<p>They are being very tough on Cs this year. Next fall you should talk to your high school guidance counselor and see if they can make a sort of “pre-emptive stike” against this in the school recommendation. Maybe say that you had one semester with a health issue, and except for that have been a very strong student. And encourage them to award you NMF in spite of that one poor semester. Be sure you do everything else you can – get your paperwork done on time, have a trusted adult review your essay and provide comments before you send it in, hopefully have a good SAT score in one sitting and send that in to them in the fall before their deadline. I can’t think of much else you can do to help your chances, maybe someone else will have suggestions.</p>