<p>My second semester of sophomore year did not go well for me; I got 5 Bs out of 7 in my courses. This was due to problems with family and depression. Those are things I'm still dealing with but I have managed to get my grades out of the hole. </p>
<p>The thing is, I think my scores and other grades show that the semester was clearly atypical. I have a 36 ACT, 5 in one AP class (Euro) and expecting 5 more 4s/5s from this year (mostly 5s based on practice tests.) I otherwise have straight As in school besides the one semester and have decent but not phenomenal ECs that take up a lot of time. </p>
<p>Although the semester dragged my GPA down from a 4.0 to around a 3.7-3.8ish, do I still have chances at top 20 schools? My dream for years was Stanford, but I think that's too much of a reach now. </p>
<p>Also, I read that you shouldn't mention any sort of 'mental illness' like depression on essays or anywhere else on your application. Is that true? Should I try to explain the drop in grades at all?</p>
<p>From what you’ve said, that one semester does seem starkly different from the rest of your credentials. I think there’s a good chance that some selective colleges may more or less overlook it, if you play your cards right. Will they all? Dunno. Will Stanford? Dunno. But I don’t think you’ve limited yourself to My Back Yard State University just yet.</p>
<p>First of all, this semester that’s out of character *does *need explaining. Ideally, the best person to do this would be your guidance counselor. He or she has to write a letter on your behalf to go with the Secondary School Report. Before you do your applications, schedule an appointment with the counselor. Discuss your college list, and be frank in saying that you’d appreciate the counselor’s help in minimizing the damage from your one bad semester. Does the counselor already know about your personal problems, and how they’ve affected your school work? If so, remind him when you have that meeting. If not, lay it all out for him. And then ask whether he would be willing to help you put that one semester in context in his letter.</p>
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<p>I don’t agree with that advice. You shouldn’t dwell it to such a degree that the admissions committees know nothing about you but this one thing. You shouldn’t expect it to excuse a school record that’s mediocre overall. But your case is different. You had a crisis; it affected your work. The crisis ended, or you learned to cope with your new circumstances. Either way, the crisis stopped affecting your work, and you went back to working at your accustomed superior level. I think you absolutely should address the issue, since you can make a perfectly believable case that there was a problem, but it’s been resolved.</p>
<p>Unless, you know, it hasn’t been resolved. If it hasn’t really been, you should do something about that. You don’t need to answer me here in public, but I hope you’ve seen a doctor or other appropriate counselor.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how starkly different that semester is for a sophomore. Probably true for a senior with 3+ years of track record, not so much for a year and a half.</p>
<p>Weak semesters are not atypical. You proved that you can recognize a problem and take the necessary steps to fix the problem. That speaks volumes to what you are trying to accomplish. I think if you keep up what you are doing, focus on your strengths instead of your weaknesses, and get involved in other activities you’ll be fine.</p>