<p>My school’s passing grade is D-. Anything below that (F+ F and F-) you have to retake in order to graduate… however I think you are asked to leave if you get more than one F in a year, or if you had a weighted GPA under 2.0. I don’t think I can erase my grade (and do you mean at a community college?) I was hoping a 5 on the AP, 800 on the SAT, and A in the Honors class would make up for it, coupled with possibly an explanation.</p>
<p>@bobtheboy: yes I will definitely do the Art Supplement (for piano)</p>
<p>^And in regards to the recruiting issue, I highly doubt I am good enough to be recruited for any of these colleges (and even though I could certainly play for MIT/Caltech, I don’t think they recruit)</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what the depression was caused by. I <em>seriously</em> recommend withholding that. They don’t need to know that. It is behind you, and now you just need to focus on moving forward. It would suck to be rejected because they were worried about the liability. Believe me, I have a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot (and yes, it is a freakin’ laundry list unfortunately. ■■■.) of things wrongs with me. Yes, I managed to get a 4.0, but I had to work my ass off. Even with my grades though, everyone (including admissions counselors I know) I’ve talked to has said DO NOT include those things. The only thing I’ll probably disclose is my Tourette’s Syndrome (aka the source of 95% of my other problems… ADHD, anxiety, depression that has been treated, OCD, some bad phobias, etc.) but it would be what my essay is about most likely, and I’ll stress that I’m good at “hiding” it. However, although I’m mentioning TS, I will NOT be mentioning all the other things, because I know that even with all my grades and awards and URM status, one look at that shiznit and they will run away screaming. I’ve heard stories from adcom members about turning away quite a few amazing kids because of narcolepsy, epilepsy, and depression, among other examples…</p>
<p>Basically, it’s an ethical minefield, but they’d rather not take the chance, especially when there are hundreds of other kids with phenomenal stats just waiting to fill that same slot at the school…</p>
<p>Okay, but I can definitely still mention all the things that happened (family trouble + deaths) without actually mentioning that I was depressed, right?</p>
<p>Sorry to break it to you but a low GPA will generally kill your chances at most school. Even though you have amazing test scores, colleges still care more about GPA. That said, I understand how frustrating and unfair it may be that someone from an easy school gets a really high GPA but an OK SAT score and gets into some of these prestigious schools but it’s simply the way admissions works. When adcoms review your application they may come under the impression that you are a lazy genius, which is never a good thing. Nevertheless apply and try to explain your low GPA. The whole depression thing is a gray area as it may help or may hurt your application. Schools like Cornell (where people often just crack under pressure) may not look at this as a good thing. Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck</p>
<p>You have to explain the grades, *but, I would avoid using the term ‘depression’. Not because you weren’t depressed but because of the stigma attached to the word. If its possible you should explain the situations and stresses that led to the depression in as honest of terms as possible and then explain how you rose above it.
I guess I feel like… it doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative on your application. Colleges all the time talk about how they like seeing students rise above their situations and so on. So whatever your situation was, if you can demonstrate that you’ve grown from it, its only a positive.
All of this hinges on you doing well next year. :)</p>
<p>sorry i meant a community college. talk to your counselor, because at my school, you can basically erase your grade if you take the class again.
and although ivies aren’t as competative as stanford, the tennis recruits are still phenomenal. i only know about the womens teams though, but i know that many of the freshman recruits were top 100 in the nation. if not i would feel a lot more optimistic about playing in college lol</p>
<p>People are stupid. Explain your bad grades, don’t say depressed but just say what happened and say that it was hard to focus that hard.</p>
<p>You will DEFINATELY get into a top school as long as your essays are very personal and good. You are clearly talented beyond belief, and many top schools want the kind of brains that you have to be in their “intellect base” so to speak xD</p>
<p>If you do open early action to multiple schools instead of single choice EA or ED, you may get a better idea quickly so you have 15 days to submit more applications based on how well you did in those schools. If you do SCEA or ED, unless you get in, a rejection may still leave you out in the cold in terms of what happens with someone of your caliber with a semester or two of bad grades.</p>
<p>@Soroush2012 It really doesn’t. Everywhere I’ve gone (Ivys, top tier, etc), they’ve said your high school doesn’t matter. It’s how YOU did in the context of your school (the guidance department sends a profile of your high school to the colleges that all the students are applying to, so that there is context). Doing phenomenally at a disadvantaged school would look about the same (and in some cases, better) than doing pretty well at an amazing school.</p>
<p>Only Caltech in this list is open. I believe all others may be SCEA or ED. MIT and Chicago are also open EA. </p>
<p>If you choose Harvard or Yale for SCEA, there is good chance you may get deferred because both of them tend to defer a large number. Stanford on the other hand will reject you outright since they defer dont defer many candidates like Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Holy s<strong>t. You’re f</strong>king brilliant. AAH WHY did you take APUSH?! If it weren’t for that D, I would completely forget about your 2 Cs (since the weighted GPA is quite high) and give you admission to all of them.</p>