If you experienced a significant change in your grades during high school, it’s a good idea to share that context with all of the colleges you are applying to. That’s true whether your grades fluctuated in either direction!

But before everyone jumps on this great opportunity, stop and assess if you have had a significant fluctuation in the first place:

❎ One bad grade, one great grade: not significant fluctuations.

❎ Going from all Bs to all B+s, or vice versa: not a significant fluctuation.

✅ From mostly Cs to mostly As, or vice versa: significant fluctuation.

If you find that you do have a significant fluctuation, then you are going to seize this great opportunity AND you are also going to ask your recommenders to support what you say.

• If your grades have gone way up, explain what you've done to become a better student and assure the admissions officer that you are going to continue to improve your performance. Leave them believing that you will be at the top of your class in college.
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• If your grades took a significant dip, make sure that you've halted, or even better reversed, the decline. Then explain how you've done that and assure the admissions officer that you are going to continue to improve your performance. In other words, give the admissions officer reason to write off those low grades as past history that will not repeat itself.

Where do you tell admissions officers that story in your application if a college doesn’t specifically invite that context? You can add it to “Additional Information” in the Writing section of your Common App.

You can speak with your school-based counselor with any questions regarding how to explain significant grade fluctuations on your college applications. Do not leave it to the imagination of admissions staff who will eventually read your application!