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3 years ago
Admissions Advice
[edited]

Will a C in Dual Enrollment Chemistry Junior Year keep me out of top schools?
Answered

I understand that students who attend top schools typically have spotless transcripts. Up until this point, my grades were almost perfect (primarily -As to high As. During my Junior Fall, my high school required us to take Introduction to Honors College Chemistry which is a fully online course with a lab. I ended the course with a 73 and the rest of my courses were in the 95-100 range and they were still at a similar rigor. The only other red flag here was that I have three other dropped courses in classes on my community college transcript for that same semester. The only explanation that I have is that I had sprained my ankle in the fall which led to a decline in my grades because I had to miss three weeks of school and was not able to focus on the online course since I was in and out of Doctor's appointments and barely able to function. In addition, I dropped those courses because two of them I would take at Senate Page School then the other one just proved to be too much at the moment with the injury.

Now, in the spring, I kept Straight A's. Keep in mind, I was going to Senate Page School for the spring where I took Honors Physics, Honors, Precalculus, Honors English Composition, and Honors US History II, Elementary Spanish I (Dual Enrollment). In those courses, I earned 95-100 grades. Plus, I earned A's in three Dual Enrollment courses the following summer. Keep in mind, the Chemistry course was my first Dual Enrollment class.

Should that discourage me from the Ivy League (or any top schools) given my circumstances in my Junior Fall? Also, how would I go about putting this on the additional information? I'm not exactly sure if it being my first dual enrollment course or the injury keeping me out of school for three weeks would be better for my additional information.

Stats:

94 GPA UW

5 Dual Enrollments

1 AP Sophomore Year (school does not offer exam) but taking 4 APs Senior Year with Exam

35 ACT

1580 SAT

Personal:

Catholic School In MD

Lives in WV

Hispanic

Jewish

100k Household

ECs:

National Executive Director of Organization (9,10,11,12)

4 Campaign Internships (10,11,12)

Contributing Writer (10,11,12)

Editor-in-Chief for Youth-led Publication (10,11,12)

State Ambassador for National Organization (10,11,12)

Leader of Caucus within National Organization (12)

1 Summer Internship (2 summers in a row) (11,12)

Tutoring (9,10,11,12)

Executive Position in State Organization (12)

Theater (9,10,11,12)

Research Assistant at UChicago (11,12)

Senate Page Student Body President (11)

Intended Major:

Public Policy, English

georgetown
IvyLeague
senatepage
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@battlesheep2.03 years ago

This is a great question because i am in a similar situation where I'm worried that one grade of mine will make colleges not want me

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2 answers

2
Accepted Answer
3 years ago

Hi @faithlanham!

Like @CameronBameron said, getting a C in a class during your junior year can be concerning to admissions officers. However, your extracurriculars and test scores are impressive, so I think you should still apply to same schools you were aiming for. Additionally, because the C you received was because of health-related issues, you can discuss this in the Additional Information section on the Common App. I would talk more about the health struggles you had during that time, all the doctors' appointments you had to attend, etc. to explain why that ultimately led to a lower grade. See the "Can you Explain Why You Got a C?" section in this blog post for more information: https://blog.collegevine.com/can-i-get-into-a-top-college-with-a-c-on-my-transcript/

Hope that helps!

2
2
3 years ago

While having a C is a mark of concern to any top college, given your other academic achievements, ECs and high ACT and SAT test scores, I would recommend that you pursue your ORIGINAL list of colleges and shoot your shot. What do you have to lose? I might apply to a few extra Top schools like lesser Ivys as well because you never know and having more lottery tickets to play with is a good hedge that you will get into somewhere good. (Just make sure your add' info essay read less of an excuse and more factual so you are not apologizing for your health issue or your other reasons. I would write something like "I took a risk signing up for an Honors College course and found myself leaning too far over my skis that I tumbled and couldn't recover. I don't regret attempting something that challenging but I learned that my future coursework has to be more measured and within my abilities for me to succeed."

If I were in your shoes I would pick 1 sure thing safety, maybe 3/4 targets, and then about 10 Top20 schools and see what happens. And that's because you might not have enough time to apply to 20 schools.

Good luck and I hope you follow up in the Spring and let us know where you applied and where you got in.

2
What are your chances of acceptance?
Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
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UCLA
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Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)

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