So a bit of backstory. I’ve always been a really good student in my school. Top 5% of my class, several AP courses, 34 ACT and I was accelerated in my math studies. Because of this my councelor suggested that I take a class at my local university to continue my math credit, so I did.
The class went well for a time until we got around to the second midterm. Shortly before the midterm one of my friends was stopped and killed by the police in a traffic stop. I guess it didn’t really hit me that he was gone until the day that my second midterm happened and as I was taking the exam I just broke down. I lost focus and couldn’t think straight about the exam at all. This led to me failing the exam and I ended the class with a 2.0 as my grade due to small mistakes on the other exam bringing me down too.
I guess I just want to know, is there a way that I can let the colleges I’m applying to know about this, cause I don’t want them to only see the 2.0 and think that I wouldn’t be a good fit at their college.
If it’s a course taken at the college & not required by your HS, then why would anyone know about it?
It’s listed on my HS transcript, albiet as a pass-fail, but I dont know if they would want my college transcript.
Yes, colleges will want the transcript from that school. If it’s listed as P/F on your transcript that will be how it’s used for admission.
Isn’t there a universal college code that requires college to give a student a leeway if his/her close friend is killed in any way during the academic year?
Don’t trip about this. Write an addendum about what happened on your college app. My boyfriend’s father (who was his only parent) died when he was barely a sophomore and he failed his classes that semester because he just stopped going, then dropped out of school for many years. He went back recently, got a 4.0, and got into UC Berkeley, UCLA, etc. They didn’t care about the bad grades because his reason was completely understandable.
Also, please seek out some grief counselling. You don’t have to suffer with your pain as long as my bf did.
Just to confirm, it’s listed as a pass fail, and you passed? I worry you are digging a bigger hole by writing an addendum and drawing attention to it.
Yeah, I just dont know if they will want transcrpit from the university when I apply to somewhere even if it is listed on my Transcript for HS. Thats why Im worried
OP, so sorry to hear about your friend. What an awful awful situation. Be sure to spend some time with your GC processing this and how it affects your grades. Demand the time if GC doesn’t make time in schedule for you. The details about transcript etc can be clarified later, but if this is affecting you as much as it seems, go talk about it. GC will write your rec and should mention it as a factor in the course of your academic development. You may even decide to share this in other parts of your applications, if it truly does affect you this much (which I can imagine it would).
Honestly that’s awful and it is totally absurd that they didn’t give you some sort of leeway, seeing as how you were going through that kind of trauma. I agree that you should have your GC write about it / discuss it in an addendum .
It’s awful, and though it is a private matter, it is recommended you let the college counseling center know what happened. They can give you a withdrawal from a class later than the deadline if something severe happens.
(If I had a student breakdown during an exam, I would immediately call the counseling center crisis hotline, and the student would have a chance to make up the exam due to a medical excuse. We’ve had students puke in the middle of an exam or get very ill and have to leave. They then have to make up the exam with no penalty.)
I think you have to report this but perhaps talk to a counselor.