<p>In 9th grade I had a 3.4 GPA, in 10th grade serious family problems making me move from my dad's house to my mother's dropped my GPA to a 2.3(OUCH). In 11th grade I finally settled with my grandmother and raised my GPA to a 3.6. My cumalative GPA is now a 3.08 and it's a lot lower than i want it to be. My first choice is Penn State main and i know i have a tough chance of getting in. Should i send them a letter explaining what happened or would they not care?Any suggestions would be helpful.Thanks.</p>
<p>In pretty much every single application, there's a section for "additional comments." You can write and tell the adcoms about your situation there.</p>
<p>If you do, though, be careful of the voice and don't make it sound like an excuse. "Despite a, b & c, I raised my grades to . . . " sounds a lot better than "I got lousy grades because . . . "</p>
<p>Thanks guys, atrophicwhisper- I've already sent in the application so i can't edit it anymore. Would you guys suggest that I go through with? Have you seen people in the past do it?</p>
<p>Adcoms might get frustrated by the fact that you sent it separately as opposed to putting it onto the application itself. </p>
<p>But hey, it can't hurt, right?</p>
<p>i had a similar situation, and i wrote an essay about it. I tried to make it sound like a growign experiance as opposed to an excuse</p>
<p>The thing about PSU is that they don't take essays; they just require a brief personal statement about an extra curricular. They didn't even have a Adcoms thing. But alright, thanks for the advice guys. I think i'll send them a letter.</p>