My daughter is having difficult junior year due to a traumatic event. Her guidance counselor will mark this on her college apps. Will colleges take this into consideration?
You are absolutely correct about getting the mental health issues under control. Has your daughter been diagnosed with a mental health disorder? If so, she may be eligible for some school based accommodations under section 504. This won’t guarantee high grades, but accommodations may help her to compensate somewhat better, and lessen the impact. There may also be ways for grade repair such as retaking a course online during next summer. If needed, there is always the option of a gap year between high school and college. The right path will unfold for your daughter and you as her parents as you navigate through her treatment options and her response to them.
There is always hope, with perseverance finding effective treatment your daughter can get through this. Is it possible that the direct path to college might be interrupted? Yes. But that would not be the end of the world.
Hugs to you, this isn’t what you planned by any stretch, it is hard to see your baby hurting, but you can all get through it.
Sorry to hear about your situation, but rest assured it is more common than you think and is very manageable and solvable. Just take one step at a time and handle the metal health issues first; school and college, to state a cliche, are not going anywhere and will always be there when she is ready.
I do not know what state you are in, but realize that community college is an excellent option that affords automatic acceptance in top state universities for a 3.0 or higher. Thus, getting into a four-year college is not even an issue given that she has the brainpower to handle the work. Once better, you may want to take this route anyway just to keep her close during the first two years of college to keep a close eye on things.
As you state in your post, just focus and handle the anxiety issues first and make sure you let your daughter know that college is still an option even with poor grades one year. This is definitely not a deal breaker in the least and many have been through this.