only see the year grades.</p>

<p>I got Bs and Cs in my sophomore year. </p>

<p>The course load was intense, and I played soccer that year.</p>

<p>Time was a huge factor, and that's why I fell behind.</p>

<p>My point is that you'd better be prepared to explain that grade.</p>

<p>You can write about it in your essay, but I don't see how colleges will accept breaking up as an excuse...</p>

<p>If the quarter grade doesn't go on the transcript that colleges get, you don't need to worry about it.</p>

<p>well i have a similar question, what if you failed a class but retook it, it still shows up on your transcript but is not calculated on your gpa will colleges still look down on it?</p>

<p>Yes, unless you have a very strong excuse such as having had a major illness, colleges will look down on a "D" or "F" grade even if you took the class over and got an "A" and that "A" was the only grade used for that class that was calculated in your gpa.</p>

<p>Colleges in general want students who can do well in their classes the first time, not students who may have to spend extra time in college to make up bad grades.</p>

<p>All these posts about whether your quarter grade or final grade or semester grade show on the transcript seem to me to be missing the point. Realistically students who have to hedge and hope about which grades are on the transcript should probably rethink the ivy leagues..here's a tip: not attending an ivy league is not the kiss of death and won't ruin your life....</p>

<p>I DON'T necesarily want an ivy league school, just a good school like Emory or Wakeforest which I am visiting right now</p>

<p>They're still difficult to get in.</p>