Hey, so I’m in a really terrible situation right now -
My senior year grades dipped significantly (went from having straight A’s to A’s and B’s) AND I’m pretty sure a teacher failed me (gave me a 62) for a class. I had various personal and family problems going on this semester, and I am planning to send in an explanation. Even with this, is there even any chance for me to get into Northwestern (or CMU or Dartmouth or another top school)? How much weight is the midyear report given?? Will an explanation mean anything?? If I somehow convince the teacher to bump my grade from a 62 to a 70, will that even make a difference? I am freaking out because I worked hard on my applications and for like 12 years of my life and now I feel like a few months will ruin everything. Does anyone have any personal experiences or advice?
Also I don’t know if this makes a difference, but the class I’m “failing” isn’t a core class - it’s an independent studying class.
If you’ve already been admitted, if you’ve only gone from As to As and Bs, and you can adequately explain the D (clearly an anomaly), then all is not lost.
I haven’t been admitted though
Then your chances are definitely a bit lower than they otherwise would be. Maybe down by 5%?
Yeah, it’s not great. It’ll definitely raise some eyebrows in admissions, especially in such already competitive schools. Maybe send a notice explaining the grades with them? Sometimes they’re understanding if you had a close relative die or a divorce or something. Bumping the grade will help, although only so much.
Thanks for the replies. Is there any possibility at all though? Does it make a difference that the class I failed/got a C in wasn’t an academic class? I didn’t have a relative die but I was sick for a portion of the semester and I had a lot of absences, and also my grandma was very sick in India so we had to do a lot of travelling back and forth
^ will that be considered a valid excuse?
If you had a significant extenuating circumstance, then you should have put it in the application. But 90% of the time, trying to give an “excuse” for a bad grade will only make the admission office’s eyes roll.
to me, the things I listed above were extenuating circumstances and they impacted my focus and mental health to a great degree. but my question is - will admissions officers take the things i talked about above (personal illness and family illness) as just an excuse - or a valid reason?