A "Little" Distinction

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Wow. I've been lurking here on CC for a while (almost two years!) and I haven't actually made any proper posts. I've decided to come here and ask for advice that other people haven't been able to give me (as of yet).</p>

<p>In the past year, I've gone through a huge change in my life.
And I don't know if I should write about it in my (upcoming) college essay or not.
I used to want to aim for the top schools (MIT, Harvard, NYU Stern, Wharton, etc)---and a part of me still does. But there's a little problem that's going on with my life, you see.</p>

<p>Last year (sophomore year), I applied to a private school. I got in, thinking it might improve my chances of getting accepted to a top university.
The first semester of junior year, I attended that private school.
The thing was, I hated it there. I absolutely despised the environment, and how rumors spread like wildfire. Teenagers are catty, of course, but they were waaay too judgmental there. I didn't like it, and my grades showed it. I slacked off because I was too busy worrying about other things. </p>

<p>Then I came back to my (beloved) public high school after the 1st semester at that private school.
Yes.</p>

<p>Yes.</p>

<p>I left a school after a semester.</p>

<p>I haven't gotten any transcript materials sent to my public high school (the school I'm now currently attending have been attending up until last semester) because I'm terrified they'll merge it with my current high school transcript and the ugly grades will distinctly show.</p>

<p>Tell me, how do colleges take that into mind when they look at my transcript?
I made a mistake by applying to that private school, and I don't know how I'll be able to undo it.</p>

<p>To my parents' eyes, I wasted a whole semester of the most essential year in high school.
I wasted a hell lot of time and money.
I've gained so much experience... but I don't know if I should mention it in a college essay or not.</p>

<p>Will colleges merely see it as a sign of somebody who's going to "drop out" in their college years as well? Or will they see what's happened as a symbol of maturity and an epiphany for growth?</p>

<p>CHANCE ME, and give me advice. I need it, since I'm a coward. I probably should bring all this up with my college counselor, but she doesn't know me very well. She thinks I'm just like all the other overachievers that try to get on her good side for a sparkling college rec.</p>

<p>So, will colleges appreciate my "epiphany" last semester, or....?
Colleges in particular like MIT Sloan, Harvard ("^^ I'm serious when I say I've been dreaming about this school...and in particular Currier house; my parents only think of it as a "prestige" school, but I see it as something more, ), Wharton, NYU Stern, Columbia. </p>

<p>What do YOU think? Am I stupid for not sticking with private school for at least my junior year?
It was a rather prestigious private school, and I'm glad I got accepted. But I still didn't like it there... I don't know. I suppose it's taught me about how only applying to schools for the prestige will end up hurting me in the end.</p>

<p>I don't know if I should risk it, though, and mention it in a college essay... What does it make me look like?</p>

<p>ALSO, my stats so far:</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>• SAT – 2240 (740 Math, 740 Critical Reading, 760 Writing-- I plan on taking this again, since I took it in sophomore year as part of the admissions process for the private school)
• SAT II – Chinese 790 (Again, I plan on taking more this upcoming June; Biology and Chemistry, most likely.)
• AP's: 5 on WHAP last year, and I plan on taking: Micro+Macro, Gov, Bio, Chem, Chinese, and Lang this year.
Hopefully, I can get the national award before this year's end. It's hard, though, because my school's ap-coordinators think I'm crazy taking Microecon when our school doesn't even offer it as a class. They don't offer Chinese, either, but I was able to take it because my ap-coordinator thinks I'm a native speaker.</p>

<p>lol I'm so not.</p>

<p>• GPA/Rank – I haven't received it for this year because of my "absence" from the 1st semester, and the difficulty with my transcript.
But again, in 10th grade the rank I used to apply to the private high school was 5/1365
Yes, there are over 1300 people in my lovely public high school.
GPA-wise... Our school weighs it quite heavily depending on how many AP classes you take.
I don't think that GPA is the best judgement on how well you perform in my public high school...A person taking (and failing) all AP classes will still have a higher GPA than a person making C's and B's in normal classes. The difference between me and the two #3's (There is nobody ranked 4th, nor second) is a mere 0.00053 points. The difference between the two #3's and the two #1's is even smaller.</p>

