Help me, please, provided you have the time

<p>So I’m an incoming-senior (class of 2008) student of a Southern California high school.</p>

<p>Here’s some stats…</p>

<p>GPA:
4.29 W
3.74 UW</p>

<p>Rank:
33 out of 1,012</p>

<p>I am a mix of Hispanic and Indian, and I will be a first generation college student.</p>

<p>APs:
Waiting on my AP test scores. But I have taken:
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics-B
AP Chemistry
AP US History</p>

<p>SAT:
(I only did the SATs once in November. I’ll have to retake them again this October and November…)
560 Critical Reading
600 Math
570 Writing</p>

<p>SAT II scores are coming this Thursday</p>

<p>Will apply for financial aid</p>

<p>In March of this year, I attempted suicide and (obviously) failed at it. All that is behind me. However, I returned to school to find that my grades had suffered in my absence. In my remaining days at school, I managed to pull a B-average for my second semester of my junior year. I have learned from what I did, and do not plan on doing it again.</p>

<p>I’m looking to apply to a liberal arts school that has a good International Relations/Affairs program. Preferably something in the D.C. or NYC area.</p>

<p>Here’s the colleges I’m looking towards and how hard I think it’ll be for me to get into them. Please help me make changes if you see any errors.</p>

<li>Georgetown University REACH</li>
<li>American University SAFETY?</li>
<li>George Washington University SEMI-SAFETY</li>
<li>John Hopkins University REACH</li>
<li>Boston University SEMI-REACH</li>
<li>Occidental College SEMI-REACH</li>
<li>College of William and Mary REACH</li>
<li>UC-wide schools SAFETY</li>
<li>Swarthmore College REACH</li>
<li>Williams College REACH</li>
<li>James Madison University SAFETY<br></li>
<li>University of Virginia SEMI-REACH</li>
<li>Franklin & Marshall College SEMI-SAFETY</li>
<li>Gettysburg College SEMI-REACH</li>
<li>University of Mary Washington SAFETY</li>
<li>George Mason University SAFETY</li>
</ol>

<p>work on those sat scores and retake them this fall, your chances should improve at your reaches, try to consider teachers whom you want to get recs from..and umm
do you have any ecs?</p>

<p>ECs...?</p>

<p>Um...haha....</p>

<p>...Not really.</p>

<p>Having an autistic brother and a single-mother who worked long hours kind of retarded my free time.</p>

<p>With those SATs and lack of extracurriculars, a lot of your predictions are a little off. For example, GW is nowhere near a safety; it's probably more of a high match/reach for you.</p>

<p>American is just so not a safety for you. It MIGHT be a match if you have great ECs. Otherwise, nope.</p>

<p>And if American is a reach, then Georgetown is a darn near impossibility. Your list is WAY too top heavy. At AT LEAST 3 more safeties and 3 more matches.</p>

<p>If you write an essay/somehow explain the reasons why you don't have any EC's, that will definitely help. I'm sure colleges would understand the situation if explained.</p>

<p>without ecs, some of the schools on your list will be tough/impossible.
maybe look into some lower tiered colleges where you can get merit aid (possibly instate?)</p>

<p>Yeah, I figured I had some good reasons as to why I didn't have extracurriculars. It's not like I'm some lazy arse, my grades prove that I'm not. It's just that real life gets in the way of some of my interests.</p>