What to do about my single D+?

[Shouta Misaki]

Hi all! I'm currently a junior doing my honours BA in psychology and history. Academically, I think I'm doing okay - almost entirely A's and B+'s, with the odd B. However, I also have a D+ hanging over my head from first year, and I was curious how much of an impact this will have moving forwards. Obviously it's dragging down my GPA, but will this really hurt me when I apply for graduate school or something of the like? Because it's been so long, I may have trouble wiping this course from my record now, but I'm considering at least making the attempt.

[k_angie]

Hey Shouta Misaki,

As long as you can mention it in your sop stating what was the reason for that particular D+ among those As and Bs without making it sound like an excuse. I think you will be fine. Additionally you can mention how you showed progress that particular paper or semester later on, like you know, how did you overcome it.

Hope this helps!

Edited December 9, 2013 by k_angie

[meowth]

I have a D+ too, but from sophomore year, but by the end my overall GPA ended up at 3.6 and I still got summa cum laude.

 

When I first started doing my graduate school applications I wanted to mention how I started out in another major and just didn't do too hot, but it just sounded like too much of an excuse and like my later major was a "backup" (which it kind of was but) which I didn't want to do because I really, really love my major(s) way more than that one I was in when I got the D+. Other than that, I don't really want to mention mental health things either even if they were maybe a contributing factor.

 

So... I just didn't mention it at all! It was in a class totally unrelated to my majors and what I'm going to grad school for. Everyone makes mistakes, and I did well enough otherwise that I don't see the point in dwelling. Especially since it was only in sophomore year (and in your case, freshman year I think shows even more it was just an oops.) I think it also helps that I've already graduated though, so I was able to show that I did consistently well the rest of the time in school to make up for it.

 

The only time I've had to list now is on one app that asks for all my mathematics and stats classes. I think it has me list them assuming whatever I add is an extra thing, a good thing, but instead now I have that D+ staring me in the face when and I'm just thinking "I really don't ever need that advanced of math for program anyway and it should be good I got that far at all."

 

If they ask about it in a follow-up anything, sure, I'll explain. Otherwise, I mean, it's no secret but I'd rather focus on my strengths and on my education that's actually relevant.

 

(But if your D+ is in a psychology or history class I guess I'd suggest explaining it!)

 

(Also, I haven't actually gotten in anywhere yet, so who knows.)

Edited December 9, 2013 by meowth

[Queen of Kale]

If the D+ isn't in your field I wouldn't even waste time mentioning it in your SOP.  I had a lone F in a field unrelated to the area of my PhD and not one of my POIs noticed.  Several mentioned that they didn't even look at the full transcripts, just the final GPA & the courses they are particularly interested in.

[Shouta Misaki]

Interesting, thanks for the replies, everyone! If I can manage to wipe the course from my record and make up for it in the summer I probably will, but it's nice to know that I'm not in deep trouble if that doesn't work out. And yeah, it wasn't in either of my majors, just a random humanities course that fulfilled some of my university's general education requirements, so no big.

[nugget]

It's good that the D+ isn't in your major area of study. One of my profs got a D in a music appreciation course in undergrad. Since that wasn't her area of study it didn't hold her back and she was still able to pursue a PhD in a completely different field of study. If your overall GPA is high, I think you will be fine.

[TakeruK]

I definitely would not mention it and I don't think it's even worth the time to redo the course or do another course in place of it. If you are applying to Canadian schools, I found that the majority of them (but maybe only in the sciences?) really only care about the 3rd and 4th year courses in your field of study. Every department I applied to had a "minimum GPA requirement" in these terms (i.e. upper level courses in field of study) or something like "the most recent X credits in your major". Also, if it's that early on in your undergrad, the grad schools can see that your grades have an upward trend and I think the trend in your GPA is important too!

[LittleDarlings]

I don't think you should even mention it, I thought schools looked at the overall GPA as well as the last 4 semesters of grades? I wouldn't mention it, if you end your college career with a low GPA then talk about that but if not then good luck