<p>I'm a senior in high school this year who has had a bit of trouble with my grades. I don't usually have difficulty -- I have maintained a 3.78 GPA up until this year, so this is definitely an anomaly. I do take responsibility for the fall in my grades -- at the beginning of the year, I let things slide, let senioritis kick in and ignored my schoolwork. I also took on far more than I could handle. I have decent SATs (2180/1440) but I think my grades might ruin my chances at my top colleges. The most selective I am applying to are Colgate, Northwestern, UNC and Carleton. I am currently working very hard on raising my grades in my classes but I'm still not gonna come out with an awesome GPA.</p>
<p>My question is: should I write a letter to each individual university explaining the drop in my grades and taking responsibility for them, but also explaining how I worked on improving them? If my grades do affect my chances I'll understand -- it was my fault -- but I would like to do what I can to rectify it. I figured a nice letter would be better than just letting them see the letter and think "deny" automatically. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Well, how steep is the fall in grades? I ask because I see kids on some threads obsessing about drops from things like 3.74 to 3.6 - not a big deal.
3.78 to under 3.0? We might need to strategize what you should do.</p>
<p>Second question: when does your fall term end? Can stellar performance on finals make a substantial difference, or no?</p>
<p>When your term ends or has ended, and what has to be sent in, can be important. The grades are going to carry more weight than your explanations and plans. As you progress through the year, you can have your improved quarterly reports sent to the schools with your counselor stating how much you improved from your first term slide. You can write your letter, but I really don't think until they see that improvement, they are going to have it carry much weight, and you are still going to be behind those applicants who are similar to you but have the higher GPA no matter what you say, unless some earthshattering catastrophe occurred. UNC tends to be forumula and any comments are not going to budge them. The smaller schools will look at the improvements and take them into consideration as they tend to be personal and holistic in admissions, but that letter from you is not going to carr¥ much weight. I reiterate, once you can show the improvements, a letter from a GC pointing them out would be more effective, along with your letter. And bear in mind that if you highlight those lower grades and then do not go up substantially, you will be increasing your chances of being an auto deny, so you might want to wait till you do bring up those grades. I know some kids who got into Colgate with a dip in senior grades that they did not address at all, so depending on how low you went, and how difficult the course load is (they tend to forgive C's in BC Calc according to our college counselor) it might be well to leave things be. As Jmmom says a drop as she describes is not a big deal, Also a single grade drop on a very difficult course may not be a big deal... But don't say you are going to do something that just may not get done. Wait till you have the improved transcripts in hand. The decisions will not be made before your next marking period.</p>
<p>I don't think you should write a letter. If your grades dropped because your best friend died or your mom was diagnosed with cancer, then I would advise you to have your GC write to the schools with perhaps a small statement from you. All seniors have senioritis and are working on applications and everything else (which the schools know). You don't have a clear reason for your drop in grades to inform the colleges about. </p>
<p>When does your term end? Can you work on getting your grades up and send in later grades? My school was on trimesters, and for most schools we could choose to send in our first trimester grades or our midterm grades from the second trimester. </p>
<p>There are a lot of things more important in your application. A small drop in grades probably won't have a huge affect, but dropping from A/A-s to B-/C+ is a significant drop that will affect your chances. Are your courses much more difficult than usual? Grade drops in very difficult classes is different than grade drops in your usual classes. Also note that if you're deferred from an ED/EA school, your senior grades will become much more important.</p>
<p>In the end, I'd say the affect of your senior year grades really depends on the factors I've mentioned. I do not, however, encourage you to write to the colleges.</p>
<p>Classes this year aren't substantially harder (moving to HL level in most subjects), although I am taking more of them plus working after school and taking a class at a local college. The drop in grades shouldn't be below 3.0 -- but it will be a drop from a 3.78 to a a 3.2 or 3.3. I hope to not have any C's -- maybe 1 (it would be my 2nd in high school) but I doubt I will have many A's. </p>
<p>Most schools require mid-year grades, I think. I'm not sure about how to send the college grade, and since there's the possibility that will be the worst grade there there might just have to be a problem with getting the college to send the score... haha.</p>