herr0174

My grades that were sent with my secondary report were fine. 6 A's and 1 B+.
But my final grades slipped in one class: IB Theory of Knowledge. It dropped from an A to a C+. I won't lie and say I don't know what happened, because I know it's my fault. I'll own up to that. I forgot to turn in my rough draft to turnitin.com, and then completely tanked it, not intentionally of course. I mentally punched myself for that and invested in a new planner. Each point in that class is worth 2% of our grade.

Anyhow, I ended up getting my first C ever this semester. I ended it with 5 A's, 1 B+, and this C+, which will be going on my mid-report.
Will this C+ be completely detrimental to my chances of getting into a really selective college and automatically red-flag me as a no-go?

I had an UW 4.0 during freshman and sophomore year, and a 3.875 junior year. My cumulative was a 3.939 at the end of 6 semesters, but with the C factored in, I know it might've dropped a bit. This semester, I ended with an UW 3.625, my worst one yet.

I'd really appreciate your opinion. Thanks in advance!

hardworker

which schools are u looking at?

herr0174

UChicago, Northwestern, and Penn.

rmadden15

Basically, yes. The most important year is Junior, which, while you did well in, is not as good as sophmore and freshman years. The next is generally Senior year, because since this is your year right before university, top notch schools want to see top notch grades. That being said, yes, it will affect you, but minimally. Colleges will see almost all As and a random C, making it look like less you fault and more the classes/teachers/coincidence. Even if it is you fault, which it very well may be, colleges will not hold that against a nearly perfect record otherwise.

However, who knows what goes on in their heads. Best of luck!

Modadunn

Colleges will see a C on the senior year transcript (especially noting that the overall trend was of the downward type instead of upward) as a case of senioritis. However, will it doom you to the state U? Probably not. If you've taken the most rigorous curriculum your school offers and managed to do as well as you have, then I think they might overlook the bad semester, but I would definitely tighten the ship. I know of two people who were CONDITIONALLY accepted to a top school based on year end grades. Just don't put yourself in a position where great grades are an impossibility for second semester.