<p>I'm in all honors and AP classes. I got one C+ because the teacher's new and her grading system is a tad weird, like if you get one question wrong you get a 70 and no one really likes how she grades. No one got an A in that class. Anyway, I'm not going to blame it on her. I did study hard and tried my best, I spent hours doing projects and studying and making sure I knew everything. I got a 79 as average and she won't let me boost it up because it's the end of the quarter. This is my first C ever. My dream college is Columbia University, but I'm afraid they won't let me in anymore because of that C. My gpa is still a 4.0 and I have straight A's on all my other classes. I do a lot of extra curricular, clubs, community service, etc. I actually cried when I got tht C because I thought my dream of going there is, well, shattered. If I do a lot of charity, more clubs, get straight A's in that class in the next quarters/semesters and get amazing letters of recommendation, would I still be able to get in? I'm still a sophomore, so if I get a really good score on the SAT too, would that catch their eye? Or will they just turn me down once they see I had a C+ in my sophomore year biology honors class and not look at the rest? </p>
<p>It’s not good, by any means. That C will stand out like a red sheep in a field of green monkeys. At Columbia you’ll be competing with kids who didn’t get C’s in honors biology.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, you can explain why you did not do so well in that class in common app in two years. Try your best to sound as if you took responsibility in that class.</p>
<p>Would you be against taking AP Bio( hopefully a different teacher)? If you take AP Bio and do very well, they will see you challenged yourself where you didn’t do so well and turned that around.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>It is the end of the quarter and not the end of your academic career. Make a plan to improve your performance in the class. Your ability to overcome challenges in this class make serve as an essay topic two years from now. </p>
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Kids with these set themselves up for stress and misery. You have a lot of high school left. Let the right school find you. Best wishes!</p>
<p>Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s going to be one poor grade in a sea of A’s, and I’m sure the admissions staff would see that and realize that something must have been up, and your guidance counselor may choose to mention this particular teachers grading policy in his or her recommendation letter. You still have a lot of high school left to make up for it, and you may change your mind by then!
No matter what, I promise you that it’ll be okay. Good luck :)</p>
<p>Does your school show quarter grades on your transcript? My school only shows final grades on our transcripts. I would ask either a senior or your GC before you hit the panic button. </p>
<p>Well, it’s like, every quarter we get report cards, but at the end of the year they all add up and show the final average grade. So if I got all A’s in the next 3 quarters, I’d get a final grade of -A, but that C would still show on the actual paper because it’s showing how I got that -A. </p>
<p>Ah ok, my school has a similar system except that only the final grade shows up. I don’t think that you are sunk for a highly selective school, but I would consider dropping that honors biology class. One C in one quarter is not so bad. A final grade of C, and showing up with 4 Cs could be very bad for both your class rank and GPA. </p>
<p>Nobody is going to care about an interim C+ . No dreams have been shattered. Keep the class and go talk to the teacher about how you can improve your grade going forward. Then improve it. If you can do that, then Columbia will be impressed.</p>