GPA Nightmare

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I've been so stressed over my GPA and I certainly have a reason why. During the previous three years at high school, I was trapped in a sexually abusive relationship with another male student. I wont got into details, but the whole situation made school feel unwelcoming and overall a negative learning experience. While I maintained mostly A's and B's, my junior year I told my guidance counselor all about the troubles I had been facing. My grades plummeted even more after that. As it currently stands, my weighted GPA is 3.725 and my class rank is down the drain as well, barely in the top 50%. I switched school for my senior year, and currently have a 5.2385 GPA for this semester, which helps to compare the environments in which I learned. I took the ACT twice, 30 and 31, but combined I have a 33. </p>

<p>ACT: 33 (best of 30 & 31)
SAT: Math I: 770 Math II: 800
GPA: 3.725 Weighted as of Junior Year</p>

<p>Schools ECs:
- Computer Programming Club (Founder)
- Math Club (Took AMC, 1 question from AIME Qualifier)
- Marching Band (4 Years, 1st Trumpet)
- Science Olympiad (3 years, Event Leader)
- Concert Band (4 Years, Lead Trumpet)
- Men's Choir
- Mock Trial</p>

<p>Outside EC:
- Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout)
- Karate (Black Belt, 9 years, CIT Summer Camp, 3 months of working experience)
- Volunteer at Synagogue (Bar Mitzvah)
- Internship at CieNet (IT firm in Beijing, China)</p>

<p>So what I really want to know is, what will colleges see? Will they see me as a student with mediocre grades? Will they realize the struggles? Is it even possible for me to even dream of going to a school like Duke, Brown, or UChicago? Do colleges accept students with low GPA if they provide ample reasoning? I know my GPA does not reflect the type of student I am, and I wish I could retake all the courses I performed so poorly in. </p>

<p>Let me know if you have any questions. Input would be much appreciated. </p>

2

<p>Also ACT(breakdown): 35E 36M 31R 29S
Intended Major: Mathematics/Physics </p>

3

<p>Just talk about it. I mean, the majority of applicants will have higher GPAs, but the majority of applicants have not endured the same hardships you have faced. Just communicate your struggles and how you overcame them in your essays. Chance back <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1725477-chances-for-uva-umich-bc-unc-nd.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1725477-chances-for-uva-umich-bc-unc-nd.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>BTW Duke could love your essays. A friend of mine had a 3.4 weighted GPA but got accepted as a white male student, just because his essay was spectacular</p>

5

<p>Thanks! Some schools have me self report my grades, and when I look at them I literally want to cry haha. It is not an easy subject to talk about, and writing about it seems even scarier. I hope that my essay will allow them to understand the person who is really behind the bad grades.</p>

6

<p>Good luck with your life, whatever happens. If you can, hold whoever did that to you accountable. In my opinion, if your are barely in the top 50% with a 3.725, you probably attend a fairly good high school. (Good academically speaking.) And a 3.725 is not really bad on the scale of things; please don’t beat yourself up over it. I hope you get in wherever you want and get the chance to show the world that you will never be controlled by people like that jerk you mentioned. </p>