chances, please respond to ease my anxiety

<p>Hey. I am a Female senior at a small private school in Los Angeles that does not rank. I really messed up in my freshman year, but got over it and started doing really well afterward. My weighted GPA 10-12 is 4.11, my weighted GPA 9-12 is 3.7, my unweighted GPA 10-12 is 3.7 and my unweighted GPA 9-12 is 3.3. My SAT score was 2320, with an 800 on writing, 770 on CR and 750 on Math. My SAT 2's were 730 on math2, 680 on Spanish and 690 on lit. I am co-president of student council, have traveled to mexico to build houses, do walks for aids and diabetes and such, tutor kids at my school, and have been on varsity tennis for 4 years. Have a job at the grocery store, and am doing an independent study class on education. Writing a 40 page paper for it. I am an interesting case, as I went to drug rehab and am being open about that in my apps. I am making it more about my parents' divorce though, and am using that to explain my poor grades and trip to rehab. Im not making excuses though, it's just true. I am sober and everything now, taking ALL honors classes, really pulling myself up. was wondering if you could give me any insight as to how my chances are. thanks.</p>

<p>Err...they may be really shocked at the Drug Rehab thing. You have decent chances IMO, but your GPA and the fact that you have gone through Drug Rehab may be the 2 reasons you don't get in. (I don't know which one (seriously!) will be the deciding factor). You really shouldn't mention details like drug rehab on applications...even though it shows something great that you've overcome.</p>

<p>agreed... i wouldnt, but the thing is that I missed a bit of school becuase of it and must explain it in some way. the way i did was pretty discreet, and turned out to not really be about rehab, so i hope it's okay.</p>

<p>umm, it's probably not ok, especially considering one-time drug addicts are more prone to relapse.</p>

<p>I can almost guarantee you that northwestern is not going to accept a confessed former drug-addict, unless you explained it extremely tactfully and elegantly on your application. </p>

<p>Definitely definitely avoid mentioning attending rehab if you can... make up another excuse if you have to, you have no obligation to tell them you went to rehab, use your parents divorce instead.</p>

<p>but i wasnt a drug addict... i just needed to get out. and i made that cleqr. i guess if they dont want me for me, i dont want them anyway.</p>

<p>Sometimes perspective can be lost in this process. It is much more important if someone is having trouble that they address that problem then worry about where they go to college. Getting help shows more intelligence than having the perfect resume for applications. Your info looks great for all you've been through. And there will be a "right" college for you. And if it happens to be Northwestern there are great meetings in Evanston. Staying sober will need to be your first priority.</p>

<p>okay... that's all great... but let's keep in mind that this all happened two years ago, i am two years sober, and it's not like i am on shaky ground here. im really stable, no problems. and considering my recent stats, i truly think NU among other schools will recognize that.</p>

<p>"if they dont want me for me"</p>

<p>students don't put their biggest mistakes on their applications: applying to college isn't a "want me for me" situation. Remember, there are 1000s of kids applying to Northwestern with equal/better high school stats who do NOT share your risk of drug relapse (which is how northwestern adcoms will see it.. because if you just wanted to get out... why not go to camp/whatever... why rehab?)</p>

<p>but if you really want to put your rehab on your application, post and update when decisions come, i'd like to see what happens</p>

<p>in all honesty, i'm just trying to help your chances because it sounds like you really want to go. I could not think of one scenario in which attending drug rehab would help you get admitted to college. There was a kid awhile back on some other board asking if he should write his essay about how he cheated once, and learned a strong lesson from it, and the overwhelming answer to his question was "NO." Admitting to anything undesirable, even if it truly did make you a better person, you are over it, etc. is a very risky thing to do on an application; remember applications are the places you turn the title "dishwasher at TGI Fridays" into "competitive ceramic lathering facilitator in corporate dining."</p>

<p>so i would suggest taking what i'm saying to heart, trust me i'm not trying to HURT your chances.</p>

<p>but again, if you do still really want to put that on your app, post here when decisions come, i'm curious to see what happens.</p>

<p>I disagee, tell them your story, because you seem pretty passionate about your recovery and what exactly you went through. If, in an essay, you can ensenuate emotions with what you went through then I say do it.. obviously, though indicate that you ARE over the drug issue and it isn't a problem... It is a personal story very relevent to your possible admission, so I say do it.</p>