I am a junior in high school looking at colleges. My GPA is generally 3.7-3.9, currently I am in two honors courses (Hon. Pre Calc and Hon. Chem), and planning on taking a few AP courses senior year. I am looking and mechanical/electrical engineering-type majors at decent universities.
My problem is that two years ago as a freshman I had a concussion labeled TBI (if that term means anything to you). It lowered my processing speed to the 20th percentile and I have chronic migraines, all making school difficult, though slowly getting better. Freshman year I actually ended up with a 3.8 GPA, because teachers were very lenient. Sophomore year teachers did not help at all and sort of “relapsed” and the short story is I only took 6 credits that year and failed one (as opposed to, typically, 12 credits). I am making up all of the credits I missed and will graduate on time still. Also, I am doing better and currently have a 3.7 in a full course load.
I am wondering how colleges view these situations. I am worried that I don’t look very good on paper. Sorry for the long version!
I think that colleges will look very closely at your junior year grades to make a determination, so in some ways, this year’s grades are make or break. Also, because medical issues have disrupted your coursework and gpa, I believe that your SAT/ACT scores will be weighted more heavily as well. I am not an adcom, but this seems to make the most sense of how to approach a student with your medical issues. The rationale would be as follows…
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Junior year grades (both fall and spring) shows where the student is <em>now</em> academically and reflects what the student can do right now. The school wants to be certain the student can handle the courseload.
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Since it is difficult to have a sense of what the student’s gpa really means in terms of aptitude, weighting the SAT/ACT score can act as a way to (esp. in the case of a strong score) to put the grades from the earlier years into perspective.
Be sure to write a clear, focused essay on what happened to you medically and be prepared (if asked, I have no idea how often this would even be requested) to provide documentation. The medical info can go into a supplemental essay area if there is one, otherwise weave it into the main essay. Hopefully you will have a choice.
It is true some colleges will just pass by your application, but many will take a serious look at your junior year grades + SAT/ACT scores, and assuming you’ve written a strong essay and have good Letters of Rec, will offer you admission.