Highschool Junior -- Need advice/opinions please!

Applying to College
1

Hi CC,

I had a question regarding my grades. Right now, I’m finishing my first semester as a highschool junior. My grades this semester were pretty bad, I have 2 A’s (one being religion), 3 B’s, and 1 C. I had gotten maybe 3 or 4 B+‘s throughout freshman and sophomore year combined. I have finals coming up and I may end up with possibly another C. These two C’s would be in my two honors classes of spanish and Pre-calc. However, I’ve been going through some family problems but I haven’t told my counselors or teachers about it (my mother has stage 4 breast cancer (this only means it cannot be rid of, but she can live with it for her entire life if that makes sense)), and I think this is the reason why my grades are struggling this year on top of it being a tough year all around. I try not to use this as an excuse because I know other people who are going through similar situations and have straight A’s. I just wanted to get your guys’ opinion on this if it will really hurt my college chances. I also go to a well-known private highschool in the bay area if that helps at all. If I were to talk to my counselors about it, and they were to report it somewhere (I’m not sure how it works), would that help my grades at all? I am hoping to attend University of San Francisco.

Thanks!

2

Hey fellow bay area resident! I also attend a well-known bay area high school (but a public one haha).

Condolences for your struggles; you should definitely talk to someone you trust about it, whether that person is a favorite teacher or your counselor. Regarding college admissions, there definitely is a place in the Common Application where you can put “Additional Information,” where you can put information such as your mother’s situation that may explain a drop in your grades. Think of it not as an excuse, but an explanation–it’s hard to perform at the best of your ability when you’re emotionally struggling, and colleges obviously understand that.

USF seems to be a match school for you i believe in terms of GPA. Their average SAT is around 1750 and average ACT is around 26. Have you taken any of these tests yet?