I have a question for the expert... I got C's in geometry last year for both semesters. I am considering retaking the second semester over summer school this summer to get an A so on my transcript so that I would have a C then an A with the grade replacement. Does this really matter to colleges? Should I just use the summer to get ahead in an interest of mine like psychology instead? Do colleges really look at your freshman year?
-Sally Sophomore
This is a tough call. Really, the only downside to the C's is that they will lower your GPA. As to the specific grades, you can explain them to colleges in a counselor note or personal comment on how they were "hard earned" and you weren't just slacking off. Basically, make it clear to colleges that those grades were the exception to an otherwise strong transcript.
The more I read about colleges, the more I realize that you have to play offense to succeed in admissions. Playing defense and defending your past grades just so that you can meet the GPA averages of a college won't do you much good if that only gets you to be an "average" applicant.
Basically, the perfect applicant has a passion. This is what everyone tries to have one or two of, but they are often unimpressive. Let's face it, it's hard to have college level interests at our age! Becoming passionate about something and loosely framing all of your extracurriculars (and work experience) around it should be your main goal, and that might compensate for some mishaps earlier on. For you, this could be something like teaching (tutoring), working, or spending your summer developing an academic passion that spreads beyond the classroom by using summer school to proactively (rather than defensively) boost your grades and demonstrate interest in a new subject.
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