And what part did that play in college admissions?
My daughter is fine now but had an illness that made her miss a good bit of school Freshman year and limited her participation in EC’s especially sports for Freshman and Sophomore year.
I have read hear that your Guidance counselor can write a letter for your application that explains this kind of thing -but I am wondering if they really read them.
My D is a rising junior now.
The guidance counselor writes a letter of recommendation for the student. In that letter, the counselor can mention special circumstances such as the ones you’re describing. And yes, these letters do get read.
Thanks.
Junior year is a great time to get involved and show leadership. It might be easier for her to do something out side of school if she has not been involved in any ECs at school. For example, there was a girl at our church that help start and run a “Blessings in a Backpack” program that raised money for and purchased and distributed meals for children (who would have free lunch during the school week) on weekends.
I am hoping she will be more active this year.
I think the illness has made her more reserved
The Blessings in a Backpack sounds like a great idea -what a nice thing to do
My D missed 25-30 days of school for 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. She missed some in 12th, though not as much. While she didn’t really have an illness, she did have medical issues. I am not sure what the guidance counselor wrote in her letter. D was accepted and earned merit scholarships at Tulane. She just graduated from there this spring.
It didn’t hurt that she maintained her spot in the top 5% of her class of over 500 students while dealing with health issues.
Have your d do what she can and have the GC explain it.
Thanks very much
D has chronic ongoing medical issues and requires multiple medical visits. She missed ~20 days per year. She knew her GC well and the GC wrote a really wonderful letter that did mention health issues, in addition to leadership, academics, etc… I hope people read it because it was glowing.
We were chasing merit and she was accepted 9/10. I think schools are more likely to consider what she did her jr/sr years, especially if there is some explanation from the GC.
thanks
Another one says ask the GC to address in the GC information.
My daughter is a rising senior. She was ill with a very similar timeline. Missed a good bit of school freshman year. Sophomore year was kind of rough/-still some lingering affects from the illness and meds. Grades show a small slump there. She had a much better year last year. Overall her record may not need explanation for the schools she’s interested in but I will still tell her to mention it to the GC.
I hope its a good year for your D.
Truthfully -I am not sure that my D’s high school grades would be that different without the illness and surgery. I know her EC’s would have been though. I hope everyone with health issues has a good year.
My daughter had several chronic health issues, and was in an out of school for most of high school. She just graduated from an Ivy that was very accommodating. Her GC mentioned her medical challenges (and possibly commented on her good “character”, I have no idea) and the GC also asked me to write a brief note, but this was also because a lot of what she loved doing was in a performing art outside of school, which may have affected her course choices more than the health issues.
It is a very different scenario if the illness is short-term rather than chronic.
Did she have accommodations from the high school in a 504 plan? Just curious.
I hope that your daughter does not feel pressure to make up for lost time. I hope she does not start doing extracurriculars just for admissions. If she gets interested in doing things, fine, but there is still time to let it happen naturally.
She goes to a private school and there was no plan. They were accommodating about letting her take her time to make things up etc…
I don’t think my D feels pressured. I worry much more than she does. I just want her to have choices.