Title. The C+ is in Calc BC. I also have a B+ in AP Spanish, but all other classes are A/A+. I was slacking off a ton. I could get an A second quarter for both BC and Spanish but I wanted to know if these grades are bad enough to significantly impact my chances for top RD schools like Dartmouth and Harvard. For reference I have 36 ACT, national merit semifinalist and about a 3.85 GPA from freshman to junior year.
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Nobody knows.
You need a list- like every other applicant- which includes “sure bets” (even with the lower grades), matches, and it seems like you’ve already got your reaches.
Good luck. Even with all A’s, your reaches are reaches. So be prepared with some easier admits and you’ll be fine.
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Will your RD schools see one semester grade, or will they see separate quarter grades? Regardless, B’s and C’s will likely impact admissions decisions at highly rejective schools.
Enough to result in a denial? Maybe, but no one really can say with holistic admissions.
As Blossom said make sure you have a list that has non-reaches on it…including at least one affordable highly likely/safety. Good luck
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They’ll see 2 separate quarter grades
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It depends on whether or not you are a hooked student.
For example, if you are one of their top recruited athletes, or the child of a major donor, they are likely to overlook your imperfect grades (both this specific C+ as well as the 3.85 GPA from freshman to junior year.)
But this is not likely to be the case if you are unhooked. For these tippy-top schools, students in the “unhooked bucket” are academic superstars. They have plenty of 4.0 GPA National Merit scholars to choose from. So sure, apply anyway if this is where you really want to go, but do not expect to be offered admission.
There are plenty of other excellent schools where they would be glad to have you, 3.85 GPA and C+ and all. Make sure your list has some of these schools represented.
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Put another way, you could be a 4.0 and have a 36 and still get rejected. Hence as the others told you, you need a balanced list.
An applicant is more than statistics.
Best of luck.
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Schools look at midterm grades and they matter.
The C could be a problem, regardless of your (excellent) ACT score. Is there no way you can raise that - have you done everything you possibly can?
If you’re RD, and if you can bring the semester grade up to an A minus by working your tail off - and realize that for math and foreign language, that means hours of work daily, since you just cannot cram either of those last minute - then I think that you will have mitigated the damage. If you cannot do that, then yes, I do think that it would possibly have an adverse effect upon your applications to the most selective schools.
Try using Anki for vocab practice for Spanish on your phone. You might find it useful for memorizing algorithms for Calc BC, too, but I think that for the Calc, you just have to do hours of problems daily. Go for extra help as much as the teacher will give you, and try to get a free peer tutor, and maybe professional tutoring, too.
I don’t think an isolated B is an issue for anyone, anywhere.
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Won’t be nearly as bad if you can get a high grade second quarter. Lots of people kind of hit the wall in Calc BC - maybe they just had a bad test score first quarter, didn’t figure out how to study for that course early on. A great second quarter grade will make it look like that, and I don’t think that any school would hold that first quarter grade against you with a high second quarter grade. So don’t be discouraged. Be motivated.
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What is your intended major?
To me, a C in calculus is a concern. The issue is not so much university admissions. The issue is that if you are going into anything related to math or engineering or physics then calculus is so very important. It is the basis for a LOT that someone in any of these majors is going to do in the future. I have used multi-variate calculus a lot, both in university classes and on the job. I would urge you to try hard for the rest of the year to pull this grade up. Whether calculus is as important for computer science will depend upon what type of CS job you would end up with. There are a lot of different types of jobs for a CS major.
And yes, a C in a very important core class might impact your chances at Dartmouth and Harvard.
I am not nearly as concerned about a B+ in Spanish. To me it seems like either you will be needing to use Spanish in the future and your Spanish will improve, or you won’t be using your Spanish in the future and it just won’t matter.
And of course Dartmouth and Harvard were reaches even before you got a C+ in calculus.
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I didn’t say nor infer it was…OP hasn’t said how many B’s (or C’s) they have on their transcript.
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I’m a Philosophy major but I indicated on my applications that I intend to be premed
I just don’t want anyone to latch on to that. Too many “I got a B! My world just ended!” on these pages.
OP- honest question-- what’s actionable NOW?
You need a solid list of matches and safeties even with fantastic EC’s, a 4.0, and perfect scores.
What are you hoping to get out of this thread that will actually help you vs. increase your anxiety?
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One daughter was pre-vet, which has the same required classes as premed students. She had multiple friends who were premed, most of who she met in the premed / pre-vet classes. She did take multi-variate calculus in university, and then took physics with calculus. She had previously taken physics without calculus, and she very much preferred the physics with calculus class. Some physics will be required for a premed student.
I agree with this. The world did not just end. The worst outcome is that you do not attend Dartmouth or Harvard, but instead you attend a different very good university with a very strong premed program. You might even have to stay in-state and save a ton of money that can be applied to medical school. Then you retake multi-variate calculus and get a better grade, or you get a better grade next semester in high school and do not need to retake calculus. This really is not all that bad, and will not stop you from getting accepted to medical schools.
This is a very good point. A very good university is still going to happen. Next semester you will want to do better in calculus.
To be honest I am not sure whether any of my various doctors use calculus on the job. I sort of doubt it. Perhaps a radiation oncologist, or radiologist, or a robot assisted surgeon, might use software that was written by someone who needed to understand multi-variate calculus. I do suspect that some of them use their Spanish from time to time.
This is most likely nothing other than a wake up call. None of us are perfect. We all have something that we would have liked to do better. We learn and do better next time.
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Note that the philosophy is somewhat math-adjacent in the logic part.
Many, but not all, medical schools do want to see a calculus (or higher level calculus) course in your college record. They may also frown on repeating AP credit. So consider carefully which math course you want to take in college and whether you want to report AP calculus scores to your college.
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However, knowing calculus may avoid having to rediscover it.
https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/17/2/152/17985/A-Mathematical-Model-for-the-Determination-of
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Apply as a philosophy major and do not mention premed. Too many premed applicants.
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