Chance a girl who had a TERRIBLE high school experience

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello everyone, I'm new around here and would love if you could tell me my chances of getting into a some or all of these colleges.</p>

<p>I just finished junior year of high school, and my grades are poor and I'm not sure if some of the traumatic events that happened to me during high school are justifiable causes of this or if it was for another reason. </p>

<p>I live in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.
I'm a Caucasian Female
My mother died of a Heart Attack on 4/1/08 (freshman year)
My father died of unknown causes on 1/24/09 (sophomore year)
Since my father was abusive, I was under the custody of my sister in her one bedroom apartment from May of 2008 to April of 2010. Her boyfriend was chronically depressed and I physically witnessed his suicide and was severely traumatized. I was immediately put into counseling by my aunt and it didn't help. In March of 2009 I began using drugs provided by my sister's peers and drinking more heavily than I had previously. I lost all my friends and spent several nights sleeping outside in the alleyway because my sister's condition was absolutely dangerous for me to be around her and I had nowhere to go and no shoulder to cry on. I attempted suicide 2 times in 2009. As of now I've been sober for 3 months and have gotten a Job at Taco Bell. I haven't attempted suicide in over one year and I rarely use drugs. I'm currently under custody of my godmother.</p>

<p>GPA: 2.709 (my last semester of junior year when I began seeing the light, I earned a perfect 4.000 GPA and was awarded Academic Honors)
Rank: 51st Percentile
ACT Score: 28 (with an 11 on the writing section)</p>

<p>I had taken Honors English all 4 years, Honors Biology/Chemistry, AP Economics, AP Psychology, and AP French. Other than that I'm in all regular classes. I failed both the AP Psych and AP French exams with 1's.</p>

<p>As stated earlier, I have obtained a job at Taco Bell and work 20 hours a week, approximately. Primarily most of the money went towards drugs however I am now saving for my education and well being.</p>

<p>I have been a percussionist in the school band, but quit for senior year.</p>

<p>My passion is writing poetry. I take pictures and write poems to go with them in every spare second I have. My poems tend to be satanic and dark but they do not reflect my personality. I have two published and hope to get more. I'm working on a novel at the moment and have several photo-diaries underway. </p>

<p>I'm unsure of a major, but my love for photography and writing will guide me to one.</p>

<p>I'm interested in attending the following universities: (quite a few, my apologies, and in no particular order)
Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN
Carleton College in Northfield, MN
Bradley University in Peoria, IL
Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN
Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA
Marquette University
St. Olaf in Northfield, MN
The University of Iowa
Indiana University in Bloomington, IN
The University of Wisconsin-Madison
The University of Illinois in Champaign, IL</p>

<p>If you could take the time to tell me my chances for these universities, I'd really, really appreciate it. Good luck to everyone else too!</p>

<p>-Brooke</p>

2

<p>anyone, please?</p>

3

<p>ull be in for sure at Coe and IOWA i think.</p>

4

<p>I’m so sorry that you’ve had to endure all those terrible things during high school. You’ll get into some of the schools above.</p>

5

<p>Wow, I’m so sorry you had to go through that! I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult that was, but it’s truly inspiring that you want to get your life together and get an education!!! I would say you have amazing chances at basically all of those schools! BEST OF LUCK!!!</p>

<p>chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/936934-nyu-word.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/936934-nyu-word.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>Bumping :)</p>

7

<p>Make sure to include those things in your essay, but don’t be whiny or seem to “cry” about it, if you tell how they changed you (for the better) and what you learned from them, they could actually help you.</p>

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<p>i am so sorry that you have had to go through all of that, and with a story like yours and a 4.0 gpa this year i think you will have a very good shot at many of these colleges. Be sure to write a great college essay, since your story is your most powerful tool here, and really explains so much about why you had so much trouble in the begining</p>

