@anatomforpeace -You shouldn’t be the least bit worried. If you want, send an email to the admission office that explains almost exactly what you’ve explained here. A phone call isn’t necessary and you may just confuse the person you talk to if you phone. It’s better if he or she sees it in writing. But this is really not a problem at all.
thank you so much Sally! I feel a lot better, I’ll email them later today since I probably would have been a confusing, rambling mess on the phone 
Not so much that … but the person you speak to will probably be thinking, “This kid must have screwed up in a really big way for this phone call to be happening.” So he or she will be sitting there waiting for the other shoe to fall … expecting to hear about your Epic Fail. So that’s what could confuse the poor admission counselor who is bound to be wondering, “What am I missing here?” though the answer is NOTHING!
@Sally_Rubenstone Hello. I am an international applicant from India. I have had a severe drop in my final year grades. I was accepted at Purdue, do you think they would rescind my application?
Final year midterms ( The grades with which I applied)
Maths - 91/100
Physics - 89/100
Chemistry - 87/100
English - 90/100
Comp Science - 88/100
Overall - 89%
Final year end sems ( In the worst case scenario)
Maths - 85/100 ( Slight drop)
Physics - 90/100
Chemistry - 65-70/100 ( A very severe drop here)
English - 90/100
Comp Science - 80-85/100 ( Slight drop)
Overall - 81-83%
I wanted to know if there is a chance that Purdue might rescind my admission offer?
Hello, Sally. I was accepted to a university and already paid the deposit. Last November, I helped one of my friend cheat on a quiz, and we got caught. I felt really really remorseful about it. Because I have always been a good student and it was my first offense, school decided not to do anything about it. I wasn’t suspended or expelled. Counselor didn’t choose to report me to college either. When she sent in my mid year report, she didn’t mention my cheating incident at all. Now I’m approaching graduation, and I need to send in my final transcript, which won’t show “cheating” either. But I’m so worried that college is gonna find out some how, like my jealous peers or someone else reporting me to college. It’s not like I’m afraid of responsibility; it’s just that it was really my first offense, and I really regretful about it. But I have too much at stake. I’m an international student. I’m so worried that if college finds out, they are going to rescind my acceptance, then I will have nowhere to go but going back to my home country. I guess I can expect my high school principals and counselors to back me up if college finds out, but I just want to know is college going to forgive me for my mistake if it gets found out? I’m sorry that this is such a long message. I’m grateful for your time.
@michaelite … and for EVERYONE on this thread: I don’t think that Purdue will rescind this acceptance, but it’s that time of year now when almost everyone has made a college choice and yet there is typically still a while left before colleges will see your final grades (~1 to 3 months in most cases). So anyone who has concerns about a rescinded acceptance due to falling grades should contact the college directly rather than anguish about it on this CC forum. Don’t think that you will be pulling the wool over their eyes by staying silent … as if the college folks won’t notice a D or 3 C’s. Trust me, they will.So it’s better to address your concerns head on than to wait until July or August. If you act promptly, and the news is bad, you may be able to do some damage control before it’s too late. (This could range from agreeing to re-take a failed class over the summer to grabbing a last-minute spot at a different college.)
BUT … don’t jump the gun either. For instance, if you think that your grade is teetering between a C or a D, wait until you know for sure what it will be before contacting the admission office. For most of you, the grades should be final pretty soon. And if you’re fearful that your acceptance will be revoked, be pro-active. Don’t just contact the admission office and say, “My grades are down. What happens now?” Instead, explain briefly why the grades went down if there’s a legitimate reason beyond slacking. But be succinct. Don’t make a lot of whiny excuses. If you did everything you could to succeed … e.g., extra help, tutoring … be sure to say so. Then offer to re-take the class in the summer (if that’s at all possible) or to begin school on the fall on probation with regular check-ins with an advisor or dean.
Colleges really do not like to rescind acceptances, so if it looks like the student is trying to handle the situation responsibly, it can go along way toward keeping bad news at bay.
@mcdulldonalds - I can understand why your conscience may be keeping you up at night, but–at this point, I’d advise you to let this go. The Common Application says:
I assume that the discipline questions on other applications you completed (if any) were similar.
And, thus, if one goes by the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, you can answer “NO” to this question because your counselor chose to let the cheating episode go and not to punish you for it.
It seems highly unlikely to me that anyone at your college will find out about this and–if another jealous student were to rat you out–the college folks will either ignore it or they will contact your counselor who will surely explain that it was not a significant episode and was thus dismissed. The counselor will support you and then the whole thing will blow over. (Remember, the counselor has a reputation at stake here too and won’t want to say, “Yeah, I screwed up and should have busted this kid and told you about it.”)
So I really think you have nothing to worry about but I certainly hope that the stress of this incident will spur you to avoid future misdeeds. Colleges tend to take cheating infractions far more seriously than many high schools do, and you could pay a very high price if it should happen again. It sounds as if you’ve learned your lesson, and I certainly hope that you have.
Sally, thank you very much for your response! It is for sure that I have learned quite a lesson. I have thought about my mistake and its consequences over and over again in the past months. It was literally torturing me. Your words have given me so much comfort and I’m really grateful! You have eased my worries so much! I wish the best for you!
