C's in Junior Year???

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I have been having some troubles at home. My father recently had a heart attack and was hospitalized for quite some time. Although, I do not mean to use this as an excuse, it has been a great distraction and obstacle for me this year.

I know junior year is the MOST important year, and thus I am very regretful that I was not able to perform to the best of my abilities this year. I ended up with a C+ in my electrical and computer engineering class (honors level) and a C in my physics class (honors). Unfortunately, this caused a complete dip in my GPA and both my teachers were reluctant to change my grades. But my overall GPA is now a little above a 3.4. My weighted GPA is 3.92. Our high school only sends out weighted GPAs and final grades.

Does senior year grades get factored into our college admissions process? Like into the GPA?

I want to major in financial engineering which has nothing to do with physics but is still in the science field. I am not sure know if I will even be able to apply to any colleges now especially since I ruined myself in junior year.

I was looking at colleges like Rutgers University, Penn State, and Virginia Tech. I dont think I can get into the latter. And, I wanted to go to the business school in Rutgers but I dont think I can get in there either.

Does anyone know what my chances are? And should I tell my guidance counselor include my family problem in her recommendation letter? My grades truly did dip because of this event. I have always maintained a good GPA with mostly As and two Bs. I am President of NHS. But Im not so sure what to do with these low scores. My SAT: 2250

2

Yes. Most schools will ask for a “mid-year report” or “7th semester” grades which is an updated transcript that includes fall semester of senior year grades.

Yes, if you are comfortable with them mentioning it. You can also include it in the “additional info” section of the common app, but it may sound better coming from a guidance counselor (i.e. less like an excuse).

I don’t think your chances are ruined, but that is only a guess. Your SAT score is very high, which will signal to colleges that your grades were caused by your circumstances. You can look up “school name common data set” on google and find information about what GPA/SAT enrolled freshman students had in high school.

For example here is Penn State’s data for 2014-15:

Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher: 35.18%
Percent who had GPA between 3.50 and 3.74: 30.39%
Percent who had GPA between 3.25 and 3.49: 21.77%
Percent who had GPA between 3.0 and 3.24: 8.45%
Percent who had GPA between 2.50 and 2.99: 3.61%
Percent who had GPA between 2.0 and 2.49: 0.58%
Percent who had GPA between 1.0 and 1.99: 0.01%
Percent who had GPA below 1.0: 0.00%

25th-75th percentile SAT scores
SAT Critical Reading: 530-620
SAT Math: 560-670
SAT Writing: 540-640

http://budget.psu.edu/CDSRedesign/cds.aspx?reportindicator=FreshAdmn&Location=UP&AY=20142015

You can post on the chances forum if you want opinions from people more experienced with this type of thing. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/