<p>Hey you guys, i am a junior planning to apply to USC this fall. I was wondering how much they take into account trends in grade history. I started off high school very well, with a 3.5 first semester but then i needed to transfer schools, reason being the school i was attending was in a not so great part of town and i lived far from it. At the next school i went to for second semester i ended up skipping everyday and failed every class that semester. Sophomore i switched to a much smaller school and at this point i was a semester behind in credits. I had doubled up on classes throughout that year and got A's in all classes and caught up on the semester that i was behind. This year i got all A's first semester and so far All A's and a B. How much will USC consider my trend, i feel that my failing a whole semester will keep me out of the running.</p>
<p>I would definitely write a letter explaining the circumstances. Even better- have your counselor do it. Your upward trend will show that you can succeed.</p>