For context, I am an extremely academically strong person. I have many APS (I plan to have a total of 12 by the time I graduate), and a perfect 4.0 unweighted GPA despite the amount of APs I’ve taken at school. I’ve taken many dual enrollment courses as well-- but I got one D in a dual enrollment class during the summer of my sophomore year (Which can be blamed on outside circumstances). I am retaking that class now (summer of my junior year), and expect to end with an A. Do you think my chances of getting into competitive schools has diminished greatly?
You don’t have a 4.0 uwGPA if you have a D in a DE class.
What class is the D in? How does your HS handle the new grade? Are both grades on the transcript? Or does the D get replaced and not show up on the transcript?
The D is in English 101. It doesn’t show up in high school transcripts since it’s not directly linked with my high school. I’ll have to submit a separate transcript from the college which will most likely show both grades. I say I have a 4.0 UW because my high school transcript will reflect that, before colleges look at the separate transcripts I submitted.
As for replacement grades, I’m not sure if it will be replaced. I can try for that, but at best It’ll just show both grades simultaneously.
If the D remains on the transcript then that will be evaluated by college AOs as it is in a core course. Taking the class again may well help, but when an overall GPA is calculated some schools will include the D.
As you said there was a reason for the D grade, I would recommend you speak with your HS counselor and ask for them to cover that in their counselor LoR.
Were you stranded on a remote island with no phone or internet to drop the class?
To answer your question, can you get into a “competitive” college. The answer is yes, but depends on what you consider competitive and for what major.
Chances are, if you repeat the class, the school may give you the benefit of considering the repeat grade, even though you will need to report both.
If you do try to explain how you ended up with a D in logic reasoning, you should use people here for a dry run. So far, what you have written is making me roll my eyes… For context.
The high school counselor may note this in their recommendation and related forms. When asked about preparation for college level work, this could come up.
Side Note - It is not really a dual enrollment course since it is not recognized as such by the high school. It is just going to be an additional transcript sent and the course will be noted in the common app by the student. Not all colleges fully replace a previous failure so the transcript will still show the original class with related credit (edited ans this is an D, not fail) and then this course with that grade. How they average or replace is up to the college and will be stated on their website.
Most universities are competitive - and offer many resources, etc. so don’t knock easier to get into schools. So many have stud kids who go - whether for weather, school spirit, cost, etc.
One never knows if they’ll get into a highly rejective school - and I don’t know what you mean by competitive.
I don’t think one bad grade in and of itself puts you in the reject pile. And I also think excuse making (outside influence) in most cases, isn’t something to use. If you had a cancer and were in radiation and couldn’t be in class - that I get, etc.
You don’t need all this pressure on yourself - and GPA is one part of an overall profile.
The definitions for dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment are all over the place and often conflated. I can literally google search these terms and pull up opposite definitions. But the point is OP took a college class, in college and for whatever reason, didn’t pass.
Op is going to repeat the class and in the grand scheme of things, it “probably” will not matter. OTOH, it already happened, he can remediate this and move on.
Agreed that there is confusion with the term in some areas. The title for this strand is not great as it was a D, not a fail, and it was not dual enrollment.
Colleges and high schools offering dual enrollment have articulation agreements and have a clear definition for dual enrollment where it is understood the student enrolled is earning both college credits and credits towards a high school diploma for the course.
There are many high school students like this one who do not understand they will have to submit that same transcript from that college even for grad school years later. We try to convey this to them in high school, but it is a very abstract concept to a 15 or 16 year old taking that first college credit course not directly on the high school campus. The pace is different, some professors are resentful ( having high school kids they perceive as less prepared at times), there are fewer grading opportunities, any accommodations look different, etc…
I guess I’ll ask the elephant in the room question. Why were you taking a core English course DE during the summer anyway.
Yes, this grade will appear…and will be noted, because it’s a core course and not even a higher level one.
Getting an A the second time around is not the same as getting an A the first time around because you have already taken the course!
Please make sure you are looking at colleges that are not all reaches. Find your sure things that you like that are affordable…first. Then build your list up from there.
And discuss this grade issue with your school counselor.
For some classes, summer is great time to take it. Freshman composition and Logical Reasoning are actually “easier” in the summer, because of a more constant pace. Whereas regular semester is 15 weeks, kids end up procrastinate and fall behind.
My son did both of his CC Eng classes over summer and did fine.
M daughter is doing one now and she is doing fine too.
Advice to OP with the D is:
Do take Eng 101 again and get an A.
Do take as many CC classes as he can fit to demonstrate the one D is a fluke and rest of his “college” classes are truly representative of his true abilities.
Example, if you take only one class and get a D without anymore classes – you just showed you are not college ready. Whereas you get one D early on and that is followed by 15 (or whatever you can handle) more As, then not only did you bounce back, you are more than ready. And all those new grades will also help dilute out the D.
My fundamental issue with any HS students who don’t pass a CC class is there is really no reason for that. It’s not HS where you may be stuck with the class because there is no alternative (even this is not true), or you need it to graduate. In CC, if you can’t do the work, since it’s optional, you can always drop. If it’s late, even a withdraw (W), it is still better than a D or F. So unless you just forgot, there are ample time to take action. Getting a D or F usually just tells me, a student didn’t plan this right and that’s unfortunate because like everyone here says, that college grade sticks forever.