I am a senior in the IB programme at my school. I was not able to take health in 9th grade and thus instead of a free period now that I have ended TOK I have to take Health. I currently run a tech startup, along with one other founder, which is launching an MVP (minimum viable product) in March. As you can imagine, IB + starting an “actual startup” (as opposed to some “get me into college companies I have seen”) is very difficult and requires an exorbitant amount of time and effort. Thus I was hoping since I could not care less about this health class, that I just use the period to work, and allow myself to get a C. The question however is, will this seriously hurt my chances at getting accepted to top schools and even mediocre ones like UMD? I have already applied to all my schools, and am now just waiting for responses, however, I believe they will continue to see my grades going into the second semester which is when I have health.
What are your thoughts? Do I have any way out of this health class like a test or something?
P.S: the class is honors, (mostly to avoid the “bad crowd” is this unessasary?)
(A) It probably will not be the reason you are rejected, if that’s the case.
(B) Yes, colleges will notice that it is a C. Don’t try to explain it away. If you substituted “calc” for “health” in your explanation, eyes would still roll.
UMD is not a bad school. I know plenty of friends and family members who go there. Just cause they have a higher acceptance rate does not mean in any way that it is a “mediocre school.”
The way I see it is that you are not good at managing your time. I mean dude, a c in health class? What you are not seeing is that in college you will have many challenging classes. How will you do this? This is what they will analyze also. Since they will have a lot more choices then just you. If you were like tied with someone else for that one seat of admission left and one guy has a C in health in his senior year and the other one has at least a B or an A in health… Whom would you pick?
I am so rolling my eyes at Honors health. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that’s because of some parents who pitched a fit about their kids having to take an unweighted class in 9th grade and the poor darling getting a 4.8.
Same parents probably worried about their kids being with those worrisome unwashed regular kids
My kid barely lifted a finger in that horrible unweighted health class and got an A, you can too
By the time grades for the last semester are out, admission decisions are done. Unless your admissions offer says so, you will not be rescinded for, or have to explain a C
Well, I was thinking that if I have to be a part of the class that I would just sit in the back and code. But how can I get a B if I dont even listen???
OK, I’m much harsher on this than some other posters…
To me, a C in Calculus BC or Physics C is understandable. They’re tough classes, and you don’t get in them by being a slouch all through high school. A C in health as a senior - that is an easy A for freshmen - would raise a red flag to me about your motives. What work will you not complete to the best of your ability in college if it interferes with the rest of your life’s priorities?
It won’t take you much time or effort to get an A in that class. Just manage your time a little more carefully.
Do your teacher a favor and just cut the class if you’re not going to engage in class. The teacher does not deserve your disrespect. At least that way, you’d possibly get an additional hour in the detention hall to work on your coding.
I’ll amend my earlier post slightly; the C won’t be an issue. What could be an issue, if this comes across in your LoRs, is your attitude, your perceived lack of respect for others, your inability to manage time effectively, for starters. But best of luck with your MVP and your applications.
@skieurope my reading on this is the poster cannot cut the class. The vast majority of districts require some kind of one semester health class to graduate. This poster left it for the very last semester because “couldn’t fit it in” which sounds bogus to me. My kids go/went to an IB school and there were options for fitting in those pesky district required classes. You could take online in the summer, do a zero or afterschool period. But they blew it off.
@VickiSoCal Cut as in skip, fail to attend. One can always just not show up, even in a required course. Of course, there are consequences, which I mentioned.
I’m with you. skieurope, on this one! There is nothing worse than having to stand before a group with some in the group clicking away on tasks totally unrelated to what’s happening in the classroom. Wait. There is. And that’s those who choose to whisper and giggle to each other. I’d see that as in the highest incivility grouping with the clicking away being 2nd.
So yeah, I’d rather they stayed home. And if they are college students, they can keep company with the “I need an A and that’s all I care about” crowd. I’d say let’s give them all A’s on day one. We could then send them home-degree in hand. And if we do that uniformly, we can return to having colleges and universities instead of just offering grades 13-16.
A C in health will not hurt. However if you aim for a C and things dont go quite as planned you might be vulnerable for :1) flunking the class and not graduating HS or 2) getting a D in the class which could lead to an admission offer being rescinded. Seems to me that you are a smart person and if you put any reasonable effort into the class you could walk away with a B.