Senior Grades

<p>For those interested about Harvey Mudd's views on second semester senior grades, I thought I would pass along that my son, who is starting Mudd this fall, just got an email asking him to explain 3 of his second semster grades which they charaterized as "uncharateristically low" and "not consistent with the high quality of your work in first semester." They made it clear that his acceptance was not in jeopardy at all, but that he just needed to provide an explanation. </p>

<p>So what were these sorry grades that required him to write such a letter? 2 B's and a B-! His other 3 grades were As. I was a bit floored by this, as we didn't think that Bs would be a problem at all, even though he had gotten straight As the previous 2 semseters. Many of his friends got C's second semester as they struggled with senioritis. I never heard of any school issuing such a letter for a few Bs.</p>

<p>Not sure if this is typical at Mudd for any grade lower than an A (or maybe a B+), but I thought I'd pass this along, as he figured that Bs were not a big problem, and they obviously were of some concern. Again, there is no risk on his acceptance, but he does have to explain himself.</p>

<p>For current Mudd students, is this typical? What's the scoop here?</p>

<p>If there is not a danger to his acceptance then perhaps they are just trying to make him think twice about slacking off once he gets here. Otherwise the explaining himself part makes no sense unless it is mean to be self-gaining in some way.</p>

<p>As Seiken siad, their probably trying to make it clear that slacking is not going to cut it once he gets to Mudd and he needs to pick up his attitude over the summer. Those grades are by no means bad, but if he got into Mudd, he was probably quite capable of a higher quality of work, especially if those classes weren’t “honors”. </p>

<p>I know that my own slacking (I was falling asleep during AP tests, and then did absolutely nothing over the summer) came back to bite me during my freshman year. Mudd expects more than any school, which is wayyyy more than my public school, and it was really hard to pick my self up from coasting to working harder than I ever had in H.S.</p>

<p>I don’t know why he has to explain though. Maybe they just want him to take the letter seriously.</p>

<p>LOL. That’s ridiculous. I know we Mudders are a hard-working group and that most GPA’s are pretty high, but sending a letter demanding explanation for a 3.5 GPA during the second semester of your son’s senior year is absurd. Mudd is weird, but not <em>that</em> weird. I mean, having a 3.5 after his first year at Mudd is going to be something to celebrate!</p>

<p>I don’t think this is uncharacteristic at all. Maybe a drop from 4.0-ish to 3.5-ish is stronger than usual, but Mudd is just being pedantic at this point.</p>

<p>So I don’t know. Think some grade-A BS. “This year’s valedictorian speech theme was even lamer than last year’s, so I needed a sure-fire way to make sure I didn’t have to die of embarrassment. Short of getting expelled, I decided that lowering my GPA was preferable to certain death.”</p>

<p>A silly request like this demands a silly response.</p>

<p>What was his explanation?</p>

<p>Thanks for the repsonses. I too though it’s a bit absurd. His overall GPA at the time of acceptance was a 3.8, so he certainly got some Bs before (although not the previous 2 semesters). I won’t suggest a silly response, as they obviously take it seriously, although it would be tempting. I assume that they just wa</p>

<p>His main reason is that he missed a lot of school second semester (around 20 days) due to various (worthwhile) activites such as All State Choir and the Vex Robotics World Competition (in which his team came in 3rd) as well as being sick, so he missed a lot and didn’t quite get everything made up or do quite as well as he would have normally. He also had a lead in the school play and had his senior proejct. I think he bit off a bit more than he could chew, but they were all veryworthwhile activities. I guess he thought it wouldn’t matter if he had a few Bs his last semester. He also had a couple of very tough teachers, one of which didn’t give many As last semseter, and while first semseter he really pushed for it, he just coudln’t pull it off second semetser (but he doens’t want to make it sound like he is blaming the teachers). He certainly did suffer from some senioritis as well. It’s hard to give that final push your last semster when you are so busy with APs, senior projects and activities (he was way overextended this year in ECs). He’ll figure it out and write something, I just think it’s amusing and was curious if others were made to do this for a few Bs.</p>

<p>That sounds very convincing. I would advise that your son paraphrase what you just wrote.</p>

<p>Yeah, but my son doesn’t like to take any help from me!</p>