<p>I am not doing well in Calculus! I am going to get a D for the first semester. Will it affect my college admission decisions drastically? I am applying to a bunch of top liberal arts colleges, Colgate, Hamilton, and Vassar.</p>
<p>bump, bump, bump</p>
<p>What are your options? Can you switch to another class? Does your school offer tutoring? Can you see outside tutoring? Have you talked to your teacher? Your counselor? What is it about Calculus that is making you do poorly (subject matter, teacher, workload, study habits, etc.)?</p>
<p>Whatever the case may be, you should notify the schools you’re applying to and give them a heads-up. They might be more inclined to be lenient if you give an explanation.</p>
<p>Well, i have a history of not being particularly good at math just never this bad. My GPA is about average for all these schools. However, my hook is extracurriculars and a lot of them including an invention I am getting a patent on, a charity I founded feeding impoverished people for absolutely no money, and owning multiple businesses. (i am not trying to show off) I was hoping the colleges would not look upon the D too harshly since my hook is not merit but extracurriculars. What do you think? and yes i am getting outside tutoring.</p>
<p>Just let the schools know; better to be safe than sorry. And talk to your teacher and counselor!–they’re probably more qualified to help you with this than anyone on this forum.</p>
<p>It might also be helpful to look up each school’s policy about failing grades. Some schools, like the University of California system, will not accept anything below a C, period. So you should check each institution’s policy about that, and whether they’ll accept the D or whether you need to make it up later or whatever.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions alwaysawriter. It is appreciated. However, I would appreciate if anyone else answered, or if anyone was in a similar situation and received admission to a top college. Answers are very much appreciated</p>
<p>I cannot find these institutions policies either alwaysawriter. Can you tell me where I would see them?</p>
<p>For Regular Decision, colleges get your Mid-Year Report, which has your first term (depending on how your school does terms/
semesters). So it might affect them but not drastically, I think. A few of my friends are having the same problem as you (C’s and D’s in AP Calc) but they’re otherwise stellar students. By all means, try to raise your grade! Tutoring, studying, anything! But if you get rejected from a school, it won’t be because of your Calculus grade.</p>
<p>Yes, I hopefully will be able to raise my grades second semester. Just have not had time to study that much due to college apps, ecs, work, and school work. lilahrosie, do you know anyone that got into a good university or LAC with a bad grade in calc? My big worry is that I will not get in due to this grade. However, hopefully you are right. I know of one person getting into UPenn with a C in Calc, but a C and a D are very different.</p>
<p>bump, bump, bump</p>
<p>Be careful in that poor grades senior year can cause a college to rescind an admission offer.</p>
<p>Thank you ucbalumnus. However, it is first semester, and colleges are going to get my mid-year report, so will they not know what they are getting into when they see those grades?</p>
<p>
From what I’ve read, strong ECs don’t make up for a lower GPA. ECs are nice, but fundamentally colleges are in the business of education. If they don’t think you’re able to handle the workload they’ll take someone else. And if you’re spending so much time on the ECs that your grades suffer, as you later wrote, then IMHO you have misplaced your priorities.</p>
<p>But I’m not an adcom at any of those schools. You’ll find out what THEY think soon enough…</p>