So I got a D in AP Calculus AB my first semester of senior year. I have four ap classes total, and have straight A’s with an exception to that D. I know that I am supposed to send an email, but how do I structure it? The reasons I would mention is that it was really hard, despite trying my best. I went to every available option plus my calculus teacher was only part time so he never offered tutoring. I had personal situations at home and I regularly do not go home until nine in the afternoon due to sport practice and volunteer work. I had the opportunity to drop the class, but within three days into second semester I knew I could not give up. I received my first test and quizzes back recently, with A’s on both, so I’m feeling very confident there will be a grade boost this semester.
What are these “personal situations?” It really depends.
You can have your guidance counselor explain the situation in your midyear report. It might give it more weight if they explain it instead of you. If you do decide to contact your regional admissions representatives, keep it factual and don’t whine. Say what happened and explain the steps you are taking to do better this semester.
I would not contact any schools; let your guidance counselor write about it and take care of it. The circumstances must be very excruciating to warrant receiving a D in any class . . .
This is a great example of why it is seldom a good idea for a HS student to try to “explain” a poor grade or semester. To the OP and her friends, these are great reasons for taking her off the hook for the D. To an adcom, it is essentially a letter telling them the student doesn’t care all that much about education after all. Probably not a good idea since the primary mission of a college is education.
Any adcom or even your GC would tell you that if you are spending so much time on ECs that your grades suffer, you need to cut back. If most school days you are doing so much after school that you don’t even get home until 9pm then you are doing way too much! It is probably not a good idea to tell adcoms you chose those things over learning.
Clicking on your name I see you are applying to several UCs, which, as you recognize, require you to report any grade less than a C. You would do less harm with a 1 sentence “As required, I am reporting a D I received 1st semester in Calculus.” email than the letter you outlined above. If you do want to add more then a good letter of explanation (1) accepts responsibility without trying to deflect it with excuses such as bad teacher, other commitments more important than school, etc (2) explains what you’ve learned and what you’re doing so it won’t happen again.