<p>I got a D. A freaking D. I've never even gotten a C, I've gotten only 2 Bs, and now here I am with a D forever etched onto my high school transcript. Until today when I got my report card, I had a glimmer of hope that it would become a C if I performed well on my final, but alas I sucked at my final and I got a D for the semester.</p>
<p>I am just SO screwed, my college admissions chances right now=0%.</p>
<p>This post is sort of just a whine since I'm really depressed right now. I screwed it up for myself. I could blame it on my incompetent cold-hearted Precalc teacher who refused to help me and my missing 25% of instruction due to being sick, naturally being horrible at math, and never being able to catch up, but no, that'd just make me seem irresponsible.<br>
And it's a math class, whether I like it or not, colleges are going to look at it as failing a core academic course. I've heard tales of kids getting straight As except for 1 D, or 1 C, and automatically getting rejected.</p>
<p>I'm not looking at HYPMS but I am looking at top-tier and some middle-tier liberal arts colleges. But there are tens of thousands of kids without a single D, without Cs, heck without any Bs, my SAT score isn't that amazing, my course load for junior year is pretty non-rigorous (which I regret HORRIBLY), and average, maybe a bit above-average, extracurriculars with little leadership. So I just really can't think what college in their right mind would want to accept me.</p>
<p>So, uh.. make me feel better or worse or advise me or whatever you want.<br>
What can I possibly do to redeem myself now? (I'm pretty sure I'm going to make an A this semester in regular Precalculus, but I doubt that counteracts the D too much, if at all) I'm only taking 2 AP classes this year, I was taking 3 but I dropped one, but I was thinking about taking up 1 or 2 online now to make up for the lack thereof. I know a bunch of my kids in my grade taking 4-5 AP courses at once and getting As in all of them. I want to try to aim for a really high SAT score, like 2250+. I could try self-studying some APs..would that help? I'm completely bored this semester and do have the time and the willpower to do these things.</p>
<p>I recommend taking an AP course online over the summer through CTY (or a similar organization) to show that you are truly committed to academics. Perhaps when you apply to colleges you could mention how this grade is not reflective of your true academic potential blah blah blah. It’s not the end of the world, just be realistic and don’t get your hopes up for admission to a tippy top tier school because let’s face it, admission to an ivy (or similarly ranked school) isn’t likely for all of us. Still apply, just don’t write that you’d like to major in anything math/science/engineering related because then the D could raise red flags.</p>
<p>Hm, if I retook it it would have to be Remedial Precalculus. Hardly worth it. I could, however, take it online somewhere but the grade wouldn’t get onto my transcript because my school doesn’t accept outside credits. I would be willing to do that if it really helped with college admissions.</p>
<p>failboat… I don’t get it, what’s my legitimate excuse for slacking off?</p>
<p>Even if your school does not accept outside credits, you can still send colleges your transcripts from wherever you took the courses. Personally, I would not retake the course, rather take the next level (calculus, I guess) and get an A (or B) because that would show significant improvement and tell colleges that other factors influenced the D.</p>
<p>Good idea, thanks! Although I probably shouldn’t attempt AP Calc BC after a D in Honors Precalc. Maybe AB though? Calc is supposed to be easier than Honors Precalc at my school, and I’m acing Regular Precalc. Hmm.
The online AP course thing is a good idea too; I was thinking about utilizing BYU Independent Study for that purpose.</p>
<p>As much as I do not like to admit this, aside from the various science/mathematics courses that actually intrigue me, the mundane set of rituals that our teachers call “homework” have absolutely no value to me, therefore the sole goal of doing well in these classes that I have no affinity for is to achieve high grades for the sake of achieving high grades. If achieving high grades is no longer possible, I see no reason to keep up with the pretense. Pursue a field that interests you. I had gotten a low C as well in a core class, instead of working my ass off to raise it up, I decided to not bother and further my interest in other fields that I do have an affinity for, or for me, slacking off =D. These ECs in turn rocketed me into community college. (jk, I was accepted to a good school, so don’t despair)</p>
<p>EDIT: Although my presumptions may not apply, as I emphasize on the rational nature of academics, in which case I’ve also justified to myself that there is no need to study for the SAT or any other types of standardized testing as they have no lasting impact on my academic career and merely serve temporary roles. If you feel otherwise, please do not take my advice into consideration.</p>
<p>I got a D in algebra II, ok? ALGEBRA TWO. A class that 99.5% of all the people on this website passed with an A+, and probably an honors version of said class in 7th grade.</p>
<p>I still got into college. You’ll be ok. Retaking the class would be to your advantage, as well.</p>
<p>Oh, and if you’ve only ever received 2 B’s and nothing lower, you must have a good GPA. So don’t stress too much about it.</p>
<p>I got 4 or 5 D’s in my junior year (however mostly everything else was A’s), and I still got accepted to USC and Georgia Tech. You will be fine. Just stay out of F territory.</p>
<p>And leila… me too!!! was never gonna admit it though…</p>
<p>failboat, I actually really like your philosophy, but I don’t think I could personally follow it because a) I’m overly paranoid about college admissions haha, and b) Math seems important. I wouldn’t really mind if it was a D in like, art, but math’s like one of the single most important things for college and life, basically.</p>
<p>@hi<em>im</em>leila, you’re not the only one! I thought Algebra II was HARD. I barely made a B in that class. Oh how I miss those days where the worst grade I could possibly get was a B… it’s funny now when I think back to then.</p>
<p>Cody2010, jeeeez… 4 or 5 Ds?! You must have been taking some dang hard classes. But that’s so awesome that you got into such good schools; congrats!</p>
[oh, and I got in to UMich (albeit, in-state)… it is possible, just saying].</p>