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<p>Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN - In
Carleton College in Northfield, MN - In
Bradley University in Peoria, IL - In
Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN
Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA -In
Marquette University - In
St. Olaf in Northfield, MN - In
The University of Iowa -In
Indiana University in Bloomington, IN - ehh not so sure
The University of Wisconsin-Madison - ehh not so sure
The University of Illinois in Champaign, IL - ehh not so sure</p>

10

<p>I would definitely take Carleton off your list. This school is even tough for 4.0ers with good test scores to get into. Macalester might be a little better but is close to the same deal – very tough. I’m a little hesitant on St. Olaf too. The rest of the schools you might have a pretty good chance at. And I agree that you really have to tell your story well in your essay.</p>

11

<p>I’m not sure you’re getting the best advice here. </p>

<p>The kids are well meaning but colleges do not look at things the way they do. While we all think kids who have experienced hardship should get a break, in many years as a counselor I’ve seen colleges can be unyielding where their standards are concerned. They need to know students will graduate–they are rated on how many graduate–and the correlation they depend on is with high school performance.</p>

<p>In cases like yours we’re asking them to guess how you may have performed if these unfortunate events were not part of the picture. While in some cases with high scores and support from the high school you may get into a school that looked like a big reach, the majority of application outcomes will be that you’ll get intoo schools your grades suggest you’ll get into.</p>

<p>I’m also assuming you need substantial financial aid. Looking for financial safeties will also be key if this is the case. Most schools on your list do not meet need. </p>

<p>So while anything is possible, your list needs to be constructed with schools your stats are in range for that you can afford first. Then you can layer on reaches that might consider your story.</p>

12

<p>Financial aid may not be as big as a problem as Redroses seems to think it will be bc you are an orphan and what not -FAFSAs will show if you are a ward of the state or an orphan or something and give you substantial aid because of it.
The colleges that you look at, however, should stay practical. God bless ya for “seeing the light”, but colleges won’t exactly take your word for it. You might consider going to a community college or one that you could easily pay for, get killer grades and such (as your 4.0 this year demonstrates you can get), and transfer to one of the more prestigious schools you want, but I could understand how that would be less appealing. Someone in your academic situation has limited options, sadly, regardless of stories.</p>

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<p>^That might be the case at colleges that can meet need, but most can not. As an indepeendent getting maximum Pell grant and looans, it’s still a drop in thee bucket at most private colleges. Geez, why do people without a clue post?</p>

14

<p>This is an Internet forum you can’t expect quality posts 100% of the time…</p>

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<p>Take the ACT/SAT again after some serious practice. That will be hard with your work schedule I bet, but definitely not impossible. good luck.</p>

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<p>who said anything about the colleges meeting need? FAFSA is a government grant, red. Sorry if i interfered with your college app. mojo or something, yoda; no need to get nasty. sheesh.</p>

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<p>The amount FAFSA can qualify anyone for is a drop in the bucket at most colleges. Maximum Pell is under $6k. After that it can qualify you for $5500 in Stafford loans, maybe a Perkins loan and a campus job. Free money to the poorest? Not even $6K in a land where many colleges cost over $6K and most 4 years are over $20K.</p>

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<p>Make that over $50K.</p>

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<p>Your story is truly inspiring. To perservere through all that you have is remarkable and any college should be honored to have you attend their institution. Sadly, many colleges will not share the same seelings. With that said, the majority of the colleges on your list seem to be matches for you. Also, make sure to emphasize your maturation as the result of your past events and how you have come to realize the importance of education. Good luck and I hope you end up where you want to be!</p>

20

<p>Again, I am not sure where you are getting your info. My friend got over $8K, and she is a white girl with a full time job with two parents who have a substantial income. </p>

<p>The drug addiction will not look good to a FAFSA, but her as an orphan will make her eligible for more fed aid than usual. I hope I didn’t give the impression that she would get a completely free ride to any school of her choice -that’s not the case; and, again, I hope I didn’t personally offend you or anything, really.</p>