Extenuating circumstances affecting GPA

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hello, I am here to ask a quick question about college admissions. Do 4-year colleges tend to consider extenuating circumstances affecting GPA in admissions or scholarship opportunities?</p>

<p>For clarity's sake, I am going into my last year of high school with a GPA of 2.92 and a ACT score of 34. Now, I have also had the opportunity to take college classes for credit at a community college, and my college GPA is 3.89 (based of 20 credits). My grades in high school were docked due to attendance, and this is probably noted on my record.</p>

<p>These stats aren't particularly bad, but as I live on my own and support myself with no assistance, college often seems a far way off unless I put myself in substantial debt, even with financial aid.</p>

<p>I've heard from others this combination of high ACT/low GPA often alerts admissions officers to low performing or "lazy" but intelligent students, but in my case this isn't so. My grades markedly improved my Junior year, and I finished this last year with perfect attendance, and all A's, as compared to a C+ being my highest grade the year before, </p>

<p>Now, in short, I fear admission officers will look at me as a relatively intelligent young man who just didn't try until his Junior year, and will treat me as so. The attendance issues will reinforce this.</p>

<p>I know my GPA and past attendance problems will hold me back from scholarships I could have otherwise gotten if not for these extenuating circumstances. I have outlined them here if the specific circumstances could make a difference.
<a href="http://a0none0e0moss.blog.com/2014/06/26/a-none-e-moss"&gt;http://a0none0e0moss.blog.com/2014/06/26/a-none-e-moss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So, can a bad GPA be diluted or even disregarded in the college admissions process if the underlying reason(s) can be explained?</p>

<p>Or can I qualify for, IE, a 3.0 GPA / 28 ACT scholarship if I can explain the deficiency in my GPA?</p>

2

<p>

The short answer is yes. The Common App has an Additional Information section where you can talk about things like this, but I feel like that might not be sufficient in your case because your situation is way different from most people’s and requires a more detailed explanation than their little box will allow. Do you have any guidance counselors or anyone you can talk to in real life about this?</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the speedy reply. I’m currently in a academic program that allowed me to rack up those 20 college credits, but kind of stripped me of a lot of the resources the typical high school student has. Now that I know there’s a chance, I think I’ll contact the college admissions office directly.</p>

<p>Thanks again, Halcyon.
-Eguss</p>