does a lot of high school absences hurt your chance of going to college?
Answers
I don't believe colleges will ask your high schools for attendance records. However, that doesn't mean absences will not hurt you in the admissions process, and here's why: If you miss a week to two weeks of school for acceptable reasons (i.e., illness, family issues, etc.), then there's not much to worry about. That's normal. However, if you miss more than that, your lack of participation will trickle down and effect aspects of your high school resume that colleges do see. For one, missing that much school would certainly make it difficult to keep up in school. Your grades, which will be shown to colleges, will reflect that lowered performance. Also, missing school will change your teacher's impressions of you. If you miss a noticeable amount, your teachers will start to think that you're slacking/not interested/not trying/etc. As such, your letters of recommendation from teachers may reflect that as well. All of this being said, try to avoid skipping school if you can help it.
It's easy to feel like school doesn't matter any more, especially during your senior year after you find out that you've been accepted somewhere. But be careful about missing out on school. I've heard stories about students who've been rejected by colleges after a poor second semester performance in high school.




