If you drop half your classes due to a documented illness that caused lots of missed school, cognitive issues, and sickness after getting admitted early to Harvard, can they rescind your acceptance?
Contact Harvard admissions directly and ask. Nobody here can answer with any degree of certainty.
@curioussgeorgee: I would have your school guidance counselor or principal call Admissions and explain the situation to an AO and see what they say. FWIW: The people who work in Admissions offices consider high school teachers, guidance counselors and principals their peers and will always take the word of “a responsible adult in the room.” As dropping half your classes is a VERY serious issue – and the reasons would need to be corroborated with your GC anyway – it would be better if an adult in a supervisory capacity at your high school raises the issue on your behalf.
Will your situation affect your standing to graduate?
^^ Even if the OP’s situation does NOT effect their standing to graduate, SCEA acceptance is based upon a student completing the senior year courses they said they were taking when filling out the Common Application. An accepted SCEA student can’t walk away from half their senior year classes and not expect Harvard to question what happened.
I am aware they would question it. But I’m asking if the answer of having a real sickness is sufficient. To me I don’t see how they could rescind an offer based on what has technically caused a student a legitimate, diagnosed disability. But I’m not sure how this works. Thoughts?
No and the student will still be graduating with 5 years of all subjects except for 3.5 years of Spanish.
You might be asked to defer for a year until all hs requirements are met.
Only Harvard can answer your questions. My gut is that they would accept a medical excuse but they need to be informed, and IMO, the sooner the better. They may want the student to take courses over the summer and better understand if this is something that is going to impact future success in college. Good luck OP!
My guess is that they would ask you to defer to ensure that (A) all graduation requirements have been met and (B) (and most importantly) that your health has improved.
But bottom line, @happy1 is correct. None of us know; we’re speculating. Contact admissions to get the first-hand answer.
More questions than answers:
Does this question pertain to you or your child?
Is there adequate documentation of the illness? doctor’s note, formal diagnosis etc?
Is the HS guidance counselor aware of the issue so he/she can write a letter on your behalf?
Will the health issues be fully resolved by the fall?
Is there a chance to retake any dropped classes over the summer if necessary?
As I said in the first post, I would suggest that the student contact Harvard admissions to go over his/her particular situation. Get any answer in writing.
I agree they could suggest deferring. OP put this as dropping half the classes, other serious issues. On the academic side, this student missed a big chunk of senior year learning. That can affect how ready he is, how fully prepared, as well as energies.
It can matter what courses were dropped. Cores? Or just random electives? How are grades looking?
Adding, cuz I forgot: right, someone needs to talk to the college. We don’t know.
Yes, a documented medical leave of absence from high school for an illness – provided that your doctor AND guidance counselor can attest to the illness and write a letter to it’s authenticity – is a legit excuse for not completing your senior course load and will most likely not get you rescinded. Harvard might want further assurances that you are completely recovered from this illness before allowing you to attend the college.
If you don’t have a documented excuse from an MD and GC, well that’s another story: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/avoid-college-acceptance-rescinded_n_6507536.html
OP you really need to have a discussion with Admissions about this ASAP!