Recovery. Is it possible?

citykid
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 14:07:12 +0000

@oxfordwannabe It is never “too late” and there are many very good schools out there that will value your efforts and successes in turning your grades around. You do need to be realistic about your search (your name makes me wonder what you mean by “moderately selective”)–and also make sure you can afford the schools you ultimately apply to.

Our daughter, like you, had a very low GPA in Freshman and Sophomore year–all Cs. In Junior year she pulled herself up to all Bs. First semester Senior year she got all As and made Honors. She did not have great test scores, so made sure to apply to some test optional schools. She just went through the application process and feels quite great about her results. She ultimately got into 5 schools that ranged in size (1500 to 7000) and in selectivity (from about 45% acceptance rate to about 65% acceptance rate)l. She got nice merit awards at two of them. Ultimately, she got into her dream school, which was a reach for her given her stats, but which we think is a great fit and has the supports to help her continue to strengthen her academic skills.

So here are some of the things that (we think) helped schools get over the hurdle of the raw GPA score: the sharp upward trend was pretty radical and she wove it into her Common App essay with humor and creativity. Her ECs were fine, not fantastic, but they were consistent and painted a picture of who she is and what she cares about–she didn’t focus on what would look good on applications and worked during the summers. She showed A LOT of interest–to the extent you can (based on logistics and finances) visit schools and interview at them, if you are good at interviews. And take the Why essays seriously (for schools that didn’t have a Why essay, she sent the Admissions rep an email that acted as a Why essay). She had great letters of recommendation from teachers who knew her well and felt that she contributed greatly to their classrooms (and the school) despite not getting the highest grades. We are full pay, and that no doubt helped, but as I mentioned she also got some merit scholarships and none of the schools she applied to would accept someone they didn’t think could handle the work.

I don’t know whether you are interested in big or small schools. If small, I highly recommend looking into the schools in the Colleges that Change Lives book/website. A few of my daughter’s schools were CTCL schools and there are some real gems there that would review your application holistically and many give merit aid. I know less about bigger state schools (because neither of my kids wanted big) but my daughter’s friend this year had a similar grade trajectory and got into some big schools as well.

Hope that helps some. Good luck and congratulations on your hard work and successes.