<p>I just took my math final, and I had a 76 in class. If I end up with a C, will it adversely affect my chances at a Top 40 school if math is not my intended major if I’m Asian?</p>
<p>Btw, I am a sophomore in an accelerated math class (am taking “normal” 11th grade math). If I get straight A’s my junior and senior year, I will have a 3.8 UW GPA. I’m president of one club and officer of one another, and have taken 3 APs so far, getting As in all of them. I’ve only ever taken honors/gifted/AP classes high school. </p>
<p>…I’m in the top 10%, but at the lower end of it. I’m going to try my best to improve it junior year, but this semester prob pushed me down. lol. Our class rank is weighted, and I don’t have any electives this semester or for the rest of the school, so I’ll really need to bust my ass.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how to answer your question. Will one “C” matter – incrementally, of course it will (it lowers your GPA slightly, lowers your rank slightly, etc.). Does one “C” mean that you can’t go to a top 40 school? OF COURSE IT DOESN’T. Given all the other courses you take, one course doesn’t move the needle that much.</p>
<p>Lower end of the top 10% – would be tough to get into schools like HYPSM, less for some of the schools ranked 30-40. However, if there’s a school or two that you really really want to attend, APPLY. Odds may be slim, but are infinitely greater than if you don’t apply.</p>
<p>Bust your ass for the rest of school – that would be my advice almost no matter what you had written in the first part of your email.</p>
<p>Got a C in calculus during the second semester of my junior year. 3.79 GPA, not even making top 10% in class rank. But I’m going to Carleton college in the fall, ranked as the 6th national liberal arts college.
It’s about your application as a whole. One grade wont make the difference.</p>
<p>I think the point he’s trying to get across is that your actual GPA ‘number’ compared to other APPLICANTS (outside of his school) doesn’t mean anything because a 3.8 at one school could be valedictorian, while at another school it may not even be in the top 10%. </p>
<p>(Want proof? There’s a girl on the Yale results thread this year with a ~2.7 GPA, but she’s 3rd in her class… Lol talk about major grade deflation?)</p>
<p>C’mon people; this argument has been said before. =p </p>
<p>Btw, as they’ve said before, rank matters more… Since you’re in the top 10 percent, you’re okay, although ideally, you wanna be in top 5%.</p>
<p>So, my final math grade just came in, and it went up to an 81! Lol, I guess I won’t be having a 3.8 after all. I’ve never been so happy about a B my entire life; last semester, literally two-thirds of my teacher’s class got C’s. :)</p>
<p>If it makes you feel any better, I got into JHU(c/o 2016) even though I had 2 Cs(a math and science <em>GASP</em>) on my first semester report card. However, my situation is a bit biased because I had an on-campus interview in the admissions office and got to explain my struggle in AP Calc and how I resolved it. I’m in the top 10 out of a class of 350+ kids if that matter.</p>