<p>I am a junior in high school and had a bit of a rocky sophomore year. I have never failed or even gotten a D in a class but I accumulated a lot of C's and my GPA suffered from this. I don't normally use excuses, but the reason for this was my dad dying of cancer. I am currently at a 3.2 GPA and have several ap classes under my belt(all passed the exam with a 4 or 5). My SAT scores are 700 for math, 590 for reading, and 620 for writing. I am going to take 6 college level classes next year and a college class over the summer. All I am really asking here is if colleges actually take into consideration excuses such as mine for drops in grades... without my sophomore year my GPA would most likely be around a 3.6 or 3.7. HPA at around 4.3. I am also the president of my schools physics club and science national honor society president. Basically i want to go to school to become a physicist. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that about your father. Penn State says they use GPA as 2/3 of their decision, and everything else the other 1/3, with SAT/ACT scores and class rank the next two biggest things. The bad news is that a 3.2/4 is relatively low, as I’m sure you probably know. The good news is that your SAT scores are pretty good, which clearly shows you’re capable. In your personal statement for the PSU application, I’d try to write something that mentions your reasoning behind your sophomore year, without trying to make it sound like you’re using it as an excuse. </p>
<p>As far as chances go, I think it will vary depending on the applicant pool. There’s a record number of freshman starting in the fall this year, so its likely they will try and adjust their yield to lower next years class, as last I’ve heard they’re trying to lower enrollment, not heighten it. If you’d be willing to start in the summer, you would probably be accepted into that. However I’m not sure about fall semester.</p>