Admissions/College guidance for a lost young man

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I was advised to post here, in the parents forum, for advice regarding my college admissions situation. I graduated from Weston High School in Massachusetts in 2007. I'm young for my grade, and I turned 18 this October. The numbers:</p>

<p>GPA: 2.74
APs: US History (3)
Music Theory (2)
SAT2 - Literature (670)
SAT - 760 CT
660 Math
690 Writing</p>

<p>(The classic academic profile of an underachiever.)</p>

<p>Cursory glance at my other stuff:
Co-President of School/Chair of Student Council for senior year
Student Council
JV Pole Vault Dual County League 1st place Junior Year
"Varsity" Theatre (4 years)
Good record of community service (Katrina)
Eagle Scout
Good recommendations from High School, company where i've been interning over the past 3 months, my employer over the summer up until now (different job), and teachers)
Multi-Instrumentalist/Composer, was in orchestra in High School, have been playing violin classically for 10 years, jazz for three. Drums, singer, etc.
I have a portfolio of artwork, ranging from visual presentations i've put together to creative video work (documentaries)</p>

<p>In my junior year of high school I was diagnosed with ADD, I took the medication for a month, became depressed and suicidal and then went off the medication. </p>

<p>I applied to 3 schools Senior year, UMass Dartmouth/Amherst and Emerson College. I was rejected from UMass Amherst because of the disparity between my SAT/GPA, and my low GPA. I was wait listed and subsequently rejected from Emerson for the same reasons. I was accepted to UMass Dartmouth, but when I visited I realized i'd be miserable there. I've been taking a full (4) course load of night classes at the Harvard Extension School (Precalc, James Joyce, Milton, Linguistics) as well as working two jobs, one for financial reasons and the other for work experience. Over the course of the past few months i've become financially independent, but I haven't moved out of my parents house. I made an error in selecting my courses for this semester, and I am not an official matriculated student at Harvard Extension School because i'm missing one requisite class, therefore I will have to apply to schools as a regular student. I didn't realize the deadline was coming up so soon, so i'm sort of cornered there.</p>

<p>Basically, I'm 18, living at home, not socially stimulated and struggling with a heavy schedule that doesn't really seem to be pointing me in any direction. I do not want to go to art school. I want to go to a school where I will be stimulated intellectually, where I will be able to engage in a social scene that isn't centered around immature, frivolous debauchery. Part of what makes this so difficult is that I was a big shot in high school in some regards, president, very sociable, highly regarded. As soon as I graduated, the support beams that had been propping up my ego got kicked away. My life since graduation has been one of 6 hour working days that turn into 4 hours of night classes with much older people and not a lot of time or opportunity for social engagement. After being exposed to what it's like to work for a living, part of me wants to consciously reject simply going somewhere to take a four year vacation from the real world. Unless I have a good reason. Unless I really believe that place will enrich my life. I want to go somewhere that will restore my optimism, and give me a purpose. The problem is, I don't really know what schools I want to look at. My parents are very out of touch with the college admissions process, and after witnessing my spectacular crash are more focused on making sure my younger brothers don't make the same mistakes I did than helping me rectify them. I don't know if i can even apply for next year this late in the game. I am disillusioned, disheartened, lost, and confused. Any suggestions or comments would be really welcomed, because I think what i'm in most dire need of right now is a fresh perspective on my situation.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>First thing I notice is that you seem to be the type of student that would prefer to be the “big fish in a little pond” – meaning that a smaller school where you could really shine is probably your best fit.</p>

<p>Yes – you can still apply to colleges, but get moving now!</p>

<p>either check out from the library or buy the book Colleges that Change Lives – this book was written for you!</p>

<p>[Colleges</a> That Change Lives](<a href=“Colleges That Change Lives”>Colleges That Change Lives)</p>

<p>Finally – regardless of whether you are working or supporting yourself, you do realize that until you turn 24 you are a dependent of your parents and their income and assets will be used to determine your aid package, correct? I would also suggest checking out or purchasing the book Paying for College Without Going Broke (get the current edition).</p>

