I’m getting a D in one of my classes but As in all the rest of them. Should I drop the D-grade class? Will dropping the class look better or worse to colleges than a D on my transcript?
You should drop the class if it’s not absolutely necessary as a prerequisite for other courses and it’s the first class you’re dropping in high school. It’s better to have a “Withdrawn” on your transcript than a D. If you drop the class, it won’t affect your GPA (which would likely take a pretty big hit if all your other grades are As). Dropping the class will also relieve a lot of stress. Before you drop it, however, make sure that you’ve asked for help and put in a strong effort to improve your grade. If you think you’ve done all that you can and things haven’t changed, you’ll be better off in college admissions if you drop the class.
Generally, I would consider dropping any class where your grade is more than one grade point below your average. You don’t want to drop a course where you have just a slightly lower grade (e.g B+ for an A/A- student) because colleges will make negative inferences about dropped courses.