So last semester in hs I had pretty low grades and that brought my cumulative down to 3.67 UW. It wasn’t laziness or complacency, but I felt quite depressed, couldn’t concentrate and tensions were high at home. In the middle of this, we went through the stressful process of finding and moving to a new house in town - we previously commuted 30+ minutes each day from a different school district. This semester started out fine until last week I had a breakdown and missed a lot of school, which brought my grades down across the board. My parent took me to a doctor where I was diagnosed with a learning disability and am currently getting medicine to combat depression and anxiety. I’ve had this underlying problem of being unable to concentrate, feeling anxious and sad, etc. for years but it never really got as serious as it did now, freshman year I got 3.8 for both semesters just by coasting along.
I’m going to talk to my counselor soon to see what I can make out of the situation. I’m looking at schools like duke, rice, reed, amherst etc. Also, I’ve spoken to all my teachers and made arrangements to make up the work, but if worst comes to worst and I get more bad grades this quarter, will it affect me adversely in college decisions? Would it be a good idea to mention these in my college essays, or should I leave it out? I’m worried if I leave it out, colleges will just reject me without a second thought. Please help, I’m quite stressed out right now
Yeah, probably (at very selected schools like the ones you mention, at least). I wouldn’t mention your excuse in your essays–unless, somehow, it’s part of the best story you have to tell–but your GC might mention it in the SSR.
I put mine in the additional info, had a counselor address it in SSR, and had a rec address it lightly. And yeah, the GPA heavy schools did NOT take my excuse for a grade drop, and I think I was rejected because of that one bad year.
thanks for the replies guys! I talked to my counselor and she said it shouldn’t affect me because of the extenuating circumstance, but I’m still really worried about my grades ending up bad this year. i’m working to bring up my grades but I’m still really worried about my chances - are colleges really that unforgiving ?
3.67 is still very good and there are very good schools you can attend.
Keep in mind that this may be your anxiety talking…
My daughter has anxiety too…it is absolutely fantastic that you have discovered this in HS and that you are getting it addressed. My DD went from not being able to perform in choir in front of the school before meds, to volunteering to sing over the intercom to the entire school after.
One thing we did when choosing schools is to take anxiety into account…She chose a school about an hour from home…far enough to feel freedom, but near enough that we could help out or she could come home if necessary.
We also looked at the orientation program…the one she picked had a Welcome Week where you did activities with people on your floor, had a Community Advisor so you had a peer mentor if you need it, had a service that delivered prescriptions to the campus.
@entier , yes, they are that unforgiving. Have a Kleenex handy.
Sorry, rest of post got deleted. Went on to say, apply to colleges where your stats are above 75%, get good recs, show interest, write a good essay. You will get into plenty of great schools not called Duke.
i’m working to bring up my grades but I’m still really worried about my chances - are colleges really that unforgiving ?