<p>common excuses for bad grades</p>
<ul>
<li>my school is REALLY competitive</li>
<li>i had some things happened to me</li>
<li>someone died </li>
<li>i was sick</li>
<li>etc…</li>
</ul>
<p>i am sure some might be true but then i don’t understand why they have to say that. there are plenty of kids who face harder hardships than those and can do well academically. they think their grades should be looked upon more leniently.</p>
<p>^ I disagree. Sometimes people have to explain why there is a discrepancy in their grades so that people don’t think they’re just lazy or something. Most people do this when asking for chances and it makes a huge difference if you did bad because you were lazy or if you did bad because you were sick and missed a month of school.</p>
<p>yes but there are people who can still get all a’s while facing those kind of circumstances.</p>
<p>It’s not just CC. People make *****-ass excuses in real life all the time too. Sucking at basketball? “Oh I just lifted.” Didn’t get that girl? “Oh she was a whore anyway.” Didn’t get that job? “The interviewer hated me for no reason.”</p>
<p>Uh…I think the death of a parent or sibling is reason enough for a drop in grades for a while. Harsh much?</p>
<p>^ yes i am sure it will affect you but there are many kids who can go through those times and still fare well academically.</p>
<p>I’m sure some people can face several disadvantages and perform well. However, not every applicant is Helen Keller; no one expects them to be. Consequently, individual circumstances may be taken into account.</p>
<p>Wow, you are really rude. Until you have experienced that situation, you have no right to judge the effect on them. I hope you never have to experience taking care of a dying parent and your grades suffering from the emotional/physical consequences of it, but it does affect other people and it is a legitimate excuse. You need to not be so judgemental and learn that you shouldn’t say things like that.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure why “competitive school” is lumped in with the rest. Factors in your personal life can legitimately affect schoolwork- I’ve experienced this firsthand. Sure, some people still get A’s while enduring hardships, but still, said hardships need to be taken into account. It doesn’t automatically mean forgiveness of subpar grades, just the acknowledgement that, in those instances, the students’ grades might not match their true potential.</p>
<p>However, in my book, “competitive school” doesn’t count. Oh, you poor babies, going to excellent schools with lots of resources where many people are successful! How did you ever survive? Someone has to set the curve in every school, no matter how competitive. If it wasn’t you, that’s your problem.</p>
<p>^ yes thats what i mean for competitive school. i see people here on the chance me threads who have low gpa because they go to a really difficult school. i know someone who died in my family (my aunt, practically like a 2nd mother to me) but that didnt stop me from getting good grades.</p>
<p>I don’t really mind when people say they’ve experienced a death in the family, serious illness, etc. But when people start pulling out all the stuff about competitive schools, hateful teachers, course conflicts, etc., that’s just making excuses. Trust me, competition in schools is a good thing. A very good thing. Bad teachers? That’s your own fault for not being able to get along with them.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t know what it’s like unless you had your mother, father, brother, or sister die. Your aunt dying…Does she support you financially? Do you see her every single day?</p>
<p>I make up excuses only because other people make up excuses. If other people stopped making excuses I would stop making excuses as well.</p>
<p>karinasagun, I want to see you laid up in a hospital for a few months hooked up to a ventilator and still get excellent grades. The truth is, there are legitimate reasons for grade issues. I agree, a competitive school is no excuse, but the death of a close family member, a serious illness, etc is perfectly legitimate and is a reason why grades may not be where they should be. For example, if you get straight A’s freshman and sophomore year and then your dad dies in October of your junior year and you receive straight B’s, but then go back to straight A’s, you need to explain the extenuating circumstances in order to not seem like you just screwed off for that semester.</p>
<p>D_<em>CH</em>B_G</p>
<p>…I’d like to buy a voul.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with mentioning the “excuses” you listed. You say that some people still get good grades while tending to a dying parent. But, on average, that affects their performance and should be taken into consideration for law school, graduate school, etc. In fact, extra consideration should be given to a person who fared well under adverse circumstances. Hence the consideration in college for students who come from low-income families.</p>
<p>Even students who say that they have a low GPA from a tough school * could * have a good reason for saying so. A 3.6 from Cal Tech is not viewed the same way as a 3.8 from a community college (extreme example). Grad schools take that into consideration…often, the problem is that kids don’t know how to assess their schools as “harder than average” or “easier than average.”</p>
<p>Sometimes people can make weak excuses that don’t warrant much attention, but don’t dismiss excuses altogether. If a blind-deaf kid doesn’t learn to read, he has a legitimate “excuse” whereas, say, you don’t. Excuses can lead us to praise others even for relatively “small” accomplishments…Helen Keller is remarkable because she learned to read despite her disabilities. Why didn’t she do household chores like other women of the time? Well, I guess she had an excuse (or, if you’re cruel enough, come up with some Helen Keller joke…).</p>
<p>hey my friends dad died during high school and he got all A’s. i think you underrate the human ability to overcome hardships although i agree that getting all a’s would be difficult if you were in a deep coma. you guys are now getting carried away with what kind of excuses i am talking about, getting wayyy carried away.</p>
<p>Carried away? You’re the one complaining about people complaining.</p>
<p>Regarding post #17: Some people use school as a way of escaping from real life and all the things that hurt them. Besides, he might have gone to an easy school 
Just because he did it doesn’t mean that everyone should be able to and you shouldn’t have sympathy for those in that situation.</p>
<p>Having an aunt die isn’t even comparable to having a parent die. When your world is turned upside down because you then have to live off of 1 income instead of 2, you no longer have the parent that did everything for you, and your family now has a lot of medical bills, you can’t tell me that won’t put a strain on you. You can’t tell me that having to solely take care of your dying father and then watching him die and then having your mom almost die and then having to solely take care of her until she get better AND having a job the whole time isn’t a good excuse for your grades dropping.</p>
<p>Seriously, you need to grow a heart. You kind of remind me of the girl that told me that she has no sympathy for people with lung cancer (and that’s what my dad died from).</p>
<p>Don’t you hate people who make whiny threads on CC?</p>