Chance me, unusual situation

<p>So I am applying for a transfer as a sophomore to some top schools hopefully from Loyola College in Maryland.</p>

<p>College GPA: first semester 4.0, second semester: will be around the same
course load is the hardest possible offered at my school, I am currently undergoing 21 credits (over 20 costs extra tuition which I am footing the bill for. The norm is 15.)
ECs: Dean's List, volunteer at a hopsital for 3 hours a week, work a soup kitchen twice a month on the weekend, copresident of the club in charge of the volunteering at the hospital, Black Student Association (I am white however, I wanted to diversify coming from a small, homogeneously white town), Justice Club/International Affairs Association (raising social issues awareness around campus), National Speological Society, OAE, and a few other odds and ends. I also have been a Unitarian Universalist all my life and continue to attend services each weekend.</p>

<p>High School:around a 3.2-3.4 GPA unweighted, 3.6-3.7 weighted
Courseload was hard considering my conditions (I was being cured of cancer throughout high school. I wasn't in school half the time since I was so sick. I even completed freshman year simultaneously with my first half of sophomore year).
many HS extracurriculars but nothing spectacular. varsity soccer for 1 year, in charge of Interact Club (branch of Rotary Club), created a school dance with 3 fellow peers to fundraise money which is now an annual event, Peer leaders, AP Scholar with Honors, Spanish Honor Society</p>

<p>ACT: 31 - retook them recently as a freshman in college.
letters of rec and essays will both be very good. My essay will be about my cancer.</p>

<p>I dont have any job experience though since I was sick all throughout high school so I wrote a little addendum on my "Additional Information" about how holding a job while I was so sick was out of the question. I am not sure if this will affect my decision or not.</p>

<p>I have very strong reasons to transfer i.e. I go to a jesuit school and there is too strong a religious presence (they force all students to take catholicism which I believe runs incongruent to my tolerant Unitarian beliefs), I want to place D3 soccer since I am off chemotherapy and back in good physical shape, I wasnt allowed to go to school further than 2 hours from my oncologists and thus my school prospects were very, very limited, and I also want to major environmental studies which isn't offered at my current school.</p>

<p>Schools I am applying to:
Tufts (the school of my dreams)
Brandeis
BU (got in RD but parents told me I couldnt attend there since I had to be close to my oncologists)
JHU
UPenn
Cornell
Lehigh
Oberlin</p>

<p>Since I am such an unconventional admissions case I'd like any insight at all if anyone can offer any about how my application will be perceived. Chance me if you can too please.</p>

<p>First of all, congratulations on your strength of spirit and all you have achieved in spite of the health hardships you have faced. You are an inspiration to the rest of us. :)</p>

<p>I think that your application will be seen quite favorably even though your high school GPA is rather low for some of your reach schools (Tufts, Cornell, Penn, JHU, Oberlin) given your unique situation and all you achieved during your illness. Further, you have good reasons for wanting to transfer, so make sure you articulate them as well as possible in your applications. And finally, you have done very well in college.</p>

<p>I wish you the best of luck, Sfjohnson. You'll do great.</p>

<p>any other input?</p>

<p>lolabelle's the expert on Tufts here on collegeconfidential, so I'd rely on her expertise on this one.</p>