<p>SAT: 2150
SAT II: Haven't yet taken, but these are projected scores:
Math 2: 740-800
US History: 650-730
Biology M: 680-750</p>
<p>AP English Lang: 4</p>
<p>GPA:3.86, Should go up to 3.90 after 1st semester</p>
<p>Hispanic female, low income</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>Piano/Guitar: 9th 10th 11th 12th
Interact Club: Member 11th, President 12th
Hero Club: Member 11th, Vice president 12th
FBLA: Treasurer 11th
Hospice Volunteer: 11th, 12th
Elementary School Tutor: 11th-summer
Fast Food Job: 12th+summer
CSF: 11th 12th</p>
<p>No significant awards/honors.</p>
<p>I'm debating whether or not to apply to these schools because I'm afraid I'll just be wasting my time. I have a very poor academic record with a semester of all failed courses. Course rigor is also lacking. I'm going to explain my circumstances in the additional portion section of the Common App, but I'm not sure how much that would really help. Basically, I went to about 6 schools, plus 1 online, over the course of 9th and 10th grade, which made it difficult to maintain my grades.</p>
<p>9th: As, A-s, 1 B
10th: 4 Fs, 2 D-s, 6 As(2nd sem.)
11th: All As/ a few A-s
12th: Going to make sure I get all As</p>
<p>My essay is going to be about teaching myself to play piano/guitar despite not having a working piano/guitar. I'm going to discuss how I learned not to let anything get in the way of achieving my dreams, and that despite obstacles you have to keep pushing forward. I'm going to relate this to some of the struggles I faced in 9th and 10th grade, and explain how teaching myself to play served as the basis for my perserverance and motivation.</p>
<p>These are some schools I would be so psyched to go to. (I've wanted to attend these since 9th grade)</p>
<p>1)Rice!!(Why Rice? Essay should be pretty good, so many things come to mind)
2)WashU
3)Stanford
4)Grinnell
5)Swarthmore</p>
<p>Also, please don't think I just care about rankings. There are many "lower-ranked" schools I'd be happy to attend if they met full financial need. Honestly, all I can pay out of pocket are the deposits and travel expenses from money I've saved up working this summer.</p>
<p>My initial plan was to attend CC and then Cal Poly, but I'd really like to get a feel for attending a school for 4 years while being completely independent. Also, I want to be challenged in all areas of study and I want to be surrounded by intellectual students who I can have intellectual discussions with. And the opportunities at all of these wonderful colleges seem endless, I know I would be so incredibly happy at any of those schools. I know I'm not the best candidate or perfect transcript, but I've been hearing that colleges take a holistic approach in admissions. My question is are they so holistic that they could forgive my far-less-than-stellar record? Do I have any chance at all of getting into these institutions?</p>