I am going to be a senior in High School this coming fall. My problem is, that during the December of my Sophomore year, my father had a stroke and had to be hospitalized. He was partially paralyzed, he couldn’t talk or move. This was totally unexpected and so I was completely taken by shock and was traumatized. He was in this condition for one full year, and died in the December of my junior year. This drove my Grade Point Average down. It’s been 6 months now since his death, and during the summer, I am studying really hard to score good on my SAT’s to show colleges that I could originally perform on that level and couldn’t because of such problems. If I do manage to score good on my SAT’s, would colleges be a little lenient towards me? What do you guys think?
<p>I think that if you write about it and make it clear how much it affected your life, colleges will be understanding. I'm not entirely sure how much leeway they'll give you, but my boyfriend's father passed away a few years ago and he also struggled academically as a result, and our school's guidance counselor advised him to mention it in his application and interviews to make sure the colleges understood his unique situtation.</p>
<p>Yeah make sure you write this in your essays and show that you this affected you, but you can perservere through it. Keep up the good work.</p>
<p>Unless you can write about it in a way that is not whinny or you are coming off as woe is me, then you should speak with your GC and have him/her explain the situation in their recommendation of you</p>
<p>I believed your dad wouldn't want your GPA to go down because of him. Bring it up MrWorried. Your dad will always be by your side, that's what I believed. He'll be there. Just concentrate and focus on your schoolwork.</p>