<p>Hello,
I am currently a Sophomore in High School. My school didn't offer any APs or Honors during freshmen year. This year, my high school is offering AP World History, Honors Chem (Which I can take also as a junior) and English 10 Accelerated (no grade pt. average). I am not taking any of those and here is why:</p>
<p>Last year I fell very very sick and had to miss a lot of school; I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease; despite being sick I was able to pull through both semesters of my freshmen year with a 4.0 -- I am still recovering from Crohn's Diease and stress makes my condition even worse, thats why I didn' t take any APs or Honors this year.. I want to attended UC Berkeley and I know it is very selective. Will they understand my situation?</p>
<p>I do plan to take APs and Honors my Junior and Senior year and my counselor also said that APs and Honors are mostly for Juniors and Seniors; Will not taking any APs or Honors this year (sophomore yr) jepordize my chances for UC Berkeley?</p>
<p>I don't know about Berkeley in particular, but I think that if you are well enough to resume a challenging courseload junior year, and receive documentation of your health issues, colleges will be pretty forgiving. And if by some chance you have to take some more time to recover fully and don't end up with a really strong academic record, there's always transferring.</p>
<p>Bottom line: It won't jeopardize your chances as long as you can show them you're now capable of handling a challenging courseload.</p>
<p>i think some colleges will let you attach a explanation of special circumstances like this you want them to consider in their admissions decision. but you can always write about that in your essay or have your teacher write about that in their recommendation. Learn to make your weakness a strength! focus on this struggle in your essay or something...idk...hope that help :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help. Have colleges like UC Berkeley and Stanford accept applicants who take APs/Honors starting Junior/Senior year?</p>
<p>Do I need something from a doctor when I send in my college app or just mentioning it will pretty much cover it? I could get a reccomendation from my middle school teacher who helped me while I was sick. (My sickness lasted over a yr starting at the end of 8th grade until the diagnoses at the end of 9th grade - my conditon is slow at recovery) I kind of feel stupid right now becuase I didn't take any APs or Honors or atleast English Accelerated. </p>
<p>I was also chosen by the National Honor Roll last year and was published in there 2005/2006 book, does this look good for when I apply to universities?</p>
<p>I also did alot for my middle school such as make graduation videos, help teachers w/ computer issues; can admissions consider that as well? I do plan to start extraciriculars soon.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Usually middle school activities don't count. I think that a simple explanation should more than make up for your issues. Make sure you stress your success junior/senior years and even during the illness.</p>
<p>FYI: the general consensus is that national honor roll is a scam</p>
<p>Apply to a full range of schools because you don't really know. Cal only looks at soph and jr years and is very quantative in approach. If you have SATs high for Cal, say over 2200, it will really help. Stanford rejects mosr perfect applicants so that's a hard one for anyone to count on. Again, if everything else is stellar, who knows? Take as many high level academics as you can summers and online and develop a strong EC.</p>