<p>I think that your sophomore GPA can be explained with a story so I would not stress about it too much. If you still have anxiety problems I would hope that you choose a college carefully so that you put yourself in an environment where you can succeed. Some schools are more intense than others.</p>
<p>No my anxiety problems weren’t caused by work load, they were caused because of my transferring to a new high school. Now that I have comfortably transitioned, they are long gone.</p>
<p>…my GPA is a 3.58. Except at my ultra-competitive public school, that’s top 20%, not top 10%. </p>
<p>My sophomore year also brought me down … I was out 30-something days, too! But my SATs are ~100 pts lower than yours are. Anyway, your GC should write about your extensive absences in her letter of recommendation for you. That’s what mine did. </p>
<p>I think you need to breathe though. You’ll get into where you should be. Colleges look at more than just your GPA. I mean, I see that you want to go to an ivy, but I got into a top 30 school and I’m waitlisted at a top 20. Just focus on your essays and all of that other stuff, and I think you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Many schools in the top 50 will get you into a good med school (even though I wouldn’t by any means dismiss the ivies; you definitely have a shot there). Don’t sob over a 3.58. It’s not the end of the world. 
Good luck with everything.</p>
<p>Usually GCs put this type of things in their recs… right?</p>
<p>I would coach your GC to use the generic term “medical absences”. Don’t get into the anxiety thing… it won’t help your apps. Their college will be a “new school” too.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t calling it a medical absence be something of a lie? I wouldn’t do that. But I would be wary of how I talked about anxiety, too. I think it’s okay if it’s something you learned from and now know how to handle. Otherwise, I agree, it looks like a mental issue.</p>
<p>I believe that colleges look at improvement rather than a crappy GPA as an underclassman. For example, say you got a 2.5 your sophomore year, but a 3.8 your senior year, the colleges wont weigh the sophomore year as heavily.</p>
<p>Yeah it wasn’t really just the transferring, but that played a significant role. I transitioned into my freshman year just fine; no problems whatsoever. It was when I went into a school where everybody knew each other but I knew no one that the problems began to arise. So, I agree I shouldn’t go into too much detail, but I really hope this doesn’t inhibit me too much.</p>
<p>I know another boy who is super brilliant, but he just decided he wasn’t going to put any effort into school until he was a junior. Then he picked up his game and now he’s doing very well–got a free ride to a very good school. Schools really liked it that he ramped up his efforts and that he improved. That is SO much better than going downhill as a junior or senior. Schools will respect the character it takes to pull yourself out of a slump.</p>
<p>Have your college counselor address your issues sophomore year in your school statement. If the college wants more info they’ll ask. Make sure your JR and SR year grades are excellent. You’ll succeed.</p>
<p>Haha but I really want to go to a school like Columbia (dream school), and I’m afraid I just won’t cut it. I really think if I never had those issues I would have at least had a solid GPA for admission.</p>
<p>Oh and also, at my school, nobody, and I do mean nobody, has a 4.0 UW if they take AP and Honors classes. My valedictorian has like a 3.9something UW.</p>