Bipolar Student looking for college suggestions

Parents Forum
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<p>Hey, I'm glad I found this site. It has a wealth of information. Now to the details.</p>

<p>I was diagnosed Bipolar when I was 12 and have been admitted to a mental hospital twice. However, my medicines are finally stable and I'm starting to do better.</p>

<p>Here are my attributes:</p>

<p>Male
Rising Senior
Plan to go to liberal arts school and major in English and follow that with Law School.</p>

<p>ACT- 33
ACT Writing- 12
GPA- 3.2 (I struggled with depression.)
Rank- Not very good.</p>

<p>EC's
Not that many.</p>

<p>High School Baseball
- Varsity (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Looking to play at my college</p>

<p>Graduate Assistant for Junior High Basketball Team
- 10, 11, 12</p>

<p>FFA
- 11</p>

<p>FCA
- 9, 10, 11, 12</p>

<p>Student Council Pres.
- 9</p>

<p>Hooks
- I think my struggles with my disease will help me some. My top essay is centered around how I have overcame it.</p>

<p>Teacher Recs.
- I should have very strong teacher recs.</p>

<p>Essay
- My counselor told me my essay is one of the best she's ever seen and she's been in the profession since 1970.</p>

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<p>Anyone????</p>

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<p>Brandonk, what is your question? What information do you need?</p>

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<p>Looking for college suggestions that fit my profile and situation.</p>

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<p>What part of the country are you interested in? Are you looki9ng for LAC? Big Univeristy? SAT scores? I think there is just not enough info and what you have shared is too general for anyone to be able to make a specific rec.</p>

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<p>I live in Arkansas. I haven't taken the SAT but plan to this fall. Looking to make somewhere in the 2150-2200 region. Should have a very strong verbal score.</p>

<p>I'm looking to go to a LAC but one close enough to a city so I have access to doctors, meds, etc.</p>

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<p>Hendrix College!
In Arkansas, but not "of Arkansas". Great, great, small liberal LAC. I don't know how close it is to Little Rock.</p>

<p>I know what you are thinking, but hear me out. Unless you live in Conway, anytime you are at least 2+ hours away, you aren't going to come home every weekend, particularly after the first year, so don't worry so much about not being independent enough.
You probably won't have to change docs, maybe therapists, but not doc, and that is a big plus to your chances of success, particularly if your illness is stable. Adjusting to college is a big challenge for anyone, don't make it unnecessarily hard for yourself - an in-state LAC in a relatively small state is an excellent opportunity for you to develop and grow as a young adult, but not have to start all over with your medical issues.
I don't know that much about Hendrix, Curmudgeon does, but I think it has a very broad based student body, with students from many areas of the country, so don't think that this is going to be all kids you know.
Good luck!</p>

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<p>I have been looking very very hard at Hendrix. </p>

<p>Conway is only 3 hours from my house and 30 mins. from Little Rock. Hendrix is probably the best choice location wise. I'm worried about getting in with a 3.2 though.</p>

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<p>If you can look at your yearly GPAs and see a difference between bouts of depression before you found the right medication and now when you're stable, it will probably help your chances. You may want to include a letter from your doctor or therapist explaining your high school years before finding the right medications and saying that you are currently stable and can succeed in a college environment. Sometimes colleges are nervous that students who have shown problems in the past will show those problems again in the future. A letter from your GC explaining your grades can also be helpful.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the info and help.</p>

<p>Does anyone else have any input?</p>

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<p>Hendrix immediately comes to mind. Contact the coaches if you want to play in college, they will help you as well!</p>

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<p>OK. so Hendrix is one choice, but where else...?</p>

<p>Why don't you ask your doctor's advice on whether or not you could handle
the medical needs from long distance? </p>

<p>I'm torn for you, because I know it's good advice to say, "stay close to home so you don't have to change doctors."</p>

<p>But you might actually be able to improve your medical care if you can plug into some doctors in a bigger city or research-hospital environment. Could your current doctors recommend a medical situation in a larger city or uni where they could be in touch by fax. I know that a lot of depression management these days is a matter of playing around with proper dosages of medicines. If you feel you are ready to begin to manage this on your own, being very aware of your symptoms and when you are beginning to slip, then perhaps you could venture further from home.</p>

