Extenuating Circumstances and Personal Statements

Hello,
I'm an international student applying to some universities in the UK. Since applications close quite early, how do universities judge grades in your (Canadian system) grade 11 compared to your grade 12 year? If my marks were lower than usual in grade 11 how would it affect my application? Some personal family emergencies occurred last year that affected my performance; when I emailed the university asking what to do about my marks, they recommended I either have my reference make note of the extenuating circumstances in their reference letter, or I include it in my personal statement. However, the family emergency is very personal, thus my parents would not like to be shared with my reference. How would I include this in my personal statement? Is there a better way of notifying the universities I'm applying to?

Reference. get them to mention it in such a way that it explains the situation, but it doesnt have to go into detail. It does need to sat enough so they get an idea of the seriousness/ impact it could have. If you dont wnat to mention it in ant derail then its hard for them to take it into account. They will also be interested in your predicted grades.

Well...I guess it would sort of depend on what happened.

Like did a family member die or become very ill? Were your parents having issues? etc.

You don't need to go into detail about what happened, just be general and then go into detail about how it affected you and your ability to study. I would suggest that you get your referee to talk about your EC, and focus on positives in your PS.

Good luck.

EDIT:

I seem to also remember evidence being needed when I had my referee talk about ECs, but mine was medical, so the letters I used for individual exam arrangements were the same as the evidence sent to the universities I applied to - seemed to be sufficient as I got offers for all five I applied to.

Hopefully someone with more current knowledge will come along and help out, I did UCAS years ago and basically remember nothing other than DO NOT write about negatives in your PS unless you can put a positive swing on it/it's extremely relevant to your course. Leave anything like that to your referee.

Each Uni will regard Year 11 grades differently - but for most Overseas applications, they are only interested in your final grades. Your referee will have to provide predicted grades - even if that is a vague mention in the reference of what they think you are likely to get. If you dont have this, the Unis will simply chase you later for this and it just wastes time.

Extenuating circumstances - if you think your recent circumstances will have an impact on your grades, then a) your referee needs to mention this in their reference AND b) you will need to tell each Uni separately about this. Each Uni will have a different form/process so you will have to check with each one exactly what they want. Btw, its at the discretion of each Uni whether or not they accept this and usually they will only allow a one grade drop in grades - ie. it isnt a guarantee that you will get a place however bad your results are.

Thanks so much for your reply! This really clears up some questions I have. I'll have to check in with my referee on Monday and see what he'll do.