<p>(Such as mononucleosis), or is this a bunch of bs?</p>
<p>I don't think anything can ever "completely" make up for weak grades, but it certaintly helps for them to know that it wasn't entirely your fault.</p>
<p>Would "horrible living environment" work?</p>
<p>Watch "Homeless to Harvard" then you won't think "horrible living environment" can be an excuse... =)</p>
<p>that homeless to harvard girl transferred to columbia lol. Stop watching lifetime.</p>
<p>Yeh, she transferred from Harvard to Columbia to be closer to her father, who is ill...</p>
<p>Well, if below-par grades were only for one semester, do colleges still look foremostly at your overall GPA, or would they look foremostly at the semesters you say you didn't have a problem?</p>
<p>ESCAPE, u had mono, which is a pretty serious temporary illness, i am almost sure they will be understanding of that. Relax!</p>
<p>Yeah, ok, I suck at relaxing... Clearly I've too much free time;) I'll go sculpt a gourd...</p>
<p>Not true. Your grades are your grades and other schools will not want to hear the explanation because they will feel that you should have/ could have contacted your deans, advisors, professors etc. to resolve your issues. </p>
<p>If you were too sick then you could have negotiated a withdrawl or even an incomplete which would have given you the time to come up to speed.</p>
<p>At the time I was a little more than halfway through the semester and I assumed a withdrawl would mean I'd forfeit my tuition money for the semester. I know my parents did not want me to withdraw. I had one teacher who refused to give me extensions on my work, so I doubt an incomplete would have been feasible. I did figure out that if I make a 3.7 for only one more semester, my GPA will be brought up to 3.5, which I think is the minimum most highly selective schools are looking for. I hope that, along with an explanation for the weak semester, will count for something.</p>