Hello, I’m currently a high school junior who will be in the graduating class of 2022. I was wondering if anyone had any advice to strengthen my resume in the final stretch of high school before college admissions.
Stats:
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GPA: Currently 3.37 unweighted, will likely go up to mid-3.6 range by the end of the year if I manage to maintain all As. I’m unsure of weighted.
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SAT: Not taken yet, but I am studying an hour everyday and aiming for 1500+ → will at least reach 1400s.
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ECs: Teaching Japanese every weekend (10th/11th), FIRST Robotics (9th/10th), Chinese Club (9th/10th), Virtual anime club (9th/10th). I’m planning on starting to tutor in Chinese soon, if plausible: can anyone give any ECs I could do online?
Profile:
- Female
- White
- Muslim
- Low socioeconomic background
- Rural central Texas
Courses taken:
(Numbers are percentages, first is sem1 and second is sem2)
Pre-High School
Algebra I : 95% / 90%
Chinese I : 95% / 95%
9th Grade
Honors English : 85% / 85%
Geometry : 85% / 85%
Biology : 85% / 79%
AP Human Geography : 80% / 90%
PE : 95% (sem1)
Chinese II : 95% / 90%
Princ of Bus & Marketing : 70% (sem2)
10th Grade
PAP English : 90% / 98%
PAP Alg II : 94% / 95%
Human Ana & Phys : 71% / 98%
PAP World History : 81% / 100%
Theatre : 95% / 99%
Principles of Engineering : 97% (2nd sem)
Principles of Health Science : 82% / 99%
Sports Medicine : 87% / 99%
Business : 95% (1st sem)
11th Grade
((Currently, not confirmed))
PAP Pre-Calc : 99%
Pharmacology : 98%
Medical Terminology : 98%
PAP Chem : 100%
Floral Design : 91%
PAP Physics : 95%
Dual Credit English : 94%
Dual Credit History : 90.5%
Worth noting:
I am considered medically disabled. As a young kid, my mother would only pack me candy for lunches which caused malnutrition (not as in starved, as in I never received the proper nutrients) which lowered my immune system, additionally, my father was a heavy smoker who smoked a pack a day inside my household over the duration of several years which compromised my lungs as well. Moreover, I am a domestic violence survivor which caused me to move between four households during my high school life so far. As the cherry on top, I am diagnosed with: PTSD, bipolar, and anxiety. This has made school and accessibility extremely difficult.
Here’s a rundown of what has happened:
Freshman year: Missed 60/180 days of school due to illness, always gave a doctors note. April 2019 was the first move where I switched from the first to the second household. Additionally mental illness, on top of managing previous work from being sick, has kicked me hard. Tried to communicate with teachers-most successful, but one teacher (guess who) refused to compromise with me or communicate with me and blatantly said to my face they weren’t going to help me.
Sophomore year: Got ill off the bat with plenty of illnesses, initially was taking Chinese III, AP European History, and other advanced classes. Halloween 2019 I was told that we were moving across the country (I was in Seattle region, now I’m in Austin region) in 13 days. Was going to go back to try and make up for my grades, instead I blacked out in the hallway and was extremely feverish so therefore I could not salvage any of my grades before I went. As you can guess, this was the second to third household. All my classes got messed up since this school offers minimal APs (AP Spanish, AP Biology, and AP Calc AB only for seniors). One teacher even zero’d my exam before I moved. Could not join extracurriculars since I joined late in the year, as well as charge. Then COVID hit.
Junior year: Moved from third and now in my fourth household. Same school.
First and second was kept in the same school but third was unable to meet that due to moving 2100 miles away. No extracurriculars due to being high risk to COVID as well as being in a rural area (<2000 population).
Regardless being aware of my illness, I still chose to take AP which has damaged my GPA and I worry for my chances to go to selective colleges like the top UC schools (UCLA, UCI, UCB, UCSD), generally selective (Northeastern, Boston U, UMich…) and potentially ivies.
What do you guys think I should do? Do you guys think I have any chance? Any tips for going forward in high school to prepare for college applications?