Hey guys I just have a question about my grade drop. I have maintained mostly A’s (3-4 B’s) from freshman to junior year. However, my first semester of senior grade dropped because of a certain illness. I think I will end up with 2-3 As and 4-5 Bs, which I probably could have done better if I didn’t have the illness. I am taking hardest courses that I could have and this turned out to be a bad idea because I can not study or do my homework for a long period of time.
I will talk about my illness in additional information, but I am worried that I won’t get into my dream college because of this grade drop. I guess my grade didn’t go down drastically but 4-5 b is bad enough to lower my chance greatly. So my question is do I still have a chance?
I suggest that you ask your guidance counselor to mention your illness in his/her recommendation instead of including it in the additional information section. It will carry more weight coming from a third party and you won’t come off as trying to make excuses.
I actually think it is ok to mention in additional information and have the counselor back it up. You don’t see the counselor letter so you can’t be sure it is included. If you say something about it, then you know it is in there. But agree, it may come off as excuses - if you are using it as an excuse when you had a cold one week and it really wasn’t the reason, that is no good. But if you had mono or something with lasting effects emotionally or physically, that can be rough and they understand that.