<p>Today my principal told me I am officially a NMSF. I really want to makes NMF because two of my top schools will offer full tuition. However, after reading posts from last year, I worry I won't make the cut because I have a C and several Bs from my second semester sophomore year. I have nearly all As otherwise, but it seems like a single C was enough to warrant a rejection. </p>
<p>I was wondering if you guys thought it would be a good idea to address this in the essay portion of the application about overcoming an obstacle. When I got that C I was dealing with the death of two close family members. It took a large toll on my entire family, and grades weren't really a priority. I think I may have been pretty severely depressed, too, but I don't have medical confirmation of that. </p>
<p>I think this might help put my poor grades in context, but I also don't want to sound like I am making excuses. Thoughts/advice are greatly appreciated! :)</p>
<p>I would think that would help. those are beyond terrible extenuating circumstances. Not sure of best way to get it in there but your idea made sense. Hopefully, some seasoned vets will post on ideas too. and my condolences to you and your family</p>
<p>Although there were a couple of postings out here last year, not everyone with a C gets cut. One of the kids at my D’s school had at least one C (in a foreign language) in 11th grade. And he still made it.</p>
<p>I don’t know if that is the best use of your essay prompt (just like it wouldn’t be the best for admissions essays). Your school also has a component they fill in – I think who does it varies by school, but you could talk to your school GC about this and see if there is someplace they could comment on the deaths in your family in sophomore year. That also takes the “making excuses” out of your hands (it comes across better if your GC does it). I am not sure what their portion of the form looks like, but you could ask them.</p>
<p>I think people have made it with one C. Ask your counselor to address it.
Another thought–depending on how close the C was to a B, is is possible to explain the circumstances to the teacher and have the grade changed? Not sure if the grade is “set in stone” or if this would be allowed, but when that big of a scholarship is on the line, it wouldn’t hurt to consider any/all options. I am a teacher, and I would certainly consider changing a grade under these circumstances. I have changed a grade before at a student’s/parent’s request–so the student could participate in EC.</p>
<p>I think the principal does the letter for NM. Of course, the counselor probably at least does a draft in all but the smallest schools. I agree that the grades should be addressed in that letter, not by the student.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids…I just quickly ran through this “results” thread from last year and saw three people who made it with one C. I think two Cs was a killer, though. </p>
<p>I know our counselor is going to have a meeting with us about NM sometime soon, I will ask her about it then and see if she would want to do that. Thanks for the input! </p>
<p>Do you think the rigor of schoolwork is taken into consideration at all? I take close to the toughest curriculum possible at my school.</p>
<p>Unless this year is different from past years, the rigor of coursework makes no difference. With about 90% of NMSF moving on to Finalist, they aren’t putting a lot of time into analyzing things like that. From what I have heard from people who know a great deal about the process, they are looking for a decent rec from your school, a passable essay, a qualifying SAT score, all As and Bs (maybe one C) and an overall GPA of 3.5 or greater.</p>
<p>To the original poster, our DD did exactly that. She was a NMSF at this time last year, became a NMF, and is now at Bama on the NMF scholarship and loving it. She got a C+ in Pre-Calc as a final grade as a junior. Thankfully her transcript only showed final grades. We worried about the one C+ and her chances to go from NMSF to NMF. So she dealt with the issue directly in her NMF essay – about her lessons learned on overcoming this adversity with the course, the final grade, the teacher, the administration not initially grasping the problems with this teacher, and finding her own way on dealing with the issue. Long story short … she had a brand new teacher in Pre-Calc who was brilliant but had absolutely no people or teaching skills. At one point, when the brand new teacher was out for the day and the sub was no help, she started a mini-revolt and found a math teacher in the teacher’s lounge who agreed to come in and actually teach them the material for at least one day. The brand new teacher then ended up “leaving” the school in the middle of 3rd quarter (and this is at one of the top high schools in the U.S. – a math/science magnet school in Northern VA). Her grades for 3rd and 4th quarters improved but she still got a C+. We were proud of her on her NMF essay and how she dealt with the C+ issue. In a year (2013) where one C grade seemed to nix many NMSFs from becoming a NMF, she made it to NMF and Scholar. Good luck!</p>
<p>Students do not know what the recommendation letter says, so students with one C may think that was the discriminator when it could be something else.</p>
<p>D1 (HS class of 2012) made NMF with 2 C’s from sophomore year. Her essay did explain it because it was partly about why she changed to a new school Junior year…but about a lot more than that. Unless it’s a great essay topic that happens to explain things, leave it for the school letter (but make sure they include it)</p>