I got a D in Calc II; Will Colleges Take Back My Acceptance?

[sheldonrocks97]

Okay so I am a high school senior and I took Calc I at a community college last semester and I got an A. Well this semester I took Calc II at the same community college and got a REALLY tough teacher and even though I studied hard I ended up with a D! I was really close to a C, too.

I want to go into Electrical and Mining engineering.

I don't believe I have to submit mid-year reports to any of my schools so maybe if I retake it and get an A or B it's like it never happened? I have not applied to any ivies or top schools, but I have applied to a lot of mid range tech schools and private engineering schools.

I just feel like a total loser and I'm not sure how I'm going to retake the class, because it will be extremely painful for me to know I could be in Calc III and Diff Eq right now.

Anyways, I was wondering if college will revoke my acceptance because of this. I'm not stupid. I have 39 college credits by the time I was 15. Also, I took 3 other classes at the college and got a B in Physics, and an A in engineering design and either an A or B in programming.

I plan on retaking Calc II next semester, but this fail cost me my associates degree at the same time as my diploma! I just hope colleges won't revoke my admission or scholarships. What do you guys think?

 

[WannabeNewton]

It really depends on where you're applying to and what major/discipline you tell the schools you intend to concentrate in. I won't lie though, a D in calc II is definitely not something you want a college admissions committee to see. It's obviously impossible to say if a D in a single class is a deathblow to college applications but this is your senior year of high school and you have a D in a class as fundamental as calc II so it's not the same thing as having a D in geometry your freshman year but having steadily increasing grades in math the subsequent years.

But more importantly, instead of freaking out about how a D in calc II will affect your admissions (which again it may or may not depending on where you apply-obviously a D in calc II will look terrible if you're applying to a school like MIT), you should focus more on figuring out why you got that D in the first place and try to make sure you don't have fundamental gaps in your understanding of the material.

EDIT: wait did you already get accepted to a college? If so the story is entirely different. Some colleges might ask for second semester senior grades and others might not but the magnitude of a D in a single class you took your second semester of senior year is not as high as it would be if it was from previous semester classes i.e. before you got accepted to a college.

 

[Travis_King]

I just feel like a total loser and I'm not sure how I'm going to retake the class, because it will be extremely painful for me to know I could be in Calc III and Diff Eq right now.

The fact that you got a D means you aren't ready, mathematically, to get much out of Calc III or Diff Eq. You'd struggle and would spend so much time trying to catch up, you'd have very little effort to give toward learning the stuff properly. You need a solid foundation in calculus for the upper level stuff. Don't rush it; learn it.

If you've been accepted to colleges, they won't revoke acceptance for that. At least I would be thouroughly shocked if they did.

Also, if you retake the class, typically the higher of the two would be what get's reported to a transfer school. (I think typically the D stays in your academic transcript, but doesn't count toward your GPA). Also, if you already haven't, be sure to verify that the school that you are transferring the credits to accepts the credit for the courses you are taking/have taken.

 

[sheldonrocks97]

Well I got accepted to 8 universities so far. My guess is as long as I don't have to send midterm grades then I should be fine. Keep in mind this is college calculus, not AP calculus so there is no first semester second semester. If I retake Calc II then I can probably have the new grade replaced with the D so it might not be that bad. What would you say?

 

[AlephZero]

My guess is as long as I don't have to send midterm grades then I should be fine.

Just focusing on "getting accepted" is missing the point. As Travis King said, you are not "fine". You haven't mastered Calc II. If you don't fix that problem, you are heading towards F grades on your future courses, not Ds.

 

[Sentin3l]

Just focusing on "getting accepted" is missing the point. As Travis King said, you are not "fine". You haven't mastered Calc II. If you don't fix that problem, you are heading towards F grades on your future courses, not Ds.

I second this. Not knowing Calc II is a huge problem. OP, this will cripple your education if you don't fix the gaps in your understanding.

 

[MathWarrior]

I would retake calculus 2. You are only in high school its not like its going to kill you to retake it.

 

[sheldonrocks97]

I would retake calculus 2. You are only in high school its not like its going to kill you to retake it.

I am already signed up to retake Calc II in the Spring with a better teacher so hopefully I can get an A or B this time.

 

[analogdesign]

I took Calc I and II in a community college when I was a senior in HS. I retook them when I got to college. It was really smart because they were much harder at my University than at my Community College. Proof-based calculus was tough but it really put me on track to understand my other classes.