What should I do?Answered
2 part question:
Due to circumstances I have all graduation requirements at the end of Junior year. But in 2 courses (An AP Micro and PreCalc) I got a C. I can retake the course next year and assuming I get an A my transcript will show I retook the course but that my only grade in the course is an A. The C will be more or less discarded. Should I retake the class if I’m interested in going to elite schools like Rice NW Vanderbilt and majoring in engineering? Does anything change if I state that those Cs were when I was remote? Also how will selective colleges perceive me retaking them?
Also as I have full credit for graduation my mom is pushing me to retake those classes in the morning but physically take college courses at a community college (not dual enrollment) in the afternoon due to financial reasons. I however really really want to take a full year (maybe retake the classes) and take a lot of rigorous courses (at least 5/7 of my classes will be AP) and in general have a fairly normal senior year. How can I convince my mother that I should do my preferred option? Also how will colleges perceive the community college as technically I will not be graduating and still am a Highschooler?
How will retaking these 2 APs and getting an A in them affect your GPA? What is your current and projected GPA?
Why would your mom want you to enroll in CC? Does she want you to graduate early as well? How is attending CC financially beneficial, do you not go to a public HS? Or it is cheaper than going to HS?
To answer them backwards my mom sees CCs getting cheaper college credit while I retake the classes to get a GPA boost. If I get an A my UW gpa is boosted from 3.747 to 3.848. I don’t know about the 1st as I’m got the info 2nd hand but I believe only the A is shown.
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1 answer
For the first part of your question you first need to confirm with your school how the grades will appear on your transcript. It's definitely better to get that information from a trusted source in the guidance department rather than 2nd hand. I'm honestly not sure if there will be a big difference in how things are viewed if the C is kept on the transcript over a NC but it's a conversation you should try and have. Since you are looking to go to elite schools then you're probably going to want to re-take them to prove you can do well and retaking PreCalc should be the priority in my opinion. The .1 GPA boost from retaking the classes and getting an A is actually a pretty big deal since it puts you more in line with what Vanderbilt would expect from an applicant.
In terms of how to convince your mom that you should have a typical senior year, I'm not sure the best way to do that. I think the best thing to do is lay out the acts and data as best as you can and to just be truthful with how you feel about wanting a normal senior year. The fact is colleges will look at those AP classes more favorable than the community college classes because they know what to expect from the APs. There are too many variables in play with community college classes which make then difficult to judge. If you take the 5+ APs you want senior year you know for certain how the colleges will look at you (favorably) and if you can maintain or increase your GPA while doing that you're in a good spot.
Also, check out this link: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/catalogs/documents/UGAD.pdf#page=42. How many AP classes have you taken/will take where you can possibly receive credit? If there are enough there where you will be receiving credit you could argue the fact you are still getting college credit when you take the AP test. Of course, this relies on you doing well on the AP test so you would need to make sure you are prepared. But if you know colleges will like the AP classes more, you could still still earn college credit, and it's probably cheaper to do than enrolling in the CC classes I think that's a fairly sound argument in your favor.
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Have you already discussed taking the 2 (C) AP Courses over with your HS Counselor? Each school does it differently. Some schools keep both grades on the Physical Transcript but only count the higher grade in the UWGPA/WGPA calculation. Other schools keep both attempts but replace the C with a N/C No Credit. So what did you find out?