how screwed am i?

towhatend
Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:43:10 +0000

id really wanted a shot at some ivies like cornell and brown, and some top 30 schools like northwestern, uchicago, umich, etc… i got a 3.52 GPA freshman year, and im heading for about 3.8 this year (junior year). i should be able to pull off the same or better for senior year. my sat is a 2230 and i have decent EC’s (pres of a few clubs, interning, volunteering etc).

heres the problem, my sophomore year went terribly. my grandfather, aunt, and good friend died, and this really had a bad impact on my grades. if everything pans out like it looks at this point, ill get a 3.5 gpa best, which is probably going to bring my class rank down, hopefully ill still be top 10%. some people have told me to maybe write my application essays on my experiences and how it negatively affected my grades, but i cant help but feel it seems a little too cliche, and theres a lot more about me than death that id like college to know about me. i also dont feel comfortable trying to justify a few bad grades (my worst was a C+) by using my situation as an excuse.

does anyone have any suggestions about what i can do in the situation?