I am torn , my son transferred in to a school that was more focused on Project Lead the Way PLTW as a high school sophomore, he had done the minimum PLTW course at his former high school for a number of reasons he doubled up in PLTW classes last year. Due to COVID there was no PLTW exam. Normally the exam determines college credit eligibility. Due to no exam the university that the high school partners with is allowing credit based on the final grade. He got an 89 in one class it is the most rigorous PLTW class at his school. I am torn because we have to ask fir credit and the will assign him a C. Will this hurt his chances for applications to college? I understand it will impact his GPA if he eventually enrolls in the school. So far he is 3 credits with the University from an actual university class, he earned an A. He will get a B on the other class. All three classes are equally waited at 3 credits , so his overall GPA would be a 3.0, but will the C on the college course hurt his prospects? Will they understand that this is linked to a high school B (a high B of 89)? Do we need to explain this or manage expectations? Or do we not apply for the class, it is an engineering class? And simply apply for the PLTW class he will get a B in and only have 6 credits vs 9?
Also I don’t think he will have over 30 college credits , so is the college GPA not relevant at all?
Or does he need to avoid Cs in all college classes to get in to a good school (regardless if he hits the 30 credits transfer range)?
Anyone have any advice or run Into anything similar?
Our system is different. If the student wants dual credit, they have to decide the first week or so of class, and then they must get a C or better on the final exam to actually get the credit. Waiting to see one’s final grade and then retroactively applying for the credit is not an option.
For undergrad admissions, I would think colleges would look at the 89 that he earned and not the C that the DE college would translate that to. That B+ won’t kill his chances. I have heard of high schools curving the final grade so that the high school grade may not match the college grade for the same class (though our school doesn’t do that), but it does seem a little unfair that they’d dock him down to a C with never having had the chance to take the final exam.
However, since you are being given the choice, I would advise the student to avoid a C on the college transcript. It probably won’t be averaged into the student’s college GPA (it could be, but it is unlikely), but it would be averaged in on a grad program application. One would hope those graduate AOs would not consider a high school grade to be a big determining factor, but I wouldn’t want to put that on the table if it could be avoided.
The only reason to leave it on the transcript is because some colleges do give small scholarships for PLTW students. From your original post, though, it seems he has multiple PLTW classes already, so he could still be eligible by way of those other PLTW classes.
Seems like in the absence of exams or other assessments to assign a letter grade due to COVID-19, giving a passed / not-passed grade would be more appropriate than giving a letter grade, especially a C that can be a negative in many contexts.
When a high school student applies to colleges, generally all college courses taken while in high school will be included in academic records that will be used. If a dual enrollment course assigns different grades for high school and college records, check with the college being applied to as to how that is handled.
Thanks. Things don’t work out for us. Both of us (Mom and Dad) told him each assignment, each point counts but obviously it didn’t sink in.
On a credit / tuition cost basis the class worth $4000+ at the school (University of New Haven) but Mom doesn’t want a C on his GPA and there is a chance that he might attend the school so he would have to live with the C.
When I was a kid I would have taken the C.
Thanks again now on to thinking about scholarships, I don’t expect anything, high B average student, currently junior, few honor classes, PLTW, scout currently life rank (Eagle not likely), JV soccer (starting goalie / second string defense) Varsity not sure if he is officially on team rooster or not as he only played part of 1 game as goalie (they had a ten point lead) and a few minutes in another as 4th string defensive sub, basically third string goalie (backup to backup) for varsity. Will complete calculus for math (school graduation requirement). Any hope or suggestions for scholarships?
Is the course in question any of those listed here?
https://www.newhaven.edu/academics/centers-institutes/project-lead-way/college-credit.php
If so, is it a course that will be required for his major if he attends University of New Haven?
University of New Haven requires two PLTW courses to be eligible for PLTW-based scholarships:
https://www.newhaven.edu/_resources/documents/engineering/project-lead-way/pltw-brochure.pdf
If he attends University of New Haven, and the course with the C grade is actually useful for fulfilling requirements, then he may want to accept it with the C grade. But he should remember that many employers use a 3.0 college GPA screen when deciding whom to interview after campus recruiting, so he needs to offset the C grade with enough grades higher than B.
University of New Haven does use +/- in its normal grading:
http://catalog.newhaven.edu/content.php?catoid=4&navoid=639
If your son ever decides to apply to medical school, he will be required to list grades from all college coursework----this includes dual-credit, and I’d strongly recommend against taking the dual-credit if he’ll have a C in the course.
Arizona schools provide automatic scholarships based on test scores + GPA.