<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>