<p>I know this is a very bad reason, but my freshman and sophomore year grades have suffered because my dad died when i was 10 and i had to provide for myself while my mom worked. will this make my chance of admission increase?</p>
<p>how about if my mom has a low income? does that increase or decrease admission chance?</p>
<p>A death in the family could help explain poor grades, but perhaps not if it occurred so early. Something that had as a great of an impact on you as this did could be explained in the essay portion of the application.</p>
<p>Low income doesn’t really help you, since most schools take your ability to pay into consideration. Top tier schools (think top 50) with the resources to support students from underprivileged backgrounds would care less that they’ll practically be paying you to be there. Low income might possibly help if a school is trying to gain socioeconomic diversity, but there is no dearth of college applicants coming from low-income families.</p>
<p>Being low-income usually works best for students who are overachievers. When the application is presented well, being low-income and/or experiencing special circumstances can really be a plus - but as Keilinger said, only for applicants to the top schools (I would say the top 25 at best; certainly not the top 50 for what I’ve seen). That said, check into QuestBridge. QuestBridge is a special application program for low-income students, especially those with extraordinary circumstances (but not always! I’m living proof).</p>
<p>[QuestBridge</a> Home Page](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org%5DQuestBridge”>http://www.questbridge.org)</p>