Hi,
Do RD colleges like Ivy’s for example, ask for your first semester grades or your quarter grades in college applications? I know they ask for the “mid-year report” but my second quarter won’t be completed by the RD deadline. Does that mean that they look at the first quarter? If so, how much will a bad grade like a C factor into admissions for AP Chem first quarter?
If the semester grades come out fairly soon after the RD deadline they will use those. The colleges don’t hold things out of your control against the student.
Talk to your guidance counselor. He/she will know what grades get sent every year from your HS to RD schools.
And you can guess for yourself how a C in AP Chem will look to top tier colleges – it won’t cause anyone to dismiss your application but it won’t help your case.
Those colleges that require a mid-year report, which includes many of the high ranks, do not expect to receive that mid-year report until after the application deadline. The mid-year report is something that is supposed to provide your first semester grades and is supposed to be sent after the typical early to mid-January application deadline and after your semester final exams end, and if it arrives by early Feb, you will be fine.
Note, there are some higher ranks, like the UCs, which do not want a mid-year report and do not want your first semester grades unless they notify you that you should send them after you have applied. That is because they typically use only grades through junior year to determine admission.
The only time you should be reporting first quarter (mid semesrer grades) is when you apply early action or early admission to a college that specifically requests first quarter grades when you get them (only a small number make that request)…
A C in AP CHem may indicate you are not ready for top tier freshman classes…so I would work very hard in getting that grade up for next semester so you can show you have adjusted to the rigor.
Here are tips: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class-p1.html