<p>It gets crazy here, yo. But I've learned to appreciate the craziness of public high schools.</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>• National Grand Concours (3rd in Sophomore Year)
• National Grand Concours (7th in Sophomore Year)
• Texas Visual Arts Scholastic Event, State Winner
• Probably National Merit Semifinalist (Must wait until September!)
• UIL Social Studies and UIL Science District Finalist (Regionals is in two weeks!)
• Best of Texas Math and Science Competition, 2nd (2009)
• Haute Couture Design, 2nd Place
• Collaborated with English National Ballet with a Visual Identity artwork piece
• Collaborated with U2 on a CD cover collage
• Won a citywide design contest in 4th grade (I was so fat then.)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>Oh dear.
Also, I've been in/invited to all of these clubs since freshman year.
• Key Club (Charity Coordinator, Fundraising Chair)
• NFHS (Secretary, Historian, and hopefully President next year)
• NAHS ("design guru" (informal title), Vice President)
• Literary Magazine (Head Editor)
• JWAC/MUN (Co-Founder/President)
• NHS (A jumble of our top 15%... and not very productive. I've stopped focusing very much on this club, sad to say.)
• Science UIL, Social Studies UIL
• Eagle Depot (Peer Tutor)</p>

<p>Summer Activities:</p>

<p>• Taught piano and music theory (2011)<br>
• Worked at the GAP as a sales associate/ cashier (2011)
I'm also applying to a bunch of programs this year.</p>

<p>tl;dr:
Chance me? Keep in mind that I'm extremely worried about the fact I applied, got in, and then left a private school after one semester (fall of junior year), to leap back into the welcoming arms of my huge public high school.</p>

<p>c:
Thank you, CC'ers.</p>

<p>Also, I wasn't entirely sure if I should have posted this in the Ivy League forums or not. I think it's a bit presumptuous of me to even think about reconsidering applying to Harvard or Columbia when I don't know what my chances are...yet.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, I do want to go to a university with some sort of prestige.</p>

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<p>Bump------!</p>

3

<p>Bump-----!</p>

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<p>Bump-----!</p>

5

<p>Bump-----!</p>

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<p>Bump-----!</p>

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<p>You will have to explain it. Many kids move to tougher schools and have a drop in grades, so don’t assume colleges will see yours as an ephinany. They also won’t see you as a potential drop out.</p>

<p>I would address it in additional info. Talk to your counselor about how they’ll handle rank and GPA. If you are Chinese, avoid taking the Chinese SAT II unless you’re taking many.</p>

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<p>Ah! Thank you for the advice. I’m half Chinese, and I haven’t sent the SAT II score yet.
How far should I explain it? And the thing is, I moved back to my public high school. It wasn’t that the private high school was tougher academically—(actually, I had more free time there unbelievably)—I just didn’t like it there. True fact. Right now, I’m taking as many AP’s as my school can offer. The private high school last semester only offered honors classes…</p>

<p>So, I shouldn’t write an essay on this, but simply address it in additional info? I don’t know. I feel like I learned the most last semester. </p>

<p>Thank you, Waverly! Also, could you chance me?</p>

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<p>i wouldn’t write your essay on it, unless you really, strongly feel you’ve gained experience that many others haven’t. keep in mind that this happens to a lot of kids, a lot of kids switch schools as well (whether it be by choice or moving or whatever).
I’d address it in additional info and pay attention to choice of words, but that’s just me.</p>

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<p>It’s impossible to chance you without knowing the full story- how competitive the private you transferred to is, what your grades were there and the reputation of your public school. I don’t think colleges will buy that you didn’t like a school as an excuse for bad grades.</p>

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<p>Explain it- or else the colleges will look at your transcript and throw it away. If you really feel like you learned something from the experience and can write a banging (why did I just use that word…?) essay on it, then by all means do it. But if I were you I wouldn’t focus too much on it- just offer an explanation. Your academic stats and EC’s are pretty solid, so nothing to worry about there. I guess your biggest worry is about the private school situation- just don’t worry about it too much. If you can communicate to the colleges that you’ve learned/matured from it, then it will at least not come off as a negative (and may even be a positive).</p>

