Do UC/CA State schools typically do pre-reads before an OV?
My athlete (class of ‘27) has been in continuous contact (calls every 2 weeks or so) with a few UC schools since June 15th. No OV visits yet, and we think she is the “next tier down” on their list. One of them is her #1 choice/dream school.
Sophomore year she had a D in math in the second semester (combination of being sick/traveling/falling behind and not understanding the subject well). All her other grades are otherwise As and Bs. The plan is to retake that semester via UC Scout online next year (Summer after Junior year). That means the deficiency will only be corrected at the beginning of August before her Senior year.
Is that too risky/late in case she becomes a recruit they are ready to consider more seriously? My guess is, the coach might not want to wait around unless she is someone they really want and will move on to the next on the list.
Any experiences from anyone in a similar situation?
Yep. Geometry. And yes, it’s UCLA… Perhaps we need to look into doing the course before the end of Junior year? Not even sure she’ll be able to add that to the load.
I think coaches/colleges would accept that “in good faith.” Just like they do with Sr year schedule and you are on the hook to take and do well in said classes. Occasionally you hear of offers falling through due to the athlete not meeting their end of the academic bargain, but it didn’t prevent the offer from being made.
She is a junior and going through the recruiting process correct? I don’t see why it can’t be discussed. Present the plan to the coach and ask if it’s a concern.
What was the final grade? I didn’t think that colleges even saw the semester grades for full year courses (?) At any rate, the coach can’t be too worried if they have seen her transcript and are still talking to her.
The transcript shows semester grades and it is in numbers, not letters. She had a B in the first semester and a D in the second. Her overall GPA is a 3.7. The coach has not seen her transcript yet.
I honestly think you are over stressing about this. Her GPA is solid enough (for most recruiting situations) and she passed the class correct? I don’t understand why she needs to retake it. Or is each semester a separate class? Isolated blips do happen and as long as it is an isolated perfect storm that caused it, I don’t think there is much concern in these cases.
D is not considered as passing grade for the purpose of having the course fulfill subject requirements for UC and CSU frosh admissions.
Since the course is second semester of geometry, UC frosh admissions will want to see that course repeated for a C or higher grade. For CSU (but not UC), a C or higher grade in precalculus, calculus, or other advanced math (not statistics) will validate geometry.
UCs and CSUs generally expect high school grades to be reported by semester, and California high schools typically report grades by semester. So the student has subject credit for only the first half of geometry, but not the second half.
Note that if it were the other way around (D in first semester and B in second semester), both UC and CSU would accept the B in second semester as validating the first semester.
Most CA publics report by semester. If a semester grade is a D and the student is aiming at UC or CSu, they need to either do credit recovery or validate it. As you cannot validate geometry (explained above), the student will have to do credit recovery.
So interesting. My kids school calculates GPA internally by using a pert term GPA. This is not reported but it appears in the SCOIR scattergram. In my kids case, its always quite a bit lower than the GPA a college would calculate from their transcript, which has final grade only.
I confirmed all of the above earlier this year… she just falls squarely in the situation where she would need to retake it. I submitted an inquiry to the UC Admissions office to confirm whether taking only a second semester Geometry from UC Scout would suffice and am waiting to hear back. The question really is just about timing at this point, and the docs @ucbalumnus linked above calmed my nerves down considerably, looking at the Admit by Exception cases in athletics.
D27 is an overall solid student and taking 4 years of English, Math, Sciences, History/Social Studies and Language at a rigorous College Prep school (no APs). She really struggled with the sub teacher in the second semester combined with being sick + travel meets.
Given the school, she probably has a good CC that can make a note of the atypical blip (she should not do this herself!). I know the requirements are the requirements, but this will resolve any concerns as to the “holistic” part of the process.