<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school and I'm worried about my current math grade. First off, I really would like to go to a school like NYU or Boston University for college. The problem is that, currently, my honors precalc grade for the semester is a D+. I dont know if I should withdraw and switch into normal precalculus and get an A, but I will still have a withdrawal on my transcript, or if I should just try to work super hard and probably still have a D+/C range grade for my final.</p>
<p>My GPA is still a 3.75 and I had a 3.945 GPA all freshman year, but this is on a weighted scale. I am also taking AP American Studies, and I do have a pretty good grade in that class.</p>
<p>Basically, i need to know which is better looking on my transcript...a withdrawal, with improved grades afterward, or a poor, but passing grade in the same class? What do you think?</p>
<p>I was in this exact position last year, and I can feel your pain.
Honestly, the best advice I think I can give you is weight it out, the pros and con of leaving or staying. In my personal situation, I had a C- and was suffering everyday in that class. No matter how hard I tried, it simply did not stick as quickly as it clicked for others. I kept deliberating if I should stay or not, asking everyone for advice…While I was good at math sometimes, I decided the stress was not worth it since I also have no passion for math. I dropped down in the 3rd quarter of junior year, and while I don’t know if I could have stuck it out/whether it was the right decision, I’m in a much happier place- class environment, grades and all.</p>
<p>Yea, I agree with that the above poster said. If it’s worth anything, I think that an A in a regular class would trump a D in an Honors/AP class through the eyes of an adcom.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Drop down to regular Precalculus, you are already ahead (most people at my school take Precalculus during their senior year). However if you are planing to move on to calculus, you want to make sure you have that strong foundation, if this course was a struggle because of the material, then maybe some tutoring, or one of those Precalculus practice CDs for the computer.
If your grade is just due to not doing homework, studying, or that kind of thing, make sure you manage your time to allow enough focus on it.</p></li>
<li><p>I know at my school we can retake a class and have our new grade replaced with the old one. You could drop it, add any half year course you’ll need to take in the future to get that out of the way, then take it next year and get an A (you’re already ahead, so no worries about falling behind.) </p></li>
<li><p>If your school allows you to take online classes, drop your current class, take it online and finish over the summer, then start calculus in 11th grade, if you wish.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is a no-brainer. Drop a level and take the withdraw. The amount of stress this causes and the time it consumes that you could be spending on other classes and ECs, isn’t worth it. The withdraw will protect your GPA and class rank (double check this to make sure given the policies at your school). Your GC might say, in his or her rec, that not EVERY class you took was the most rigorous, but if you have a rigorous program overall, you have nothing to worry about.</p>