Will a bad GPA ruin my chances here?

chaosakita
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:13:59 +0000

fineartsmajormom:

Take a practice test before you sign up for spanish SAT II. So many native speakers take the language tests that unless you get an AP-5 in spanish you are not going to get a high score on the SAT II. The colleges will give you some leeway as a non native speaker but anything less than a 650 is not helpful. My D took the AP test along with all the other native speakers and they all get 4s and 5s but the AP spanish non native generally get 3-4s. It isn’t fair that the native speakers skew the curve but that is the way it is…



Maybe your daughter’s teacher simply isn’t rigorous enough. Despite seeming like an easy subject, AP Spanish is an INCREDIBLY rigorous test. Next to Calculus and Physics, AP Spanish the class that has been the most difficult to me, no doubt in relation to the level of preparation needed. However, I believe such hard work has paid off, as my teacher has not had a single 3 in the last several years. Also, I bet if I looked at statistics by race, I’d find that a significant amount of high scores are from Asian and non-Latino white test takers.

Getting a 650 is also just above the mean, not really what a school like Carnegie Mellon is looking for.



fineartsmajormom:

Why did your parents make you drop a calculus class? Dropping out of a math class is more harmful than the low score. Now you are not even taking a math–except stats which some schools do not count as math. Does this mean that you only have 2.5 credits of hs math? This may be a problem for admission to many universities that require 4 credits of HS math. Even if stats are counted you could be short a .5 credit. You need to talk to your counselor about this before you apply to any universities.



I had a really bad grade and they were concerned about my GPA. I assure you, it was an incredibly hard class, and I probably wouldn’t have gotten a very score. Even my first semester, I was very happy with getting a C+. Although I had a big fight with my parents about it, I guess it was for the better that I was no longer taking such a difficult class and had more time to focus on other things.

Why in the world wouldn’t a college count Stat AP as a math? It might not be the hardest thing in the world, but I’m sure it’s more rigorous than a lot of other things that they accept for math credit, especially given the level of rigor it is taught by my school.

Also, I don’t want to sound rude, but I don’t understand how you think I could’ve taken Calc AP but not have enough math credits to graduate. Is it normal where you come from where people skip entire levels of high school math? I have already taken four years worth of math beforehand given at a high school level (two in middle school and two in high school), so I am fine.

I guess your kid(s) were fine arts people and math was never something you had to give them much thought.