<p>My Sat scores and my GPA are good but the only problem is that in my Freshmen Year I received a "C" in Geometry Hon. In my Application I put that I earned the grade based on my work ethic and that I fully deserve the grade based on my performance/attitude in the class. How badly with this affect me and how will the admission board react to my explanation?</p>
<p>Honest ownership of prior mistakes is ALWAYS the right thing. Rest assured that you handled it correctly.</p>
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<p>I really don’t think you should’ve said that. I think you should’ve just let the grade speak for itself. It’s already sort of a scarlet letter, and you burned it in more by saying that you deserved it, and it was based on your work ethic. This brings questions. If I’m looking at a transcript and see a single aberrant grade, the first questions that would come to my mind are, was there an issue with the teacher? was something wrong with this course? I wouldn’t question your work ethic at all. As for me, I got one horrible grade, and I never mentioned it anywhere in my application/recommendations.</p>
<p>plus it happened frosh year. a crap grade frosh year is forgiveable, one junior year is not.</p>
<p>Your honesty is awesome, they’ll appreciate that over some bs struggle.</p>
<p>I agree with pbr 100%.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everybody :)</p>
<p>Don’t worry, since it’s freshman year - and that’s absolutely understandable.
but if I were you, I would not reinforce it in the “explanation part”, just let the grade speak for itself.</p>
<p>Your explanation doesn’t help in any way. At best, it’s neutral. More likely, it sounds totally ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>You should only explain a bad grade if you offer a credible reason why you couldn’t have done better. An explanation may entail being sick, having family issues, etc. It’s not an explanation to say “I got a C because I was lazy” because it doesn’t show any circumstance that prevented you from doing better.</p>
<p>@Columbia2002. I wanted to convey the message that I’m someone who is honest/reliable and that I am someone who doesn’t use excuses.</p>
<p>You can neutralize that grade with A’s earned on your subsequent math courses. Don’t worry at all about it!</p>
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<p>A C in a math class doesn’t put your honesty or your reliability into question. It indicates that you might suck at math, not that you’re dishonest and unreliable.</p>
<p>Hahha. The only thing that the one C+ on my transcript says is that I suck at calculus. Nothing more. lol.</p>
<p>It’s a freshman year grade. I don’t think there’s any need to explain it. I would have just said nothing. By CALLING ATTENTION TO IT, you might just be hurting yourself.</p>
<p>One of my friends tried to drop one of his classes last year because he wanted to take it over the summer and take another elective instead.</p>
<p>The registrar screwed up and didn’t drop it… As a result, he got an F in Spanish.</p>
<p>He took it over the summer and replaced the grade points completely. How should he explain it? Will they believe him? How much will it hurt him?</p>