<p>My son, like 18,000 other kids wants to go to Princeton or the University of Chicago. He is a strong student but his situation is a bit unusual. At the beginning of his sophomore year he lost his dad to a catastrophic illness. Obviously it was a terrible time for him and he suffered from migraines and plain simple grief. His grades fell, but he somehow managed to maintain a B+ average.</p>
<p>He's completed his junior year with straight As in tough classes; he's skipped two years of math as a freshman so he'll take multivariable calc in senior year. His SAT scores are 800/780 and 800 on his subject tests. He's been selected for a competitive NIH funded internship for highly promising science students. He is also a dedicated rower (not recruitment level). He does not join clubs or do things to 'fill out a resume' although he has volunteered and been involved in the campaign for marriage equality in our state on his own initiative. He's focused on cancer research right now, but he loves literature and writing which is part of the appeal of Princeton and the U of C--a strong liberal arts college feel at one and a core curriculum at the 2nd.</p>
<p>So: will he be excluded from consideration from schools like Princeton because of his sophomore year grades? I know all schools say that they consider everything, but I wonder if this is true. He also wants to look at Williams and Bowdoin. Thanks for any insight or advice. I do want to add that he doesn't feel sorry for himself at all, but he does have a focus right now that comes in part from his personal experience.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>I think the best approach is to ask the school counselor to explain the situation in the recommandation. Also ask for interviews if possible. Good luck.</p>
<p>Well it’s more like 28,000 other kids for Princeton and 30,000 for UChicago.
The loss of his father could make for a great essay if he shows how he grew as a person from that experience and the grade loss can be slightly diminished with his GC mentioning the loss’s impact on your son and how great he managed to maintain his grades despite that event.</p>
<p>His SAT subject test scores are great. Two 800s? Send them both!
His EC situation can’t be helped at this point and is a huge factor in admissions. However, if he is an active rower, volunteers, worked on a campaign, and did research, it’s more than enough. So I wouldn’t worry on this front either.</p>
<p>To answer your overall question, though, he won’t be excluded from admissions. He seems to be pretty competitive. What are his normal SAT/ACT scores? If they’re above a 2200 (or 33), I wouldn’t worry at all.</p>
<p>Make sure he applies to safeties like his state flagship. You don’t want him to only apply to UChicago and those caliber of schools and have him be accepted into none (doubtful).</p>
<p>Also, if finances are a concern (that is, you’re not uber-rich or going to be pretty heavily dependent on fin aid), he’s sure to get a lot of merit money from certain schools as well if he applies to them</p>
<p>thanks to you both for the input. His SAT scores were good; 800 CR/780 math/770 writing. He doesn’t seem to have test anxiety, but lots of kids have high test scores. He will be applying to less competitive schools as well. I want him to find the right fit, not the most prestigious school. He liked Haverford a lot also and will apply to Reed and our state flagship school–none of these three are ‘safeties’. Haverford is a possible and the other two are probables. </p>
<p>A 2350 is not good, that’s phenomenal. You would be correct in saying lots of kids have high test scores, but he is in the 75th percentile for test scores for Princeton and UChicago which definitely helps! If he’s rejected, you can know for sure it wasn’t because of his academic qualifications.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s a very strong candidate and seems like a terrific kid. Do diversify your apps, though–nobody can “count on” getting in to places like UChi, Williams, and P’ton, after all :)</p>
<p>Hard to believe the state flagship is not a safety with that record.</p>
<p>His guidance counselor can explain the aberration in is recommendation and/or you son can address it in his essay or as a paragraph in the additional comments section. Nobody can predict how each individual admissions officer will react but get the information out there and let him take a chance. Of course these schools are reaches for almost everyone so it is important to apply to a range of schools. </p>