<p>Hello,
I applied to many top schools and recently sent in my mid-year report which to be quite frank was not as good as I would have wanted it to be. I sent a letter along with my report (and to all my schools) explaining some circumstances at home. One year ago my father was struck with a major heart attack and me being the only other male living in the household I had to take upon most of the family affairs, especially coming from a culture that places a huge emphasis on the male figure in the family. This presented an incredibly stressful and hard situation for me as I had to choose between taking care of my family or taking care of school (which I had always excelled in) and I feel I took the right course of action by taking care of my family. Because of this my mid-year grades have been sub-par. Recently my father has made a recovery and thus relieved me of much of the stress of day to day family life. In my letter I asked the schools if they could possibly consider my 3rd quarter grades or something so that I may prove to them that I have what it takes to perform at their school (im taking 6 AP's). I did not intend to make this an excuse but rather to explain why I had this recent dip in grades. Do you think colleges I applied to will keep this in mind as they review my application? I realize I am responsible for my grades and am in no way making an excuse for my mid years, but I just want an oppourtunity to show the admissions office what I am capable of without having extenuating circumstances on my shoulders. Do you think schools will consider this when reviewing my application and mid years?
Thank You</p>
<p>Who knows? But I must say that as so many people on this site ask similar questions, you would have to wonder how much weight schools give this. It's probably better to have your counselor call to discuss.</p>
<p>I don't think you should worry about it, if a school was actually cold hearted enough to reject for taking care of your family you wouldn't want to go there anyways.For the most part though most schools are very understanding.</p>
<p>I think the letter explaining your situation should have come from youa counselor (but now all of this is water under the bridge). By the time your 3rd quarter grades come out decisions will have already been made. You will just have to wait and see how the process plays it self out, just keep in mind that there are lot of kids applying to college this year so you just don't know what is going to happen.</p>
<p>My counselor did address this in her report but she felt I should also write them since I was of course the one who experienced the situation.
Regardless, thank you all for your reponses.</p>
<p>anyone else know or have an information regarding this? I hate to be a thorn but I would hate it more to see me have worked by butt off and then have it messed up at a time when my family needed me.
Thank You</p>
<p>Send them an email. Be frank about it because it is ENTIRELY reasonable. Nobody is perfect and the fact that you were able to handle all that you did shows your a great candidate.</p>
<p>I'd say send them a message, and ask them to consider your grades prior to the heart attack more heavily than those afterward.</p>