Can undiagnosed/untreated anxiety excuse grades

title. i had rlly good gpa freshman year but sophomore and junior year my anxiety got rlly bad especially with tests and it rlly effected my grades and ability to focus. the moment i got diagnosed (middle of junior year) my grades got so much better but because the junior year grades is an average of all the semester it still doesn’t average to a good gpa because i did bad the 1st semester when i was undiagnosed and colleges won’t be able to see the upward trend with my semester grades after being diagnosed because only final year grades are shown. i take all ap, ib, and honors courses and i have a more rigorous courseload than a lot of my classmates and if i did get proper treatment earlier i rlly do think i would have gotten a 3.9 or 4.0 but bcuz of this my junior year unweighted gpa is going to be a 3.7 and my cumulative will be a 3.8. so if i mention on my college app that i was struggling with anxiety in the additional info section would it put my on par with my classmates who have better gpas? especially since i do a lot of extra curriculars and take harder classes?

You have a very strong GPA. I would not mention your anxiety issues.

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Compared to my classmates, the schools I am applying to, and the GPA of past students at my school admitted to those colleges, my GPA is not high enough which is my worry.

Seek out colleges that appear affordable and that match your academic statistics.

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As I’m sure your therapist has told you- the trick to managing anxiety is NOT to put yourself in the highest possible stressful situations to see if you can handle it- the trick is to develop the right kind of coping skills so you can have a balanced, happy, productive life.

Comparing yourself to your classmates and then comparing your GPA to those of kids who have already graduated seems to be a pointless exercise even without anxiety. You are YOU- not those other people.

Why not add to your list schools which would LOVE to take you- exactly as you are right now- even without “explaining” your GPA? Why are you worrying about something which is entirely in your control- if your GPA isn’t high enough for the schools on your list, throw out the list and start again!

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Although my GPA is not high enough for the schools on my list, now that I’m getting treatment I think I would do great at those schools since I have seen so much improvement in my grades after getting diagnosed so I don’t think it would be a problem for me if I did get into my reach schools. I just don’t want to ruin my chances of going to my dream schools because of something that was beyond my control and doesn’t define me or my potential. So because of that, I don’t know if it would be a good idea or not to mention anxiety so my reach schools can look past my grades.

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I don’t think the colleges that I want to attend are beyond my academic limit as I have been able to maintain a good GPA after I got diagnosed and if I do get admitted to the colleges I want, I think I would academically do fine there. But colleges won’t be able to see the improvement in my grades before and after my diagnosis and will not realize that I can keep up with their curriculum. Which is why I don’t know if I should talk about my anxiety so they can look past it and I can get a higher chance of getting accepted?

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Writing about/addressing mental health challenges in your college application isn’t generally recommended : 1. because there will be literally thousands of applicants with perfect or nearly perfect stats applying to the same schools, you’ll be assessed along side them and schools will not recalculate your GPA to a higher one based on what it could have been hypothetically if you didn’t have your anxiety challenges, and 2. Schools are wary of admitting students who may not be able to handle the stressors of college.

I’ll also add that a 3.8 uwGPA is not a low GPA. You have taken a very rigorous course load and there will be many schools excited to admit you.

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Then you need a different list of schools to apply to.

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I would not mention it for all of the reasons others have stated above. Just focus on being the best applicant you can be and show what makes you special rather than try to compare yourself to classmates. Obviously in the current admissions climate, you should be looking for good safety options you are happy with, but a 3.8 unweighted GPA is fantastic. A student at the highly competitive magnet school in our town just got into Princeton with a 3.8 unweighted GPA, despite having 40+ classmates with perfect 4.0 GPAs and valedictorian status. Princeton still saw something in her that made them take her over those classmates.

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You are obviously a strong student and would do well at DOZENS of colleges. That’s not the issue.

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Your GPA is your GPA. Many kids struggle with test anxiety so you aren’t all that different.

No, you don’t get a “pass” because you had test anxiety which resulted in a GPA that you aren’t happy with.

Apply to schools you think will be a good fit, that your family can afford, and ensure you have enough matches for your actual GPA, not the GPA you dreamed of having.

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Before I say anything else - I am really glad you are seeking treatment for your anxiety and I am glad it is helping you. I am a student too and I see a lot of people suffering but afraid to ask for help. That said, here are my thoughts.

  1. Your grades are fine. You will get into a good school.

  2. A lot of students had mental health struggles over the last 2 years. There will be plenty of other typically high achievers who underperformed.

  3. It’s really starting to hurt my feelings that 90% of posts from high school students on CC are like “God forbid I end up at a school with A-/B+ students. My life is over. Why did I try?” (I promise I’m not a complete moron and you will not suffer learning with lesser minds such as my own)

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Don’t discuss the anxiety in your college applications, especially since you think it only caused a 0.1 drop in your GPA.

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This. I think I said this earlier in the thread. You need a different set of schools to apply to.

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@onipl, I like your post.

if it helps, consider how painful it must be to live with the idea that your value as a person, the most important metric by which you are measured, is tied to the name on your college sweatshirt.

The world is so much bigger than school, and people are so much more than GPAs. Which, in turn, is why students not in the top 5% in HS so frequently lap those who were.

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@onipl

100% agree.

My 3.3gpa yet 35 ACT (36 in science) kid has zero interest in going to a school surrounded by students who think an A- is a failure and who think they can only learn from Einstein.

Im curious if students who think like Op have ever asked their teachers or professors to list every non A grade they ever received. Its likely a lot longer than they think!

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