bad sophomore year..

<p>so I know that in order to get into prestigious schools one would need virtually all As throughout their high school life, and I pretty much have that, except I screwed up terribly in my sophomore year. When I was 15 I became depressed...did some things and contemplated others. I ended up getting a C in chemistry first semester, and a C in English second semester. Because of this i currently have an unweighted cumulative GPA of 3.7. I know people are probably saying "don't even waste your time applying with anything lower than an A-" or whatever, but I've worked really hard to get my grades back to As in junior and senior year. It's not like I want to make my depression an excuse for those grades but I also don't want admissions to think I was just slacking off not giving a crap about school. So I guess my question is how should I go about this? Should I just not even bother applying to prestigious schools because of 10th grade? Sigh..if only I could retake those classes..</p>

<p>My suggestion would be to apply to your safeties and add into the mix some of your reach schools. If you can weave your story with depression tactfully and meaningfully into an essay it may be worth trying but I would have a few trusted mentors proof it and give their honest opinion about whether it is helpful or not to your application as a whole. </p>

<p>The reality is that the application and decision processes at highly selective schools are very undefined and at times even appear random. Perfect grades and test scores guarantee nothing at any of those schools. If you really are interested in one of those schools, why not apply? Just know that the odds are really low for acceptance for just about everyone. Apply and then forget about it. </p>

<p>thanks so much! :-)</p>

<p>this is my EXACT same situation. I even have the exact same cumulative GPA! Feel free to message me for anything or if you need someone to talk to!</p>

<p>This exactly my situation as well except it happened in Junior year. I also have around the same GPA, at least you had the opportunity to show colleges that you improved and not declined like I will…</p>

<p>@santaman1 Aw it’s alright, my grades significantly fell from 9th into 11th grade too. They only started going up second semester of junior year…and this semester wasn’t too great for me either. If you’re taking difficult classes like APs, that’s definitely a plus too! Feel free to message me if you ever want to talk ^_^</p>