Due to some difficult personal circumstances not worth fully getting into here (had a major surgery last semester and had difficulty communicating with teacher during said surgery recovery time), I’m unexpectedly ending my first semester of senior year with a C in AP Calculus AB. I’m trying everything to get that grade changed, but my teacher is not really working with my parents and I, and it’s looking like the C might be left on my mid year report (with me transferring to a dual enrollment math class this semester).
I’ve applied to some pretty selective schools (including Stanford, Harvard, Brown, Emory, Williams, Northwestern) and am concerned that this will affect my admissions results. What kind of impact would this grade realistically have? I am taking 5 other APs and have A’s in each of them. I have received all As except for a B+ in AP Chemistry throughout my high school career.
Is there a way to update my applicant portals to try to explain the circumstances causing that grade? Or wipe that grade from the mid-year report?
As you know, these colleges have very low admission rates anyway. There was no guarantee that you would have gotten accepted even with an A in this class. If you don’t get accepted, you will never know why.
Please talk to your school counselor and find out if there is a way for this person to explain the circumstances, if indeed they are extenuating. I’m assuming you did your applications before whatever happened…happened. Otherwise, your school counselor could have addressed it in their counselor letter.
I doubt there is any way to “wipe that grade from your midyear report”. But do ask your school counselor if there is a way to explain.
I guess the only issue I see is that the only class this impacted was just his one. If there was a circumstance that prevented you from doing your school work, it would seem other classes would have been impacted as well. But the best one to explain…if they can…is your school counselor.
Adding…kids with one C grade get accepted to the above colleges…and kids with straight A grades are rejected.
Thank you; this is really helpful. I’ll talk to my counselor for sure. As for why it didn’t affect my other classes, my other teachers made the work available online as my 504 requested…but my math teacher was a little trickier.
Your math teacher did not follow your 504?
Was difficult to communicate with; my 504 listed that she needed to post the work online and help me receive materials (because of post-op at-home recovery). Kind of a gray line situation, which is why I am continuing to try to schedule a parent-teacher meeting
If your 504 stated that your work was to be posted online and a teacher did not, that doesn’t seem like a gray line to me. He/she did not follow a legal document. Maybe I am not understanding correctly.
“Help me receive materials” is more of a gray line as this is not clearly defined (maybe it was?).
I believe it was at least stated that the teacher should have been checking her email and communicating with me. I’m not sure what was exactly listed in terms of posting the assignments online. Perhaps I should include the writer of my 504 in the parent-teacher meeting to help me clarify if I can show that she did not follow my 504. If I can prove that she did not, does that affect what I tell colleges / how my grade appears?
At what point did you realize he/she was not following the 504?
Do you have proof of this? You are not sure what was said about posting your work online? You should have a copy of your 504 and everything should be clearly outlined.
Was the language in the 504 written in objective terms or was it vague? A 504 is only as good as the person who writes it.
I’ll stick my neck out here. If a teacher wasn’t following a 504 plan, the time to address that was the FIRST DAY this wasn’t being followed…not after grades come out.
One C grade isn’t going to tank an application to these highly competitive colleges. Like I said…even with all A grades, you could easily be denied admission (which you already know from your SCEA decision).
Please, work with your school counselor to see if an explanation can be provided to these colleges.
I also hope you have some less competitive colleges on your application list.
I’m not trying to be insensitive. I am quite sure there are many colleges that would welcome you in their class.
I guess the only proof I have is the emails I sent her asking for work and make-up assessments that she did not respond to. Unfortunately, we did not have a parent-teacher conference right after as @thumper1 makes the good point (it was a crazy season with post-op and again, hard to communicate with her) so it’s a bit tricky. I do not know the exact parameters of my 504, presenting the issue of needing my 504 writer to meet with us as well.
Good points; thank you! And yes…I did apply to a handful of safety schools; just wanted to see how this grade would affect the very selective ones in particular.
Do you have a copy of your 504? Are you saying that you emailed your teacher and he/she never responded to any of your emails asking for work?
When did the problems with this particular teacher begin? Did you make the school aware?
Yes, that is what I am saying. I don’t have a copy of my 504, but I believe that the administrator who wrote it would be able to supply me with it or read it aloud if I asked.
If you had surgery and the teacher never responded to any of your emails and never gave you your work, that is a big problem. Did you contact the school? How long did this go on for?
You should have been given a copy of your 504. If you do not have it you can ask.
We’ve been in contact with the school but it’s a little difficult because I did eventually receive those materials…just after a lot of badgering and sometimes after a couple of days or weeks.
I will ask for a copy of the 504.
@angel737 i don’t think there is much more we can say. Talk to your school counselor. That’s really all you can do.
I’m sure you will land at a great college and look forward to hearing about it when it happens.
I would discuss this with your guidance counselor and let them know that your teacher never responded to you. A couple of days is ok (teachers do get sick, etc) but a few weeks is not. There probably isn’t anything you can do now- it would have been better to address this when it happened.
I hope you are feeling better and I wish you the best!
That isn’t true. The OP wrote this:
Oops yes I misspoke!
Those colleges are reaches for everybody and I have no doubt you will get into some great schools
Are these schools even asking for a mid year report? It could be they’ll never see the C until after you’re admitted or denied.
A C is unlikely to change things.
I would not try to explain away the C - which is excuse making.
If you earned a C, you earned a C. You might feel that it’s not deserved, but how will that look when explaining it - so don’t.
If you get into schools, great. And if you don’t, you’ll never know why - and don’t assume that it’s this.
Good luck