Illness affecting academic performance?

Applying to College
1

<p>Is it better to say that illness (or to be more general, trauma) was detrimental enough to your academic performance to have negatively impacted it, or is it better to say that it didn't interfere with your academic performance because you were able to overcome it?</p>

<p>Background: I was really sick for my freshman and sophomore year of high school and I ended up having a surgery that kept me out of school for about 3 months in my sophomore year.</p>

<p>My UW GPA is 3.79 (out of 4) and my W GPA is 4.37 (out of 5). I consider those scores fairly decent, but compared to a lot of my fellow AP classmates, it isn't quite so stellar. Many of them have GPA extending into the 4.6's. Now the school I want to go to as my number one choice, University of Maryland College Park, is very numbers-driven. I am relying pretty heavily on getting some merit based scholarships, and while my SAT puts me in contention (1450/1600), my GPA is something that could lower my chances. </p>

<p>So, back to the question. I feel that based on my GPA, I could go either way for this. On one hand, my sickness and surgery could have prevented me from reaching that coveted 4.6 W GPA. But, my grades didn't really fluctuate. I got a B in Biology Honors as a freshman, a B in Chemistry Honors as a sophomore (I also got a B in a computer science course, which affected my H.S. GPA, that I took at a local community college). As I junior, I received two B's, but in Calculus AB AP and English Language AP. Now my junior year wasn't at all like my underclassmen years in terms of health, though I did suffer a three week setback towards the end of the year (related to the illness) that required emergency surgery. </p>

<p>This questions pertains to getting a recommendation from my counselor. She told me (I am a student aid in the Guidance office) that she would rather have a few really well answered questions that portray me as a person rather than have long-winded answers for all 12 questions. And this question is one that I feel could capture what I have been through in high school. </p>

<p>Also, she came to my school this year, so she has no knowledge of what I went through. And the original phrasing of the question on the form is:
[quote]
What circumstances, if any, have interfered with your academic performance? Is your high school academic record an accurate measure of your ability and potential?

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>Ask your counselor specifically about this one. It shouldn’t matter that she wasn’t around when it actually happened.</p>

3

<p>I would also ask her if UMD-College Park is really an issue; your stats look fine even without the explanation…</p>

4

<p>

Well I only say this because the counselor before her that I had for three years was very proactive in helping me with my situation. </p>

<p>

I forgot to mention that getting admitted wasn’t my worries, it was getting into the honors college, and more specifically (and importantly), getting a hefty does of merit aid scholarships.</p>

5

<p>If you can document it, you’ll have your best bet. Admissions officers for honors colleges are less likely to be sympathetic to complaints about not feeling well since in the working world you have to get up and go even if you don’t feel “good” about it. Unless it was something more severe, and from the way I read it it’s not that severe, your significant drop in grades is going to be a serious concern and you may be questioned on that or rejected altogether for that. Is there any way you can retake some of those classes for at least partially higher credit?</p>

6

<p>

While this makes sense to me, this does not:</p>

<p>

I don’t know where you got this “significant drop” idea, but my grades remained relatively the same all throughout high school. The only difference is that instead of getting B’s in honors classes, I got them in AP classes. That was the angle I was contemplating on working—that I would have gotten A’s in those honors classes if not for my illness—and admittedly it is a pretty weak argument. And I highly doubt if they would let me retake classes I took my freshman and sophomore years simply because I got a B instead of an A. And how can you get partially higher credit when the grading scale is:
A = 4 points, B = 3 points, C = 2 points, D = 1 point, and E = 0 points.
There is no in-between in the system.</p>

7

<p>Which county are you in? Your GPA would put you in range to be considered for merit scholarships at Montgomery College. </p>

<p>The folks in your guidance office have statistics from the last few years and can tell you if students with transcripts like yours have been admitted in the honors program at UM-CP or not, and whether or not they received any merit scholarships. They are much better equipped to help you with this issue than we are.</p>