Senior here, I’m becoming more worried and extremely stressed concerning my grades for this semester. This semester has been very tough for me as I simply cannot do well in an online class setting. It also doesn’t help that I had chosen a very rigorous schedule that is all exclusively online. I had been a straight A 4.0 student in the top 5% of my class for all my high school career and I have worked very hard to even be considered for admission into Ivy League and top schools. I became a QuestBridge Finalist and it’s very scary knowing that all that hard work for the past 3 years will be for nothing based on this semester. Due to the pandemic, I was forced to get a job in order to support my family and on top of that I have been diagnosed with depression. It’s even more daunting that everything in my transcript will go down such as class ranking and GPA when colleges will look at it this spring. While my grades will be finalized this week, I currently have 2 A’s on 2 honors classes, a C in my college Stats class, and a D on my college Econ class. I have never received less than an A in my life before and worst of all I’m trying to be an Econ major and this will definitely give a red light to colleges. In my school, online classes are simply self taught as my college classes have no zoom meetings and they just assign things for a due date. Knowing Ivy League colleges, there’s simply no room for mistakes and I’m surely screwed. I don’t know what else to do, and I’m having a mental breakdown, help?
I think you should be fine as long as you explain your circumstances in the additional information section. Colleges 100% understand that online school is going to be hard for some. Good luck!!!
I’m sorry you are having a hard time, but please take a step back and breathe.
You can definitely go to college, become a successful and happy person, and you do not have to attend a top college to do that. Attending a top college should be the last thing to consider. Your goal should be to go to college, and anything beyond that is icing on the cake.
You have extenuating circumstances, and you need to mention them in your application. The common App has a space to provide information about how you have been affected by Covid. Most students won’t have had to go out and find a job. That’s something colleges need to know. And there is an additional information section where you can list some of the other issues affecting you. If you did not use those spaces on the common app, you an email the admissions officers at the colleges you applied to and ask them to please add that information to your file. You can also go to your guidance counselor at school and ask him or her to please note your issues and send them to your colleges.
You are a QB finalist, which means your app will get a serious look. Your work won’t be for nothing. I am not a QB expert, but you can contact the organization and ask for advice. @MYOS1634 any tips for this student?
The D in econ is a problem. I don’t know if you can still email your teacher and guidance counselor and ask if there is any way you can bring that grade up, or if there is maybe some way you can medically withdraw based on your diagnosis of depression and the extenuating circumstances of having to find work. I would perhaps pursue that, right now.
Meanwhile, you might want to consider some last minute applications to colleges that might give you large merit awards, and be sure to explain the situation with your job and depression. Be careful mentioning the depression, because you want to emphasize that you are being proactive, are receiving therapy/medication, etc… You don’t want colleges to think it is uncontrolled. If you CAN get the Econ class removed, apply to colleges that offer merit scholarships where your grades are very high, in the 75th percentile.
As far as majoring in Econ, well, you don’t have to major in Econ right now. No college will expect you to declare a major until you are at least a sophomore in college. You can say you want to major in English or history. That’s a non-issue. Good luck.
Agree that you need to breathe.
There is no situation in the world where your hardwork has gone to waste because you’re having a bad semester. There are students right now at colleges you’ve never heard of hitting the ball out of the park, and students right now at Harvard and Yale who are flunking and going to be asked to “take some time to figure things out”. Net- no guarantees in life (as you already know) so take a deep breath.
You do not need to go to an Ivy League college to have a happy and productive life- and even if you got all A’s this semester, there are no guarantees you’d have gotten in. So try to get some perspective here. Covid-learning has been tough for thousands of HS students- and you are one of them. OK- you are human!
Agree that reaching out to the QB advisor for some guidance might be super helpful. Agree that enlisting your guidance counselor for help should be near the top of your list. It sounds like a demanding semester anyway even without Covid and the job- and the GC letter ought to go into as much detail as you can provide.
Make sure you have a safety you can afford and where you would attend if none of the QB options come through for you.
Now the pivot- get some help/perspective on your depression? anxiety? mental status? Even a phone call to your pediatrician/primary care physician/Nurse Practitioner- whoever did your last checkup-- ask if they can refer you to a mental health professional for an evaluation, someone who accepts your insurance. Make sure what you’re experiencing is a temporary bout of “college craziness” and not something more serious.
Hugs to you. You’re going to be fine. You’re human- always good to be reminded of that.