<p>In 9th and 10th grade I had a really terrible infection in my left ear that was only defeated by three surgeries. Anyways, to make a long story short it sucked and my grades were affected.</p>
<p>My freshman and sophomore years were almost straight Bs with a couple of As and a couple of Cs. My junior and senior years I have/had straight As.</p>
<p>So my class rank is 14/54, but if I had the same GPA frosh and soph year as i did junior and senior year (which would be very likely if I wasn't sick since I didn't even have AP classes then), I would be ...... 1/54</p>
<p>I had my doctor compose a letter detailing my issues and etc and how basically it was impossible for me to live up to my full potential with them, but I'm only getting it just now... after I've all ready applied to most of my schools and my ED2 decision is coming up within two weeks (Carnegie Mellon).</p>
<p>First, is this letter something that would significantly help my admissions chances?
Also, should I send it to colleges that I'm going to apply to and should I send it (fax) to colleges that I've all ready applied to?</p>
<p>If you have mentioned this issue (or if any of your recommenders did) then I don’t think you should send it.
However, if you didnt, you should send it. What have you got to lose, really?</p>
<p>The doctor can’t talk about your academic potential. He can only comment on the medical condition. </p>
<p>A better way to have handled this would have been for the GC to incorporate the medical issue in the GC rec. letter. You also could have mentioned something about overcoming the medical condition in the “additional info” section of the application. To send this letter now seems like an afterthought and kind of sounds like you’re trying to make an excuse your freshman and sophomore grades. </p>
<p>Save the letter. Maybe you can use it at a later date as supplemental information if you find yourself getting deferred or put on a waiting list.</p>
<p>The idea is that the condition is inherently limiting and that no one can live up to their full potential with it, not just me.</p>
<p>Your advice is sound though, nysmile. What if I gave it to my GC, asked her to add something about it in her GC letter, and then send in the new letter to colleges?</p>
<p>Chances are, in a school where there are only 54 kids in the grade level, your guidance counselor and teachers were well aware of your ear infections and surgery. If they felt that it was a significant reason for your lower grades in 9th and 10th grade, they would have made reference to it on their own when writing the recommendations.</p>
<p>Since you’ve all ready completed and submitted your applications, I would let them stand “as is” and not send out the additional info. The college admission’s will see the upward trend and that’s really what they are looking for anyway. </p>
<p>Did you bring this up when you met with your GC before sending out the applications? Why don’t you discuss this with your GC and get his/her opinion on the matter?</p>
<p>I did indeed discuss it with my GC before but there were some issues…</p>
<p>I asked my GC to write me a letter at the end of 11th grade and mention my medical situation. That GC retired without writing me my letter.</p>
<p>But I thought she did write it, so I asked the new GC to send in the one she wrote and append any information she’d like to include.</p>
<p>Well about a week ago I was talking to the new GC about college and things and she says:</p>
<p>“Oh, by the way, there wasn’t a recommendation for you from [old GC] so I just wrote you a completely new one and sent that”</p>
<p>D’oh!</p>
<p>That’s why I’m scrambling and why I didn’t say anything in additional info… sticky situation. But yes I’ll see what the new GC’s opinion is.</p>
<p>And my stats for CMU are all good except for class rank :(</p>
<p>Even GPA is good, because unlike basically everyone else in the world I do better in core classes than electives and CMU ignores electives in GPA calculation and even drops Freshman year.</p>