<p>Hi i'm a junior in high school from a Chicago suburb. Last year my mother's cancer came back and hit hard, and I let my school work fall. I received a "C" first semester in Algebra 2 honors, and both semesters of Chemistry Honors. This year I am taking the hardest possible schedule, and next year my course load is all AP classes. Is it possible to write Tulane and try to explain why this dip occurred sophomore year?</p>
<p>Also, Tulane is my top choice and I will be applying SCEA in the beginning of my senior year.</p>
<p>YES write about it. If you don’t how do colleges know you’re diff. from a kid who didn’t try hard? Definitely extenuating circumstances, you seem like a strong applicant.</p>
<p>I hope everything’s okay now, good luck!</p>
<p>Definitely explain the situation. Your grades did not slip because you didn’t try or didn’t care, they slipped because a parent had cancer. That, if anything, is reason enough not to get straight As. </p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.</p>
<p>Agree with what has been said, and also adding that universities tend to look at grade trends. So if your junior year grades are mostly A’s and A-'s, with maybe a B/B+ or two, that will just give even more support to your statement and will definitely be taken into consideration. That will be even more emphasized if your freshman grades were stronger than the sophomore year, which you imply they were since you said the sophomore year was a “dip”.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t feel the need to go into lengthy explanation, but instead keep it rather plain and factual. Your mother had cancer therapy much of your sophomore year, it was emotionally as well as physically draining (having gone through what you did myself at a slightly younger age, helping out during these times definitely takes a toll), and now things are back to normal, or at least more so. They have seen this or something very similar many times before, and they do understand how difficult that is.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for the quick feedback and support. My mom is doing quite a bit better and she’s improving daily. Thanks again</p>