Hello. I am a college confidential lurker and just created an account because I desperately need some advice. Back in the winter, I was accepted ED to Duke. Following my commitment, I immediately withdrew all of my apps and acceptances. Due to personal reasons that I would like to keep private, my first semester grades were not as strong as my grades in the past. I ended with one C and one B- (rest were B’s to A’s). I received an email after my mid year report was submitted, warning me to keep my grades up/requesting an explanation for my grades. I cleared things up with Duke, and have been trying to keep my grades strong as I finish the year. However, this is starting to be a problem. Right now, I have two C’s as my lowest grades. I am really struggling to keep my grades high, but I don’t think I’ll be able to. It’s not that I’m becoming lazy - my issue from first semester has reemerged and has been disrupting my life. What should I do? Should I let Duke know right now what is going on? Or should I wait until they email me? I am terrified of getting rescinded. Is any college still accepting applications?
tldr: I was accepted Duke ED but given a warning for my first semester grades. My grades are slipping again, but they are due to extenuating circumstances. What should I do?
The thing that Duke is worried about, is whether theses extenuating circumstances will pop up again next year. They are worried that you will get there, whatever it is will come back again, and you will fail your courses. They don’t want to admit someone who is going to fail.
If you are 100% sure that this is behind you, then contact Duke, explain what happened and why it is behind you, and hopefully they will agree and you will be ok.
If this is not behind you, maybe you should consider contacting Duke, explaining the problem, and asking them to let you delay your start date while you get this issue under control.
If you don’t contact them at all, especially after receiving the warning first semester, I think there is a good chance you will be rescinded.
Yes there are still schools accepting applications. Each May a list comes out of schools that still have openings and there are always some good ones.
Agree. If the situation is something like an ill parent you had to care for who passed away, it may be time limited and done. If it is a mental health problem, perhaps with inpatient care, they would have reason to be concerned that this could recur. Was this a onetime acute stressor or a potentially recurring issue?
We can’t really help you without knowing more about your circumstances (and even then, our advice will be speculative at best), but it’s important to know that you don’t get to decide if your circumstances are “extenuating.” That’s up to Duke.
For your sake, I hope they agree with you, though. Good luck!
I agree with the above comments. The answer depends on the specifics of your “extenuating circumstances.” It’s one thing for an objective thing like lower grades/GPA to cause a warning letter. You say you cleared things up with Duke. If this means that your explanation was acceptable, that’s good. If this means that your explanation was temporarily acceptable but not if things continued, well, that’s not so good. In my experience, once a school accepts you, they want you to attend, they want you to be successful. Contacting them before they find out is always a sign of maturity. Plus, if Duke suggests that you do A, B, or C, you have time to do things before any grade is final.
I will say this, if your extenuating circumstances relate to your personal health, it is a very good idea to do what you can to get things more stable, to get yourself healthy. This is independent of what Duke may want.
Just remember, Duke saw something special and unique in you, because there is someting special and unique about you. Don’t let the circumstances drag you down or cause you to forget that. Refocus on what you can control and act.