Middle School Foreign Language Ruined a Potential 4.0 GPA

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hi fellow CC’ers, I hope to get your opinion on this…

I am a Freshman in (obviously, High School.) and am currently challenging myself with a rigorous course load, to challenge myself and some top tier schools, and of course, Ivies. I have a really competitive spirit so I just find myself wanting to take more rigorous classes, but not to the point where I lack sleep. I know my limits. Anyways, back to topic.

Often, we’re supposed to start high school on a clean slate, AKA what you do from 9th grade up matters. I did Algebra 1 and Geometry along with Physical Science in 7th and 8th, and had Agriculture as my elective. I really wanted to transfer out (oops…) and the only class available was Spanish 1. I got a 89 and 87 each semester (2 Bs) , and it was my first new language, as anybody else. I didn’t think this was a core class until I found out at the last quarter… Nor did I know it was a high school class! Spanish 1 is often an easy A, and honestly I don’t know what I did wrong… This year I’m taking Spanish 2, and have 102% in the class due to 100s and extra credit. It just seems so unnatural to me. I feel restless about that one 8th grade class, and hearing that retakes are possible can really make the past history change, I really want to retake it.

If the opportunity to retake such class is possible, I could finish it within 1 month max, and so I spoke with my guidance counselor but she said I could only do so if I had a C or lower. But I know it’s possible as I’ve heard of many people doing so, but I really don’t know how. I haven’t taken Spanish 1 online yet, so I could but I don’t know for sure.

Does anybody know how to retake a class? I’m not doing it for my GPA, I just feel it’s awkward and I’d like to reinstate my knowledge in Spanish 1.
…

But if it’s not possible, I’ll just further continue what I have been doing. Do any of you know if Ivies and other colleges see 8th grade classes? Technically, it is a high school class, but on my transcript, it does say Grade 8. Nonetheless, it’s really irking me…

Thank you in advance. I really want to redo it.

2

you said you didn’t think Spanish was a core class, maybe you didn’t take it seriously the first time you took it. I don’t recommend retaking it… An 8th grade class will probably not have a huge influence in college admissions, and you would be wasting time when you could be doing something more productive.

3

@MPC6789 Core class or not, I take all of my classes seriously. I really, really don’t know why that has happened, I’ve gotten 0s in places of tests when I was came back from absence and that probably did something. Trust me when I say I can finish really quickly, I have a good basis in Spanish and it’s only my Freshman year, I have some time to kill. It’s good that it doesn’t have a influence but it would be better if I did retake it, I’m really insistent if there’s a way to do it. Thanks for your feedback, I’ll keep your opinion in my mind. :slight_smile:

4

normally colleges only look at high school grades & gpa. if you just want to retake the class for the grade, don’t. you are already doing very well in your Spanish 2 class, so there is no reason to “reinstate” your Spanish 1 knowledge. you still have three more years of high school to get good grades, and a B in an 8th grade class shouldn’t matter once you’re applying to college. don’t worry about it!

5

@paraguas If what you say is true, then I’d be pretty happy right now but that grade really does affect my UW GPA and I suppose my weighted GPA as well. I’m not working much harder than I was in Spanish 1 now in Spanish 2, so that just-- it’s just internal conflict and I’d really like to have less to worry about. I’m not doing it for just the grade, but for myself-- to feel a bit more comforted, and this is probably the only class I’d ever retake in my high school years. So if you truly know the option to how to retake it, I’d really love to know— but I appreciate your words and in the case that it doesn’t work out, I’ll be happy to take your advice.

6

well I’m not sure if anyone here is going to know how you can retake the class, since it most likely depends on your school. I would ask someone at your school to find out if 1) the grade from 8th grade Spanish 1 will be counted in your gpa and 2) how to retake that class if you really want to.

7

@paraguas Don’t need to ask, already asked a million times others at my school including GC (who sadly retires soon). It unfortunately is factored into GPA and is on transcript. GC says it’s not possible unless I had a C or lower, but the reason I ask this is because I KNOW it is possible, I’ve heard of people who have, but I’m not sure how they do it. I await anymore replies, and maybe I can rephrase a little…

-Apex Learning Virtual School doesn’t state specifics to retake a class, and I’m willing to try it since I believe it is compatible with other schools and mine as well, if I take it Part-time. I’ll probably try and call them later about their policies, but until now I’d like to hear some more opinions! (:

8

First of all, I think most schools don’t allow students to retake classes to get an A, this is a normal and reasonable policty, they’ve told you that you can’t and they aren’t going to re-write your school rules for you personally. It doesn’t matter what some other school’s policy is. It matters what your school’s policy is. In any case, you’ve already moved on to more advanced material. Retaking it would be a waste of time and actually counterproductive. Forget about this and do something worthwhile with your time.

