<p>I don't want know what happened. I went from A's to B's to C's. I got the weirdest scale of grades ever. There was no trend. Basically I ended up with an A, 1 B plus, 1 B, 3 C pluses, 1 C, and a D plus. It was absolutely terrible and screwed up my GPA like crazy despite being in all APs. </p>
<p>Is there hope of me still getting into the college I want to go to? Their GPA range is a 3.3-3.9 and I have a 3.3 now. If I get good first semester senior classes (all APs again), good SAT scores, and good extra curriculars along with awesome essay/ recommendations..etc. then do I still have a shot. </p>
<p>I know this isn't an excuse but I had the worst mix of teachers. They were all mean and graded down for dumb things and weren't flexible and I don't know how to explain that to the admissions board without sounding like I'm complaining. I do study really hard, please don't tell me I obviously don't. My school just sucks. My best friend goes to another school and has all A's and B's and only watches movies in class and we both are applying to the same schools. It's not fair.</p>
<p>Please help, I finally finished crying enough to write this. I have other colleges who will accept me but it's not my "dream" school.</p>
<p>Im in the EXACT situation you are in…though my GPA is lower…3.3 is still pretty well. I’m sure school would be glad to accept you with ur extra curricular and high SAT scores. I also had crappy teachers during my junior year and i have been stressssssing over this all summer. What colleges are you looking into?</p>
<p>Yes you can get into a college. Maybe not the college you originally hoped for. </p>
<p>
You are complaining. You didn’t like the grading criteria and it worked against you. Suck it up. If you school is more rigorous than your friend’s the colleges will figure it out. Work hard for your remaining time.</p>
<p>Can you retake the class in which you made the D (and possibly the Cs) and replace those grades on your transcript? I also think you need to ask yourself if perhaps there is more going on here than just bad teachers. One bad teacher could happen. Two is a shame, but 5 bad teachers? That suggests that there is a more fundamental problem here which you haven’t yet diagnosed. Go talk to these teachers and figure out what you are doing wrong from their perspective. For example, did you go to office hours for help when you realized you were heading towards a C in these classes? This ability to ask for input (even if it’s uncomfortable) is a critical life skill that will serve you well in college, in work and in life. Learn it now.</p>
<p>And don’t let the inability to attend a ‘dream’ school prevent you from seeking out all the excellent schools out that that will give you a second chance to shine.</p>
<p>If you dream school is a selective state university, consider the alternative route of going to community college and then transferring as a junior if you do not get in as a freshman.</p>
<p>The school I want to go to is Christopher Newport University. I can get into my backup schools which were Radford University and Longwood University, but they were my backups for a reason.</p>
<p>I’m not going to community college and transferring because that would be the most humiliating, horrible thing for me. I’ve been preparing for college since kindergarten and no I am not being dramatic. I am usually top of my class and this year murdered me. My teachers seriously were not good. I had one teacher who gave me a C plus on an essay and didn’t write any critiques on it so I asked him why I got a C and he said “Because I don’t like giving anything higher. It makes the class too easy.” <—They all had that attitude.</p>
<p>I wish I could retake the class, but I can’t do it during the school year because my grades were “too high” overall to retake them. I already missed the sign up date for summer school because my teachers didn’t want to officially release the grades till today. I can’t really take online classes because I am going to be swamped in work for next year, but I will if it is recommended to me.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your advice and stuff
I’m really upset right now, but I just need to take a deep breath and figure out what to do. Hopefully my senior grades will show the colleges that I’ve improved in my work.</p>
<p>Students do go to community college, transfer to the state flagship, and go on to top PhD programs in their majors after that. Starting at community college is nothing to be ashamed of.</p>
<p>So everyone in your class got a C? Everyone in all five classes got Cs or Ds? That seems even more unlikely. It’s your funeral, but it sounds to me like there is more going on here. Like I said, one bad teacher is possible. Two maybe. Five? I don’t buy it - the entire class would be up in arms and the admin would have had to address it. </p>
<p>As is, you should go see your guidance counselor and find out what your options are for addressing this situation.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus: I understand your point. But when you spend your whole life preparing for college and you are looking foward to all the aspects of college life and then you are the one person in your group of friends who has to stay behind and go to community college…it’s like getting punched in the face. I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to deal with it.</p>
<p>M’s Mom: I appreciate your feedback and I understand your logic. But yes, the other kids did do poorly. And they aren’t up in arms because the teachers’ arguments were “You guys are high schoolers in college level classes, C’s are really good.” So we were just like “Fine whatever”. I was just looking for someone to tell whether or not I’m out of the running for my dream school, not someone to call me a liar.</p>
