<p>Here is my sobstory:
My freshman year of high school I was enrolled in multiple "advanced" classes and managed to maintain a 3.5ish GPA. The following year I began with excellent grades. Also maintaining A's in my AA(English,Algebra 2) classes and CP(chemistry) classes. I was officially withdrawn from my high school approximately a month into the year and enrolled into a different school.
At my new high school, I discovered I was incapable at making new friends. The library was closed during lunch(***?), so I wandered around for an hour, five days a week, munching on my pizza. Oh... and I failed 4 of my 6 classes for first semester and did not receive credit my second semester, due to excessive absences. I later found out at my cardiologist's office, much later, that the reason I did not get out of bed was because I had contracted mononucleosis way back.
I currently am in yet ANOTHER school in a totally different district in my junior year. My counselor did not trust me so she put me in regular-level courses. She made me retake most of my sophomore year I'm hanging on a thin line of false motivation and have contemplated dropping out, but, even though a measly 3.2 GPA is tearing at my soul, I'm persevering. </p>
<p>I need somebody to advise me what I should do to redeem my excruciatingly horrible sophomore year. I am willing to do anything to prove to my university of choice that I am capable of their curriculum. Thanks</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear of your troubles but the longer term goal of “proving yourself worthy of your college of choice” is a straw man, I’m afraid. You need to focus on the near term. You resent being placed in non-honors courses but deny the logic behind that decision? </p>
<p>You have a tough road to walk but you should focus on immediate milestones. Knock out the best GPA possible in your classes now. Then next semester and then the next. There’s no magic button to press.</p>
<p>Plz have a good sit down w/your guid counselor or religious counsel (if that’s your thing). Plz reach out to those who can really help you. Looking for encouragement/advice/coaching from random internet strangers is OK but you need real flesh and blood to help you out.</p>
<p>If in your essays you can somehow portray your past experiences and how you learned or grew from them, it will impress colleges. (From my understanding)</p>
<p>Thanks for slapping some sense into me. I have recuperated both physically and mentally, but it’s been a long, grinding road. Even though I’ve been placed a year behind, I will hopefully catch up with night and summer school. I’m confident I will excel in my ACTs so that should help a bit? I know that being an underachiever is not exactly what colleges look for, however.</p>
<p>@Trag: you seem confident in your academic skills. That’s good. It’ll show thru a superior ACT which will lead to greater confidence and hopefully better grades too. Again,good luck</p>
<p>Since you lost your entire sophomore year perhaps you would be best off to take an extra year to finish high school. This would give you more time to recover your grades, and more importantly, give you time to truly master the subjects and be better prepared for college work.</p>
<p>Agree with the advice in post #6. From what you’ve written, you are essentially retaking the classes from sophomore year. So consider yourself an “academic redshirt” (and in affluent areas, parents actually do this intentionally with their kids in elementary school to let them be a year older than their peers). </p>
<p>You really have me lost when you say “I’m hanging on a thin line of false motivation and have contemplated dropping out”. How is leaving the education system after completing essentially a 9th grade education going to prepare you for your dream college, or a future of any kind?</p>
<p>You were dealt a bad hand when you got sick. **** happens. And to be honest, worse things happen to kids your age. Spend a few months volunteering at a local hospital and I think you’ll agree. What shows character, what allows you at your age to develop character, is how you handle it. I’m suggesting there’s another way to handle setbacks and disappointments than losing motivation. It’s taking ownership and control, keeping your disappointment private. You are where you are, now figure out the best path forward. I’m not going to claim I’m an example here; but you can be better than me People respect and admire those with an upbeat approach, the woe-is-me leads to different views. </p>
<p>If you are an advanced/honors level student, then you have just been handed a golden opportunity to show it. You can ace your current regular-level classes, and show your teachers by your inquisitive and positive approach that you are more than ready to handle tougher classes. You’ll still have a full year of junior classes for colleges to see, and the enthusiastic letters of rec you can get by refusing to quit.</p>
People respect and admire those with an upbeat approach, the woe-is-me leads to different views. </p>