<p>I am a junior in high school. Currently my GPA is embarrassingly low as I failed the first semester of my junior year due to various illnesses that I've had since sixth grade. From age twelve to now I've been in and out of public school, though mostly out and in a program for students too ill to attend school. I am currently working on fixing it and I will probably end up with something like 3.75 - 3.8 unweighted and 4.2 - 4.4 weighted. My SAT score was 1860 last time I took it (when I was twelve for Duke TIP), but according to practice tests I have taken it will probably be in the ballpark of 2300. </p>
<p>As far as extra curriculars go, I've played the violin for eight years. I am not involved in any school clubs because the program I am currently in doesn't offer them, but next year once I go back to public school I am planning on joining a few. Outside of school I volunteer and otherwise help out with various political organizations to the best of my ability. </p>
<p>I heard about Reed a few years ago through a friend who was applying and immediately loved it. I am interested in studying physics and mathematics, but I don't think I'd do well at a college that focuses on only those subjects; I need a liberal arts school environment. I'm very worried about not getting in (hence my posting here) because Reed is the only college I've really clicked with and loved. I feel like my essays would be what gets me in, if I get in at all. I've dealt with a lot of things in my life (sexual abuse and assault, anorexia, mental and physical illness, etc.) and while that is nothing compared to what so many other people have gone through I think I've become a much more capable person because of it, or have at least realized my capabilities by having them challenged so much. </p>
<p>Through it all, and as cliche as it probably sounds, the only thing that really kept me going was the fact that there was so much out there to learn and discover. Like a lot of people who apply here, I've never felt intellectually challenged at school. Part of me used to think that no matter what I never would be interested in what I was being taught, but that completely changed once I started researching Reed. This school is what I need to tap into all the "potential" people have been telling me I have my entire life, and I would honestly be devastated if (when?) I don't get in. Obviously this is a pretty fractured image of me as a student, but I figured I'd ask anyway.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone that actually read all that! I hope it wasn't too rambling.</p>