Will one c from freshman year hurt?

teenager146
Wed, 17 Feb 2021 02:02:32 +0000

Hello.
First, I would like to congratulate you on finishing your first semester of high school during the most stressful year ever. I’m a HS senior currently waiting on my college decisions, so we’re kinda in the same boat. This has been a crazy year, and it’s nice to see that you got good grades despite the challenges of remote learning.

Second, there are two points I would like to make. The short answer: NO. You are perfectly fine. The first point being is that colleges know that for many, if not all, applicants, freshman year probably isn’t the best reflection of their academic potential by the time they apply to schools. Luckily for us, T20 schools practice hollistic admissions. So, your grades, essays, activities, letters of recommendation, course load, and other factors are taken into consideration when reviewing applications. So, I think it is safe to say that one C isn’t going to make your dream schools say “oh no, we gotta reject them”.

Additional point is that colleges also like to see an upward grade trend. For example, if you got this 1 C in your freshman year and have close to straight A’s by your senior year, this shows colleges that you’re academically driven in a better context. This shouldn’t be an issue for you, as you have shown in your grades this year, that you work hard and are capable of getting high grades. Again, grades are not everything. but this upward trend of high grades is definitely what you aim for.

I hope this gives you some insight and can help you be a little more calm. Overall, the important takeaway is that this one C in a freshman art class is not going to be the deciding factor of your app. You are going to be perfectly fine