I’m a current high school senior. I’m in the very top of my class. My ACT is 35 super score. I’m an ap scholar with honor. I’m on national honor society. I’m the captain of varsity swimming and gymnastics. I’m a double gold medalist in figure skating. I’m in the senior level of figure skating and I’ve competed nationally. I attended a leadership program through a program called Wilderness Adventures for a summer. I have good relationships with the teachers writing my letters and I think they’ll write great letters for me.
My concern is, though, that I struggled a lot with family issues in the ninth grade. My parents went through a divorce and I had a very difficult time dealing with it and I acted out at home. My parents sent me to a theraputic boarding school for tenth grade. The academics and extra curricular were very limited there. I’m worried that my time at this school will hurt my chances of getting into school. I wrote what I believe to be a very good essay on my struggles and how I overcame them. However, Im worried that colleges will view my time at boarding school in a negative light. Does anyone know anyone who’s applied to prestigious colleges with a similar background? What do you think are my chances of getting into a top school with my credentials and history?
You might have to post more stats like GPA if you want a more decent chance estimate.
And about your circumstances, college apps generally have a section to explain those things to admissions. As long as you make good use of it, the committee will definitely take a softer look at your 9 & 10 grades, as well as not look at your boarding school year very harshly.
Most top colleges i know of don’t care at all about your superscore on the ACT. they much prefer the SAT anyways. They won’t care that you transferred high school so much in that you maintained high grades, so i wouldn’t fret about it.
My grades never went down in highschool. I’ve maintained a 4.0 unweighted GPA. In ninth, elevetnth, and twelfth grade I took all the hardest available classes that could fit into my schedule. In tenth grade( at boarding school) I took very easy classes not because I didn’t want to challenge myself but that was just what was available.
Stanford superscores the ACT (they have their own way of doing it so check their website). Also, top schools have absolutely no preference for the SAT exam over the ACT.
I can only speak about Stanford. Everything I have heard indicates Stanford admissions highly values students who have overcame adversity and succeeded. It could actually be an advantage if properly described in your essay.
To be honest, what you present for ECs does not separate you from the crowd. Also it is not possible to evaluate what you mean by gold medal without knowing at what level of a sport you were awarded gold medals.
Definitely explain the situation in your essay. But I’d like to warn you that lots of students write about their parents divorce. Instead focus on other aspects of the divorce that made you stronger.