<p>I just typed a long winded post that took me about an hour to write, and a log-in error erased it all....This version of my post will not nearly be as coherent or eloquent, as I feel like I was kicked in the testicles and told to start from scratch when I lost my original post... >_<</p>
<p>If you do not want to read what basically amounts to my "life story" over the past few years, I've included a tl;dr version below:</p>
<p>I graduated from high school in 2008. I never really cared much for school, and for the most part I underachieved for all four years. Starting my junior year I had to deal with some significant personal issues that hindered me academically well into my senior year.</p>
<p>To put it into perspective, I had a 3.6 unweighted GPA with a 5 AP course load going into my junior year, and ended up with a 2.9 unweighted (3.3 weighted) GPA when I barely graduated on time my senior year.</p>
<p>And though it's not something to really be proud of, I'm pretty sure I set the record for most absences by and actively enrolled full time student at my HS, missing about 1/3 of the year during both my senior and junior years.</p>
<p>Now let me just say that despite my terrible attitude during high school (understatement of the year..), I still love learning and the pursuit of knowledge. In fact, I managed to maintain straight A's for the first half of my junior year until I basically learned all of the course material for the year in a semesters time and started thinking my classes were pointless (as well as being overwhelmed by my personal issues).</p>
<p>Despite all of my problems, I was still accepted and chose to attend a large public university here in NC. While many of my personal issues were still lingering from HS, I figured the best course of action would be to forget about them and try for a new start in college. But as I eventually found out, you can't run away from your problems...sooner or later they will catch up with you..</p>
<p>Everything was going fine for the first few months, I didn't miss a single class, I was studying hard, and adjusting to college life as well as anyone. But eventually I got sick (walking pneumonia and a sinus infection), and had to miss several weeks worth of classes. My lack of attendance and studying started to show in a slew of bad test scores across all of my courses.</p>
<p>After speaking with my academic advisor, we decided the best course of action was to drop as many classes as possible to allow me to maintain full time student status, and switch most of my classes to pass/fail (instead of the standard 4.0 scale). I ended the semester by "failing" calculus and psych, and somehow getting a B (3.0) in English.</p>
<p>With things mostly falling apart in my life, I turned to drugs (mainly marijuana) to cope with my personal and academic problems. And about a month into my second semester, I got into legal trouble because of my drug use and was suspended from school.</p>
<p>After two days spent in jail and several court appearances, I was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to unsupervised probation until June 2010 (after which I have a good chance of having the charges expunged from my record).</p>
<p>As far as my academic punishment is concerned, I was also suspended for the Fall 2009 semester, after which time I am allowed to enroll again. Seeking to re-evaluate my priorities in life, and unwilling to return to said school ever again, I decided to take a full year off from college.</p>
<p>During the past few months I have done a lot of growing up. I now realize my mistakes and faults, and instead of turning away from them or making excuses I have chosen to take them head on and accept responsibility for my actions. I have spent countless hours during my time off volunteering at such organizations as the Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House, my local Senior Citizen's center, local food banks, etc. I can also proudly say that I have been clean and sober from alcohol, tobacco, and any and all illegal substances going on 4 months.</p>
<p>Now even though I feel like I have turned a new leaf on a personal level, I still have to deal with the far reaching consequences of some of the poor decisions that I've made over the last few years.</p>
<p><a href="tl;dr%20version%20begins%20HERE.">U</a></p>
<p>Which is where I find myself now, trying to find a school that is willing to accept me (give me a second chance) as a "freshman" this coming fall despite all of my baggage.</p>
<p>(I say freshman, because it seems most schools wouldn't consider me a transfer student with only 3 credit hours in college...please feel free to correct me if I am mistaken in my line of thinking here.)</p>
<p><em>General</em></p>
<p>-I am 19 years old, and currently living in NC (yes I am a resident).
-I am a male, and considered either Asian or multi-racial (lately I have been going more with the latter)
-I am a citizen of both the US and Canada.
-I am currently on unsupervised probation for misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia until June 2010 (when my record will most likely be expunged).</p>
<p>(I'm not sure how the criminal record will effect my chances of admission to a school, but I know it certainly won't help...)</p>
<p><em>College</em></p>
<p>-I would be in my second year of school at a large NC public university, but I have decided to take a full year off and not return to said school.
-Because of personal and legal reasons I only have 3 credit hours from my first year of college, and a withdraw for every other class except for English 101.
-I was planning on doing a double major in Econ/Finance or potentially going through a humanities/science route to med school.</p>
<p><em>HS</em></p>
<p>-I graduated during the 2007-2008 school year.
-My unweighted GPA is about a 2.8-2.9 (about 3.3-3.4 weighted).
-I was in the top 50% of my class.
-My composite ACT score was a 29.
-AP casses (scores): USH (4), WH (4), EH (3), ENVSCI (4), Stat (2).
-I played 3 years of lacrosse.
-I had 200+ volunteer hours at multiple organizations.</p>
<p><em>Year Off</em></p>
<p>-I have volunteered at the Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House, local Senior Citizen's center, local food bank, local church outreach groups, etc.</p>
<p>1. I have a short list of schools I am interested in so far (and even though I know it's the wrong section, any guesses on my chances of getting into them would be appreciated):</p>
<p>Towson
UNC
Michigan
UChicago
UToronto
Fordham</p>
<p>2. I have a general idea of what type of school I want to go to, so any suggestions based on the following criteria would be great:</p>
<p>Location - North East to Midwest. Preferably in a small-medium sized city that is close a large city, or just a large city. (I would really like to go OOS, which is to say not in NC.)</p>
<p>Academics - As highly rated as possible, I want a challenge from the curriculum, not a rehash of stale HS courses. I will either be majoring in a business field (Econ/Finance) or something that would get me into med school (probably humanities/sciences). </p>
<p>Obviously I can't get into most highly selective schools with my lackluster academic record, but I'm sure there are some less selective schools out there that still have strong academic standings.</p>
<p>Sports - Preferably a Division I school, but only because I'm unfamiliar with most DII/DIII schools. I also plan to play on a club level in several sports.</p>
<p>Cost - For the most part this is irrelevant, private and public schools are both options.</p>
<p>3. This is also a bit off-topic for the section it seems, but any advice on what I should do about recommendations would be helpful. I'm two years removed from HS, and was never close to any professor in my previous university, so do I have any options as far as getting a recommendation from an alternative source? (ex. someone who has known me for a long time like an adult friend, career professional, or maybe even a therapist??)</p>
<p>TIA to anyone who takes the time to read any of this, and especially to those who actually respond to my ramblings. I'm really feeling quite overwhelmed and confused having to start this process of searching for a school over again especially considering the circumstances under which I have to do so, so any advice or suggestions would be an amazing help to me.</p>
<p>-E</p>