<p>I was just wondering out of the stacks of applications, what are the actual legitimate reasons for a GPA drop in HS? </p>
<p>I've heard reasons from family troubles, deaths, and personal troubles; but which of them actually affect admissions? Most of them can come off as whiny and immature, but others can show that you can get through tough times.</p>
<p>For anyone wondering why I ask, it's cause from a lot of people I've talked to, almost everyone has their own personal situation; how does an adcom tell the difference between one that is genuine or one that is just made up? </p>
<p>(I know a kid who made up a family problem that seems really genuine, yet totally not true - he's going for Northwestern University)</p>
<p>Another question to add:
How serious do these personal problems have to be to excuse dropping grades? After all, almost everyone has his/her personal issues.</p>
<p>If it's serious and legit, you will know it's serious and legit. Almost anyone whose GPA dropped significantly will try to come up with a legit excuse hoping the drop will be dismissed. Some are valid, some are stupid, and some aren't even excuses to begin with (harder classes and lots of stress for example). </p>
<p>If you know that the drop was mostly from your fault, slacking, or incompetence, accept it.</p>
<p>Unless you have an extremely legitimate excuse don't even bring it up. The best way to handle it would be a rec from a teacher highlighting your ability in a subject area and that you do a lot (that doesn't explain it well enough but just don't focus on your GPA, instead show that you're a great prospect who's made a couple mistakes)</p>
<p>Well a friend of mine's parents just went through an ugly ugly divorce. He was a straight A/B+ student, but the semester during the divorce he got mostly Cs.</p>
<p>From my experience, it's just from a lack of ability in that area. No matter how much I tried, I could never excel in sciences. However, I usually aced all other core academic subjects.</p>
<p>Look the real clear way to show if something truly effected a student is if they maintained a 3.7 or 3.8 and suddenly one semeste their gpa plummets to a 2.0+ but later goes back up to the original level. At that point it becomes obvious something extreme occured that semester for a student who, before and after had great grades, suddenly dipped under 3.0. But if one maintains the same grades or drops from a 3.7 to a 3.4, it just seems like the student is really scrambling for any reason to excuse the lack of grades. Theres students who fight adversity and maintain their grades but dont get any more recognition, so on the flip side, why should those who fight adversity and fall get special treatment?</p>