3

<p>I second hsmomstef’s recommendations.
There are some schools one can apply to by mid January rather than late December. You have decent SAT and SATII scores. Use your Harvard Extension classes grades to make up for your mediocre high school GPA. Secure a recommendation letter or two from your Harvard profs asap. </p>

<p>You could also consider applying to some local community colleges such as Middlesex Community College. How about UMass-Boston? Or Salem State College? This would be for one year in which you would build up a record to add to your Harvard Extension classes and then consider transferring to a four year college.</p>

4

<p>I may be out of date, but…</p>

<p>The College of General Studies at Boston University sometimes accepts applicants like you–at least it used to. By applicants like you, I mean bright kids who are underachievers. Unfortunately, the app deadline seems to be January 1. I think the two year program might really help you. It’s NOT a junior college or a community college. </p>

<p>I just found the stats–your GPA is low, but these are medians, after all:</p>

<p>[Boston</a> University Admissions - Class of 2011](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/class.html]Boston”>http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/class.html)</p>

5

<p>If I’m hearing you correctly, you want to apply to a college with more serious academics and don’t want to attend UMASS Dartmouth. Harvard Extension is a good choice academically, but obviously not socially. I’m not sure why you are working on top of taking 4 classes, that must be very hard, and you need to do very well in your classes.</p>

<p>If I understand you correctly, you missed out signing up for E-25 Expository Writing, so the earliest you could be admitted to a degree program is the end of the summer. E-15 still has 4 openings if you didn’t already pass the writing placement test, and you’d better sign of for one of those slots now and plan on taking E-20 over the summer so that you could be admitted to a degree program at Harvard Extension. After you sign up, you can take the placement test and switch out. This is your fall back scenario if all else fails.</p>

<p>In the meantime, you are looking for other candidate colleges to apply as a freshman and deadlines are approaching. I’m also guessing that since you’re from Weston, MA that you do have resources, are not “cut off” from your parents, and that cost and financial aid is not a factor.</p>

<p>If I’m correct about the finances, then the private liberal arts colleges are most likely to accept you because a) you’re paying, and b) your SAT’s are outstanding and it raises their averages. </p>

<p>A couple of suggestions (data from <a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com):%5B/url%5D”>www.collegeboard.com):</a>
Hampshire College (17% had GPA’s between 2.5-2.99, SAT 1150-1360) seems perfect for you. It’s reputed to be very intellectual.</p>

<p>Another thing you could do is subscribe to USNews World Report just to get rankings ($15). Then go down the list of liberal arts colleges (I’m assuming that’s what you want based on what you’re currently taking) and check each one out on collegeboard until you find some with a non-trivial number of students with a GPA of 2.5-2.99. </p>

<p>University of the South (15% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1130-1320)
Skidmore (21% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1160-1350)
Wheaton (Norton, MA) (14% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1180-1350)
St. Lawrence (10% 2.5-2.99 SAT 1100-1280)
Drew U (13% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1060-1280)
Hobart and Smith (26% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1090-1280)
Earlham (11% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1100-1350)
Beloit (10% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1160-1380)
College of Wooster (11% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1100-1320)</p>

<p>There may be more, but you get the idea</p>

<p>Just to compare to what you’ve applied to
UMASS Dartmouth (35% 2.5-2.99, SAT 970-1140)
UMASS Amherst (7% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1040-1260)
Emerson College (4% 2.5-2.99, SAT 1130-1310)</p>

<p>Good luck and hurry!</p>

6

<p>Your SATs are good, why don’t you apply to Bard, a small liberal arts college in NY. They seem to be very cool about understanding special circumstances, and are SAT optional, so while you GPA is low, which you can explain FULLY to them, your SAT will show them you can do the work.
Call them and ask them - they also give excellent financial aid, but you do need to move on it. I have found them to be a complete pleasure every time I have had a question for their offices.
Good luck! And I may think of more!</p>

7

<p>Looking further
Hampshire, Skidmore, Wheaton (MA not IL) have Jan 15 deadlines.
Hobart and Smith is Feb 1
Earlham is Feb 15,
Beloit is Jan 15 for priority, but accept late applications if need be.</p>

<p>It’s clearly not too late, but you must get moving.

