S02 EP04: QOTW: Help! I Got a Bad Grade in Junior Year. Will This Affect My College Application?
In this week's episode, we tackle an important question from a student in Colorado who is concerned about their final semester grades during their junior year. Thomas addresses this issue with valuable insights and advice for both current and rising juniors.
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In this week's episode, we tackle an important question from a student in Colorado who is concerned about their final semester grades during their junior year.
The student worries that these grades may negatively impact their chances of getting into their dream school. Thomas addresses this issue with valuable insights and advice for both current and rising juniors.
Key Highlights
Grades in junior year are incredibly important for your college application, but there are some things you can do to help.
Provide context in the additional information section if there were mitigating circumstances affecting grades.
Avoid using excuses like "teacher didn't like me" and take responsibility for learning.
Communicate respectfully with teachers to inquire about grades or potential extra credit opportunities.
Mitigate the impact of bad grades by excelling in related sections of standardized tests.
Craft a compelling narrative in the additional information essay to explain the anomaly in grades and demonstrate growth.
About Thomas
Thomas is a parent and alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania. After earning his MBA at the Wharton School in 2003, he moved to Silicon Valley. For three years, he was director of admissions and financial aid at Wharton School. He worked closely with admissions professionals, students, alumni, and professors to create the best possible MBA class.
Thomas has been an entrepreneur his entire life in the fields of finance, agriculture, wellness, and sporting goods. As the founder of Global Education Opportunities, he works with diverse and underserved communities to help them become successful college students. Thomas started the podcast Admittedly because he is passionate about demystifying the application process for parents and applicants.
Related Links
Apply to be a guest: www.thomascaleel.com/apply-for-podcast
Follow Admittedly on Social Media
TikTok: @admittedlypodcast
Instagram: @admittedlypodcast
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Hello, and welcome to the admittedly podcast. My name is Thomas Caleel. I'm the former director of MBA admissions and financial aid for my alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In this podcast, I don't promise easy answers or quick fixes. But I will use my decades of experience to help you achieve your education goals. Now, let's get started.
This is another one of our questions of the week. This question comes to us from a student in Colorado. And they ask, won't they say help? My final semester grades junior year are not what I hoped they'd be. I'm very disappointed, and I'm worried that it's going to severely affect my chances at my dream school. What should I do?
This is a great question because we can't go back in time and fix our junior year. For those of you who are rising, juniors, please pay attention to this question. It's very important in a junior year that you just crush your academics. Do not be proud, get the tutoring, go to your teachers, and ask for advice. Really dig in, because bad grades your junior year, are really something that is difficult to overcome. I would ask this student specifically, you know, what do we mean by bad grades? For some students getting an A instead of an A plus is a bad grade. For some students getting a C is a bad grade.
And the other question I would have is, were there mitigating circumstances Were you ill or injured? Was there a problem in the family? You know, did you Did something happen to impact your academic experience? And if so, then that's something certainly that we're going to want to address in the additional information as in the Common Application, because it is important to provide context, right? I would caution you that my teacher didn't like me, that comes up often as a reason. And you know, admissions officers have very little sympathy for that.
Because throughout your life, you're going to be going through life when you meet people. And some people are going to like you and some people aren't. And when you are not in a position of power, when you are dependent on somebody, it's incumbent on you to try and repair that relationship. Right? Oh, my math teacher is a terrible math teacher, all the other students say so. Well, you know, maybe, but also, there are many, many ways for you to learn the material.
And it's incumbent on you to did you go to office hours? Did you make an effort to learn how this teacher teaches? Did you? Did you make an effort to understand their rubric? Did you make an effort, to really dig in and go above and beyond in the class, these are all things that can kind of, you know, add up over time, and affect your grade.
Now, if the grade is in, I would say if you feel like you have been wronged, right, maybe miss graded or they missed a paper or a test, then by all means, please reach out to your school, reach out to your teacher, you do it. That's not your parent's job. That's your job. Be polite, respectful, and inquire. Right. It never hurts to ask the worst that they can say is no. And in that case, it is what it is. You can ask if you can do extra credit. My guess is most teachers will say no because it's not fair to other students.
But certainly having a conversation with them, especially if you're right on the line let's say between an A, B plus, and an A minus. If you have a legitimate case as to why you think you should have picked up a couple of extra points, then make that case make it clear make it maturely, and make it in a way that is respectful to the teacher and their experience and their position. If you are not able to, let's say fix that grade, what can you do? I think there are a couple of emergency measures.
First of all, certainly, you want to make sure that you're taking a standardized test and you are crushing that segment of the test. If you did not do well in an English class, make sure you're doing very well on the verbal section of the LSAT or the ACT or the science you know, the science section of the ACT, or math the quantitative section. Are there ways you can demonstrate your knowledge and then if you're talking in your additional information essay about how this was an anomaly, or you bombed a test because you're upset about something that happened in your family or whatever that might be, then there's a better narrative to tell there and then Of course, you're going to come in the senior year first term and just dominate your academics and show that this was an anomaly.
So I think there are certainly ways to mitigate the damage. It's very rare that you can actually mend fully mend the damage, but also admissions officers understand that you are human life does happen. And so I would say try and articulate a compelling narrative there that is truthful and sincere. And remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and one bad episode should not derail the rest of your life.
Thank you. And we'll look forward to more of your great questions next week. Thank you for joining us today. Please take a moment to subscribe to the admittedly podcast and download this episode. I welcome you to share your thoughts and questions with me. You can find us on social media at admitted We podcast. I look forward to continuing our journey together.
