Sorry for posting twice - but I may have posted in the wrong forum and time is short!
S has finally decided on his school and he thought he would make sure there would be no issues in August when final transcripts come out. He got a D in the first semester of AP Calc BC which is the reason for concern. When he called the large state flagship he is planning to commit to they told him they would investigate and get back to him about it on Friday. He still hasn’t heard back.
Should we be worried? He will have 6 math credits (due to two Comp Sci classes) total so even if he failed this class he has enough to graduate. All other classes have been maintained at the similar grade levels to junior year and the Calc BC grade has gone up a bit. Another more selective school had advised him to stay the course regardless of grade (he had considered dropping down to AP Calc AB) as they preferred to see that he challenged himself. We did not think that the largest college (CLA) in one of the largest state schools could have an issue if this one did not.
Feeling a bit stressed with not having a firm answer yet. Do we need to start thinking about a plan B school? He has other good options but he had such a hard time finally narrowing it down to this one that it’s disappointing to be in this situation now.
Yes he should be stressed. The general rule is no Ds, Fs or felonies. He should be working on getting that grade up so the EOY grade is a C or better. You may want to check with the HS GC to see what their experience is.
Well, it depends on the school he’s applying to. UC’s have the no D’s and F’s rule, but you can make up the grade with a online UC-approved class (which is what I’m doing now). Even Cal States will decline you if you do not make up the grade somehow. Talk to his school counselor about online classes or makeup possibilities and sign up for a community college right away as backup. Hope this helps!
The admission counselor returned the call but gave a somewhat non-commital answer. Generally they do not rescind for one low grade - looking at dips across the board. However they do not guarantee anything until they see the final transcript (standard procedure) but also they don’t really look at his AP score too closely either which is disappointing. His teacher is very tough - doesn’t give part marks and each test only has 8 questions. He is on target for a 4 or 5 on the AP exam - shows he has learned the material - doesn’t seem fair to penalize him for toughing it out to learn the material - even though he struggled through he did learn it.
@mikemac - on another day I would laugh at the Onion - don’t feel it so much today. And not so much about fair but isn’t the end point to learn? Who cares what the grade is if he can show that he ultimately learned the material on the AP test? Final exam doesn’t count for enough to change a grade too much.