<p>My daughter is an assault victim which happened early in her senior year. She was unable to return to the public high school due to continued threats by friends of her attackers. She did not graduate with her class that year but graduated the following January using correspondence. So far she has been denied enrollment by several universities. She has a 2.5 at a local community college and 24 on her ACT. Her GPA will improve when she retakes two classes this year. Any suggestions on how to increase her chances of acceptance? She has tried one public institution in IL, one in IN. She was a tri-sport athlete all four years with Field Hockey, Cheerleading and track. She is interested in becoming an educator.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry to hear of your daughter’s trauma. Continuing at the community college, and raising her GPA might be the best way for her to transfer to a state school next year. </p>
<p>Do you think the colleges were an academic reach, i.e., GPA and ACT? Have you looked at places where her stats are around 50th percentile of admitees?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>She was denied by Ball State and Illinois State University and earlier there may have been more rejection letters such as Purdue prior to her going to the local community college Prairie State. I did not consider these two “reach” universities. She is now interested in Indiana Wesleyan. There are a few other private universities she may try. I am concerned that when they see high school transcripts and see she graduated late that they do not understand why she did not graduate on time. She was on track for graduating on time prior to the assault. She is currently enrolled full time and intends to take two more classes in the summer. However, she will need to transfer soon as she is earning enough credits by Fall to move on which is why we’ve applied now for Fall 2010.</p>
<p>I don’t know if Purdue’s application process is like IU’s - who does not require an essay. But IU does ALLOW one to send in an essay. I think it would be CRUCIAL in a situation like this. It’s also something that the guidance counselor should be addressing in THEIR recommendation. So - do any of the transfer applications allow an essay? Or, surely there is a place for you to include special circumstances. If you explain that AND can show upward trend and current success…surely there is a good fit for her. I’m not in a position to recommend any because I’m not familiar with other colleges.</p>