Death of a parent a reason for low GPA?

Applying to College
1

<p>Will admissions see the death of my father as an acceptable reason for 3 C+'s through out my report card?</p>

<p>C+ in Freshman English 1- (Didn't count)
C+ in Freshman Geometry (GPA Factor)
C+ in Junior Year Pre Calc/Trig (GPA Factor)
C+ in Junior Year French 4 (GPA Factor)
C+ in Junior Year Economics(Elective)</p>

<p>The rest of my grades are B-'s, B's, B+'s.</p>

<p>my dad past away in 2001 I was young so I couldn't cope with it and I had trouble dealing with it because i felt guilty I really had taken him for granted and the fact that I didn't understand really what it meant that he had severe cancer. so I ended up not doing work in elementary school and In junior high I didn't work because all that mattered to me was friends and trying to fill that hole of sadness and shame with something that would take my mind off of it but I always knew I would be different and wouldn't have a father figure growing up. I never had a good set of morals/ skill set because my elementary years where you learn the basics to everything were completely skewed because I often was not in class during elementary years because I met with the school counselor, went to the nurses office sick often, and met with an older highschooler as sort of a big brother. We also began having a lot of family issues, my mom had trouble being a single mother trying to take care of two children. A lot of family conflict throughout all my child hood years. My mom also had a boyfriend later which helped the situation a little because he kind of represented a father figure but he moved away to China just as I began to be comfortable with him and then things went down again. And then when I got to high school I knew it was time to start working but I didn't have the skill set/dilligence/effort/motivation because It was the first time I really tried to work hard and I was missing a lot of the tools that I should have gained earlier. ANd I continued to struggle by trying to plug in the holes until junior year summer I started working on the business and I really learned how to motivate myself and teach myself what it meant to put in effort and diligence and what it felt like to be motivated. I kind of realized what it means to be working hard and what it feels like because i had never really experienced the feeling before. It was the first time I had worked that hard in my life, literally id work days from 10 am and look at the clock again and it'd be 6 pm. That really made me realize what it meant to be focused and motivated. And i feel like Im really applying that this year and even though Im starting to apply it to school its starting to work but obviously its going to progressively get better and better. But obviously its not because I'm not smart or something or a slacker. Its just that I really didn't have the skill set that should have been established and My high schools really competitive as well being a top 10 STEM school and a top 300 school in the nation, but now Ive really discovered how to discipline and focus through pursuing and finding my passion for business. </p>

<p>Just other info: I have a lot of Leadership positions President of a business club, VP of another business club, founder of a business, captain of the varsity tennis team ( will be a recruit at D3 schools with coaches support).</p>

<p>SAT: 2100 took it again in OCT.</p>

<p>Really strong Recommendations from 2 teachers and a letter from my freshman eng teacher who had me then and now to show my change as a person and the counselor rec is strong explaining this issue as well. </p>

<p>So yeah Im wondering if my reason for a low GPA would come off as an excuse or the admissions would understand? thanks. Its really the only low aspect of my application</p>

<p>My senior year grades are B,B,A-,A-,A-,B+ so Ive shown taking steps in the right direction</p>

2

<p>I’m sorry for your loss, I understand somewhat as my kids lost their father at about the same age as you did.</p>

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<p>I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking here. Are you planning on writing an essay or adding Additional Information stating what you wrote above?</p>

<p>My recommendation would be to just stick with what your teacher and GC have written about how you’ve matured. Colleges will consider your grades in this context, but no one can tell you exactly how much this might compensate. </p>

<p>I think it’s alright to write an essay that concerns some aspect of your father’s death, as long as it says something about you as a person. However, I don’t think it’s helpful to use an essay or the Additional Information section to write about his death in the context of your grades.</p>

3

<p>I agree with entomom. I think schools will see the improvement in your grades and your test scores as evidence of your potential. Your essays and teacher recs can underscore the transformation you’ve undergone (and they can write about the loss of your father). But you need to write about what you are hoping to achieve with your life, what you want from your education, and what you can contribute to the school - all things that look ahead to the person you are becoming, rather than backwards at your losses. If part of what has motivated you is a desire to get past the loss of your father, that’s worth talking about, but I wouldn’t build an application around it or give it major real estate in the application. You want to be remembered by the adcoms as ‘the applicant who shows great business potential, plays tennis and really turned himself around’ not ‘the applicant who lost his father and didn’t do so well academically early on as a result.’</p>

4

<p>Your dad passed away (note that spelling) when you were 7 and it affected your HS grades? And skipped a year between Freshman and Junior years? Sorry. That’s not going to wash. From your other grades it seems to be within the range of normal expectations (you weren’t an A/A- student besides those grades). FWIW, my father died when I was 7. You’re looking for an excuse.</p>

5

<p>Bingo, Erin’s Dad. Any admissions counsellor would roll his or her eyes.</p>

<p>I think an isolated quarter or semester of lowered academic performance at the time of a parent’s death is something that should be pointed out to admissions officers, either in recommendation letters or elsewhere. My dad died in the spring of my sophomore year of high school and that was definitely the case with me–but in those days nobody wrote or talked about those things in college applications.</p>