<p>I'm applying early decision to Smith because I really love the school. I've kept an A- average all through out high school. My GPA would be much, much higher but my math and science grades are bringing it down. I think I would have been a competative candidate to Smith because I have amazing recommendations from my teachers, I have great Extra Carriculars, pretty good grades and SAT scores that are above the middle 50% of people excepted. However my first semester of senior year is going to destroy any chances I have at all of getting in. I have straight A's and a D+ in AP Calc. I don't know what to do. My only hope is that Smith looks at my mid year report card instead of just the first semester. I feel terrible. I know I'm not going to get anymore and its so sad. I worked my butt off three years for nothing. I don't know what to do.</p>
<p>Do you mean your first quarter grades? It seems early to have your grades already for the first semester. </p>
<p>If it’s your quarter grades, I wouldn’t be too worried. One good thing to find out is if your quarter grades are reported on your official transcript. In my high school only the grades at the end of each semester were put on the transcript. </p>
<p>Secondly, I would meet with your AP Calc teacher immediately. Ask if there are extra credit assignments you can do. And on top of that it looks like you’re clearly going to need tutoring or some other kind of after school assistance. Make sure you get help while there is still a chance to remedy this. If you can even pull your grade up to a C, that would be a huge plus. </p>
<p>Try to take deep breaths. This is not an insurmountable problem. You’re going to get into college. Now is not the time for a meltdown. You need to pull yourself together and figure out how to get out of this.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I meant first quarter grades. And I know its not going to go on my official transcript because those only get updated at the end of each semester. I’ve been meeting with my AP calc teacher regularly and I go to him for extra help. Our grades are pretty much set in stone at this point but I’ll try to see if there’s anything I can do to get up to a 70. I’m trying not to have a meltdown, but I feel so awful. I’ve never been in a situation like this before. The lowest grade I’ve ever gotten for a quarter is like a 77 and that was in Honors Chemistry. I hope everything turns out ok.</p>
<p>Can’t you request to guidance that they send your transcript without 1st quarter grades? My math class is killing me too, never had a grade this low before, but thankfully my school gives you the option of sending 1st quarter for ED. So I’m sending my transcript without 1st quarter, and I’m going to pull up my math this quarter so it’s OK for mid year report.</p>
<p>Ummm yeah, so I think that you should ask guidance if it’s possible to send your transcript with only the classes, no 1st quarter grades.</p>
<p>Well, your first quarter grade is set in stone, but I meant your semester grade, the grade that Smith will actually see (they will only get a copy of your official high school transcript, so if that has semester grades only on it, then you need to focus on the semester grade). You should ask your teacher about projects or work you could do in the upcoming quarter to help boost your grade. Maybe he won’t go for a special project or extra credit, but you lose nothing by asking. You might talk to your teacher about suggesting another student who you could work with to increase your level of help. </p>
<p>You need to focus on getting your semester grade up. But you also need to realize that it’s not the end of the world. AP Calc is a tough class. Smith and most other colleges are going to be looking at your overall high school performance, not just how you did in one particular class in one particular semester. So do your best and focus on pro-active things you can do to build on the situation. You can’t change your D+, but that doesn’t have to be your final grade.</p>
<p>thanks smithie and proud. ughh, like i said before, i can’t even believe i’m in this situation. i’ve dissapointed myself, my parents, and my teachers. and now i might not even get into a school i’ve been dying to go to for the past 3 years.</p>
<p>Among other things, proof your application rigorously.</p>
<p>accepted, not excepted (for the word you mean)</p>
<p>competitive, not competative</p>
<p>I’ll join everyone else in saying, “Take a deep breath!” You’re fortunate in that Smith looks at applications holistically. And if your school does not report first quarter grades, then your D+ will not be a factor in the decision. If you are accepted ED to Smith, then you’ll still have to work hard to get that grade up to a C on your final transcript.</p>
<p>In addition to getting help through school, you may want to purchase a AP Calculus prep book (for explanations and additional problems for practice) and, as bizarre as it seems, Calculus for Dummies. The Dummies series does an excellent job of explaining difficult concepts in easy-to-understand language, and it has saved more than one student.</p>
<p>I know this seems like the end of the world for you, but it isn’t. Really.</p>
<p>There’s one more typo I found: Extra Carriculars. It’s extra curriculars.</p>
<p>PLEASE proofread your application carefully several times over and then have someone else do the same for both spelling and grammar. </p>
<p>Our daughter took AP Calculus as well and didn’t have any confidence in herself but she plugged away at it, did tons and tons of problems till she got the hang of it and then she did wonderfully. I think Calculus for Dummies is a great idea.</p>
<p>Keep plugging. You can do it! :)</p>
<p>OK, my daughter is currently at Smith. She loves it. She was admitted off the wait-list. She also had a D+ in AP calc for the first quarter. She fell down the stairs and got a concussion the first week of school, then she got pneumonia and was out for 2 weeks. </p>
<p>Her dad and I went to see the teacher who was unaware of my daughter’s health challenges during the first quarter. What did she do? Once she got back to school, she worked as hard as she could. She got tutoring in calc from the teacher. She begged to do extra work. She brought up her grade substantially. She may be the only kid who got better grades second semester senior year than first semester. Her calculus teacher wrote a recommendation saying how hard she had worked to bring her grade up.</p>
<p>So, it is possible. You can make it up. You can get into Smith.</p>
<p>On this topic, does Smith require first quarter grades in order to review an Early Decision application? I am in a similar situation to the OP. I am pretty sure that my school has already sent my Freshman-Junior year grades to Smith (our First Quarter grades just came out today). If I request that my school not send my First Quarter grades to Smith, will Smith be able to admit me without seeing them?</p>
<p>If I remember correctly they don’t require your first quarter grades. They usually don’t pay attention to your quarter grades, only to the official grades that go on your transcript, which at most schools is the final end of semester grade. If you get accepted ED however, they will require that you send your mid-year grades and your end of year grades. And your acceptance can be rescinded if you don’t keep your grades up.</p>
<p>Well my school is sending in my first quarter grades cuz thats the policy but I’m extremely happy because I switched out of AP Calc since my parents, my calc teacher, and my guidance counselor agreed that it wasnt the appropriate level for me and that it was stressing me out way to much and taking time away from me that I could be devoting to my other classes. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Dont get me wrong, I’m always up for an academic challenge but this was just wayyy out of my league at the time being.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that things are looking better!</p>
<p>Good news. There’s a fine line between challenging yourself and beating your head against the wall. Come to think of it, though it was terrifying there was also a weight off my shoulders when I switched out of Engineering school mumble-mumble years ago.</p>
<p>Glad to hear it. Our son switched out of AP Physics into Honors Physics after the first semester of senior year in high school and it was much more manageable for him and he did much better. Two years later, in a lab science requirement for college graduation (which he’s been dreading), he’s taking chemistry, and with the right, well-organized, clear-thinking prof and good chemistry buddies, he’s again working hard, but pushing an A and actually enjoying it! Sometimes it’s a combination of factors that don’t work; perhaps another time it might be just fine! In any case, I’m glad the road is smoother for you.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your kind words and thoughtful advice! It really means a lot to me :)</p>