How will 2 B's impact admissions if you have a medical reason?

Applying to College
1

This year, my junior year, I was diagnosed with abdominal migraines, a debilitating type of migraine that earned me multiple ER visits throughout my first semester. Therefore, I received my first non-A grades ever in AP Chemistry (B+) and AP Calc BC (B-). I was wondering how much these two grades would impact my chances of admission. (Before this semester it was a 4.0)

My UW gpa is now a 3.9, my weighted GPA is a 4.16, and my class rank is now down to the top 5%. While my gpa may not seem like much, I attend a very rural public high school in the midwest that does not offer many AP courses. Now that my condition has been properly treated, I expect to be back to all A’s this semester. If I can do so, I should be back to 5th in class where I was before and should have a 4.25. GPA (which isn’t stellar but is considered high by my school’s standards). I will have also taken 4 AP’s by the end of Junior year and 7 by the end of senior year.

Overall, my extracurricular activities have always been fairly strong. I did take the ACT once and got a 35, but I have always believed that my extracurriculars, if anything, set me apart.

ECs:

  • 1st place at DECA Internationals
  • President of my state’s DECA association
  • Founder and official coach of my high school’s debate team (Lincoln Douglas)
    • Though I knew nothing about debate and had to teach myself, I coached myself to 3rd at state (fairly competitive circuit) and 3rd as a team overall in our first year
  • Official member of my state’s Debate Coaches Association (voting coach at their board meetings) and one of 5 nominees for Coach of the Year
  • Official member of the National Speech and Debate Coaches’ Association Honor Society
  • Selected to take part in a highly selective, year-round research program at my state’s Medical College that only accepts 20 students each year
    • Research on pediatric diabetes
  • Running the marketing department for a literacy organization that focuses on teaching English to refugees in our area

Honestly, I know that the admissions process is holistic, but I wanted to make sure that my 2 B’s (especially my B minus) would not remove me from consideration at my top two schools: Harvard and UPenn.

If you know of any student’s that have gotten in with B’s on their transcript please feel free to share. I was specifically wondering about the impact of grades/GPA on the admissions process. I know that grades are obviously one of the most important parts of the application. Also, should I included a little segment in the additional information section about my medical circumstances on my application or will that seem like I am trying to provide an excuse? Otherwise, feel free to change me for these schools as well as HYPS and the other ivy leagues as well!

2

Ask your guidance counselor to note your medical issues in his/her letter of recommendation.

3

Getting a B is not the end of the world and a lot of times you still have a strong chance into a college. Especially that you have a medical reason, I think colleges will look past it almost and you’ll still be a strong candidate! Best of luck!!

4

Like happy1 said, your guidance counselor can mention medicals in your letter of rec. I actually have a secondhand experience of when this works. My cousin was all A+ student, 2400 SAT, a million ECs and three sport athlete, basically the perfect student, but he got a severe concussion playing football junior year that kept him out of school for over a month. He was very motivated and got up to speed on everything and did all the work he missed (somehow), and got As that quarter except for in one class, AP Environmental Science, where the teacher was incredibly unfair and also hated my cousin because apparently her son claimed that my cousin bullied him (literally not possible my cousin is the nicest person) and so the teacher claimed that my cousin couldn’t make up many tests he missed because the make up period was 2 weeks and he missed that. He ended up barely scraping by with a D- in the first semester but his counselor mentioned his situation and he still got into Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Vanderbilt, and UPenn. He ended up going to Caltech after getting waitlisted and then accepted. So don’t worry, colleges will understand if it’s a medical issue.

5

2 Bs will not matter.

6

In addition to the GC mentioning it, you can very briefly explain it in your additional information.

7

Thank you all so much for responding! I was just wondering, in terms of schools such as Harvard and UPenn, how much would a 2 B’s ( specifically my B minus) raise red flags in the admissions process if I didn’t have a medical reason. Is it enough to get another applicant rejected if they simply had a B- on their transcript with no rationale?

Also, I was planning to ask my GC to reference it and was planning to use the additional info section as you all suggested. In terms of my ACT and EC stats, how competitive of an applicant am I for these schools when you look past just my transcript?

8

If you look at the stats of kids who are accepted to any of the top schools, most of them do not have a 4.0 unweighted… In fact, the average grade of Harvard’s class of 2022 was 3.9. So 2 B’s will make absolutely no difference. In fact, having a 3.9 GPA despite having health issues is a lot more impressive than a 4.0 without health issues.