Will a C affect my chances at getting into a good school?Answered
I’m a current junior who as of now has a 4.79 w gpa and a 4.0 uw. I’ve had all As and A+s my high school career until this semester (first semester of junior year) in which I experienced extreme chest pains and abdominal pains throughout the first three months, leading me to stay at the hospital for a few days, undergo surgery, and miss a couple days of school. The health issues resulted in a lack of focus and made two of my grades drop to Cs. My other grades still are As but the two other grades are not. Will that affect my chances of getting into an Ivy League (or similar) university?
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3 answers
Two important data points are missing from your question to give a reasonable response.
1. What class was this in?
2. What is your unweighted GPA? 4.79 doesn't really mean much if your school is on a 5.00 scale as it seems to be since all Ivys compare apples to apples GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 100 pt scale if that's how the school reported UWGPA.
If you have Cs, you want to use what limited time you have left (11 months) to expunge them by taking the courses over or replacing them with online college or dual enrollment college courses over the summer. Why would I recommend taking these drastic measures? a. there are more applicants to Ivy college than in the history of college applications and many of them have perfect or near perfect unweighted GPAs and test scores. and b. since this is the 3rd cycle of COVID-19 admissions, college admissions officers have been inundated with add'l essays or COVID-19 essays where applicants appeal to them for some leniency for health issues. They can't serve all who bring this up equitably. Therefore, I would recommend to all Class of 2026/Class of 2027 applicants not to rely on these add'l essay provisions too much. And if at all possible apply with 99th percentile SAT/ACT scores (1500+/34+).
No one here can tell you whether have 2 Cs or more is a 5% ding on your chances or a 50% ding. I can assure you, it is a ding, and some Ivys' be simply reject, not because of the Cs, but because there is such depth and breadth of other applicants who have otherwise similar profiles and better grades.
Hope that makes sense to you.
Good luck.
Hi, thank you for asking your question! First off, I hope you are well now and recovering. I'll hopefully put your mind at ease and say that these two C's are not going to make a tremendous impact in the long run on your applications. You seem like a stellar student thus far, and you can use the additional information section of your Common Application to explain the situation that caused the slight dip in grades.
I agree with @CameronBameron that what matters more is the overall trend in your GPA and course rigor over the 4 years of high school. If this is a positive trend and shows consistency, then you are in a great place!
They will probably affect your chances a little bit but your other grades will probably speak for your character. If there is somewhere for you to mention these issues I would do so. This would allow the reviewers of your application to see why your GPA dropped.
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
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(1) The two Cs are in my college courses for Math (Calculus 1) and Physics (Mechanics) as my school doesn't offer APs. (2) I currently have a 4.0 unweighted gpa, but that of course will be dropped due to the two Cs.