<p>Hi
I have a somewhat serious issue. I applied to Rutgers and was accepted to the SAS program. After my acceptance everything kindof went downhill. My grandfather got sick and almost died and both my parents had to leave the country to go see him. I was left in charge of my 2 siblings ages 12 and 15. And in consequence my grades dropped. I ended up with no significant changes in my grades except in trig/pre-calc which I failed. Recently rutgers sent me a letter asking me to explain my situation before they take any action. I sent them an email explaining yesterday and I'm waiting a reply. What are the chances that I'm going to have my acceptance rescinded? Please help I'm extremely worried
Ps. I also already paid my first payment towards my tutition and have chosen my classes.
Please anyone who might be able to tell me what to do?!?</p>
<p>You really can only wait until they get back to you; there’s nothing that you can do at this point, or that we could advise.</p>
<p>@Scared1029 - @irlandaise is right, you already responded so you can only wait. I would be surprised if they actually rescinded your admittance. More likely they will put you on academic probation from the start. As long as you do well your first semester (or maybe it will be your whole first year) it will go away and be like it never happened.</p>
<p>You did still graduate from high school, right?</p>
<p>I did graduate. My highschool only requires 4 years of english and gym and 3 years of math, science and history. I graduated with more than enough credits </p>
<p>I would speak with your GC (if he/she is not on vacation) to see if he/she would call Rutgers on your behalf. On the other hand, my parents left me in charge of my 3 younger siblings when I was 15 for a month, and my grades didn’t suffer. My father passed away last August (after school started). My daughter was very close to him and she had a very good semester grade wise.</p>
<p>Gcs in my school only stay until final transcripts are sent out. They come back mid-august </p>
<p>Well, @oldfort, we can’t all be the same, can we? Neither of your examples is exactly comparable. In the first you presumably were not grieving or worried about an imminent death of a loved one, and in the second you didn’t indicate she was left alone to be in charge of siblings. This person apparently struggled. I guess he just isn’t as good as you or your daughter. If you haven’t guessed, I thought that part of your post was insensitive.</p>
<p>You can think what you want, but what it’s going to matter is what the adcoms will think. It is not about who is better, it is about how it would be perceived as “normal.” I am sure OP was upset that his grandfather was sick, but why was he grieving? I am not here to judge OP, but I would wonder how close he is with his grandfather, whom he doesn’t see on a regular basis. I would assume OP was probably more stressed because of extra work he had to do around the house, hence my comparison between his situation and mine.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - I think your post was uncalled for and was way over the top. Again, not sure why OP would be grieving since his grandfather didn’t pass away.</p>
<p>Fallenchemist- what a nasty post. Not a very good example for a moderator! We all post from our own experiences. I would consider your post a personal attack on oldfort and you should be in time out!</p>
<p>People handle things differently, and I think we can all agree that someone who has struggled with family illness / loss and has certainly had a stressful time of taking care of their siblings and worrying about a rescinded acceptance wouldn’t benefit from hearing an “on the other hand, I and my superior progeny could handle it!”</p>
<p>@scared1029, you will be able to sort this out. There should be some admins at your high school that you can contact. Ignore oldfort and fallenchemist in this thread; they probably have history that has nothing to do with you. </p>
<p>Was Rutgers explicit about wanting an emailed response? If they gave you the option of calling, I would. Will your parents back you up on this?</p>
<p>We all draw from our own experience and we project. If someone at work were to tell me his parent passed away, I may give him more leeway than if he were to tell me he was stressed because his far away grandfather was sick. I may also expect my staff to be out of sort for few weeks, but not necessary for 5 months (a whole semester). OP failed a class, not an exam. Many normal students have adversities (divorce, death, illness…) while they are in school, some people handle better than others, but it is up to adcoms to determine what warrants an F in class. </p>
<p>FWIW - We are very normal people, not superior in anyway, and we handled those unexpected issues like everyone else. </p>
<p>@MomofWildChild - personally I fail to see how that applies at all. Her personal experience has nothing to do with the OPs personal experience. How does it help except to make the OP feel worse? As @wchuck said, exactly. Personally I found the post childish and insensitive. That’s drawing on my experience.</p>
<p>OP - why did you fail this class? Did you have major projects or tests for this class when your grandfather was especially sick? Did you try to work out something with your teacher and he was not very accommodating? Did you let your GC or someone at school about your particular issue? If so, I would put all of that in your letter to Rutgers. The more you could show it was an extraneous circumstance, better case you will have. What few posters have missed on what I was trying to say was, “I had to take care of my siblings when my grandfather was sick” may not be enough of an excuse to get an F in the class.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - how do you think adcoms will make their decisions? Most people will “judge” based on their personal experience. </p>
<p>I personally do not think all the name calling is necessary or productive.</p>
<p>@oldfort - First, you said nothing about ad coms in your first post. Read what you said in that post only, and it sounds like all you are doing is chiding the OP for not handling it as well as you and your D did. No other context there. Second, I said grieving OR worried. Please don’t misquote by omission. Third, you are making wild assumptions about how close he is or even should be to the “far away” grandfather. I find that beyond presumptuous.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - adcoms are everyday people, just like you and I. If I would question how close OP is with his far away grandparent or how worried he was over his grandfather’s illness to warrant a F in class, then there is a chance some adcoms may feel the same. </p>
<p>I am not going to continue this childish bantering.</p>
<p>OP - I would write a compelling email to explain away the F.</p>
<p>@oldfort - I did not call you any names, I described what I thought about your post. As far as ad coms, as I said you didn’t even relate it back to ad coms in your first post, which gives it a totally different feel. Talk about unproductive, it only comes across (IMO) as “you didn’t handle this circumstance well because we did it better”, not to mention neither of your examples is exactly the same but have significant differences. I have no idea what an individual ad com might think, but as a group that has seen a lot come across their desk, my own take is they would be more sympathetic than you seem to about this.</p>
<p>
Why did you post then? Isn’t that why OP posted? He wanted to know if by telling the adcoms his grandfather was sick and he had to take care of his siblings were enough of reason to get an F in his class. I personally had to take care of my siblings, my kids’ grandfather died, and a lot of people I know have had many of those personal issues, and they didn’t get Fs or lose their jobs. So, OP may need to give more color to his own circumstance.<br>
I am not sure what you mean by
What group? What have come across their desk?</p>
<p>On CC we hear so often how professors do not give make up exams or extend project deadlines for any reason. I am not sure how sympathetic college adcoms may be over an F.</p>
<p>Unless adcoms ask for doctor’s note and parents’ airline tickets, they are going to have decide if OP is telling the truth based on their experience.</p>
<p>I think my earlier comment of not be able to do anything at this point nor anyone here being able to advise him further still stands, but that’s just me…</p>