<p>I have good 2nd-semester sophomore and junior year grades, but my freshman and 1st-semester sophomore grades SUCK. Right now I'm attending a private international school and I'd gotten those bad grades at a public school in Asia.</p>
<p>The truth is that I'd never adjusted to the academic atmosphere of my home country, it was so darn rigid and all about memorizing and pounding in mathematics I got so sick of it. The truth is I gave up and just read tons of books in the back of classrooms.</p>
<p>My GC says she has explained this to some extent in her rec, but I am not sure how she worded it, or how in detail and understanding her explanation was. She recommended that if I feel like I need to explain those grades personally, I should do so in the additional information section. Should I? Would it help if I worded it nicely, and it doesn't sound too much like an excuse? Or should I definitely DONT try to explain those terrible grades at all in case I sound too self-forgiving?</p>
<p>Where are you applying? Schools with low acceptance rates have little interest in excuses of most sorts. Schools that take a higher percentage are often more willing to parse what went wrong. However, I just didn’t like the style of learning almost never flies. In life we often have to suck it up to get where we want to go. Chances are that before you become senior in whatever you do, you’ll have tasks in your job that you don’t enjoy. Good colleges are looking for students who will persevere and will take the things they need to do to get to their goal in stride.</p>
<p>I’m applying to Tufts, Vassar, UMich, and a couple Ivy schools for reaches.</p>
<p>So the suggestion is a no, then? I thought explaining grades will just sound whiny somehow, but my GC doesn’t think so, and she wrote an excuse FOR me already in her letter and already sent it out:P What should I do about this? Should I ask her to change it, and CAN she change it at this point?</p>
<p>Anyone else?? I’d most like to get a variety of opinions:P pretty important decision to make!!</p>
<p>If your GC already addressed the grades, I probably wouldn’t say anything. What I might do is discuss your learning style as part of why you want to attend the schools you apply to, if they ask. This way you are focusing on the strengths rather than the weakness. </p>
<p>Especially since these are earlier grades, I don’t think more emphasis is going to do any good.</p>
<p>Thanks! Just to add extra info, my 2nd semester sophomore grades and my junior year grades are nearly perfect; I REALLY committed to my current school.</p>
<p>I’m a bit worried about how my GC worded it, though. I don’t want to judge, but it’s a fact that she is a pretty young GC, and she’s made several mistakes on my application before. OCDing a bit…</p>
<p>There’s nothing you can do at this point frankly. And the schools you listed may well reject you regardless – they will reject people with greater GPAs than yours – all you can do is choose a wise list of schools to target. None of the ones you’ve cited so far should be banked upon. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>It is better to have a counselor explain most issues than to do it yourself.</p>
<p>I am curious about what she would have said though. To be honest, there are many bad counselors out there and you wouldn’t believe some of the things they write to admissions. Admissions committees don’t hold what they say against a student per se, but some counselors give information that can’t help but negatively impact the candidate.</p>
<p>I once had a counselor tell me that she thought the candidate had mellowed and would no longer be arrested often for being drunk in public.</p>
<p>@T26E4
that’s worrying. from what you’ve told me I can’t trust my GC at all. when the college counseling started I voiced my doubt about those year and a half grades, saying I didn’t think I can get into any top schools. she told me since my grades at this school has been in the top 5% and my ECs are good enough I could apply. (my SAT score as of the October test is 2190, I took it again this month aiming for 2250… have to wait and see…) I wasn’t sure but she was very encouraging. at the time I was greatful to have someone give me that much confidence but now it sounds like she was leading me on or something. this is distressing; I’ve already completed most of the supplements and my GC has sent out the school forms already. should I still try to change this?</p>
<p>FREAKING OUT!</p>
<p>@Waverly
I asked her if she could tell me exactly what she wrote. I can’t read the whole letter, but just that part where she addressed this issue…
Honestly she isn’t that bad, she’s usually very nice and considerate but I don’t think she’s very sensitive. Or knowledgeable. When I asked her what Questbridge was she said she thought it might be a scheme to get kids to apply to lower-ranked schools:P And she’s very young for a GC.</p>
<p>avtox: I’m not saying don’t apply whatsoever. But if that’s the entirety of your list, then you need to act fast to expand it. It’s entirely possible that tufts, vassar, UM and Ivies may all reject you; the applicant pools are very competitive – I think you already know this. To mitigate having no where to attend, make SURE you apply to 2-3 other safeties – schools you’ll love attending and can afford.</p>
<p>does everyone agree with T26E4? not trying to undermine what you’re saying, I really appreciate the blunt advice. i would just like more opinions on this…</p>
<p>Totally agree with T26E4. Think about it…some Ivies take 6% or so of the applicants. So many of those denied students have almost perfect if not perfect GPA’s through all of high school with SATs between 2350 and 2400. If you don’t have something in your application that makes you stand out (a hook), you could be denied by all the schools on your list. Expand your college list quickly. You definitely need a few safeties.</p>
<p>note to self… don’t trust my GC…
thanks everyone. :(i’ll come back and thank you all again when I get rejected by all the schools i’m currently applying to but get into some safeties.</p>
<p>No offense taken whatsoever. Please note the 2nd part of my advice: make sure it’s a school that you can afford. No use getting accepts from schools that you, in turn, need to reject b/c of finances. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>If all this doesn’t work out, I’m to attend some school back home in Asia. (Current residence is in central europe) So even if I don’t get into any of the schools I’m currently applying to, not the end of my life. But I really didn’t think I’d be rejected from ALL nine schools:P i guess i’m too naive…</p>
<p>I’m in between, my parents can pay the full price for 4 years if they stretch it. I’m applying FA to need-blind schools, of course. And I was going to apply FA to Vassar, and not to Tufts, just to see, but after this thread I may just skip out on FA altogether. I don’t know. Very confused now, and it’s a bit late to be confused…</p>
<p>Interests I put on CommonApp:
Language and Lit (my LoCs and essays clearly show I read a lot… not my own judgment)
Journalism (Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper, and correspondent for an independent student magazine outside of school)
International Relations (active MUN member, been to the Hague for THIMUN and the UK for RRMUN, great rec from adviser)</p>
<p>also submitting arts supplements (studio work, and I take IB Visual Arts) and thinking about getting an extra LoC from my newspaper adviser as well. right now im just… argh.</p>
<p>It is helpful to emphasize your editor in chief position at the newspaper. This type of experience carries some weight and may help you overcome your rough early high school start. Has your newspaper won any awards? There are many writing contests for high school writers and for high school newspapers. Does your newspaper have an online version? These skills are very useful on a college campus that puts out a daily newspaper (print and/or online). You also mentioned that you have art skills. The combination of journalism and art, along with the excellence you have achieved in the second part of high school, make you a more attractive candidate. Be sure to emphasize these interests and how you would like to use them on the college campus once you enroll. Your international experiences should also be stressed. Someone with your background could write some killer essays!</p>
<p>not my school paper, but the independent paper has won some entrepreneur awards. and both publications have printed versions and online versions, i’m linking the online versions to the additional info sheet. my commonapp essay is about my grandfather; i did reflect on some of my background in it though. Thanks for your advice;)</p>