<p>Hello everyone, I'm a junior and a hopeful applicant for MIT '2015 and I just wanted your opinion on how forgiving admissions can be at MIT due to extenuating circumstances. Up until junior year I worked hard to get really good grades and participated in numerous extracurricular activities. However, this fall I was hit with the news of the deaths of a few of myrelatives and for the 1st semester of junior year I was devastated and even now I can't seem to get out of it. Before I used to get 94 gpas UW per semester in Honors & Aps and this semester I just plummeted to an 89.33. I could probably bring it up but it bothers me that colleges want to see a strong finish or upward trend in junior year and actually went downward. If I explain my circumstances honestly through my essays and such and I perform strongly afterwards, is there a chance admissions will look over this semester or am I being too hopeful?</p>
<p>Admissions will probably overlook 1 weak semester if there is a legitimate reason, and you certainly have a legitimate reason.</p>
<p>But I’m still at a loss as to where to explain this as I don’t want to focus on this on my essays particularly because I don’t want to turn them into a sob story. Frankly, although the common approach towards such an essay would include explaining one’s circumstances and what I’ve learned from them, I find it difficult to open up such personal matters to strangers. I suppose this would be appropriate in the “tell us more about you” section, correct?</p>
<p>I think you’ll be able to tell them about this if you schedule an interview.</p>
<p>You don’t need to devote essay space to this issue unless you really wish to; you can explain it in a brief note. Also, if you make an appointment with your school counselor, you can explain what happened and he/she can mention it in the official school report. Using a slight revision of your own words, here’s what a brief note might look like:</p>
<p>“Several close relatives died the fall semester of my junior year, and my grief over their loss negatively affected my grades. However, as my transcript shows, I managed to bring my grades back up the subsequent semester.”</p>