Will Phys Ed hurt my admissions chances???Answered
I have a 97.5 Unweighted Gpa, and our school does not count gym in this calculation. However, gym grades do show up on our transcript and I got a 78 the first semester and an 88 the second semester. Will these dismal gym grades lower my chances of being accepted?? Do schools even look at gym grades??
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2 answers
Even if certain grades are not counted towards your GPA, colleges still do look at them and factor them into their admissions decision. Having a low gym grade will not be as detrimental as a low grade in a core subject like English, but it will make you slightly less well rounded.
I also recommend appealing your grade, and if your high school does not accept your appeal, explain your unexcused absences in the Additional Information section of your applications. Adding a team sport to your extracurricular list, even at a casual level, will also help balance out your gym grade. Hope this helps!
I think you know the obvious answer which is that ideally, all top colleges would like to see maximum effort put into all classes regardless of how unimportant they are to you. I put Phys Ed in the category of mandatory graduation requirements no different that Health Class or or if your school has another class like that. At my HS we had an Advanced Communication Skills class which was mandatory as well.
Since you are clearly not interested in athletics and opted for Phys Ed versus playing a Varsity Sport and aiming for some leadership position on your team like Team Captain, I think that your ECs may or may not look as strong as someone who held multiple leadership positions in your school.
I recommend that change your attitude about mandatory coursework and give it your best effort to show up and try your best in class. Believe it or not at the hardest school in the country to get into, Harvard, they have a athletic assessment criteria based on a 1 to 6 scale so you wouldn't score very high on that, maybe a 5 or 6. And at all Ivys, once you are matriculated if you get in, you actually have to take a 1 credit swimming assessment course which is novel but nevertheless, no one graduates unless they can swim like 100 Meters. I think other schools do this as well.
The exception is that if you have a physical disability and a chronic health condition which prevents you from participating. For these pre-existing conditions, I would use the additional information section of the common app to explain your inability to participate based on your health and well-being status.
Good luck.
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thanks for your help– surprisingly, I was actually the captain of my track and field team last year. My low phys ed grades are due to the fact that it's one of my earliest classes and I had a few unexcused absences that I did not make up (so the teacher put in a 0). It's also required for all students, regaurdless of the fact that I play multiple sports.