I’ve been posting a lot recently but I literally get no replies. Anyways , my sat score and final year grades are a little low, but that was because of an illness at the time, I was thinking of mentioning this in my gap year essay on common app, would that leave a negative impression on admissions offcivers ? Thank you 
I’m not a big fan of applicants trying to “explain” anything. IME, it comes of as whining. If it’s a legitimate issue, the GC can mention it in his/her report.
It would be better to ask your guidance counselor to mention your illness in his/her letter of recommendation. If you alone mention it, it might come off as making excuses.
Let me just make sure I understand your situation. Are you currently in your gap year and applying to schools now? Or about to start your gap year and wondering how to handle things next year?
I would say if your grades dropped your senior year and you have a reason for that, I’d explain it. But as others have said it’s best if it comes from your counselor (who has to write you a letter anyway). I assume your illness is gone or under control and shouldn’t impact your college grades? If so, say that too. But I’d be very careful not to make your whole application about your illness and to be careful about your tone.
As for the SAT, that’s a little trickier. You can definitely mention your illness but my first thought was, why didn’t you retake it? If you have time, I definitely would if you think it was your illness that caused you to score lower than you expected. But then I’d be sure to prepare so your score rises. Otherwise you can’t use your illness to explain away your score.
Our school has a lot of kids and my guidance counselor barely knows me and she’s already submitted my recom letter .
If I choose to leave my illness out of the app, then I’ll have four years of good performance in school with a slight dip in senior year and a low sat score.Do you think that will significantly affect my chances?
A slight dip in GPA is generally not a problem (and is common). A low SAT score will impact your chances as there are many times to retake.
And to address why you maybe aren’t getting responses to your questions, you might want to be more descriptive in your subjects. Like maybe “Should I mention an illness in my application?” instead of “attention please”. There are a lot of posts on here and people will open those that interest them and where they feel they can offer something. They might just skip by those that don’t immediately jump out at them.
THAnk you guys for your responses . I guess I should explain my situation more clearly :
I had the highest marks in my country in IGCSE biology and among students in all countries that took IGCSE pure maths . In AS levels I also had very high marks but then in A2 my marks fell which contributed to my GPA. I was in the British curriculum.
My main common app essay is about my interactions with refugees in my country and the initiative which I started to help raise donations for them.
The only part of my app where I hope to mention my gpa is the gap year essay. I am currently on gap year. My illness was basically respiratory issues triggered by air pollution and a lot of new construction nearby which aggravated my asthma .But I have mentioned that I am completely alright now. Also I couldn’t retake the sat because I’m a Fall 2020 applicant. Also my deadlines are in mid feb for apps. Thanks
Btw the unis I’m applying to I fall short of their Avg by around 0.5 points on the four scale. It’s diffc to calculate gpa from a levels .
Their avg sat is 1260ish and I’m a few marks below it as well.
I’m not applying to like ivies or anything. Should I therefore not mention this?
I Believe those colleges have an avg Gpa of 3.5/3.6 mine is around 3.1
Thanks for your explanation. If you can’t get your counselor to address this, then I think it’s fine to write it in your gap year essay BUT I would be very careful that you don’t sound like your making excuses. I’m not sure about using it as a reason for you SAT though. When did you take it? If you’re in a gap year and took it when ill, it must have been over a year ago? If I was in admissions I would feel like you really can’t use your illness as an excuse if you had the opportunity to retake it and didn’t.
I agree with #10 and echo that you can’t sound like you are making excuses, which requires careful writing.
Have you applied to schools in your home country, or outside the US?
Have you been accepted anywhere in the US that meets your budget?
The reason I ask is that all of the schools you have applied to are need aware for international students. With a budget of $19K US that will be hard for any of your US schools to meet…further I don’t think any of your schools meet full need (at least the ones you have posted about).
Your budget has to also include travel costs ($2K-$3K), and mandatory health insurance ($2K-$5K), which makes your budget for tuition/room and board/fees/books in the $12K-$15K range.
Hello!
It’ll be very easy to get into schools here in my home country.
I was accepted at Earlham College and although I can afford it , Im not the biggest fan of the school and so I’m trying my luck at other places. I’m still waiting for the College of Wooster to let me know their decision.
My gpa and sat scores only fall a few points bow their average so I think I won’t be providing this explanation anymore . I also took the sat last year in October , I graduated in June 2019
MY ECAs include
Research at the psychology ward in a hospital for three years
Head of operations of an initiative that teaches computing to autistic kids
Starting an intiative to raise funds for refugees
Art
Music
Writing
Congratulations on Earlham, and good luck with Wooster!