Most colleges will have a question about anything you feel you need to share that is not reflected elsewhere in the application, and they usually specify “extenuating circumstances.”
Two examples—
From Texas A&M:
If there are additional personal challenges, hardships, or opportunities (including COVID related experiences) that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, which you have not already written about, please note them in the space below.
University of Texas:
Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
Ok, so here’s the deal—this is a space for you to contextualize your transcript (a bad semester) or a life-changing experience that may or may not have had an impact on your academic experience.
You can’t explain away your lone low grade with Mr. Schulenborg who you had for AP Chem who was a notoriously hard grader.
But what about if you lost your mom to breast cancer in your sophomore year and your grades reflect the impact of this loss? They want to know that.
Life happens.
If I can look at your transcript and see a nose dive in a given semester or a couple of bad years and there is a legitimate reason for that bad trend, help me understand it.
I taught a young woman once who was losing her mother. She took on a job outside of school and took over raising her younger siblings while her mother was hospitalized for a life-ending disease that took her life. This student had a low GPA but still had a burning desire to go to a college in our state. She wrote an honest answer to this question explaining her circumstances. She called one of our counselors and told her that they would have rejected her if she had not explained her life circumstances. Instead, they gave her a significant scholarship due to her grit in a time of hardship.
Don’t be afraid to provide sensitive background information that will help those reviewing your file understand your transcript. They are human beings; they want to know. But they are not mind readers. Get them up to speed. Don’t write a “sob story” as my students would say.
You can share extenuating circumstances in a matter of fact manner that will help them realize that a low GPA is actually quite impressive given the burden that you experienced at a particular time in your high school years.
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