<p>I'm just finishing up my junior year, and i think i might be getting a C as a final grade for pre-calc honors. I'm taking all AP and honors classes and am getting A's and B's in all of them. Same goes for fresh+soph years (all A's and B's). I'm a good student (will probably get good reccomendations) and have a lot of accomplishments + EC activities and good test scores. My grades are the only thing that aren't as good as they could be because well i was lazy throughout high school and this year was just reallllly overwhelming. And because of my C is pre-calc, i won't be able to take Calc next year :( will that look bad as well? </p>
<p>But i want to know will the one C on my transcript hurt my grade? Does Penn accept at least one C? I've never gotten lower than a B as a final grade :(.
Will it look better if i get all A's senior year? or do they not look at senior year?
i'm so stressed out =</p>
<p>My daughter also struggles at math, just not quite as much as you seem to. What was your grade the first semester? Was it also a C? Having a C will probably hurt, how much I don’t know. Assuming that you apply regular decision Penn will also have your first semester grades next year. The problem is that if you are not permitted to take Calculus next year you will not be able to “redeem” yourself and not having a 4th year of math will likely also count against you. Is there anything else you can do? Take Calculus during the summer from a community college?</p>
<p>On our transcripts only one cumulative grade shows up for each subject. For Pre-calc it is a C for me :. I know what you mean by “redeeming” myself…i was going to do that for calc next year. But i will talk to my counselor to see if he can do anything to get me into the class. </p>
<p>And i will be doing an internship this summer, so a summer class is out of the question. What if i take the Math II Subject Test and score 750+ ? Because i’m pretty good at math in general…it’s just his class (and math classes in general) was really bad for me. I know on my SAT’s i scored around 700 without studying. If i do end up doing well on math subject tests will that show that i am just lazy in school?</p>
<p>I got into Penn with a C in math one semester. What you need to do is use up an elective spot and redo the course. Get an A in it the second time around, and then on your application say that that shows determination or something.</p>
<p>@kelliam: lol i don’t want them to think i’m lazy…i’m just asking will they think that? But regardless, i would rather they think i’m lazy than think that i’m bad at math.</p>
<p>@Negoblle2: really? nice job =) gives me some hope…however, i might be able to retake course : .</p>
<p>People can still get into Penn if they get a C in a class given that it doesn’t detract from the overall picture of their abilities. However, usually in these cases the C occurs very early on in high school (mostly first semester freshman year) and there is a significant upward trend. What’s also important is the rigor of your school why you got the C in math (evidence of this might appear in your recommendations). Was it because you weren’t doing the homework, did you not understand the material, did you understand the material but have trouble on tests? The second and third scenarios were actually quite common in my high school. The honors math program was incredibly demanding and the grades were not inflated by any stretch, I’ve heard of many kids who either dropped down or received Cs or even Ds. The tests were always incredibly long so most people could not comfortably finish. Even people who showed that they knew the material could easily choke on tests. However, since many colleges knew my high school quite well, many of these students still got into great schools.</p>
<p>It obviously looks bad. But it won’t definitively keep you out. A college application contains tons of information about you. If the rest of the info is compelling enough, you could still get in.</p>
<p>One C won’t keep you out, however, by saying you have gotten all A’s and B’s, if this means you got almost all A’s with a couple random B’s, then your still ok. But if you mean like you got half A’s and half B’s, as in your gpa is like a 3.5? then you don’t have a chance at u penn. In order for us to accurately judge you we need to know your gpa or grades in all your classes. If you have taken, lets say 20 classes so far, and you have 12 A’s, 7 B’s and 1 C you have no chance. Even if you have 17 A’s, 2 B’s and 1 C, its not going to hurt you, but its not going to help you either. You will need to stand out with your EC’s, recs, essay and test scores in order to get in. At schools like Penn, a very large amount of applicants(I dare say the majority) don’t get a single B, let alone C’s.</p>
<p>as stewta4 put it getting the full picture would help. Individual grades don’t necessarily preclude you from getting in. What matters is that you have a high cumulative GPA and class rank…given your comments about a mix of A’s and B’s I take it that you likely don’t have a stellar GPA and rank.</p>
<p>If you want to have even a remote shot of acceptance at any top school you will need to have a great GPA that puts you squarely in at least the top 10% of your class. If that’s the case then you should still be ok…if not then I would suggest starting to expand your college search to include less competitive schools where you actually have a chance at acceptance.</p>
<p>I got an 80 in the exact same class you are taking about, pre calc honors, and didn’t get into Penn. There are many other factors to take into account, but you better believe they’ll count it against you with the competition these days.</p>
<p>yes i am in the top 10% in our class of 540. my school is extremely competitive and courses are really hard; Penn knows that though because they are familiar with my school since i live in Philadelphia. If it helps to know, Penn accepts about 20-25 kids each year from my school. Also, my family has a very low income, and i’m a first generation Bengali. I have great extra-curricular activities (officer positions include Editor-In-Chief and President of two clubs). And no, my EC’s aren’t all over the place. They mostly revolve around Politics, Science, and Writing. But the thing that makes me stand out are i guess my scientific achievements (for example, i have done 250+ hours of lab work at UPenn Medical Center and by this summer i will do 300+ hours of more lab work at a very selective internship that Upenn is familar with as well). After taking my SAT’s next Fall, i plan on getting a 2250+. Yes, i know i don’t have the best grades (mostly because i’m so overwhelmed by all the stuff i have to do, laziness, and i don’t like being forced to do/learn things) but based on my EC’s, accomplishments, essays, recommendations, i would think that overall it shows that i am a very dedicated person, and when i put my heart into something, i give it my best effort.</p>