I am an international student attending high school in the US. I took AP Calculus AB in my sophomore year, and I was supposed to take BC Calculus in my junior year. However, I was unsatisfied with the difficulty of the BC Calculus. So I self-studied it over the summer and petitioned the school to place me in the most difficult Multivariable Calculus Honors in my junior year. However, my performance in Multivariable Calculus Honors was bad and ended up with a B+. I took the AP Calc BC exam and got a five that year.
I am very stressed right now because I plan to major in CS/Engineering majors, and I’m afraid a bad math grade would really smother my chances. I am thinking of EDing to UPenn, but because of my math grade, I’m afraid of applying to their engineering school and am thinking about their arts and science. But all of my ECs and competitions center CS. What should I do? Thank you for helping.
First, look up “bad” in the dictionary. It won’t list B+ as a definition.
Second, accept the things you cannot change and move on.
Third, don’t think there’s a back door to getting into Penn. If it’s your first choice, apply ED. But don’t think your chances are improved by applying CAS vs SEAS.
Fourth, you should change your username. This link tells you how.
One B+ in an advanced course is a far cry from disaster. It is fine to ED to Penn IF it is your absolute top choice AND it appears affordable.
That said, Penn is a reach for any unhooked applicant. There are many more well qualified applicants than spots available. Give Penn your best shot but also be sure to create a well balanced application list with reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be excited to attend.
This…over and over. And you were a junior taking MVC? Is that correct?
As an international student, your chances of acceptance are low anyway for Penn. Hope you have other more realistic colleges on your application list when your senior year starts.
And really, there are tons of excellent places to study computer science that are not Ivy League schools. I would suggest you start doing some research.
Eye roll. You took multivariate as a junior in high school and got a GOOD grade. This is not going to be an issue to anyone as it’s a third level college course. Hopefully what you learn from this is to not let your ego get in your way. Had you taken Calc B/C as a course and then multivariate, you likely would have gotten an A since you are clearly a talented math student. College math courses are very abstract, and the teen brain is still developing. It’s not a race.