Hi all,
I am in the midst of hearing back from colleges, and so far I have been accepted to UCSD, and rejected (UCLA, Northwestern, Rice, USC) or waitlisted (Emory, UChicago) at the rest as a Neuroscience major. I am still waiting on Berkeley, Ivies, and Vanderbilt, but my hopes are really low for the rest of my schools. I was a pretty strong applicant, but my limited success has made me consider appealing the decisions at a few schools (UCLA especially, as it was my dream school). The appeal would be based on my mental illness (Tourette’s) that I have recently overcome. My UW GPA I think was my biggest weakness (3.75, putting me right outside of top 10%); however, both my W and UW GPA have risen or been have maintained for every semester until I got straight A’s (5.0) my senior year. This rise in my grades really correlated with my overcoming of my mental illness, as throughout the first few years of high school I could never handle the uncontrollable urges that the disease brought and I was always distracted in class by my classmate’s stares or the obvious attention I was drawing to myself. I would frequently have to ask to use the restroom or not be able to attend class because of impossible to control sequences of twitching or impulses. However, by now I have become healthy and fully overcome the disease and have begun to enjoy class and my activities more. I did not write about this at all on my application because of many posts I saw about colleges being wary of accepting students with mental disabilities, which I totally understand, and also my desire to see myself as someone who isn’t defined by the mental illness and can succeed on my own merits, whether it has truly affected me or not. I would like to know whether or not everyone here would think that an appeal would be worth my time, and maybe if this is a convincing enough case. Thank you so much, I will leave a brief rundown of my stats below.
GPA: 4.55, 3.75 11 AP’s (three 5’s two 4’s so far)
SAT: 2290, 2330 (2350 superstore), National Merit Finalist
SAT 2- 800 on Math II, USH, Bio
Extracurriculars
-Performed with group at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall
-Violin in numerous orchestras (school/ community)
-2nd place in 2 regional competitions
-Homeless ministry soloist
-Private teacher
Neuroscience research internship at UCSB Biomedical Engineering department (150 hours)
-Varsity Basketball
-President and founder of Alzheimer’s club raised over $2,000, volunteered at retirement home
- Board of 2 other clubs
-2 years of volunteer at church special education department - private tutor of 3 students
- Good essays (at least according to my teacher)
Thank you so much, I really appreciate every reply.