I’m a high school senior from California, and my first semester grades came out a few days ago. My gpa is a 3.7 cum weighted, however it steadily rose throughout my high school career beginning with a 3.3 first semester freshman year and culminating with a 4.1 last semester of junior year. At the beginning of senior year my brother was arrested for assault and sentenced the same time my terminal grandmother moved in to our house, and a month later my brothers pregnant girlfriend moved in as well. I feel that all of these events got to me at once, and along with having a handful of poor teachers and my own struggles with certain classes, my gpa dropped down again to a 3.4. I sent in applications a few weeks ago and the midyear report should go out soon, but my question is, is the drop to 3.4 enough to raise an alarm? If so, would my circumstances be enough to explain it? My top choice is Boston University with Boston College and NYU being strong hopes as well.