  1. Register for E-15 now. You can always get a refund
  2. Go to your school today or tomorrow before vacation and ask teachers and for recommendations for a Jan 15 deadline.
  3. Pick out some schools to apply to and surf their website for applications.</p>
8

<p>You express yourself well, you obviously have a lot to offer. I second (or fourth, or whatever) the instincts of lots of posters that, if you can afford it, you should probably be looking at smaller, nurturing liberal arts colleges with reputations for taking risks on quirky students, and which will appreciate your artiness without defining you by it. Hampshire and Bard fit the bill really well, as would Bennington and Sarah Lawrence. Maybe Goucher. Maybe Colby – I would definitely check it out, I know they take fliers sometimes on kids. My son has a friend not unlike you who chose Ursinus (and that’s about 100% of what I know about it). Further away, Beloit, Lawrence, Denison, Earlham. Reed and Pitzer, if you want really to put miles between yourself and Weston. Many of these schools would be reaches for you, but not crazy ones at all, given your SATs, your leadership, your writing ability, and the fact that your story can be shaped into a pretty satisfying narrative like “Ferris Bueller Grows Up”.</p>

<p>Time-wise, you are behind the 8-ball probably at most of these places. (Ahem, does that have anything to do with the B- GPA in high school?) But lots of them are small, and would probably be willing to wait a few weeks for recommendations and transcripts if you got your application in on time and told them your situation in advance, and some may even have later deadlines.</p>

<p>And, as others have said, you do have the option of going to community college, or to a place like UMass Dartmouth, and applying as a transfer student next year. If you did that and really bore down and did well, you would be a good transfer candidate for almost any school; if you did that and got depressed and kept underachieving, that wouldn’t be good. Your call.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>These are excellent suggestions - I want to second the suggestion by jonri. That BU program could be a great match for you.</p>

10

<p>Bard seems like a great school, but according to collegeboard.com 99% of their students were in the top half of their class. I’m guessing being from Weston, MA, one of the best publics in the nation, that the OP’s grades put him in the bottom half, so I think Bard would be a reach; he’d have to get into that 1% - very difficult. If this were October, maybe it would be worth a shot, but on December 20, I think he needs to go with the percentages.</p>

<p>The ones I listed seem like matches with the high SAT compensating for the low GPA, and a track record of admitting a significant number of students with his GPA.</p>

11

<p>Check out Beloit College in WI! They have around 1,400 students. Also, they have rolling admissions, so, while you should get the apps in ASAP, you don’t have quite the same deadline pressure as with some other schools.</p>

<p>Lawrence U is similar to Beloit.</p>

<p>Wells College and Marlboro are tiny, student-focused schools. </p>

<p>I like Hampshire also, but don’t go there if you aren’t self-driven. At Hampshire, you create your own major. Since ALL students have self-created majors, the advisors are pulled a bit thin. Also, I’ve heard complaints about red-tape. If you don’t know what you want to do and have that set in your head, I’d rethink it. Beloit is more of a place to explore, but with people there to help, if you need.</p>

12

<p>A different issue, but have you considered aptitude testing or career counseling? I know some people who have had gotten great insight from this process - it seems to me reading your post that you recognize that you are drifting, but you are also reluctant to leave the “real world” for a college bubble. Some friends of mine have used johnson O’Connor with good results, but there are other places to get this type help - you might even be able to tap resources through Harvard Extension, I don’t know.
I wouldn’t hold up applying to college to go through some aptitude/career counseling, I would do it while you are in the app process.</p>

13

<p>Another place to check out might be Elon, a small university in North Carolina. Opinions of it on CC vary, but it has been pretty kind to smart high school underachievers in my neck of the woods.</p>

<p>(Good points about Hampshire and Bard by others above. Still, I wouldn’t write off Bard. Something about your post said “Bard” to me and to others; they might see it the same way.)</p>

14

<p>Hampshire yes, but Wheaton (MA) definitely! Every student you ask at Wheaton loves the school. Plus…they have some cross registration with Brown if you get motivated!</p>