<p>I've always gotten straight A's. I'm in all Honors/AP classes and this is my first C+ EVER. The teacher's terrible. I do my work and I study for hours. I get one question wrong and I apparently get a 70 as a test grade. I've retaken some, and got 90's but somehow, my average is a 79 and she won't let me boost it up. She's a TERRIBLE teacher/grader. I'm not the only one with a C+ who also studied and tried really hard. I'm honestly in TEARS. I wanted to go to Columbia University and I've been trying so hard to keep up with all my work and clubs I do and community service and work and bunch of other stuff that'll get Columbia's attention. But now I feel like that one C+ is going to throw them off. My GPA is still a 4.0 but I actually started to cry when she told me I had a C+. Do you think I could still maybe get accepted if I explained that/did really well the next semesters? If I did a lot more stuff like more community service and working at certain places and involving myself with charity, etc? I'll do anything. That's my DREAM college. I don't want to let one dumb teacher ruin my dream.</p>
<p>Nobody got an A. I didn't earn it because like I said, I did all my work and barely got answers wrong. But you get one question wrong, and she adds a minus 1 or minus 2, and somehow, that ends up as a 70. Everyone in that class complains about the grading she does. Everyone got C's and B-. So don't even.</p>
A few thoughts [ul][<em>]don’t try to “explain”. It usually comes of as whining, and to be honest that was my first thought in reading your post. Maybe she is as bad as you say, but adcoms don’t have the time to run an investigation, and complaining about “unfair” teachers is what every kid does to deflect responsibility. You get tarred with the same brush even if its true, and nobody likes a whiner. [</em>]Colleges will have your record in front of them. You don’t need to “explain” you did really well is subsequent semesters. Do really well and they’ll notice, with your transcript right there in front of them. Evualating the applicant is what adcoms get paid to do. [<em>]If this teacher is really terrible and unfair then the right thing to do is not to worry about what you are going to tell adcoms 2 years down the road! Get your parents involved in talking to the teacher and then the principal about grading policies. [</em>]I want to emphasize the 2 years down the road. Its great that you’re thinking ahead, but your mis-perceptions about how adcoms do things are apparently making you miserable. For example, thinking that you need to explain to the adcoms you did better from 2nd semester of 10th grade on. [*]Getting a C+ is a good thing. I’ve known too many kids that cling to the thought that with a 4.0 they can do anything, and will go to great lengths to “protect” it. Many ill-advised or not in their real interests. No longer a problem for you![/ul]</p>
<p>I know I came off as whiny and stuff, it’s just I first came from Yahoo Answers, and they weren’t much help and they were rude, telling me that I could never possibly ever make it. I’m going to try and work harder. And my mom IS going to the school to talk about my grade in that class because the teacher really is unfair and it’s just me making an excuse. Thanks, anyway. </p>