Bad grades?

Applying to College
1

<p>How can an applicant minimize the effect of a damaged transcript? I spent the first two and a half years of my high school career letting personal matters affect my performance that I really shouldn't have. My past term, however, I was 1 of 2 students in the entire school to receive straight-A marks. </p>

<p>How can I minimize the effect that these grades will have on my admission? I am obviously going to have a poor class rank, a poor cumulative GPA, etc.</p>

<p>Ultimately, I'm thinking about doing a postgraduate year, but have no other real solutions. By doing a postgraduate year before applying, I'll have all of my senior year grades behind me, but how else can I combat these? Am I basically damaged goods forever?</p>

2

<p>The good news is that freshman and sophomore year don't matter nearly as much as junior and senior years do.</p>

<p>If there really were personal reasons, explain them on your application. Don't give up.</p>

3

<p>bump??????</p>

4

<p>What kind of personal issues. Like, "my boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with me" kind of issues or "my dad's dying"/"I've got mono" kind of issues. Because if it's the latter, you should have no problem. Have your counselor include it in their letter. If it's the former, you might want to write a note with you application explaining that you've seen the error of your ways and are really dedicated to academic yada yada...</p>