Doing poorly in a class within your major?

[Kevin1990]

I'm a current junior majoring in history/international studies and I want to go to grad school when I finish my undergrad. The semester is wrapping up for me and my preliminary progress reports for my classes appear to be good. And my overall GPA is fairly decent at around 3.2-3.4, and this semester I'm looking at getting around 3.4-3.7.

However, in one of the courses I'm taking within my major I'm not doing so well, I haven't done well on a midterm for the class and received a poor grade for a paper. I fear that I may very well receive a D or worse in the class, despite from what I know numbers wise it wouldn't do much damage. I'm in this between this rock and a hard place simply because I have a very difficult prof. Ex. I'm getting D's for work that I would normally get B's or A's for in any other class. This is the worst I've ever done in a class. Previously a C is the worst I could expect to do in a class overall.

Would this hurt me badly if I do poorly in a class? I mean I've read about successful applicants to grad school who've done a lot worse then this.

Would anyone mind chiming in on my situation?

Thanks,

[sa316]

This is what I've heard, although I could be wrong...Your overall GPA is very important and it is what they see before actually looking at your individual grades in classes. So, if you have a good cumulative GPA (which looks like you do) you will be fine and one D in a class isn't going to hurt you all that much. It may raise some eyebrows but a good essay, recs, and GREs can compensate for that one grade.

[Rachel B]

Is the class a prereq for a program? For example, in several programs I'm applying to you have to receive a B or higher in calculus and statistics. So that may be the only way it could really impact your application.

[Kevin1990]

Is the class a prereq for a program? For example, in several programs I'm applying to you have to receive a B or higher in calculus and statistics. So that may be the only way it could really impact your application.

No it is not, but I'm worried by the fact that it is not going to look good on my record. Especially since I was thinking of applying for history grad programs.

[Mal83]

You might want to talk to the professor about your progress before you start dwelling on getting a terrible grade. Maybe there's a curve or is anyone else feeling that they're doing much worse than they ordinarily would? Maybe there's something you can do to earn a few extra points between now and when the grades come in. I know what it's like to worry about grades. Just last night I got an email from a professor who said he had some issues with my final paper (the bulk of the class grade)...there were only 3 of them, however it was like he ripped apart the core of the paper, like I completely missed the point or something, the email was really like a slap in the face, there was absolutely nothing positive. I had no idea he already posted the final grade online and when I asked a fellow classmate she said to check, I was envisioning the worst, but I ended up with a B+, with which I'm completely satisfied, so it worked out just fine. I've been hearing a lot that professors in grad school don't like to give any grade lower than a B unless your work is really sub par, but this is only my first semester so whether that holds true all of the time I don't know and whether or not a B+ is the worst grade this prof gives is not something I care to know, but sometimes it works out better than you expect it to.

[Kevin1990]

You might want to talk to the professor about your progress before you start dwelling on getting a terrible grade. Maybe there's a curve or is anyone else feeling that they're doing much worse than they ordinarily would? Maybe there's something you can do to earn a few extra points between now and when the grades come in. I know what it's like to worry about grades. Just last night I got an email from a professor who said he had some issues with my final paper (the bulk of the class grade)...there were only 3 of them, however it was like he ripped apart the core of the paper, like I completely missed the point or something, the email was really like a slap in the face, there was absolutely nothing positive. I had no idea he already posted the final grade online and when I asked a fellow classmate she said to check, I was envisioning the worst, but I ended up with a B+, with which I'm completely satisfied, so it worked out just fine. I've been hearing a lot that professors in grad school don't like to give any grade lower than a B unless your work is really sub par, but this is only my first semester so whether that holds true all of the time I don't know and whether or not a B+ is the worst grade this prof gives is not something I care to know, but sometimes it works out better than you expect it to.

Well it looks like you were right,

Final grades are in didn't end up with the best grade(a C) but I didn't end up with a D which would have been more painful.

[Mal83]

Well it looks like you were right,

Final grades are in didn't end up with the best grade(a C) but I didn't end up with a D which would have been more painful.

Well glad you made out better than you thought. I ended up with a C, or maybe it was even a C- in a major class back in undergrad, it was a while ago can't quite recall, I hated the professor and tried to forget the whole thing as quickly as possible. It was devastating at the time for sure, but it certainly didn't prevent me from moving up in the world...so don't take it too hard, just keep the rest of your grades up so your GPA stays above that 3.0 cutoff and as high as possible for grad school applications.