explaining my low grades

<p>i got a 3.6 UC GPA in 10th grade because i overloaded myself. I had to get up an hour earlier than everyone else and got home about two hours later than everyone else because I took music and sports. Right now im getting a much higher GPA but since my sophomore GPA was so low my average will be about .25 lower than the average accepted undergrad. Is there a place on the application where i can explain my low grades in sophomore year? and how would i explain it to them without sounding like im whining?</p>

<p>that's why there are personal statements</p>

<p>yup, its unfortunate u killed urself in two categories that don't help your GPA ; /. I remember u posted for chances but u had sports and music in it, how much did it effect your gpa after taking out the A's u got from those?</p>

<p>i went down by .1, i guess it's not that much.</p>

<p>i think it was the sports that hurt me overall but the music ec helped me more than it hurt me now that they're doing holistic admissions.</p>

<p>sliguy, i honestly think you need to relax a little and enjoy the rest of your junior year (of course all while getting good grades) i mean you have a while before apps are actually due...</p>

<p>i always tell people not to whine about their grades unless there is a reallly really good reason for it (i.e. not having to wake up early and go home late). Why would you waste an essay on your grades, when you could be talking about your EC's like music and sports.</p>

<p>I don't think it's wasting an essay. There are three essays. One should be about the talent, and the other about the grade issues. That IS the purpose of one of the essays.</p>

<p>Are there any more positive ways you could structure an essay around it? You could write about juggling a heavy schedule, exploring ur passions in art and sport, and rather than writing about why it made your 10th grade worse, talk about how you learned to structure/juggle your time in 11th grade to balance all that. So while that still shows them ur 10th grade was below norm, for reasons, u can instead talk about the pros of having such a tough schedule, and focus on your bounceback, and the time management you learned.</p>

<p>Personally, if u had a 3.6 uc gpa in 10th grade means u prlly had like a 3.3 or 3.4 and honestly that isnt that low. If you really did have something that significantly affected you and your GPA was in the 2's then it would be more applicable. Changeling's idea is right, but if you are in the 3.7-3.99 range weighted UC GPA and u have above a 2100 i would really recommend just writing great essays about urself and who you are because LA has taken on a holistic approach and they'd rather see what kind of student they'd get instead of someone whining about a mistake.</p>

<p>you can fit that in your third essay... the prompt is a bit odd in the sense that not everyone has exten. circumstances that have affected their ability to succeed academically. one of my friends didn't know what to write and BSed an essay about being bullied in 5th-6th grade or something... :-\ </p>

<p>i would go with changeling's advice and write how you have bounced back... i had a few bad marks junior year+ext.circum and in my third uc essay, i focused on learning from that situation and doing better and challenging myself senior year.</p>