Do they really help you?

Applying to College
1

<p>Well, I will get into more detail later on but my question is simply:</p>

<p>Will colleges take "sob stories" into consideration?</p>

<p>What I would tell them (if it's even worth it):</p>

<p>Currently Im a high school junior and Im doing great right now. My average for this semester was about a 90 and overall Im doing really well. My freshman and sophomore years however did not look too great. My yearly average for my freshman year was somewhere in the high 70s and sophomore year was around the same (maybe low 80s). There were many reasons that my grades were slipping during these two years, they include:</p>

<p>1) Father contracting hep C -- going on heavy medication for 3 years -- verbally and emotionally abusing me due to the medication (It really messed with him). As some of you could imagine this impacted my personal life greatly, which in term affected my education.</p>

<p>2) Death of grandfather (he had a stroke, was blind and suffering). He lived with me and we were extremely close - this took a toll on me.</p>

<p>3) Near death of my new born brother (he's currently fine)</p>

<p>4) The switching of schools. I was in a private school my freshman and sophomore year, and I was having massive problems there. School hours were from 7am - 6pm, I barely had time to study due to the duel language curriculum (it was a Yeshivah - Jewish school - and we had 12 classes, 6 english and 6 hebrew) I am NOT fluent in hebrew at all, so you can imagine how much time I had to spend just to pass the hebrew subjects, and that took away from my english studies. However now that I switched into a public school my grades are phenomenal.</p>

<p>5) Financial problems</p>

<p>Thats basically it. I don't want to not get accepted to a college based off of my freshman and sophomore years - and as you can see I have gone through a lot. I just want to know if colleges will take all this into consideration.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Don’t think of it as a “sob story”. You have some legitamate situations. </p>

<p>1) Write about it in your essay. Either the personal statement, or a “What obstacles have you had to overcome?” essay.</p>

<p>2) Ask you guidance counselor to mention these issues, particularly 1 and 2 in your essay. If you have had to work or something due to financial issues, it would be nice for your GC to mention that as well.</p>

<p>3) In the “Additional Info” section mention that you changed schools, but not the difficulties you experience in the first school, your grandfathers’ death and father’s illness.</p>

<p>I don’t think they’d make a snap judgement, but if you don’t tell them anything, they can’t understand. Your grades were poor because of your situation, and that does make sense.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Well, Im only a junior so I still have some time, but I will be sure to do this. </p>

<p>All I hope is that they don’t make a snap judgement when looking at my freshman and sophomore grades, and take all of this into consideration.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help.</p>