How low should your GPA have been to address it in secondaries?

[Spongeman7]

Hello! I just had a question for a secondary prompt that some schools ask, to "explain inconsistencies in academic performance". How low should your academic performance (GPA) have been in order to discuss this in secondaries? I had a lower GPA freshman & sophomore year (ranging from 3.1-3.5) due to some financial stressors and other things, but improved later in junior & senior year with all 3.7-4.0 with a strong upward trend. Is this worth addressing or will it just bring up unneeded attention to my slightly lower GPA? Thank you for the help in advance!

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[Goro]

Hello! I just had a question for a secondary prompt that some schools ask, to "explain inconsistencies in academic performance". How low should your academic performance (GPA) have been in order to discuss this in secondaries? I had a lower GPA freshman & sophomore year (ranging from 3.1-3.5) due to some financial stressors and other things, but improved later in junior & senior year with all 3.7-4.0 with a strong upward trend. Is this worth addressing or will it just bring up unneeded attention to my slightly lower GPA? Thank you for the help in advance!

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[YCAGA]

Many secondaries are explicit about “explain any grades below a C+” or some other objective cutoff like that. So those are easy. Otherwise, if you have a strong upward trend, I would address it briefly, as long as the issue is resolved and it wasn’t a chronic health problem (which includes mental health).