Would explaining this grade be overkill?

Transfer Students
1

<p>So French is something that I’ve been bad at throughout most of high school. Despite being awful at it, language is something I value a lot and I worked really hard this past summer to improve it. I practiced with online learning programs, scheduled sessions with native speakers through italki, and basically did everything I could. In high school, I got consistent B’s in French until I got an A- in AP French my senior year, barely so (89.6 as final grade and it was rounded…90-92 is A- for us), even with last quarter being an auto A (where we did nothing). My out of school French skills eventually were good enough that I began translating documents at a volunteer organization (yes, I’ll admit they didn’t hold high standards in the first place and just needed someone willing).</p>

<p>My first semester of college, I continued French. The course was obviously way more rigorous than high school and I worked really hard throughout. I ended with a 91, which I thought secured an A-…but my French professor had a grading scale that was different than most of my other professors and what upperclassmen told me they experienced with their profs, which caught me off guard. Her cut off for an A- is and apparently always has been a 92. This grading scale was not mentioned in the syllabus or previously in class, but yes, I understand it was my fault for not simply asking for her grading scale at the beginning of the semester. She explained to me that everyone in the language department grades like this.</p>

<p>In any case, I worked my butt off and did improve a lot, but my transcripts won;t reflect this. Admissions will just see that I went from “A-” in AP French in high school to a “B+” in College French, despite a higher raw final number grade in the latter…French is something I consider important, and I just feel like what’s on my transcript isn’t going to reflect that.</p>

<p>Is there any aspect of the above chunk of text whatsoever that is worth explaining in my app, or will it just seem overkill? French is my only letter grade that’s not in the A-range, so I don’t want to just come off as someone who’s only stressing on it letter grade-wise…but the subject itself is just something I’ve worked so hard in and value a lot, despite never having been good at it in high school.</p>

2

<p>Don’t draw further attention to negative things in your record. Use what little space u are granted to sell yourself, not make excuses for yourself.</p>

<p>A 15 second TV commercial only talks about u should buy that product, not on why that product can’t do certain things.</p>

3

<p>GMTplus7 gives great advice. If the admissions committee inquires about the score, do tell them why it happened and explain your circumstances. Otherwise, don’t say anything about it.</p>

4

<p>Okay thanks! So it’s safe to assume they won’t necessarily jump to the conclusion that I got worse/stagnated with language?</p>

5

<p>There is nothing “negative” about getting a B+ in a class. A B+ is a good grade, despite what many people around the CC boards think of the subject. </p>

<p>You do not need to include any kind of explanation as to why you got an excellent, but not the -absolute- best grade in a class. </p>

6

<p>For me, it was more a matter of how it reflected my personal priorities. I would be happy with a B+ for a gen-ed class in something that isn’t directly related to what I want to major in. Language has been very important for me, and I was just worried that my worst grade being in language would suggest otherwise. Context is what I had in mind.</p>

7

<p>Lots of people get a B within their major at some point. There are very, very few people who don’t. College Confidential quite often paints a grossly inaccurate picture of how a student needs to perform to succeed. You do not need to have a 4.0 to transfer into a top school. People with 3.5 GPAs frequently transfer into the top schools too. </p>