Sending Explanation with a Bad Grade?

be_somebody
Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:26:32 +0000

So I had a 3.91 GPA at the end of my Junior year and I was really happy and all. Then come senior year, and I got a C in AP Lit! My grade was a A- until I handed one heavily weighed assignment in late due to a technical difficulty and the teacher was strict on the late policy. So now I have my first C in my transcript.

Normally, I wouldn’t be hung up on it, but I’m sending in my first senior quarter grades to Yale SCEA, since I think it’s required even though the grades came out after the Nov 1. deadline. And I’d hate to think my chances would be severely dampened due to one technical difficulty.

I emailed the regional rep and he said it could or could not affect admissions and that I could send in a short explanation if it would make me feel better. So I was thinking of writing a short note, explaining that the grade dropped from a A- to a C because of a heavily weighed assignment and technical difficulties, and that I would definitely raise my grades back up by the end of the first semester. Would that seem overly anxious? And does Yale SCEA require senior 1st quarter grades (though I don’t think it would matter since I already told the regional rep about the C)?