I’m a sophomore now and I’m doing great, this year is looking like 3.75-3.8 ish+, but my freshman year I missed 3 months of school from a concussion and mono, and pulled a 3.55 and a 3.66 each semester respectively.
Will this upward trend be recognized, and will noting my illnesses do anything?
Upward trends are noted.
There is always a prompt on med schools’ secondaries for “Anything else you want us to know.” You can explain your illnesses/injuries and their effect on your grades there. How much consideration your explanation will be given is difficult-to-impossible to guess since adcomms are made up of a changing cast of individuals who each forms his/her own judgements.
I think you will be just fine with your trend in the 3.7~3.8 range. If you can keep up at that rate, with a decent Mcat, the 3.5 ish first year will be forgotten and should not be mentioned in the apps. The more positive events in an app is better, avoid to discuss negatives, including illness.