<p>I went to my last parent/teacher conference last night, this for DD who is a senior and has a fairly ambitious college list, with Cornell as her favorite. She is taking an AP science class that she is having some trouble with. I spoke with her teacher, who offered a couple of constructive recommendations to get her test grades up. I came home and told her about what her teacher said, and she blew up, said it wouldn’t make a difference, she just doesn’t “get” this class and refused to even consider asking the teacher for extra help. I just walked away to give her some space. I don’t know what to do. If she won’t get her grade up (82) in the class, she might as well not bother to apply to most of the schools on her list. She was very emotional about it. I hate to see her just give up.</p>
<p>Ok, which AP science?</p>
<p>
That seems like a bit of an overreaction.</p>
<p>Is there a corresponding Honors or College Prep class? Maybe she can drop down. My DD did that with physics, it was a much easier class and lowered her stress level tremendously.</p>
<p>Many colleges are really just looking at her junior year grades. Very few care about senior year, especially if she applied ED. I suggest she keep at it, but get a tutor to give her some extra support.</p>
<p>This is a stressful time of year for you both. By next year, or even in a month, all this worry will be forgotten. The hardest thing for us moms is to watch your child lose her confidence. It’s okay to vent here, but even if you feel like she’s failing, your job is to be there to listen.</p>
<p>Chemistry. She wants to be a molecular bio/genetics major.</p>
<p>Has she already taken the regular/honors chem. class?</p>
<p>Yes, she has taken Honors Chemistry.</p>
<p>I’d let it go. It could be the teacher or it could be the class. She’ll figure it our when she gets to college (if lab sciences isn’t really her thing.) Chances are it’s the teacher, or at least that what’s I’ve seen when the kids struggle with a class that they really should love. Whatever teacher did her recommendation should have been able to give thought to her potential major.</p>
<p>Kids get into Cornell with Bs on their transcripts. Really they do. My daughter had two Bs in her junior year and got into Cornell early decision. </p>
<p>Cornell is not the hardest school in the country to get into. A glitch or two in a student’s record doesn’t necessarily mean rejection, especially if the rest of the applicant’s “package” (rigor of the curriculum, test scores, recommendations, essays, ECs) is impressive.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be a good idea for your daughter to try to do better in this class. But if she doesn’t get along well with the teacher, perhaps outside tutoring might be a better idea. Also, since it’s an AP class, there are review books available that cover the curriculum. If she’s the type who works well on her own, she might want to use some of those books to supplement the apparently confusing explanations in class and provide an additional source of practice problems.</p>
<p>It would be great to finish the class. An 82 would be just fine as a final grade.</p>
<p>If she does drop it, that would be OK also, she will live with the consequences. And those consequences are not dire.</p>
<p>When my kid wanted to drop a class senior year, we begged, argued and finally said talk it over with your counselor. She advised writing to the colleges and asking what would happen if the class was dropped. They said keep the class. If my kid had dropped the class, they still would have gone to college, still had fine choices and yours will too.</p>
<p>The hard thing about this part of parenting is watching/letting them make mistakes. I think the best we can do is point out options and consequences.</p>
<p>The Khan academy videos might help, a student tutor might help. A college kid home for Thanksgiving or Christmas might help. A teacher tutor from a neighboring high school might help. Or maybe your daughter will take this class again in college and love it or hate it.</p>
<p>It will be OK.</p>