<p>I posted this on another thread, but thought it would have a better chance of getting responses if it had its own separate thread. </p>
<p>My best friend was unlucky enough to really screw up the first semester of her senior year (1 C, a couple of B's, and a few A's). Then she got deferred from Stanford (while I got rejected, grrrr!) and is now wondering whether her first semester grades will preclude her from being admitted to even the lower tier of prestigious universities (Rice, Duke, etc.). </p>
<p>This is a person who has EVERYTHING else going for her, but she had a lot of growing up to do this semester, took a heavy courseload, and her grandfather became gravely ill right around finals.</p>
<p>What do I say? In my heart, I suspect she'll have to settle for a big public university, but is the game really over for her?</p>
<p>There's nothing wrong with a big public university. Some suck, just like a lot of private schools, but others don't. You don't have to go to Stanford to live somewhere other than the street.</p>
<p>No, deferred as in her application will be reviewed along with those who applied for Stanford RD. </p>
<p>I personally know there's nothing wrong with going to a big public university and that one's college experience is really what one makes of it. But my friend, like so many others on this website, has been dreaming of Stanford for so many years and it just seems hard to believe that one poor semester (with some justification, obviously) will have undone around 8 years of solid effort.</p>
<p>But if that's the way it has to be, then so be it. I'm just wondering if anyone has some sort of empirical evidence of people overcoming similar situations to be admitted to selective universities. In other words, is this REALLY the death knell?</p>
<p>i've seen throughout cc that one may be able to overcome deference (is this word used correctly?) by writing a letter (a really good one) to admissions. maybe she could also visit the school.</p>
<p>but i believe stanford explicitly stated that showing interest towards the school will not have any impact on admissions.</p>
<p>Can her counsellor write an additional letter explaining her circumstances?</p>
<p>JteH - Deference means showing respect, giving way. For example, Asian cultures emphasize heavily on deference to elders. You should use deferral instead.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. She's thinking of having her counselor allude to the fiasco in her midyear report and also of writing something by way of explanation in Stanford's optional update form.</p>
<p>Also, since the optional update form (along with the midyear reports) is due fairly late in the second semester, by which time she would have had a couple of rounds of testing, would it be possible for her to include those test scores if they point to a recovery of sorts?</p>
<p>And I think she's over Stanford now (but would still like to give it her best shot), but is frightened that schools like Rice or Duke are also well out of her reach.</p>
<p>Stanford is mega****edup. Have her explain it, they'll accept her because she showed a 'human' side or something and proved she wasnt a 4.0 grade cranking robot.</p>