Hi!
I’m a rising senior who goes to an all girls private school. I’ve had on and off problems with illness (severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome, due in part to abdominal adhesion from a surgery I had as a child to remove a large tumor) since freshman year. During freshman year, I had to drop Honors Biology and take a reduced course load midway through the year because I was still recovering from an extremely bad bout (hospitalization, rapid weight loss, dehydration).
Then, during the summer before my junior year, my problems flared up again. I had to make the decision to cut AP US History from my schedule and took only one AP related to the major I’m interested in for college (English Language). Since I’m still having chronic abdominal pain every day, I’m not going to be able to take AP Government and will, again, have only one AP (English Literature). Here’s a more detailed picture of what my schedules have looked like:
Freshman Year
Honors Bio (1/2 year, withdraw medical on transcript)
Honors English
Honors World History
Honors Geometry
Spanish I
Study Hall
Sophomore Year
Algebra II
Chemistry
Honors English
Honors Western Civilization
Spanish II
Study Hall
Junior Year
Honors Biology
AP English Language and Composition
Pre-calculus
Independent Study in Cosmetic Chemistry (one semester, might do a second semester senior year)
Honors US History
Government (single semester course - really liked it, which is why I’m considering taking AP)
Chorus during one of the 6 class periods
Senior Year
Honors Creative Writing
AP English Literature and Composition
Religion course (required)
Calculus (first semester) and Statistics (second semester)
Physics
Chorus during one of the 6 class periods (instead of AP Government)
Technical Theater course
Possibly a second semester of that Independent Study
I’ve still participated in extra-curricular activities and kept a high GPA despite my absences/illness (3.9 unweighted, 4.6 weighted).
Extra-curricular Activities:
Officer in my International Thespian Society troupe since junior year (before we had a troupe, I was a member of the drama club)
Did makeup for my school’s drama productions (one other girl helped freshman year, was entirely on my own sophomore year, and for junior and senior year I’m the “crew head”)
Led a 3 1/2 hour seminar junior year to teach girls about the skin and how to take care of it
Member of chorus since freshman year (took Honors Chorus sophomore-senior year)
Member of Chamber Choir (another honors course - it’s a smaller singing group) since sophomore year
I’ll also be going to sing at Carnegie Hall with my choir in the spring of this year - is that something I can put on my app?
Community service at Food Bank (20 hours a year)
Spanish Honors Society
Participated in National History Day my sophomore and junior year (wrote a paper)
I’ve one two awards ( one for my work in drama and one in chorus).
SAT: My SAT was an 1890 in the first sitting without any test prep (Math: 560, CR: 670, Writing: 660). I’ll be preparing for the fall SAT and taking it again.
Will the schools that I’m considering take into account my stomach problems? Would you advise risking my health and/or grades to take AP Government, or are my chances at Bennington, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Emerson okay? Also, I could take a third year of language. I’m trying to avoid going back on the Spanish track because the teacher is notorious for creating a high stress environment (he threw chalk at a girl!) and I’d risk a worse IBS flare if I’m anxious. I could enroll in Latin, though.
Thanks!