Desperate situation

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a senior and have applied to Brown University as well as other Ivy Leagues, Columbia and Princeton, and these are my stats:</p>

<p>10-12 GPA (W): 4.14
SAT I: 1900 CR-660 W-640 M-600-----Taken in the fall of my Senior Year
SAT II: Pending (Anticipated for Math 2 is 700-800 and USH is 750-800)
APs Taken: WH(4), EngLang(5), APUSH(5)
Course Schedule This Year: AP Psych, AP Stats, AP Calc BC, AP EngLit, AP Gov, AP Bio
ECs: Academic Decathlon and Debate in Junior Year; AcaDeca, Mu Alpha Theta, and AP
Club this year
Positions Held: President of both AcaDeca Club and AP Club now
Volunteering: Mostly Tutoring after schools in the library, normally 5 hours a week</p>

<p>Both of my parents died in the summer of 2010, at the end of my sophomore year. I did not go back to school until August of 2011, pretty much skipping an entire year of school. In my first semester back, the fall of my Junior Year, I did not have very good grades and suffered depression because of the unresolved issues as a result of my parents' deaths. Before they died, their sickness engulfed my family, to the extent that I could not get involved in any ECs until the second semester of Junior Year. The low GPA is a result of this as well as financial hardship. We were very poor and my brother and I still struggle to pay bills and things of that sort. I got accepted into the QuestBridge program, but failed to match with the schools I ranked. While I have gotten numerous fee waivers for college applications, I am stuck in a hard place because I lack the funds to send my official SAT scores to the colleges I applied to(Cal, UCD, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Tufts, Haverford, and Stanford). I have been told that my writing is good, but I don't know if it is good enough to get me to these schools. I know that I applied to a lot of them, a majority of which are very competitive, but I want to know 2 things from the very respectable people here at CC(no sarcasm at all): Do I have a chance given my situation? and Is there any reliable way that I can send my official SAT score reports?</p>

2

<p>As for your first question, it is hard to chance you because of the situation you were in. Obviously your bellow their average applicant, but not drastically so. Know that it is a reach, but you probably have a chance.
As for sending the scores, you basically have to pay the fee. If your school puts your scores on your transcript or if you counselor includes them in his/her recommendation see if the colleges you are applying to will make an exception about you officially sending them. To find out contact your admissions representative from each school and explain the situation you are in.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the feedback. I really appreciate it :)</p>

4

<p>There are fee waivers I believe. Your GC would probably have to put in for it on your behalf, and given how late in the season it it may also have to send the schools a note explaining the issue with getting the scores in on time. I don’t think you’re going to get in without the test scores so you need to deal with this promptly.
Do you have safety schools? Places you can afford where your stats are of the high end of their accepted applicants’ grades and test scores?</p>

5

<p>It may sound stupid on my part, but I saw Davis as my safety school. I spoke to many of my teachers and they said that given the financial struggles my brother and I are dealing with at the moment(he is getting laid off), I would get a good amount of financial aid for whatever schools I get accepted into. If the ideal were to happen and I get accepted into an Ivy League, the QuestBridge program ensures that I receive hefty financial aid from whichever school accepts me. Other than Davis, I have not applied anywhere else. I will also talk to my GC about the SAT score reports and the transcript. Thank you for that piece of advice. I never thought about that.</p>

6

<p>I really can’t chance you given the situations you’ve faced. I do have to tell you that your SAT scores are well below average for the Ivies and top privates. </p>

<p>I do wish you the best of luck!</p>