Extenuating Circumstances for Admissions

Colleges & Universities Columbia University
1

<p>I am in a bit of a predicament. My tale is a rather lengthy one but bare with me I believe you may just find it interesting. It is my dream to go to Columbia University. But… I do not have good grades. My overall cumulative weighted GPA is 3.929 and unweighted is a 3.49. Freshman year I was enrolled at Seminole High School (a public school) and I had a 4.5 GPA plus I took 2 online classes in which I earned A’s over the summer. Sophomore year I was home-schooled and received all A’s i my classes. Last year (junior year) I went back to Seminole public school and that is when things started going horribly awry. From about the end of the first quarter my grades started declining rapidly. My dad and mom began constantly fighting and my dad squandered most of what little money we had (my dad only earned about $50,000 a year to start with and my mom does not work), therefore requiring me to work lawn maintenance under my own personal company to bring in income to help support my mom and little brother. I also have a sister who was a freshman in college at this time so much of what money did not get squandered went to help her. My grades suffered badly and first semester I ended up with one or two A’s, a couple B’s and a few C’s. Second semester was even worse: I ended with 2 D’s (both in AP classes), 2 C’s, 2 B’s and an A. As I struggled through these months I became extremely depressed to the point where I withdrew even further from school, focusing on my own scientific experimentation with fusion power systems and homemade plasma propulsion units such as small magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters. Over the summer my mom and dad separated, my dad taking almost all of the income with him. My mom who has never worked enrolled in summer classes at the community college to start getting a RN nursing degree to start earning money, further requiring me to work lawns (unofficially not with any regular business) and watch my 8 year old brother. At the dawn of my senior year I started at Seminole as usual, swimming on the varsity swim team as I had done all 3 previous years of high school, until I was forced to drop out mid-season due to increasing requirements for me to stay home with my little brother and work lawns. My grades for the first semester of this (senior) year are much better, 5 A’s (one in an AP class, 3 in honor classes) and 2 B’s (both in AP classes). My cumulative GPA to date as stated above is 3.929 weighted. Now I move on to my next problem. It seems as if somehow complications from me moving from public to home to public schooling combined with a new computer grading system used by my county resulted in my transcripts being horribly messed up, and so the grades originally sent to Columbia reported my GPA as 3.4. They just recently discovered the error and are re-sending transcripts, but is it too late at this point? My mom and dad are now back together however my dad’s income is this year was less than $50,000 and he has 2 dependents currently enrolled in college (my mom and sister) and I soon will be as well, and he has an 8 year old son. Needless to say, I am STILL working lawns in an attempt to aid my family. </p>

<p>My test scores are pretty decent:
AP Biology: 5
AP Human Geography: 5
AP Statistics: 5
AP Calculus AB: 5
AP Physics B: 5
AP Chemistry: 4</p>

<p>SAT Chemistry: 800/800
SAT Physics: 800/800
SAT Math II: 750/800
SAT M Biology: 730/800
SAT (normal): 2030/2400 *I took it again just 2 weeks ago and have not received the score yet but expect it to be over 2100)</p>

<p>ACT composite: 31</p>

<p>At this point, what I am asking is if there is anything I can do to better my chances of admission. Is there anything at all I can do to help my case at this point or is this a hopeless battle? I was so busy working early on in the year right after my dad left that I did not apply early decision and now I am afraid even my regular decision application may be severely lacking. Is there any way I can submit another essay or perhaps a short autobiographical paper to let them know about my circumstances the past couple years? Would it help? Is there ANYTHING at all I can possibly do to better my chances. Anyone with an idea please let me know. </p>

<p>Thank you all very much for your time</p>

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<p>Your scores are excellent, even if you didn’t have the extenuating circumstances. You can include some additional information with the mid year report. </p>

<p>With regards to your grades’ being wrongly reported: make sure the updated GPA is sent soon as possible. If you don’t think your updated GPA will arrive in the next few days, fax the admissions committee yourself ASAP, and tell them that an official update is on the way so they know.</p>

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<p>Also, a note to RickyNave (or any other poster): Always remember to break long posts into short paragraphs. It makes it much more readable. Trust me, you’ll get many more responses if you use paragraphs as opposed to one giant blob of words.</p>

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<p>Get trolled!</p>

<p>Did you guys notice the OP mentioned experimenting with fusion power, plasma production, and magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters. Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters require energy in the hundreds of kilowatts (unfeasible for someone in any economic struggle) and currently research with them is only going on at USC, Princeton, and NASA JPL and Glenn Research Center.</p>

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<p>I assumed that it was like when we say sanitation engineer instead of garbage man. I didn’t take that seriously.</p>

<p>Here’s a good question. Should extenuating circumstances be taken into consideration?</p>

<p>Here is a kid who had to work, family split and is not wealthy. Should admissions go easier on him for not having all his stats lined up perfectly?</p>

<p>My opinion is not when many other kids are similar or worse situations and have competitive stats.</p>

<p>I think it’s nice to set some challenging goals but every Ivy hopeful needs at least one safety school they really like(a plan B).</p>

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<p>I suppose I was reading fairly literally in terms of the physics stuff-- silly future physics major me. </p>

<p>I think that your second statement is what I would agree with (“My opinion is not when many other kids are in similar or worse situations and have competitive stats.”) . I understand extenuating circumstances as a means to separate statistically similar applicants from different backgrounds (say OP and wealthy suburban kid), but not majorly. If say John Doe has a 2270 and is ranked 3/250 in a wealthy NYC suburb with strong extracurriculars, and Jane Smith has a 2010 and is ranked 35/210 in a ‘not-so-good’ school with a compelling story, I would believe John Doe should be admitted. </p>

<p>But if Jane Smith had been put through a difficult situation, working as hard as she could to make ends meet and still managed to receive a 2190 and was instead ranked 4/210, Jane Smith would be a more compelling candidate if I were an adcom.</p>

<p>Regarding OPs chances assuming that they were not trolling and were just attempting to be sarcastic/over-exaggerating, you have a chance that is slim, but still a chance none the less. Columbia is a reach school for anyone.</p>

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<p>Umm… I don’t know why you think it’s trolling… it is in fact VERY feasible to experiment with MPD thrusters using pulsed power from a couple hundred dollars of capacitors. It is in fact a much larger area of research that not only high level universities are experimenting in.</p>