<p>Recently, a member of my family passed away and needless to say, I was pretty distraught by this situation. Without a doubt, it had an impact on my grades and my second quarter grades are not as high as they can, or should, be. Do you think it would be worth it to notify colleges of this situation, maybe if my guidance counselor did the notifying, or would it just be unnecessary?</p>
<p>Instead of having only 1 B+ and all A's and A+'s (which I did first quarter),
I will most likely have 1 B, 1 B+, and the rest A's. Maybe an A+ if I get lucky.</p>
<p>Would it just be seen as an excuse, do colleges really listen to your circumstances?</p>
<p>Sorry for your loss but your “dropoff” is hardly worth mentioning, to be blunt. You got an additional B-- which might affect your seven semesters of GPA by -0.023 – assuming you have seven semesters of 6 classes each.</p>
<p>Alright, that is kind of how I feel about it to. To be honest, I don’t even want to tell colleges about the situation. Thanks for your advice. I will speak to my guidance counselor about it as well.</p>
<p>I think you should notify schools. Who knows what your drop off really was-maybe you were going to get higher grades than you last had. Either way, it is a relevant circumstance.</p>
<p>This is the sort of thing your guidance counselor should include with the mid-year report. Check in with them and ask them if they can do this. If they won’t (or you are not confident for some reason), then you could email the admissions offices yourself. But I think it is better coming from the GC if possible.</p>
<p>Yeah, if I were to include it, I would definitely ask my guidance counselor to do it. I feel like it wouldn’t come off as “excuse-y” if my guidance counselor were to do it.</p>
<p>Although it was definitely a factor, morally I feel wrong using a death as an explanation for grade drop-offs. I will have to see how to handle the situation.</p>