Will this be a negative on my application?

Applying to College
1

As I’m beginning to apply to schools, the one thing that’s making me nervous are my absences. I ride horses and have competitions every month, and as a result I have missed about ~15 days of school every year of high school traveling and competing. My counselor told me that she would mention in her letter that it has not affected my grades at all. Still I’m really nervous about all the absences, especially since I’m applying to some really selective schools (as of right now my top three schools are Harvard, Georgetown, and Vandy). Does anyone have any insight? I haven’t been able to find any definitive answers through my own research, so any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you!

EDIT: I know a lot of high schools don’t include absences on transcripts but I’m pretty sure my school does

2
  1. You have a legitimate reason for your absences, since you're competing instead of just skipping. 2. 15 days is really not that bad! I know people who miss much, much more for things like vacation and "study days". I wouldn't be so concerned if I were you.
3

Thank you:) haha I think the stress is making me nervous about the littlest things now! @potatoprincess

4

I think you’ll be alright :slight_smile: best of luck with everything!

5

Thanks!

6

I can’t imagine that those absences could possibly count against you, don’t sweat it! You have a real reason for missing, and as long as it hasn’t affected your performance, it really shouldn’t matter.

7

If they’re all excused absences, then I don’t see any issues.

8

@baktrax they’re not excused. It’s more of a club sport so I had to miss school for them. My school knows what they were for, but they don’t do excused absences unless you’re going on a college visit, going to a competition for a school sport, or something like that. So the absences are listed on my transcript, but my counselor said she would explain them in her letter. I just don’t want admissions officers to look at all the missed days and think I was playing hooky:)

9

The fact that your counselor will mention it in his/her letter and say it hasn’t been a problem means you don’t need to worry about it.

10

We don’t put absences on our transcripts, do some schools really do that?

11

@csdad I’m pretty sure we do:( last year I had to get a transcript from the guidance office to apply for a volunteer position and all of my absences were listed on it. I’m not 100% sure about transcripts that are sent to colleges, but from what I’ve heard from my friends absences are included on our transcripts. I didn’t realize that was uncommon until I came on CC!