<p>He must report that grade for college admissions and for future grad admissions or jobs which require university transcripts from all institutions attended.</p>
<p>Considering the student’s in high school, that B will actually work in his favor as he’s challenging himself to the utmost.</p>
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<p>The part about grad students being happy with a B is NOT true of many grad students, especially in academic graduate programs (MA/MS/PhD) or law school. A B in the former is viewed by advisers/grad school deans as a C in undergrad and most grad students in such programs view it as such…especially considering -B IS A FAILING GRADE in most such programs from what I’ve seen and heard. Some programs will “counsel” grad students with too many Bs to “consider other options”(a.k.a. Invited to leave). </p>
<p>A friend in an HYPSMC STEM department knew a couple of younger classmates in his cohort who were scolded by their adviser by having a few Bs studding their transcript within their first year as grad students. </p>
<p>With law students, having a B means they’re probably in the middle to bottom half of their law school class in that course which may dent their GPAs to the point they may have a much harder time landing a job…especially if they’re attending a law school ranked lower than the T-14 or sometimes…even T-6. </p>
<p>Someone who graduates law school with a 3.3 or lower GPA after 2008 tends to have the most difficult time finding gainful legal employment…even within the T-14 as some lawyer/law school grad friends recounted/experienced.</p>
<p>I think grades in college depends on the college/ field. Some do have a lot of grade inflation it’s true-but I think schools are trying to get away from that.
My D even received Cs! in college, but still recieved generous funding for grad school.</p>
<p>At any rate, not listing it still leaves the possibility the GC will mention it.</p>
<p>Lots of kids take cc classes- either as official DE or for their own purposes. Has nothing to do with matriculating at a cc and accumulating enough credits to later be viewed as a transfer.</p>
<p>He can add a note about the class choice, without treating the B as a loss. Not necessarily even mentioning the grade in this note. Just a sentence explaining the interest. Make it a positive.</p>
<p>Things must have changed since my day if a B in grad school is now the defacto F! When I was in grad school, the C was the “failure”, and managing to scrape through an extremely demanding class with a B was cause for celebration. Everyone I knew had at least one of those.</p>
<p>There is no earthly reason why a high school kid needs to explain or apologize for a B in a 400 level college course!!</p>
<p>PLEASE make sure that your son does not expect himself to get an A in every class in college. I remember too many students jumping off bridges at Cornell back in my day. And anxious students in my support group at Ithaca College.</p>
<p>Highly intelligent kids can get a real shock when they start college and start being challenged in ways that they hadn’t been before. Suddenly they aren’t the smartest kid in the classroom any more and are surrounded by equally (or superior) peers. It can be a very difficult adjustment.</p>
<p>To Op: The comment below the quote only applies to actual grad students in MA/MS/PhD programs, not high school students or undergrads taking grad courses for high school/undergrad credit. </p>
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<p>I’m not sure this is recent considering several boomer-aged folks I knew who attended grad school* in the '60s kept referring to B+ grades or 88s as “High Pass” grades while I was in HS/undergrad. </p>
<p>Didn’t really get that until several older friends in grad school and some Profs mentioned that B+ is the genuine minimal acceptable grade in grad courses in an academic MA/MS/PhD program. </p>
<p>A few went so far as to explain that a part of this was prevailing thinking that if a grad student in the coursework stage could only muster low B grades at the most, then he/she doesn’t have the expected academic proficiency/perceived “seriousness” to be perceived as a viable scholar at the MA/MS/PhD level. </p>
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<li>Ranged from elite public like Berkeley to HYPSMC and fields ranged from engineering/CS to history/philosophy/linguistics.</li>
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<p>DD took a dual credit college course in high school which fulfilled a high school graduation requirement and gave her college credit. She DID list it on her college applications and had the transcript sent to her school. Her grade in this course was NOT included in her college GPA (too bad…she had an A).</p>
<p>^^Thanks for explaining the difference in perception of grades for undergrad and grad school.</p>
<p>My fundamental question in the OP was whether the student was REQUIRED to submit a transcript for a college course he took basically to explore a big area of interest given the opportunity to study under a highly-regarded visiting professor. I think when he signed up for the course, it never occurred to him that this class would be part of his permanent academic record.</p>
<p>In retrospect the student probably should have chosen to audit the class because as it turns out, it wasn’t really a great fit for a number of reasons. He might have stopped going midway through, if he’d had the option. And not because the material was difficult, but because his project groups were logistically challenging for a 16 year old to work with-late night work sessions, edgy/artsy young adults, too big an age gap for comfort.</p>
<p>Conclusion: the student WILL submit the transcript, and won’t be making any statement regarding why he took the class and/or why the grade wasn’t an A. Accepting the challenge, completing the class, and receiving a well-earned B will have to speak for itself. </p>
<p>Thanks to those of you who helped frame this as a really strong performance in an upper division class, and nothing to feel embarrassed about. Honestly, when kids like this see a B on a report card, they tend to hyperventilate. I’m sure there will be some Bs in his college future, but for now, having to apply to college with ANY Bs on a transcript, in the peer group he runs with, is unusual. You can judge this all day long, but it’s the path he loves.</p>
<p>For those who have expressed concern about the mental status of this kid, really he’s a fairly typical high-achieving kid shooting for the moon. He’s taken his interests very far and this is just one example among many of where he has pushed a limit most would consider unlikely for a high school kid. No one is pushing him. He’s just got a lot of ability and ambition, and is willing to take intellectual risks. Let’s hope that quality continues!</p>
<p>“Accepting the challenge” is the key here. While maintaining a good GPA in a rigorous high school curriculum, this kid went above and beyond. That’s impressive. Period. No matter the outcome.</p>
<p>Agree with others… He must check the box. A B in an advanced college class will likely HELP, not hurt his application, and he should NOT try to explain it away.</p>
<p>emeraldkity4, I don’t know of any college where one college class taken during high school makes you a transfer (although I do think there are colleges where even one class taken after high school does make you a transfer). Each school makes its own determination about what is a transfer student.</p>
<p>UChiMom–colleges do distinguish between post-secondary options (dual enrollment) and random college classes taken for “fun”. If the class does not show up on their high school transcript it is just a college class taken and it can very much affect their freshman status if they have taken too many of those classes. If you read how these are accepted at pretty much every college they all say that in order to maintain freshman status the class must also show on their high school transcript. There is a HUGE difference and it can mean THOUSANDS in merit awards for people that are not aware of this. In the OP’s case had he taken more than one of these classes he would have run into issues.</p>
<p>Source, please? (And no, the post from UofC is not supportive of your point.)</p>
<p>both of my kids took numerous college courses, none of which were added to the HS transcript – it would have hurt their weighted gpa - but no college to which they applied, cared.</p>
<p>I completely agree. The student showed intellectual initiative in taking the class that is for more important to his application than the fact that he got a B. I think a B is an excellent grade in the circumstances.</p>