<p>Truth is, you might actually be better cared for in a big city or uni, with a new medical team , compared to who's helping right where you live. With depression,it's often important to have someone right there nearby, rather than good-ol-trusty-doc back int he hometown. </p>

<p>I've found it very hard to keep my kids up with routine medical care from home, just b/c there are so few opportunities for appointments. We always preschedule routine visits for holidays, but when something unexpected comes up, they don't know anybody in their college town. And they sure don't expect the college clinic to handle anything unusual, nor should it. So ask your doctor. Depression is a challenging thing but as you've seen, you can learn to manage it. Maybe having a sophisticated doctor right in the same school you'd attend would be better care in the event of regressions.</p>

<p>Then a wider menu of colleges might open up for you beyond Arkansas.</p>

<p>THat said, you should ALSO, definitely, apply instate, even if these are safeties. Everybody needs a safety. </p>

<p>Since I don't know anything about Arkansas-area schools, I can't help other than these thoughts.</p>

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<p>One of the first colleges that came to my mind was Rhodes College. It's in Memphis, TN, so it is still in the midsouth and you will have access to a large city. Your GPA is below average, but you may have a chance of getting in especially with that ACT score if your GC thoroughly explains your situation.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the info.</p>

<p>As of today, my college list consisted of:</p>

<p>Reach- Rice, Wash U
Match- Hendrix, Rhodes, UC Davis
Safety- UCA, U of A</p>

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<p>I recommend you not go to far from home, brandon. A sense of stability is key in keeping an even keel.</p>

<p>Also, realistically, with poor rank and low GPA, WUSTL and Rice are super, hail-Mary kind of reaches. As long as you understand that, an app wouldn't hurt--but don't make those two apps the focus of your efforts.</p>

<p>Drury University in Springfield, Missouri
Knox College</p>

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<p>Arkansan here with another vote for Hendrix. You can probably get some merit aid with your test scores. Hendrix is very generous. Not sure if they have a baseball team. I don't think your GPA will be a problem. Other advantages: very nice campus, close to home, small classes, personal attention. You can probably get a good scholarship at UCA, too. </p>

<p>My s-i-l is bipolar. She had to drop out of grad school because she wouldn't stay on her meds. Please stay on your meds and sign whatever papers you need to give your parents access to your health information and enable them to make medical decisions for you in case of emergency. (S-i-l didn't do this and it caused a lot of trouble for her family). Good luck to you.</p>

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<p>Thank you for all the help.</p>

<p>Quite a few kids from my school are attending UCA.</p>

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<p>with a 3.2 the UC Davis may be more of a reach than a match. The UC's usually take 3.5 and above, but your scores may help out and a good letter from your GC about why your grades are low. Hopefully they trend upward.</p>

<p>I think a huge, party school like U of A is a risky choice, given your medical history. I think a smaller, more personal school where you will get to know your advisor and faculty, would be more supportive. </p>

<p>There are hundreds of small, excellent colleges throughout the country.</p>

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<p>Your very high ACT is going to make up for your GPA at most colleges except for the most selective (such as Rice/WashU) so don't let your GPA hold you back from applying to what seem like unlikely schools. I would agree with others that were I you I'd want to have some distance between myself and my family but also not be so far away that they couldn't assist me if I needed it. I think your choices (for reaches) of WashU and Rice, with respect to distance, are perfect. Other possibilities (dunno a/b your personality) would be the University of Florida or New College of Florida. Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill would also be good reach/high match schools that wouldn't be so far away. Unfortunately, other than what's been mentioned, there aren't too many great schools relatively close to Arkansas, but you've got some good choices.</p>

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<p>One thing to consider is whether you can meet the gpa requirements to keep a merit scholarship. If you went to Hendrix, for example, and they offered you a 15,000 merit scholarship, but you got a 2.8 at the end of freshman year and the requirement is a 3.0 to keep it, would you be able to stay there? They meet 87% of financial need according to the CB website.</p>