Colleges Omitting my Sophomore Year?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello! </p>

<p>During my Freshman year, I finished with a 91 average (no honors/APs). </p>

<p>During my Sophomore year, I finished with an 85 average with 2 honors classes.</p>

<p>During my Junior year, I finished with a 91 average (1 AP class and 1 honors class).</p>

<p>During my Senior year, I am taking 3 APs and Calculus and looking to finish the first semester with a 90.</p>

<p>Now, I took a pretty big nosedive from freshman to sophomore year, but let me explain.</p>

<p>A week before Thanksgiving of my Sophomore year, my mother nearly died. She had a severe and sudden condition that required immediate surgery and the doctor was not sure that she was even going to make it. Luckily, she survived. However, she was constantly in the hospital and was basically incapable of doing daily actions by herself until May, about the end of the academic year. </p>

<p>During that time, my father, coincidentally, was diagnosed with a condition (a long Latin name) that was slowly paralyzing him on the left side of his body. The surgery was successful and he is slowly gaining strength in his left side of his body; however, for about a month, he was unable to work and, as the breadwinner of the family, was unable to make a significant income. </p>

<p>Also, coincidentally, my grandmother also nearly died as she needed emergency open heart surgery. She was in the hospital for approximately a month.</p>

<p>This all happened during my Sophomore year. Do you guys think that colleges would look at my Sophomore year a lot less critically than my other years given the information I just provided? My counselor will mention the above information in my recommendation.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your counselor’s explanation will be enough, so don’t worry about it. :slight_smile: I hope all of your relatives are doing better now – I don’t know how you managed to come through all of that with only a 6% drop!</p>

3

<p>It’s really not that big a drop, yeah, especially with all you went through. Don’t worry about it! It honestly looks amazingly consistent to me.</p>

4

<p>I’m not a fan of relying upon other people to relate special circumstances. I would rather you include a note in the Additional Information section. It can’t hurt for other people to mention it, but better to hear it from you too.</p>

<p>Just be sure it really did have an affect on you. If your grandmother lives with you, and you are really close, then that could have a big effect. But if she lived across the country, and your family has been estranged from her all your life, did it really affect you?</p>

5

<p>My grandmother lives only a few minutes away from me. But yes, I understand where you are coming from. If colleges omit or look at my sophomore year less critically than the other years, then my horizons are drastically expanded for college :)</p>