Stressed and Scared Senior Needs Help

<p>Hey all,
I'm a senior, and I'm scared about what my transcript is becoming with my senior classes. Up until this point I've had a 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.833 weighted, taking nothing but Honors Classes and AP Classes all of high school. This year, I'm taking 5 APs, those APs being French V, English IV, Economics, Calculus AB and Calculus BC; however, I'm struggling.
I currently have C's in Calc and Economics, but A's in the rest of my classes. I'm not slacking off, nor do I have senioritis; I'm studying my butt off, and I'm getting no results. I don't know if this is because I'm just not good at the subjects, or if the teachers' teaching styles don't fit well with me. I have a tutor in Calculus. I'm just scared about colleges seeing these grades.
Hypothetically, if I were to end the year with all A's through high school except C's in Econ and Calc AB/BC (AB/BC being two separate grades), are colleges going to rescind my acceptances?
I'm currently applying to Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, and UNC, and applied for the Morehead. I have a strong application; I got a 2110 on my SAT, 4s and 5s on all of my AP exams, 710 on the US History Subject test, am President of my school's NHS Chapter, VP of my school's DECA Chapter, I attended my state's Governor's School, I've published two novels, I've won DECA awards on an international level, etc.etc.
I'm just really afraid my potential acceptances are going to get revoked if a college sees I have 3 C's on my final transcript, even if the rest of it is flawless.
Please help.</p>

<p>No one gets rescinded for C’s.</p>

<p>Your acceptances will not be revoked unless you fall apart academically or otherwise. The worst outcome of some C’s would be spending a semester on academic probation. </p>

<p>This shouldn’t be your concern now. You are worrying about revoked acceptances which you don’t have yet! Your more immediate concern would be your mid-term grade report which schools will see when evaluating your application ( that’s what I thought your post was about when I started reading). An upward vs downward trend in grades is always preferred obviously. On the other hand if the issue is a couple of anomalous grades, it’s not great but it 's not a deal breaker. Depending on how many C’s you really have on your transcript it would be worth addressing in some section of your app where you can discuss the situation. Just letting them sit there as if you don’t notice or care is a bad idea. Interviews might be a good time to discuss poor performance in any senior year classes (depending on school and interviewer - if you get an interview). You are applying to some of the most selective colleges and honors programs in the country and those C’s are of more concern to you now (before you’re in) than in June. </p>

<p>Think of it this way: the caliber of schools you are applying to receive many many apps from highly qualified students like you and they need to find reasons to accept some rather than others, so they will always be looking for indicators that a student might not flourish or succeed as well as another. I’m not saying this to discourage you at all, just to remind you to stay focused on what your object is in this process, and not let stress or irrational fears derail or confuse you. </p>

<p>I’m going to add one more comment and please take it as constructively as it’s meant. From the brief resume you provide, it seems clear that your strengths are your transcript and your EC’s. Your scores are OK but not outstanding for the schools you’re applying to. My D is applying to similar schools and she made the decision w her college counselor NOT to send her SAT’s which were 2250 and French 760, Bio 720. She is only sending her ACT 34 (except to Williams which requires SAT II’s so she’s taking 3 more SAT II’s next month hoping not to send the Bio). These scores are all good but you have to consider the pool you are being compared with. Don’t you need another SAT II btw?
So, your very interesting and strong EC’s plus high GPA are your defining strengths and that’s another reason not to ignore those C’s. </p>

<p>My D is also taking 5 AP’s right now plus other classes and she was struggling with AP Physics and Calc too. In fact she received her first failing grades ever on Physics quizzes, and was routinely scoring in the 80’s on Calc quizzes, again unheard of for her. Lots of people counseled her to drop down to Honors Physics or an easier math course, but she decided to do whatever it took and somehow she is ending the first quarter with nothing lower than an A-. You might have to stay after school for help or do whatever it takes to pull up those grades.</p>

<p>You only mention 4 colleges but I’m sure there are others on your list including a safety or two right? Harvard, Penn and Duke/Morehead are high reaches for everyone!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>It’s been my observation that people struggle with Econ, Calc and Physics, despite being strong students before, because they assume they know the answer rather than actually solving the problem. This is especially true with Physics and Econ, where the correct answers are often counterintuitive.</p>

<p>The key to econ is the graphs. Master them. Be able to manipulate them in your sleep. Everything flows from the graphs.</p>

<p>The key to physics is to open your mind and understand the definitions. Words mean something in physics. For example, D was having trouble the other day with the idea that her position could be becoming smaller are her speed increased. She was confusing speed with velocity. In everyday language, those two words as synonyms, in physics, they are two different, yet related, concepts.</p>

<p>Drop all your assumptions and just absorb the new knowledge, that’s the Zen answer.</p>