I've probably failed AP Physics C: Mechanics with less than a C.
Last semester I was barely able to pass with an 80 and, despite studying very hard, I was only able to get a 75 BEFORE the final exam, which I've probably failed.
Would the school still accept me if I were to write an appeal or explain my situation in advance? Should I mention in the appeal that there's been serious problems with academic dishonesty (as in nearly every student on a laptop) involving every test taken this year, about which other students under the same teacher have complained about in past years to no effect?
TL;DR : Failing AP physics c, wondering if UCSB would accept an appeal.
*I was admitted to UCSB as an English major into the Honors program this spring with a GPA of about 3.8 and a SAT score of 2280. NO OTHER COLLEGE ACCEPTED ME. By the end of this year I will have taken 7 AP’s, and I received a 5 in the one I took last year. I have 2 A’s, 4 B’s, and 1 C, and I’m aware that UCSB will accept a 3.0 GPA. I have a fairly good resume w/ enough extracurriculars to have been accepted in the first place. Literally, this is my one problem.
Thank you in advance!
Edit: my gpa for UC is actually 4.05
You need to contact UCSB admissions and explain your situation. Posters can only guess what will happen and I am sure they will make a decision on a case by case basis.
Good Luck.
Even if every other kid cheated there doesn’t seem to be any link to your not learning the material well enough to pass. As general advice, blaming a bad teacher or circumstances does not come off well. The UCs require you to notify them of a grade less than a C, I believe. So if I was in your shoes I’d send them a letter/email immediately rather than waiting until they get your final transcripts and look at them later in the summer. Maybe go see if your GC has a contact in UCSB admissions they can check with. A good letter accepts responsibility and doesn’t try to deflect it, apologizes, and says what you’ll do differently in the future to avoid a repeat.
Maybe they say this one grade is ok, or maybe they ask you to take a summer makeup course. And while hoping for the best, it is only reasonable to prepare for the worst. You should look into the registration deadlines for local CC’s or perhaps into going away to a CC such as SBCC which would give you much of the UCSB experience. A few hours planning for a worst-case outcome would be time well spent, IMHO, so that you don’t find deadlines have passed.
Thanks for the responses.
As for the cheating- well, I guess that I just felt it defined what grade I got in my class, though I’ll be sure not to include it in my appeal. My teacher grades on a curve and, up until the second half of this semester, he had been using this online program to test us. However, this online program had a loophole that basically allowed anyone to change the settings and look up the answers mid-test w/o consequence. Basically, for the majority of the year there were several people who had never studied a single day in the class who received A’s, and those who bothered to study gave up when they got lower grades than the people who cheated. It was common knowledge for years, but I didn’t realize until it was too late to change classes. When I tried to tell my guidance counselor about it, she literally knew which teacher I was referring to before I even mentioned his name. However, the school has never addressed or acknowledged the problem, so I assume that they are waiting for the teacher to retire in a year or two to save face. They know that too many people have cheated for there to be any real reason to punish anyone. I just hate the institutional cynicism behind the whole affair, and this pressure to cheat or fall behind.
Sorry; I just had to vent a little.
I don’t have any super legit info, but on UCSB’s SchoolsApp I do remember a few students not being rescinded after getting lower than a C in a couple classes (I believe AP Calculus and Physics). So yeah, just do what everyone else is doing and contact admissions. Hope to see you in September!