<p>Community College isnt something embarrassing. It doesn’t matter if you’ve “spent your whole life preparing for college.” You’d be embarrassed to go to a community college is what I understand from your posts. You’d be embarrassed to be “the one person in your group of friends who has to stay behind and go to community college.” Honestly it’s rather shallow. </p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that it’s all the teachers’ fault that you did so poorly. Did all the kids get the same marks as you? No. One or two bad teachers maybe, but five? absolutely not. You need to stop blaming others for your own shortcomings. Take some responsibility for yourself and stop looking down on community college. I know Ivy League professors who now teach at community colleges and students who got into competitive schools (including Ivies) and are going to community college for a few years to save money.</p>
<p>Is it possible that you’d get in? Yes maybe. Likely? Probably not. If you convey the attitude you have here in your essays then I’d say definitely not.</p>
<p>It’s not completely that I’d be embarrassed to go to community college. It’s more like you look forward to graduating high school and going to college and having the college experience. You can’t get that living at home and going to community college. I know, I have friends who do it to save money and my own father did it and they all said it’s sad. I don’t want to go through that. And I can get into college. I just have to go to my backup school which is known for partying and everyone always calls it the “moron college” which honestly makes me not want to go there.</p>
<p>I really don’t have a bad attitude. I just feel defeated. Because I’m like a point away from the next letter grade up in almost every class and I couldn’t do it.</p>
<p>I’m trying to regain a positive attitude by asking people’s opinions of my situation. But I just keep getting people who are attacking me for speaking the truth. I’m glad you took the time to answer my questions, but you don’t know me and you don’t know my school and you don’t know my teachers. </p>
<p>I’m actually kind of tired of people on this website being Ivy snobs. I know I’m not Harvard material, but I’m only trying to get into B average state schools. And I’d appreciate it if you guys could just give nice opinions without being rude and judgemental.</p>
You can’t start getting good extracurriculars your senior year, it’ll be very obvious that you’re just trying to make your application look better, not actually pursuing real interests. Hopefully you already have some. </p>
<p>
You’re ONE back-up school? There are dozens of public universities in Virginia alone, many of them not very selective that may have less of a party reputation. If you really don’t want to go to any other university but your fist choice., you have an option of going to Community College and then transferring to the college of your choice. Thousands of students do this, but apparently you’re too good for it. Or, you could go to that back-up school and transfer from there.</p>
<p>
You’re right, we don’t. We’re going off the information we were given, and from that information it sounds like you are complaining from the bottom of a hole you dug yourself into. As has already been established, there’s no way everyone in all your classes received Cs. You had to have been somewhat responsible.</p>
<p>
You’re in their GPA range still, you just said “if I get good SAT scores, good grades, great recommendations, etc. can I still get in…” of COURSE you can, a LOT of students get into state schools with one D and a couple of Cs. Everything else such as if they’ll like your ECs and recommendations is so up to chance that asking doesn’t make you a heck of a lot better than the “Ivy snobs” worrying about their 2350 SAT scores. </p>
<p>Some of these responses may be less than kind, but we’re trying to offer you legitimate solutions and you’re responding by making more excuses and belittling community colleges. If all you wanted was a pat on the back and an affirmation of “of course you have a 100% change of getting in!” you shouldn’t have invited a response.</p>
<p>" Students do go to community college, transfer to the state flagship, and go on to top PhD programs in their majors after that. Starting at community college is nothing to be ashamed of. "</p>
<p>I’m sure it happens, but I have also met a handful of people that received perfect GPAs at community colleges, transferred to a large state flagship school, and were dejected when they couldn’t receive anything higher than a C in their science and engineering courses at the 4 year college. </p>
<p>I guess it proably depends on the locality of the community college - ones in more affluent areas that have stronger public high schools surrounding them are probably better feeder schools than smaller community colleges in more rural areas.</p>
<p>I’m not calling you a liar, kenzeig, but I was hoping that there is more to the story than you were sharing. As reported, you are merely a whiner who got bad grades and is now blaming the teachers. Reputable colleges will want to know what happened to your grades this year. Even, “I overcommitted and crashed, and this year I cut back” or “I partied too hard and have now learned my lesson” is more compelling than “My teachers are lousy and hate me and everyone else.” It’s a safe bet that you’d get a lot more sympathy with the two former explanations than with the last one. Of course, as I said before, you can play it as it stands - but no, you won’t be getting into your dream school or any other reputable school with your current approach.</p>
