Here I am with DS applying to the CSUs and it says that Alg.1 from 8th grade gets reported as a 9th grade class?!
I WISH I would’ve known back then! Long Story but it was a horrible class and teacher that I wasn’t able to switch him and didn’t push as hard because I thought it wouldn’t show on the transcript!
What does this mean now??
I saw it there on the transcript; however, I never thought it would count for anything…until now when doing the CSU application.
From what I know, CSUs (except for Cal Poly SLO) only use 10-11th grades and therefore the D will not be included in the CSU GPA (aka UC GPA).
The reality is that if he did well in Algebra II-- presumably in 10th grade-- then it will show that he’s mastered the material from Algebra I.
They’ll know he was a 13 year old when he got the D. I can’t imagine them really caring all that much.
I don’t have any advice -I just want to sympathize
I have a C that I got in 1985- yes 85 -that is going to hurt me for a program I want to get into now.
Hopefully, it does not hurt too much but everyone should be aware that high school courses taken in the 8th greade count for high school credit. If you earned an A, you would want that to count so no wanting this to count is selected only on results.
The policy will vary by HS; many HS’s (like mine) listed the course as HS credit, but did not report the grade.
Regardless, AO’s know that a 17 year-old’s 13 year-old self is not necessarily predictive of college success. We all grow over time. While it is what is, I really doubt that it will have an impact on his admissions. Good luck.
I doubt it will make much difference. Some colleges don’t even look at grades before 10th grade, and many know that it takes kids a while to find their way in high school and will forgive early bad grades, especially if later grades in a sequential subject like math are good.
Our middle school is very, very clear that the high school level math and biology they offer will be a permanent part of the transcript. (Interestingly foreign language is not - you just get put into level 2 in high school.) You might want to talk (nicely) to someone at the middle school to see if they are making this clearer now.
You definitely need to talk with your GC or Cal State Apply support to make sure you are OK on this. Grade of C or better required on A-G courses. Maybe if your son has more than the 3 required math classes it negates the D - not sure but definitely get clarity from an official source. Good luck.
For UC and CSU purposes, grades from before 10th grade (9th grade for CPSLO) are not included in GPA recalculations.
D grades disqualify the course from counting to a-g subject requirements, but if the student earned a C or higher grade in algebra 2 or higher level math, that validates algebra 1, so there should be no issue with subject requirements in this case.
Our high school simply does not count, give credit, or list anything taken before the start of 9th grade. The only exception is a summer math course at the high school you pay for but even then I don’t think it is for credit just to start at higher level. Basically here if you start high school in geometry it is assumed you somehow learned algebra 1 and colleges know that. That said I’m not near California so all schools I know count all reported high school grades.
Our high school gives credit, but doesn’t figure the grade into the overall GPA. I actually wish they did - eighth grade was a great year for my DD.
Here’s a page with information about grade validation for math courses: http://www.calstate.edu/counselors/preparing/
@ucbalumnus’s summary is correct.
For OOS folks, the CSU (and UC) applications have students enter their courses and grades, including 7th and 8th grade math courses from Algebra I on and foreign language courses. The HS transcript and HS giving credit doesn’t matter, particularly since students do not send transcripts to CSU or UCs until after they graduate from HS (and then only to the college they will be attending).
At my D’s high school it is optional to include high school level classes taken in middle school in transcript. They actually advise against including them because it can affect your class rank. I’d speak to your guidance counselor and see if middle school grades can be excluded.
In my school district, you can fill out a form anytime before hs graduation to have your hs classes taken in middle school count.
In our district classes taken in middle school like Algebra 1 and foreign language become part of the transcript sent to colleges.