I have 3 Bs on my transcript, 2 freshman year and 1 sophomore year. There are extenuating circumstances that caused all of them, especially the 2 my freshman year; I began attending my current school late because of a custody battle between my parents that was artificially drawn out by my father’s lawyer until after I began school, because he knew that making me change schools abruptly would harm me academically, and hoped that the judge would rule in his favor as a result. He was right, and I started school halfway through the first quarter of freshman year at my current school. This, combined with illnesses as a result of child neglect during middle school, made my grades tank to such a degree that it was mathematically impossible for me to get an A in some of my classes. I received a 48 in biology my first quarter and a low B in English. If you were to disregard my first quarter of my freshman year (which I was only present for half of) I would have had all A’s in my classes. When my mother spoke on my behalf to the administration about it, the guidance counselor failed to mention the path to an administrative grade change until after the deadline for it had past- whether this was a result of incompetency or sheer malevolence, I cannot say.
My poor grades were, of course, a result of my circumstances- but will making this evident on my application just make me sound whiny and hurt my chances of admission at the most competitive schools?
You’re worried about three Bs? That’s not going to make a school reject you.
I am more concerned about your statement, “…whether this was a result of incompetency or sheer malevolence, I cannot say.” An attitude like that is not going to help you. Work hard and move on. Colleges don’t want to hear excuses.
Three Bs are not “subpar” grades. You do not need to explain anything. Any attempt to explain them will likely make you seem whiny and focused on the wrong things. Colleges are not looking for perfection.
Yes it would. Socio-economic background and personal circumstances do matter to most reputable colleges. If you were battling an illness that caused lower grades, you need to mention that in your essay.
I know a bright kid whose father was undergoing chemotherapy during her freshman and sophomore years in HS. I know she’s a bright kid but her GPA/class rank does not reflect that. She cannot even take the ACT/SAT due to pandemic cancellations. Currently a senior, her dad has recovered and I am hopeful that she gets into a good university and eventually become a doctor, and who knows one day, she’ll be able to cure Cancer.
I’m not going to come across like that in my essay, but it is a reason for why those grades are the way they are. I’m pretty frustrated with my counselor for their inaction, and I have every right to be.
Seeming whiny is my concern. It’s something that happened and it’s why my grades and class rank aren’t as high as they should be, but I don’t want colleges to take that negatively. I don’t want to hurt my application by being whiny, but I want to make my circumstances clear, as well as their effects.
Any attempt to explain Bs will come off as grade grubbing, and that’s not a good look.
In your guidance counselor’s letter of reccomendation, ask him/her to explain that there was a custody battle happening during that school year. That’s all you need to do. That’s all you should do.
Three Bs won’t keep you out of anywhere. If you fail to get accepted into a T20 school, it will be because they had to choose among tens of thousands of highly desirable applicants to form a class to satisfy the needs and whims of many different parties within the university at large. It won’t be because you got three Bs. If you have “the right stuff” and are a good fit for what the university wants and needs in the year you apply, you will be accepted despite three Bs. If you are not deemed to be a good match, even a perfect transcript and a 4.0/1600/36 won’t get you in. Anything you do to try and explain the matter is only going to come off as making excuses. Let your guidance counselor’s letter in conjunction with your subsequent academic record do the talking.
This is your second post asking about your 3 B’s. Making excuses is not a good look for an applicant.
When the time comes like everyone else you will need to create a college application list list seek out a group of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (run net price calculators) and that you would be excited to attend. It is easy to find those reach schools but IMO seeking out those great match and safety schools is a very important part of the process.
I agree that you just need your GC counselor to mention the custody battle and late start. I would also encourage you not to write about it yourself. A few Bs are not going to be what make or break your application even to the most elite schools.
Even if you had a 4.0/1600/36, there are still no guarantees for reach schools. Create a balanced list of schools you’d be happy to attend.
Determining whether or not making excuses (providing justification is a more accurate term given my circumstances, but there’s no point in arguing semantics) would affect my application was the point of this post. My last one was asking to what degree my grades, with or without circumstances, would affect my admissions. I’m not sure what you’re getting at here.
It should be pretty obvious that I’m asking in order to determine how to write my application. Obviously admissions officers aren’t going to see my College Confidential post history.