How do I explain my D to colleges?

mikemac
Tue, 09 Feb 2016 17:53:45 +0000

The reasons I would mention is that it was really hard, despite trying my best. 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.

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.

Don Fraser Jr., director of education and training, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) says “Remember, academics come first. Don’t get involved in activities for the sake of bolstering your profile for colleges and at the expense of your grades.”
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-experts/2011/07/06/how-can-i-find-the-right-extracurricular-activities-for-me

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.