All F's 10th grade...do I have a chance??

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Please look through my entire post and tell me what you think my options are:</p>

<p>9th Grade:
English(H) A
Geometry(H) A
Health A
PE A
Biology A
French 1 A
(2nd semester same except 1 B)</p>

<p>10th Grade 1st semester:
English F*
World History F*
Spanish F*
Pre-Calculus F
Biology F
PE F</p>

<p>2nd Semester:
English A
World History A
Pre-calculus A
Algebra 2 A
Biology A
PE A
Fashion D</p>

<p>11th Grade:
AP English A
(H) Pre-calculus A
PE A
Chemistry A
Music Appreciation A
US History A
French 2 A
(2nd semester same except no pre-calc)</p>

<p>12th Grade Courses:
AP English
AP Calculus AB
AP Physics
AP Government
AP Psychology
French 3
(working towards straight A's)</p>

<p>*retook in Credit Recovery, earned A's</p>

<p>SAT: 2130, going for 2250+</p>

<p>EC's: Piano(self-taught)-6 years, Guitar(Self-taught)-4 years, Tutoring-4yrs, volunteering at hospice care center and office-2yrs, volunteer at hospital, volunteer at food bank-1yr, CSF-2yrs, NHS-1yr, HERO club-2yrs, AcaDeca Club-2 years</p>

<p>Ok so now let me explain my concerns. First, obviously those F's are bad, but it's due to foster care and moving around. The school was indifferent towards my education and placed me in whatever classes they wanted and refused to give me credits. I retook all of them and got A's. 2nd, my courses aren't rigorous at all. When I transferred schools again it was too late to sign up for advanced courses. 3rd, my EC's show no focus. Most of those were at the end of 10th grade up to now, which was when my personal issues started to sort themselves out. I also haven't won any significant awards or held leadership positions.</p>

<p>I think my essay will be pretty good; I learned a lot from the challenges and hardship I faced. My recs should also be good as my teachers have told me they're impressed by me and I have a great relationship with my GC. </p>

<p>I really want to go to Rice, Emory, Lehigh, Grinnell, Reed, Bryn Mawr, Georgia tech, RPI, UCD, UCI, etc. </p>

<p>I know my application is pretty messed up but I really want to know if I have any chance at all to attend a top 100 university or LAC. Suggestions would be great, thanks everyone I really appreciate your help.</p>

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<p>Your app is only as messed up as you make it out to be. In fact, I see a good opportunity for an essay in there (don’t explain the grades, talk about your foster care and how it affected you as a person). Like someone in your other thread said, you’re probably not going to get into Harvard, but you have a fair shot at everywhere else.</p>

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<p>Adcoms would definitely want to know about your story.</p>

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<p>At first I thought you were a ■■■■■ for having straight F’s for one year, and straight A’s for the other ones. But now I’m curious, (just like admissions will be). You also have 1st semester of senior year you’ll be able to submit, provided you get straight A’s, they’ll see you’re difficult course load. </p>

<p>You have to explain your story truthfully and without asking for pity, I’m sure you know that.</p>

<p>Why the D in fashion?</p>

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<p>Counselor statement is where lengthy explanations about your low grades can happen; if you address it in your app, keep it short and not too apologetic, as they want to hear about who you are now, and who you intend on being, and not who you once were. :slight_smile:
Hope you are close with your counselor. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone, I think what worries me the most is the lack of course rigor whereas other applicants will have taken purely Honors and AP. </p>

<p>@smarty99 When I transferred schools the fashion class was working on a fashion show. I had to attend therapy sessions on Saturday’s because of foster care and couldn’t make it. It was this ‘‘super important’’ thing so yeah that destroyed my grade</p>

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<p>Also do you guys know any good ‘‘safety’’ schools for me? I’m having a hard time with that again because the #1 thing school’s say they look for is rigor so what are some schools that don’t care too much about that? Preferably a college with a strong math department.</p>

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<p>bummmppp bump</p>

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<p>Don’t stop believing and trying
Everyone has a chance so do u</p>

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<p>Does your transcript show F then A for those 1st semester grades?
Make sure to make a bullet point list for your counselor as he/she may not remember everything that has to be explained with you being moved around due to foster care, etc.</p>

<p>You can ABSOLUTELY attend a top 100 LAC or university.
However before we can suggest some, we need some details…
What’s your actual GPA (weighted/unweighted)?
What state do you live in? Because unless you have serious money, you can’t attend an OOS public university (OOS private is okay, in fact they look for out-of-region candidates, so if you apply 500+ miles from home, it’d give your admission and financial aid package a boost).
Some OOS public universities do give merit money and your SAT score could qualify you, but they’d look at your GPA.</p>

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<p>I forgot to mention I re-took fashion, and I took statistics, human genetics, and art at a community college(I received A’s) So if those count on my GPA it’s 3.9uw/4.2w. My GC said those F’s don’t count against my GPA since I retook them…is that correct?</p>

<p>Also, I live in California, I’m hispanic, come from a very low income family, and I’m the first generation to attend college in case that helps at all.</p>

<p>I realize that most of the school’s are expensive, but a lot of them claim to meet full-need.</p>

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<p>buuummmppp</p>

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<p>I remembered my counselor said that Colleges will look at the retook courses so I think you’re good buddy. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>As long as it’s explained, I don’t think it’ll matter. I mean, it looks like something REALLY went wrong that semester, and I don’t think that the Fs tell colleges you’re a bad student or anything given the situation.</p>

<p>And the fact that you’re first gen and are Hispanic also helps you a bit during the admissions process, so I’d definitely say that overall you have good chances if you apply to a lot of Top 100 LAC colleges. You may however, have problems receiving full aid at colleges like Georgia Tech so make sure you apply to the UCs as a backup plan. Your high GPA and SAT score make you a pretty good candidate for several of them. Just my 2 cents.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much everyone!! You’ve all been really helpful!:)</p>

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<p>With that record (and such a compelling/intriguing story) you can pretty much apply anywhere you wish. You should look at schools that promise to meet 100% need and don’t restrict yourself from the top LACs either. Just don’t apply to random public universities out of state - you’ll probably get into some UC’s anyway and few OOS universities can match the UCs. :slight_smile: Take out Georgia Tech since you won’t likely get sufficient financial aid. Then you can pick any college you’re interested in (diversify your list a little). Swarthmore, Union, Lafayette, and Bucknell also have engineering, BTW.</p>

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<p>I know it is not on your list, but you might look at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, Ca. It is a smaller school but offers some really good financial aid. It has a good reputation and might be a good option depending on what major you are looking at. They like diversity and give out a lot of money.</p>

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<p>Wow I really was not expecting these replies. I was afraid I’d get statements like, ‘‘Go to community college’’ but you guys have given me so much hope. </p>

<p>You’re right I should take GaTech off my list, and hopefully I do get into at least 1 UC. Thanks for the suggestions as well I am definitely going to look into all of those. I’m so excited to start writing my essays now!!(Never thought I’d say that, I hate English lol:p) Thanks again everyone for all your help and words of encouragement:)</p>

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<p>Keep us posted as to how you do!</p>

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<p>I am in California and know a lot of kids in foster kids, and you look pretty impressive. Unless your story is pretty unusual (i.e. your back home with a middle class family with college savings) I’d stick with the schools that meet full need ( I don’t know anything about those). Also make a plan for a financial safety.</p>