Will one bad grade affect my chance into colleges?
Throughout high school my grades have been all A's and B's but this past year I finished with a D in Trigonometry. The first half of the year was trigonometry (which I finished with a D), but the second half with Math Analytics I finished with a B (they were counted as two separate classes). Will this make colleges deny me because of one bad grade even though the rest of my grades are A's and B's and I have A TON of extracurriculars with leadership roles. (I am looking at colleges in Florida)
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2 answers
The best way to gauge how colleges might look at your grades is just to look at your GPA vs. average GPAs for that school. As a rule of thumb, one bad grade won't tank your chances in most places, though a D might substantially lower your GPA because it's adding such a low number to the average.
As examples, the most selective schools in Florida are UF and Miami. For both of those, you want a GPA that's in the high-3s, ideally a 3.6 or above. If you have one in the lower-3s, you may need to consider less selective schools. If you're a Florida resident, you're lucky, because Florida has a lot of very affordable public schools that you can research and choose between, which should give you a bunch of reasonable options that wouldn't put you in significant debt.
Uh kinda selective schools can disregard a D especially if other factors are really good such as essays ECs SAT you should be fine. It is further lessened if you aren’t going into stem fields are a minority student/someone who the college really wants to improve diversity.
Some schools that are highly selective I believe UCF and U Fla will likely care more but it is not a definite NO it will likely make it harder but it is the same as if you have lower SAT but your GPA counters that.
Also if you had issues such as moving or some other thing that stopped you from being “100%” present you can say becuase of x I was not able to fully be myself blah blah but don’t BS it. I heard of someone who faked their grandmas obituary to get into a school who had senoritis and then 2 years later at the same school her younger sister used the same obituary but changed the date so yeh be honest
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Colleges consider many different factors in the admissions process, such as GPA, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and personal essays. A single low grade can be offset by high achievement in other areas with slope game, demonstrating improvement, or explaining any extenuating circumstances in your application. Keep at it.