@mcdulldonalds -You’re welcome.
After 30+ years of working with teenagers, I’ve found that some students get so caught up in helping a friend who is stressed out over schoolwork that it can become all too easy to lose sight of the fact that this “help” is actually cheating. Some students who would never cheat on their own work may do something dishonest to save a friend.
But it’s important to realize --especially in college–that you can’t cross that line, no matter how much pressure you get from a friend. If you are worried about your friend, there are other ways to provide assistance … e.g., you can lead your friend by the hand to the college’s academic assistance center (every college has one, though the names will vary) or, if needed, to the counseling services.
Thank you Sally! After this incident, I certainly will not do anything like it ever again. It was one of the mistakes that I regret the most. Your words have really helped me a lot! I hope future readers can benefit from our conversation here.
@Sally_Rubenstone Firstly, thanks a lot. Actually in my country, we have school leaving exams. Now, chemistry has been one of my most solid subjects throughout high schools, continually scoring 90+ out of 100 ( I guess that counts as an A) for 3 years. However, on the day on the chemistry exam, I was suffering from diarrhoea, so I could barely sit for 3 hours, and so I did horribly at the exams. I lost my concentration and ended up making stupid mistakes and skipping easy questions, and am consequently scoring somewhere about 70 or lower ( which counts as a D I guess), in the worst case scenario , and that is why I was slightly worried. Though people from my country are telling me it should not be an issue, but I am tensed. Keeping my fingers crossed though. What do you suggest, should I inform Purdue right away our should I see if they ask me, as all of my other grades will be either A’s or B’s.
Hey Sally,
My uw GPA is a 3.5 and currently I am taking 5 classes.
I currently have an B in AP Physics, B in AP Gov, B in AP Lit, and an A in Music. However I currently have a borderline D(60) in Calculus.
However the Calculus isn’t a high school course it is a course taught by a nearby college however they do a joint program with my high school so I am taking it at my high school. If I send in my Calculus grade it will be sent separately and not under my high school transcript. Would I still get rescinded? Thank you so much for your time.
@thecoolboy1234 -You don’t say where you’re enrolling or if you were admitted to a specific major, and the answers to both of these questions could affect how a 60 in Calculus will be viewed. For instance, the UC schools would probably rescind your acceptance, regardless of major. Most other colleges will not. However, for some very specific majors (usually math or tech fields), Calc is required and thus your low grade could be a deal-breaker.
Chances are good that you’ll just get a warning (or nothing) but–as I said in another recent post–it’s time to check directly with the college you’ve selected. You aren’t going to be able to hide from this, and the fact that it’s a college-level class taught at your high school doesn’t mean that the admission folks will ignore it.
Again, you’ll probably be fine but it’s time to contact your college to ask.
Hey Sally,
I’d like to ask how much IB grades will count when rescinding college acceptances. I go to an British-system based international school outside the US; instead of GPA, we just apply with our internal test scores as well as our IB predicted grade (which holds high significance, at least for our school). I was predicted a 39 out of 45 possible IB points and was accepted to Cornell University regular decision.
My final IB exams started on Monday, and so far the tests have been fine (maybe a drop in one level). But the IB Chemistry exam is coming up and I seriously think that my actual grade could drop to a 4 in Chemistry HL (my predicted for HL Chem was 6). To make this potential drop in my Chem grade worse, my ‘intended major’ has something to do with Global Health Sciences, which I imagine would include copious amounts of science. With a few more points lost here and there, I think I could end up in the low 30s for my final grade. As we have no GPA and are required to send our final scores to our chosen universities, I’m seriously worried that I’ll get rescinded by Cornell once they see my final scores - what are your thoughts?
@thevagabondson -As I said earlier, it’s time to ask Cornell and not me. Colleges really do NOT like to rescind acceptances so you’ll probably be fine. But you need to ask them what their policy is when it comes to students in your situation. I have heard of other Ivies (not Cornell) requiring students with much-lower-than-predicted IB results to take a gap year. But I don’t know just how low the scores can go before that happens, and I also don’t know if some students with even lower scores had their acceptances revoked entirely.
But try not to get completely stressed over this until you’ve taken the actual Chem test. Maybe it won’t be as bad as you fear.
Good luck!
Hey Sally,
Brief info to refresh your memory -> College Calculus (60).
I will be attending Emory University and I am planning on majoring in history or political science (nothing to do with math). I just don’t want to check with the college yet since I still have a midterm + a final to go and I didn’t want to bring up the attention of my calculus course.
I am hoping to retake Calculus again and also I didn’t send in my transcript for Calculus for my fall semester and they never asked for it
@thecoolboy -Sounds like you should be fine at Emory even with the 60 in calculus.
help i have been admitted to UofSC at Columbia but i have a D in AP physics how concerned should I be about getting revoked. i have a 4.2 GPA and a 27 on the ACT?
CCC student transferring to San Jose State university this fall. I am a business major. Will a D in the science area (Biology) get my admission revoked?
I got accepted to UCSD and sent in my SIR. I was going over my grades and noticed that I accidentally put down an A on one of my AP courses on my application when it was really a B. It was truly an honest mistake and the only one that was wrong and I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure I put down the correct GPA though. I am scared that I will be rescinded.