<p>Yeah… that’s pretty much it. I am an international student from sweden, and here the three last years of school are those that decides wich GPA i will have. Now, to my question!</p>
<p>My dad died in my first year of these three years. That effected my grades greatly that year for the worse. But the following two years comes really just A´s (For instance i won the “Best academic peformance of the year” price at my school).</p>
<p>How does Columbia see on that? Can they make an exception and perhaps accept me even though my grades were bad the first year? Consider that i will studie very hard, and hopfully have good ACT, SAT and TOEFL scores!</p>
<p>I changed school when my father died, so i can´t ask my teachers to write about how i effected me unfortionatly…</p>
<p>Thank you for your time, and i appreciate every answer:)</p>
<p>they look at everything in context. and since your academic performance significantly improved and you overcome obstacles, it certainly won’t hurt you</p>
<p>But definitely make sure they are aware of what happens. In the US, where we get four years of history, a freshman mistake may not be significant enough to note; however with only three years, you’ve got to make them abundantly aware of the difficulty of the situation for you. Also, even if you do tell them, you’ve got to get AMAZING SAT and TOEFL scores, to compensate for your spotted record.</p>
<p>I *<strong><em>ing hate this *</em></strong>… secound time i send the message and i have to login again and write everything all over again… :@ </p>
<p>Anyways, Thank you for all your answers. I appreciate it
Yeah thats the problem bpsbgs, how do i make them aware of this in a good and clear way? I don’t want them to think that i am trying to find an excuse for the poor grades… From what i have read in prevous topics people have said that it´s not a great idea to write my essay about it because that can/will be considered as an excuse and a poor way of searching sympathy… Unfortionatly i can’t ask a teacher to talk about my it and my development because i changed school so they weren’t around to see my development, unfortionatly. So what do you think guys?</p>
<p>I strongly think that writing it in ur main essay should not be automatically discarded…I’ve had one or two friends who wrote about unusual circumstances in their essay, which got the point across that something happened that may have caused a discrepancy…and i’ve known a lot more who have written about a death in the family and got in top schools</p>
<p>but it definitely depends on how you write it. For example, if you simply write an eulogy to your dad and go on and on about how he was great and after he died you couldn’t do anything, that may come across as whiny. But if u use the “show don’t tell” kind of thing, where you give minimum detail on the death but go on to write about how the death made you stronger, made you step up more, gave you a deepended sense of responsibility or something, it may come out a strong essay. Also make sure your counselor or recommendors comment out on it (“the only time ____ had a slight dip in grades was because of a devastating death in the family…but he quickly recovered and came out stronger than ever” or something lol)</p>
<p>I had a similiar grade problem because I moved in my junior year, which caused me to have a clear downward trend (I had all a’s first 2 years then like 2 or 3 b’s my junior yr because of the move). But then I sent in my first 9 weeks of senior year grades, which had all high a’s, and so I guess that covered me. And my recommendors also commented on how I quickly adapted socially and academically. </p>
<p>I would say youre fine, and may even have a leg up, because admission officers may be looking for students like you who can face a traumatizing event but quickly rebound</p>
<p>My son’s grades weren’t as high his freshman year of high school due to a medical condition that was resolved by his sophomore year. He made high grades the rest of high school. He disclosed this in the additional information section but didn’t go into great detail (since it was a resolved medical conditon which would not recur). I wouldn’t rule it out of your essay but I would go into a little detail in the additional information section at the very least. </p>
<p>Just wanted to let you know it is possible to get admitted to Columbia even without perfect grades. Let them know why. :)</p>
<p>Thank you for the tip bioblade. I will absolutely do so!
That’s a very well written and informative answer collegeftw I will definitley have another look at your text before i start writing my essay. And yes, i think it will be about this event. But why others might ask? Well, because this is simply the most challenging event of my life, and therefore the one that i have developed the most as a individual. Momoffive, it feels really good to hear that! Thanks :)</p>
<p>They will definitely, definitely take it into consideration. My GPA my first three years of highschool was not so great because I was going through a lot. I have heart problems, and was administered into the ICU for a month. Afterwards, I was put on heavy medications for about a year and then slowly weened off. I also suffered a bit of trauma from it, and all of that severly affected my grades. I was mortified because I KNEW that I was better than my grades, but I just had so much going on that I couldn’t get them up. </p>
<p>I wrote in the additional comments section explaining why my grades were poor, and also talked about it during my interview. My grades at the end of Junior Year and at the beginning of Senior Year were obviously improved (straight A’s), and I was accepted ED into SEAS.</p>
<p>They understand. Really, they do. Just make sure to mention it. Things happen.</p>
