<p>I’m a RD applicant.</p>
<p>During finals (and the review week before), I became sick with bronchitis. As a result, I missed the review days before and ended up with a “C” in a post-AP math class. It’s a high C (a 78), but a C nonetheless. </p>
<p>The class is basically abstract mathematics which deals with things like number theory and set theory, and it’s usually only taken after BC Calculus (although I am taking both this year). My school sends a special letter with the transcript describing to colleges what the class exactly covers and that it’s essentially a college class.</p>
<p>So, my question is…</p>
<p>Should I drop this class for the first semester? I would obviously have to report to Stanford that I dropped it (I can still take it second semester). What should I do?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t believe there are any easy answers. Some things to think about.</p>
<ol>
<li> If you drop the course, Stanford could assume that you dropped it because you got a “D”…or worse.</li>
<li> You could send a note to them explaining the grade. In that case, you might want to be specific about how much the final was actually worth. As an example, if you had a low A (90) going into the final, and the final was worth 40%, then to get a 79 in the class, your final had to be a 62.5. I mention this only because finals usually don’t drop a person down two letter grades unless it is heavily weighted in the grade.</li>
<li> It also depends on how your other grades look and whether this is an outlier. If it is, then one strategy is to not draw a lot of attention to it, especially if it is a college course.
Have you talked to your guidance councilor about this?</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>how much was the final exam worth?</li>
<li>the fact that it was college level is basically irrelevant. it would have been worse if you got a C in a high school level course, obviously, but tons of kids take college/AP classes and HYPSM are still going to be looking for As.</li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck. If you drop the class, will they see the grade at all? or a W? if not, you could just say “I decided to take it second semester instead of first” and that would be better than the C.</p>
<p>Would it be better to get a 78 in this class and a 92 in BC Calc or an 81 in this class and an 88 in BC Calc? My teacher might be willing to give EC, but said I could only do it for one class…</p>
<p>If you’re willing to take advice from a parent with absolutely no expertise, I’d do the extra credit for the abstract math class. After all, you started the thread in a panic because of your C in that class, not because you had a B in Calc BC.</p>
<p>are your grades reported as A, B, C. Or with A-, B+, etc. or as a numeric grade?</p>
<p>is it a choice between
C+, A- ? (this looks more like the C+ is an outlier if all your other grades are A’s
B-, B+ ? (this looks like you are consistent B)
or the numeric grades.</p>
<p>but as @anouilh says, I have no experience either.</p>