<p>In the spring of my sophmore year, my grandmother passed away during exam weekend. At my school, exams account for 1/3 of your final grade and I was under a time a great depression and anxiety during that week. My grades dropped to a faltering cumulative 83 average. I hope adcoms understand this academic downfall but I am unsure of how to present it in my writing. In addition, I am not sure how adcoms respond to such letters such as this because after receiving thousands of apps, I do not want to sound like I am making some sort of 'excuse' for my poor performance during that term. Thus, I would appreciate any advice and input on this issue.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>It would be better if the letter came from your GC</p>
<p>Yeah DO NOT write about it yourself. Tell your GC about it and he/she will mention it in the recommendation.</p>
<p>but i'd be concerned about WHY you had the depression. was it because of exams?</p>
<p>Dukdevils_27... my son went through a slump in his junior year (he is gay and had "come out of the closet" around Thanksgiving last year) and his Guidance Counselor, and an Educational Consultant I'd talked with agreed it would be best if both his Guidance Counselor mention in his letter of recommendation that my son went through something emotional beyond what a typical teenager goes through that year... and my son write a letter to explain, in more depth, what had occurred. Both the GC & EC felt it was important for my son to be up front, explain the situation and take responsibility for his slump... In his letter he does explain it, takes full responsibility and emphatically states he is now in control and will be turning this situation around by doing very well in his senior year.</p>
<p>That said, I suppose there are different ways to address this... I felt good about my son writing a letter in addtion to his GC... It does two things... it shows he is mature enough to speak for himself and take responsibility for his actions (or lack thereof), and gives another opportunity for him to show he communicates well (it's a very good letter)!</p>
<p>My son's academics were impacted freshman and sophomore year due to elder care at home issues with both of my parents. This put him in the bad situation of not being in the top 10% at a public hs that sends most student to in-state publics. His personal information was communicated in detail via the GC req, and referenced by my son in the 'other stuff' section most apps have. The results were that some schools seemed to be willing to cut him some slack, and others didn't. </p>
<p>At the hyper-competitive schools, more students will be rejected, and a bobble in grades is harder to get past - so these schools won't be impossible but they will be more problematic than they are already. Having some of these in in mix is fine - just make sure you have a good foundation of likely admts and matches.</p>