On track for a really bad grade 1st semester senior year...

Applying to College
1

My daughter has a 3.8UW GPA, 35 ACT, 5 APs so far (and currently enrolled in 4 more), and interesting ECs. (Also expecting her recs and essay to be good.) She’s interested pretty much exclusively in LACs. She’s participated in a couple diversity fly-in programs and established a good relationship with those schools. Those schools are not her top top choice, but she’d be very happy at them.

Unfortunately, she’s started off this semester very poorly in one class. Her AP Calc AB class has been one disaster after another, and she’s currently getting a D. I think she’ll be able to turn things around to some extent, but realistically I think there’s a chance she could wind up with a C. She got 1 B and 1 B- first semester freshman year, but since that time, she’s had almost all As and 1-2 B+s every semester. Every semester has been as good as or better than the previous semester, so she has an upward trend in her GPA.

Originally she was thinking of applying ED to one of her reach schools, and RD everywhere else (including the fly-in programs she participated in) but with a C or D on her transcript, I’m thinking she won’t get in anywhere good RD. So right now I’m thinking she should just apply to one of the schools she did the fly-in program with ED and hopefully get in before her AP Calc grade comes to light. (To be clear, the fly-in program school is also in the high match/low reach category, so it’s not like it’s a slam dunk anyway. I’m just thinking that since they were interested enough in her to have her participate in their diversity fly-in, she has a pretty good shot.) I know schools can rescind an acceptance if grades fall too much, but I’ve heard that most schools won’t do that over a C. (A D, maybe.)

On the other hand, I’m concerned that ED could be even worse for her, if they check her grades as of the end of the quarter, which is one month away. She might be able to bring her grades up quite a bit between now and the end of the semester, but I’m not sure how much she can improve them over the next month. If wherever she applies ED checks her quarterly grades, she might look even worse.

Last but not least, I should point out that financial aid isn’t a concern. We’re expecting to pay full tuition.

Am I thinking about this right? Is applying ED to one of the diversity fly-in schools her best option at this point?

2

The more typical scenario for someone a college does not accept in the ED round is defer them to the RD round. Your daughter should ask her college counselor what the practice typically is at the school she is considering ED.

IMHO the bigger issue here is to understand and address why your daughter isn’t doing well in calculus. You talk about one disaster after another as if performance in the class is a series of external natural events that we have no control over. If you’re talking about something like a string of illnesses that would be true but somehow whatever is going on just affects this one class. Calculus is often like the canary in the coal mine. Someone in the 99th percentile on the ACT should be able to do well in calculus. A smart kid like your daughter can cram the facts and use their verbal skills on essays to do well in most subjects. Hardly anyone is able to get away with this in calculus. College classes in most subjects are going to require the rigor that she faces in calculus now.

3

She’s going to speak with her teacher. According to my daughter, a lot of the people in the class are not doing well, so the teacher will be offering some extra credit opportunities. Still, I’m thinking of making an appointment to speak with the teacher as well to make sure we course correct as quickly as possible.

I’m actually halfway decent at calculus, so I’ve helped her with her homework from time to time. There are a handful of concepts she’s a little shaky on, but nowhere near a D level, so something else is going on. (If she had a B or even B-, I’d understand.)

She actually got her most recent test back, and for some reason, they’re not allowed to keep them so she took a picture of the test with her phone. I’m going to go through it and see what the mistakes were. Again, just at a quick glance, she made a few mistakes here and there, but nothing to warrant (IMO) a D. Perhaps her teacher is just a very harsh grader? I’ll look more into it and reply back to the group.

I guess I’m most curious about how many schools check 1st quarter senior year grades when evaluating ED candidates. I’m hoping that if she applies to a school that doesn’t check, she could get in, and then she just has to make sure her grade is high enough by the end of the semester not to get rescinded. Of course, we’re going to pull out all the stops to make sure she brings up her grade as quickly and as dramatically as possible. I’m still hoping she’ll wind up with an A for the semester.