Lame Excuse or Viable Reason?

JoseAMendez
Fri, 17 Jul 2015 03:02:16 +0000

Hi, guys

I have a question regarding my GPA and a lone C- I got in a class. Before taking Dual Credit Pre-calculus Semester 2, I was doing well with no worries. I was involved in my clubs, working 20 hrs/w, I had just gotten a 96 (out of 100) on Dual Credit Pre-calculus Semester 1, and my overall unweighted GPA was a 3.96 (out of 4.0).

However, I decided to lag behind in PreCal as I thought that the content was so easy, I could just work on Precal (this was an online, self paced college level class) every once in a while at home and use the class period to nap or do other things. I thought I had things under control until about a month before school was over, my boss pushed my hours up to 40 a week since a coworker had abruptly quit, and I did not have the courage to explain that I could not take that many hours in fear of being a disappointment/unreliable. I was less than halfway done with Precal and the severity of the situation did not hit me until about a week before deadline and I was only about 65% done with the class. I thought the math was going to be a lot easier based on the first few tests, but the content really ramped up in difficulty after the midterm exam and I knew I was screwed. I also ended up having to quickly scramble to do homework for other classes (a total of 4 AP classes + 1 Dual Credit that semester) during my precal period since it was an online class without a teaching lecturing in real time aka no scolding or “pay attention!” remarks. So, I ran out of time, and any exam or test I hadn’t taken (the final exam being one of them, worth 33% of the final grade) became zeroes. My final second semester grade ended up being a 48, averaged with my first semester grade, ended up squeezing me by with a 72, the lone poor grade on my transcript (this grade dropped my GPA to a 3.8, which is now at the moment a 3.84)

So I ask this: On my college app supplement, should I mentioned the stress I was under managing a self paced course, working every weekday after school from 4 to 10, and on weekends from 2 to 10? Or would it seem as if I were making an excuse for my poor grade, which honestly could have been better if I had tried my absolute best to manage my time? Would it help?

P.S: I do have the option to retake the class my senior year, should I do that as well? I wouldn’t be able to have it on my transcript during college application season, but I guess I could explain to colleges that I am retaking the course, if that helps. I did get a 98/100 on AP Calc AB (and a 4 on the test), as well as all other math credits being 95+ besides, of course, my Precal grade so math is not and has never been an issue for me.