Slight Downward Trend

Hello all!

I have a question regarding junior year grades and a (slight) downward trend. Freshman and Sophomore year I earned straight A’s in a rigorous international school. Junior year, however, I moved to the US and while the coursework wasn’t harder (AP and IB courses), my performance decreased a bit because I was diagnosed with a tumor and received subsequent chemotherapy. For one of these classes, I was the only one to earn a 5 on the AP test out of 80 students. The other has severe grade deflation and the average grade is a D, while the last is math (enough said) I had 2 B’s per semester (3 of which were B+'s).

Will colleges frown upon this slight drop in grades?

Bump?

I would not worry about it @Mayfower20. You can just explain your situation. Your health comes first. Are you only targeting lottery schools that are unpredictable for everyone to get into?

Hopefully you have regained full health as that is by far the most important thing. As for your dip in grades, you should ask your guidance counselor to discuss the health issues you faced junior year in his/her college letter or recommendation – it is good for colleges to get that information from a third party.

And as I tell everyone you need to seek out a group of reach, match, and safety schools based on your academic stats that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend.

Thank you both so much! @gearmom, I’m applying to a couple safety schools as well.