<p>So, as a ‘senior member’ and long time CC poster, I’m not one to get hyped up about what people on CC say about course loads, GPA, chances, etc., but I would like to see what people think about this.</p>
<p>I’m a junior who would like to apply to Brown next year, probably ED. I have great SAT scores, hopefully great AP and SAT II scores (we’ll see soon!), should have one awesome and one decent teacher rec, and stellar essay. </p>
<p>What bugs me is my transcript. I def. have an upward trend if its weighted, but it’s downward if it’s not weighted. Obviously, the difficulty of my course load has increased tremendously within the past 3 years, from no AP’s to 1 to 4 and no lunch period. I probably could have maintained at least a 3.9+ UW, but personal problems mixed with a bit of laziness have kind of messed things up. </p>
<p>Basically, I think I’ll have
9th- 3.93 W & UW
10th- 3.86 UW, 4.0 W
11th- 3.67 UW, 4.17 W</p>
<p>I don’t want to have to get into the personal problems on my application, and I don’t think I really need to. But I know the transcript counts twice as much as standardized test scores, or basically any other part of your application. Is this a big deal? Should I be too worried?</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, yeah, I know Ivys also make a huge deal about class rank, and I think I should be in the top 10%, for certain top 15% or something like that.</p>
<p>One of the people who I conferred with while applying to Brown told me to not absolutely not mention any flaws relating to my schoolwork or extracurriculars. And that seemed to work pretty well for me!</p>
<p>Chances are they will care less if you don’t bring it up. I could only imagine writing about anything bad if, say, I got into a car crash and missed a month of school.</p>
<p>well if it’s laziness, it’s one thing
if it’s personal problems, e.g. my boyfriend dumped me and i was sad for a month, it’s one thing
if by personal problems, you mean serious life altering issues like death in the family, illness, etc, and that explains the downward trend, then by all means bring it up in a tastefully written letter from your guidance counselor</p>
<p>It’s a bit too personal/speculative (If I really must share…I was diagnosed with depression in 10th grade, right now I think I actually might have Bipolar II but haven’t discussed it with my therapist so it’s not official). I’ve read numerous times that it’s not really appropriate to share anything that might hurt you, as would succumbing to admit I have a mental illness. Depression is pretty common these days and “okay”, but bipolar disorder still has a stigma of uncontrollability and spasms and general creepiness. I’m trying not to sound like a freak on my college applications.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s enough of a downward trend to completely discount me in my quest for admission, and it’s just not significant enough to warrant disclosing such sensitive information.</p>
<p>haha, really curiosity? Are you still applying?</p>
<p>Princessbell is concerned that a school that interests her might not return that interest because of the possibility of a bipolar disorder. She is concerned that she would, in her words, sound like a freak.</p>
<p>I hoped that she would feel heartened to hear of a fine school that is supporting an effort to dispel the stigma that she mentioned. Perhaps she would want to apply to Princeton. Perhaps the article would simply be interesting to her.</p>
<p>A dear cousin of mine is bipolar and hates the meds. She is often on my mind. The Princeton article was moving, as was Princessbell’s post.</p>
<p>lol, i know exactly what she’s asking. the reason it’s not applicable is that that person’s condition was revealed in relation to their research. The situation is different here, where she’s just a student doing something else. </p>
<p>Of course there are, wmj. And, emag, I don’t she would be considered a freak from a tastefully written letter explaining how a medical condition has effected her grades.</p>
<p>ClaySoul, the idea of these discussions is to actually READ the posts before responding to them…</p>
<p>It is perfectly applicable to princessbell’s situation. Joshua Blaine already knew that he had bipolar disorder before starting his research and study, as will princessbell if she takes the same path…</p>
<p>And no one was calling princessbell a freak…she was the one who used the word to begin with. </p>
<p>To get back to the actual topic…I’m obviously no expert but I think that if your standardized test scores are as good as you hope and if you have a few great extracurriculars, it is alright if your grades aren’t as great as you want them to be…they’re still good…just not perfect. </p>
<p>And I think you should definitely mention your depression/possible bipolar disorder on the application. I think as long as you don’t use it just as an excuse for why you haven’t done as well as you think you could, then it could actually contribute to your application. </p>
<p>I’m laughing
I did read it
And it’s completely not applicable
Blaine’s disorder has been rendered completely acceptable, perhaps even made a novelty (even if not explicitly stated as so), because he planned to do research in the field of his disorder. Princess may know she has bipolar II (which is not depression or bipolar I, for the record. i am going to stress the need to be specific), but her purpose is not to study her disorder. Her purpose is to be a student, so it puts her disease in a completely different light, and therefore, Blaine’s situation is not applicable.</p>
<p>btw, princessbell, to answer ur question from before, yes i am definitely applying. its my dream school so im definitely going to give it a shot… =)</p>