9

It is not going to be a deal breaker getting in to an Ivy with your Spanish 1 rolled in. Your school may include it in their GPA calculation but a college is not going to worry about it.My kids took geometry and alg 2 in middle school and though they were high school classes, they dont get credited as high school credits nor do they count in their GPAs. Move on and forget it.

10

Even if it does count in your HS GPA, it won’t make or break your ivy chances statistically speaking. Tons of people get accepted to all the ivies every year who don’t have a 4.0 UW.

11

@Studious99 Unfortunately that seems to be the mindset I’m on.
@mathyone I don’t plan to try with my school again. It may be counterproductive to take that course again, but this is really what I want-- it wouldn’t take all that long either. But since the majority of you are very strongly opposing, I’ll think more about if this is really the best choice.

12

You aren’t going to be able to redo everything in life that you feel you didn’t learn perfectly or do perfectly on. There aren’t enough days in a lifetime to take that approach. What is important is to learn from the situation if it bothers you so much. The primary objective of all of your course work should be to learn the material. Obviously, you are doing well in Spanish 2, which says that you mastered the material well enough in Spanish 1 to have the foundation that you need. You certainly can retake the course for your own edification even if it has no impact on your GPA, but why? Ego? It really won’t matter, and again this approach is not sustainable. Learning and reaching a certain level of mastery is far more important.

13

@NorthernMom61
Thank you for your opinion. It’s not for ego, but I feel it was unfair. If not possible to retake it, then is there a way to report the class as inadequate or so? I don’t know. I should have gotten around it, and it’s not for the base. I had holes of 0s in tests because I had forgotten to remind the teacher, while I won’t forget if I retake it online. There are advantages and disadvantages, and I do plan to go to go all the way to AP Spanish. It’s just my request to retake it… I guess it just won’t happen hm? ):

14

As many other posters already said, your school will most likely not permit you retaking the class and there is really no point in retaking Spanish 1. You stated that you want to retake the class for reasons other than raising your GPA, but later invalidated that statement by saying “This year I’m taking Spanish 2, and have 102% in the class due to 100s and extra credit.” You don’t seem to be struggling in class so why do you feel the need to retake Spanish 1?
Is it “to feel a bit more comforted”? Life is not always going to be comfortable and there are going to be times were you can’t go back and fix mistakes. You need to accept the grades you got in Spanish 1 and move on. There is no longer anything you can do to change that grade and all you can do is work hard and try not to make the same mistakes in the future as you did before.

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@latiere Step back a bit. This problem has nothing to do with Spanish 1. You are obsessing. You are distressed that you have a grade that you feel is “imperfect.” My guess is that you are a perfectionist in many areas of life. It’s OK to be a perfectionist, but when you do not achieve it and, as a result, feel uncomfortable, worried, unnatural, restless, and irked (all your words), then it is bordering on OCD. Maybe you can talk to someone about it because as the stresses of HS bear down, these types of maladaptive traits can bubble up further.

16

Okay. I’ll settle down and try to forget about it. A lot of people got terrible grades in that class, and I know I should blame myself for my grade. Sorry for my insistent behavior. Thank you all for your opinions and help. :slight_smile:

17

It is 100% irrelevant in your college admissions process. A perfect 4.0 is NOT required for admission to any college in the country, even for an unhooked student. You might want to read “How To Be a High School Superstar” by Cal Bewport to gain some perspective on this.

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Thanks @intparent , I’ll definitely check it out!

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Sorry, phone typo, it is Newport.

20

I’ll forget about changing my grade, hopefully it won’t affect too much for my chances into top colleges.
I was kind of SCARED after reading some of the accepted stats of HYPSM here and other sites. Will going up to AP Spanish do any good? I love Spanish now that I have an amazing teacher and I understand all the concepts much easier due to her now. In fact, I feel like I might do other languages once I’m finished with the max I can do with Spanish. Thanks guys again.