<p>I got one really bad grade on my transcript, and I want to ask my top-choice college how they would view it and what I could do to lessen the effect of it. Is this an appropriate question to ask admissions, or would it just make me look bad? (I’m thinking about e-mail)</p>
<p>I think notifying admissions of your “bad” grade would do nothing but highlight it in their eyes and could potentially make things worse. If your transcript is squeaky clean besides that one grade then it should be too much of a problem.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t leave a paper trail of negative news.</p>
<p>Don’t talk to the college about it. If there is a legitimate reason why this happened, you could have your guidance counselor (if you know them well and feel comfortable) address it in a recommendation letter. This way, the impact would hopefully be minimized by all the other good things your counselor has to say. Otherwise, just keep doing well in your other classes. Colleges will see it for what it is: an outlier in an otherwise stellar transcript.</p>