<p>Hi everybody... this is my first time posting here. While I know I cannot possibly go into enough detail to really even describe my situation, I'm hoping to feel out a bit of my outlook and what my chances are for my college future.</p>
<p>My ACT scores:
Composite: 34
Math: 32
Reading: 33
Science: 35
English: 35</p>
<p>GPA: I have attended 3 different high schools, in three different countries. One was a school in Asia where I took an all-advanced British curriculum and made grades that were B+ to A+ range for the first semester of freshman year, then finished freshman year and first half of sophomore year at an American school in another Asian country with poor grades in most of my subjects (Bs and Cs) due to medical conditions and depression. Then I moved to a boarding school for the second semester of tenth grade where I made two B+s four A+s taking an advanced math and science course. I continued through junior year with five AP courses and ended the first semester with 4 Bs, 1 C, and 1 A, then ended the second semester with 3 Bs and 3 As. The C was in AP Spanish, a course I was hesitant to take and I will always regret being pressured into taking. I am now entering my senior year, very business and science heavy.</p>
<p>As for extracurriculars, I have participated in six extracurricular plays and musicals (I can't do sports due to medical liabilities), participated in 7 clubs at my current school (3 of which I will be president of next year), I will hold a major student leadership position next year, and I have done 40 hours of assorted community service with my school. I also received a Faculty Letter of Commendation for presence around the school (given to 3 or 4 people out of 90 in each grade every year).</p>
<p>For my teacher recommendations, I have two teachers who actually came up to me and requested they be allowed to write my college recommendations. Both of them have been known to write gleaming recommendations when asked, so the fact that they asked me to let them write my recommendations is very reassuring to me.</p>
<p>I am launching a startup that is a concept for implementation in developing countries which would be a food staple for feeding malnourished people for under 20 cents per day. I am very passionately geared toward business and social responsibility, and this summer have an internship that is 2 weeks volunteer, 3 weeks paid where we help businesses augment their social impact. The past two summers I spent working with rearing horseshoe crabs as well as being an intern with a photographer (I have sold artwork in a gallery).</p>
<p>My story is basically that when I was younger, I moved around and was seen as the academic "golden goose" of my small-town private school. I was bumped up a grade, then began school- and country-hopping, hitting five schools in six years. I sank into depression, and ended up discovering I have a few rare medical conditions that only made matters worse. I found passions for aquatic life and business that drive me, though, and they have created massive ambitions for me and have pulled me into a much better place. I have created a large upward trend for myself since moving to boarding school as displayed in my grades and involvement in my school community, and have also come out of the closet as gay and been quite an activist. </p>
<p>For those of you that have actually made it all the way through this very in-depth post, I'm wondering what my chances are of first of all, actually being able to communicate all of this to colleges. Secondly, what are some good colleges? I have UC Berkeley, Wharton (my father is an alum here), Columbia, USC (especially the World Bachelor's in Business Program), Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Johns Hopkins, UCSD and Washington University in St. Louis on my List. My over the top, number one choice is actually the Thiel Fellowship, but that's not a college at all. Anyway, these all seem kind of reach schools for somebody with such a low GPA and mixed past. Do you think I have a chance at any of these schools/programs?</p>
<p>(If it's relevant, for ethnicity I am white, and I will not be qualifying for FA)</p>