Am I screwed?

Applying to College
1

<p>My GPA in high school was about a 3.0 UW before Junior year, but after first semester of Junior it's dropped to a 2.9 because of a couple factors, the main one being a personal loss which has been tough to balance school with (and getting incredibly sick during the last 2 weeks of the semester didn't help much either, I had 3 classes drop a letter grade because I missed the week before finals week and could hardly stand up or think when I dragged myself to school for actual finals). I've taken a few honors/AP classes, and I'm taking 2 or 3 AP classes next year.</p>

<p>I haven't taken the real ACT yet, but I scored a 30 on the practice one I took in the fall, so I'm estimating that I'll be able to score a 32 or 33 on the real thing since I plan actually studying, preparing, and putting effort into it.</p>

<p>I don't have any real extracurriculars besides hobbies and community service which I plan on continuing into my senior year, and I'm confident I can write solid essays.</p>

<p>My family has reasonably high expectations for me, and most of the schools they expect me to get into seem a little out of my reach with my crappy GPA.</p>

<p>I live in Colorado and am planning on applying to these schools so far:
-Colorado @ Boulder
-Colorado State
-Montana State
-Utah
-Arizona State</p>

<p>My question is simple: Are these schools within my reach? I've heard extremely mixed things from the people I've asked, with some telling me I'm guaranteed to get into all of them and others telling me they're all a stretch except for ASU. Also, if anyone has any other ideas in terms of schools I should look at, please tell.</p>

<p>I would likely be able to pay for the out of state ones through either the generous scholarships MSU offers to high ACT scorers (which I'm not guaranteed to get, of course) or the WUE program, which basically allows me to pay 150% of instate tuition. Instead of the usual 200+ percent.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Take a look at the Common Data Set for each school (google it) and check Section C to see how you compare to the admitted students.</p>

<p>Hobbies and volunteering ARE ECs. Make the most of them. You don’t have to join clubs or be on teams for it to be considered an EC.</p>

<p>If you had a particularly bad semester due to personal circumstances, there is a place in the application for you to mention it. Be brief, specific, and don’t make excuses. If you are back on track, note that. If your guidance counselor backs this up in their letter of recommendation to the school, so much the better - schools are likely to accept that this was an exceptional circumstance. Good letters of rec from teachers who know you well can also make a big difference. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Don’t worry much about it.
I think it’s easy to get in Arizona State University.
So don’t be too anxious. : )))</p>