February 08, 2005

• I say take a good long look at your acceptance letter and other materials that came along with it. Chances are there's a clause in there that says that if you do something really awful, like plagiarism, felony, or even really, really bad grades, they have the right to withdraw their admission offer. I don't have any nightmare stories about a precipitous fall in grades, but someone I know got their admission to Stanford revoked because they vandalized a classroom.
• Teachers called "senior slack" when I was a youngster. I can't tell if that's the case here, or have you actually run into trouble grasping the material? You can call the Tufts admissions office and ask what will happen. But imagine the worst case scenario - your high school won't give you a diploma because you haven't passed enough math classes. My advice is to hit the books. Ask your teachers for extra help. See if your friends are interested in a study group. Treat it as a chance to prove you're ready for college, where there are plenty of unique and exciting opportunities to nosedive and make a stellar comeback.
• Google suggests that colleges have a right to rescind for grades, but that they do so sparingly, one would imagine in extreme cases. The senior slump is not exactly a rare occurrence after all, but best to try and bring those grades up if you can. Not failing Calc (which Tufts would probably consider a pre-req of some sort) would be paramount, I think.
• Fundamental theorem, dude. You gots to know some fundamental theorem, or it'll go on your permanent record.
• Ah hell, just drop out entirely... you can come down to NYC and huff freon out of abandoned car radiators with me!
• from a Detroit News story... Judy Hingle, director of professional development for the National Association for College Admission Counseling and a former high school counselor, said senioritis is a typical psychological reaction. The Alexandria, Va.-based association serves as a conduit for high school counselors, college admission boards and financial aid officers. "We can't expect these kids to be more mature than we were," Hingle said. "But what some seniors need to realize is that their admittance is based on them maintaining the level of accomplishment they did when they were accepted. Some schools do check kids' transcripts during senior year."
• Are you on scholarship at Tufts? It may be that your GPA doesn't hurt your admissions status, but it may hurt your scholarship. Another option Tufts has is admitting you on academic probation. That way, if you do well Freshman year you're cool, and all is forgiven. I feel your pain on the math thing. I think you're going to have to suck it up and get some extra help from the teacher or a colleague who is a calc whiz. Good luck! (If you need help in a non-math subject, like editing papers, or history or whatever, I'd be happy to help. Other monkeys may be able to help in mathy subjects, I don't know.)
• Yes, they can and they may. While policy probably varies from school to school, an aquaintance of mine had his admission to USC rescinded following a similar exhibit of his downright idiocy. I worked in admissions at Swarthmore, and in my time there, none of our admits ever did this so I can't even guess what we might've done, but I've heard of enough cases of other schools doing so. I suspect that if you can't turn things around, some tragic family excuse or other bullshit could still save you if it comes to it. My recommendation however would be not to play with fire (or your future).
• I've taken tons of calculus, but it was many years ago. Still, if there's anything I can help with, mfpb, just shoot me an email.
• I agree that while Tufts likely has the right to withdraw your admission offer it is unlikely that they will unless you end up somehow not graduating from high school, but why take the risk. You must be quite bright to have earned admission to this fine school. I recommend that you hunker down and study hard for a few more months to get your grades back up, and get yourself a tutor in calc.
• and cut your hair, you look like a damn hippy.
• Muffpub, do get help -- NOW, from teachers or a tutor. Ye've got time to do this if ye start right away. You've learned something early that many don't learn until they're in college and failing courses. So from that standpoint this can be a positive experience, if ye determine to make it so.
• I seem to recall getting a D in calculus my senior year and my admission to Texas A&M wasn't revoked. Of course, as a mature adult now, I DO NOT RECOMMEND taking that path. Now sit up straight. And wipe that grin off your face.
• I wouldn't worry too much, you're only failing calculus-- a skill .000001% of the population ever needs after graduation...
• "D" is for diploma
• seem to recall getting a D in calculus my senior year and my admission to Texas A&M wasn't revoked. Of course, as a mature adult now, I DO NOT RECOMMEND taking that path. If you mean attending A&M, well said!
• I had an A in honors calc all the way through the 3rd quarter of my senior year, at which point it promptly dropped to a C. Nothing happened with my scholarship, which paid for me to go to England my junior year and get started on the path toward alcoholism the RIGHT way. So unless you're not going to graduate, I doubt you need to sweat it too much. Still, I'd do a quick reading of the Tufts by-laws and fine print.
• I don't like the word matriculate. It sounds dirty.
• I slacked off in a serious way my first year at uni here in NZ (studying accounting, what can one expect?) and made the silly decision to try the exact same courses again the following year. Got a glare and a "You're going to work harder this year, aren't you?" from the Dean but no more. I did the exact same thing the second year. I was a complete dumbass and it screwed up my academic career really badly. Hooray for overseas study where they can't be bothered looking up past records. My one moment of "pride" was that I passed German without turning up for the final.
• If Tufts has a core curriculum, and it seems to, I bet calculus is part of it, in which case you'll really regret not having placed out of it. I sure did. Calculus sucked much more in college than in high school. The key to senior slumping is to slack off this much less than your classmates.
• If you mean attending A&M, well said! No kidding. But I hardly drool any more. And I have a right good vokabillary vocabyoo. I know a lot of big words.
• My sister has worked at A&M since '92 or so. I am deeply offended. Tufts is not going to revoke their acceptance of you. They probably have a clause that says they can, but they will not do it because they will not find out. They are not going to get thousands of transcripts all over again, sort through them, and then go through all of that. I had a fellow classmate in law school who was accepted to law school in the spring of her senior year. When it came time to get her law school diploma, she could not get it because she had never completed her college degree the summer before law school. So she had to go back, finish college (which I think consisted of writing a paper), and then get her law school degree.
• bernockle, I thought the same thing about not checking all those final transcripts. Then I found this article in the Washington Post (hope it's not reg. req'd.)
• Also consider what you high school teachers might think of your slacking off. They can be very useful references through your academic career, assuming you keep the contact up. I remember back in the day a girl in the year ahead of mine, who was at the top of her class come application time. She quite blatantly ignored all of her last term assignments, and completely destroyed the teaching staff's opinion of her. I doubt any of them would lend her a quarter. In contrast, making a good faith effort to turn things around at this point could do a lot to make you shine in your teachers' eyes.
• Do what your 2847 parents tell you, willya? And tuck in that shirt. There. You'll find me and my lost engineering career chillin' in #mofirc.
• My undergrad required a completed high school record to let me in unconditionally. I think I had to turn it in before they'd let me be a sophomore. Then again, I went to a really small universtiy.
• Same experience also, I had a D in 2 classes. Just make sure you pass them, and you should be fine, I dont think your high school has any right whatsoever to send your grades with out your expressed written consent. just make sure the college doesnt ask :) oh and I'm in college now. up at 5 in the morning, playing world of warcraft **slams head on desk**
• The treasure that is a good education should not be wasted. Some of us here had no schooling at all - we had none! Or Nuns, I forget which. Actually, we had to share just one Nun with another class - we got the bottom half. That's why I only ever picked up tapdancing and algebra (the later through an infection of the face from where our Nun kept accidentally kicking me cause she couldn't see anything like I said). So, yeah, study hard.
• quid, I think it's time for your dried frog pills again.