<p>P.S. My lovely HS has 2600 students… 600 in my class, the joys. :)</p>

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<p>oh, and chance me back please? :slight_smile: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1304596-chance-me-ill-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1304596-chance-me-ill-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>bump.</p>

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<p>@Waverly- The private school has about 1200+ applicants per year, usually from in-state. About 200 people make it in; During last semester, I mainly made all B’s, with an A+ in English and a D in Applied Laboratory. All the classes were honors/college prep classes.
Also, at that private high school they didn’t rank (due to a slight “uprising” a few years ago), and they only give your GPA out during your senior year.</p>

<p>My high school’s reputation is… well, I’m not quite sure what it is. Our typical valedictorians end up going to state schools on full scholarships, public West Coast schools, or minor Ivies.
My town is right next to one of THE most competitive cities in America regarding Ivy League admittance. In applying to major colleges, we’re usually merged with that competitive high school. My public high school’s class size is a bit larger than the “competitive city”'s, but their valedictorians usually end up going to HYPMS. The city next to us is…famed…shall we say, for the overachieving asians. My own town’s high school is large, but only the humongous class sizes (1300+) make being in the top 1% admirable. Our school promotes fine arts and athletics much more than academics…and the competitive city in our region promotes academics much more than EC’s—the kids in the top 10% of the other school in our region go to prep classes at least twice a week to boost their academics even more. In our town, it’s just not possible. However, the region is still the same. Does that make sense?</p>

<p>@fullofwonder: Thank you for that insight! c: Would you mind chancing me as well?</p>

<p>@missiris: Thank you for the bump and advice! I’ll be talking to my college counselor on monday regarding this. I suppose it’s all in how I present myself. And I feel the pain of 5A schools… There are about 5000-6000 people in my school, and one of the reasons I decided to apply to that private school was so I could escape the masses, if you know what I mean. But I realize now that if I can stick out among the 1365+ people in my class, I can probably stand a chance in sticking out during college admissions. That’s one of the benefits of attending such a large school, I guess. If you survive it, you’re stronger. We always have double ranks, though, and that peeves me a bit since they skip numbers. (2 #1’s, 2 #3’s, so I’m left with rank 5 instead of rank 3…)
I’ll have to stick all of this info on college applications though.</p>

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<p>It is all about how you’re presented. By you and by the 2 schools.</p>

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<p>What exactly do you mean by “presentation”?</p>

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<p>Bump------!</p>

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<p>Yes I would take two other SAT IIs besides the Chinese because if you are half Chinese (and if you speak Chinese fluently) then it won’t really look like much of an achievement. That’s why I’m not going to bother taking the SAT II Korean haha.</p>

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<p>Actually, I would write about something else, making sure you proudly display the skills that got you an A+ in your English class. I’m not trying to beat on you here, but private, “college prep” schools are theoretically supposed to offer a better high school education than public ones (I’m not saying that this is always the case). Thus, ivy leagues and other private colleges may see success at a prep school as an indicator that the student is able to handle the workload in college, and inability to cope a preclude to academic struggle.</p>

<p>On apps, you have to list all high schools attended, and unless you want to flat-out lie, which I strongly advise against, you will have to forward your prep school transcript. For the common app essay, I just think you should pick something else to write about. At college, there will be many egomaniacs and prep school kids-its inevitable, but their effect is diluted with a larger student body than high school and the presence of other types of people. </p>

<p>To talk about struggle at a prep school as “a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you” or “some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you” just seems rather frivolous and a “first world problem,” no matter how much it stressed you out at that point in your life. Basically, to counter your one semester’s worth of bad grades, you should write about something that highlights your strengths, and touch on this time in the additional comments or in a supplement essay if you still so wish.</p>

<p>I wish you best of luck! If you can do well in all the AP’s you’re taking right now to prove that yes, you can hack school, this should go a long way towards offsetting your lower grades.</p>