I don't know what to do anymore

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi all,
So I'm a junior in high school, and I'm going to be completely honest when I say that high school has not been the best for me so far. My dad, you see, suffers a mental illness. He thinks he's sick when he's not (That's what the doctor/psychotherapist said). Thing is, he goes to doctor's appointments at least on a weekly basis. This has been taking a toll on the financial situation. Furthermore, when I get home, I come home to screaming. And yelling. Not fun. He's had legit health problems for years on end. Its horrible. </p>

<p>But I've been trying anyways. I've been making sure I take the hardest classes, keep my hopes up. But the home situation has not helped my grades:
Freshman:
Honors Bio B/A
Honors Geometry C/A
AP Human B/B
Honors English A/B
Spanish A/A
Orchestra A/A
Gym A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
Honors Chem B/B
AP European History B/A
Honors Algebra 2 trig B/B
Honors English A/B
Spanish A/A
Orchestra A/A
Gym A/A</p>

<p>Junior year
APUSH A/
AP Bio B/
APEng3 A
Honors Precalc C
Orchestra A
Gym A
Honors PHysics B</p>

<p>Junior year has come by. I'm expecting AP Bio to go to an a, since I'm almost there and we have tons of extra credit.
But math
I dont even know
I had a B
then the final dropped me
I'm at my chair bawling my eyes out like a pathetic baby
I'm at a 4.1 Weighted with my grades at present. I can get it to a 4.28 with ap bio.
But colleges aren't gonna look at my gpa, they're not gonna give a damn about what happened at home
They're going to see what I had in math freshman and junior year
These were the colleges I was looking at before Honors precalc</p>

<p>Northwestern
UIUC
UCLA
Berkeley
Purdue
UNC Chapel Hill
Boston
NYU
WashU
SLU</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
Solo and Ensemble (Division I rating for 2011, and 2012, Division II for 2013)</p>

<p>Science Olympiad
Water Quality-4th (Regionals)
Entomology-4th (Regionals)
Science Olympiad State Qualifier/Competitor-(2013-2014)
Green Generation-5th in the state
Geocaching- 17th in the state</p>

<p>Indian Classical Carnatic Music (2005-present)
Received many certificates and awards for performances</p>

<p>Junior Statesmen of America
Recieved many best speaker gavels for debates
Cabinet Member of the month</p>

<p>Orchestra (Violin, Concert Orchestra-9th Grade; Symphonic Strings-10th grade; Chamber Orchestra-11th Grade)-(2009-present)
Tennis-(2005-present)
Science Olympiad-(2012-present)
Junior Statesman of America-(2013-present)
Indian Classical Carnatic Music(2005-present)</p>

<p>Leadership positions:
Junior Statesmen of America
Director of Debate (2014-2015)
Fundraising Agent of the Midwest Cabinet (Governing body of the Midwest JSA region, ranging from Nebraska to Michigan) (2014-2015)
Science Olympiad
Co-Junior Captain (2014-2015)</p>

<p>Community Service:
Volunteer at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago-(2012-present)
Library Management Committee
Duties: Help manage the library by checking in and checking out books for patrons, refining the current library system, training new volunteers, giving tours and presentations to visitors, and promoting and managing Temple events.</p>

<p>I dont want to sound sappy
or pretentious
or whatever
I'm just desperate and I need help
My ACT's are pretty good (33)
But honestly because of math I highly doubt i have a chance at any of the aforementioned colleges
Thoughts?
Oh and plus I'm an Asian Female :P</p>

2

<p>Thanks for reading this super long post, and I’d really appreciate if someone commented </p>

3

<p>well judging by your grades it seems you do good in history/english and classes like those opposed to science/math necessarily although in science which is usually harder b’s are pretty good too. </p>

<p>i think you shouldn’t worry about that because unless you are planning to like go into a math or science-related field bc in that case maybe you can consider retaking the class or in your senior year making sure you get an A in whatever math you will take probably ap calc ab because that usually comes after h precal so yeah don’t worry about it everything like act and other stuff is pretty good like playing instrment and A in apush which is good too. </p>

<p>if you get A’s next semester and like also if you maybe write about what happened in your essay or like in a paragraph for college admissions than you should be fine. </p>

4

<p>Hah I’m planning to go into Biology/premed…
But how much do you think the C’s will affect me?
Honestly they’re weighing down so bad…</p>

5

<p>any thoughts?</p>

6

<p>Listen, don’t focus on what your grades COULD do to your app. Focus on what you can do to change them.
So if your home is a toxic studying environment, study at school or a friend’s. It will definitely be difficult, but there’s still hope! You’'re only halfway through your junior year! CARPE DIEM!</p>

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<p>Ahh you’re right! I’ve essentially gotta take charge of my life, but I guess I was just viewing my options :p</p>

8

<p>But seriously just in case anything happens, I just wanna know what I can do/where I have a shot at </p>

9

<p>Sorry, but any other thoughts?</p>

10

<p>by other members of the internet, perhaps?</p>

11

<p>I think you’ll be fine. I definitely know people with worse grades who made it into those schools. At the end of the day, the admissions process is holistic, and I think your EC’s are pretty strong.</p>

<p>As a side note, I generally wouldn’t recommend thinking about the college process too much. You sound like you’re having a well-rounded and meaningful high school experience, and that’s really what matters. Whatever happens with college admissions happens for a reason.</p>

12

<p>I think you are putting too much emphasis on one school topic. Stop it! Math isn’t your strength. I bet most faculty members in the universities you list have encountered topics they don’t excel in. But you keep on working at it. And that is good. I agree with the posters who say don’t worry so much about college right now. Just focus on being fully engaged in school and friends and all the things that high school is all about. It looks like you have ECs from academic competitions which is great because it involves evaluation by those outside your school system. For SO, your team made it to states last year. Congrat’s. My thought was that you seem like you have too many ECs. Why not focus on a couple or few that you get the most out of, are strongest in and that you might be able to link to things you may want to do in college. Seems likely you are spread very thin. Instead of continuing to do a lot, narrow in on those that you will showcase in your applications (and that you enjoy)-that will result in shorter list but maybe stronger accomplishment-although you have many already. You have a list of large universities. Yet it sounds like your home life is not ideal. Have you considered going to a small college where you would have a better chance to develop close relationships with faculty members who could help guide you. Going to a less well known smaller school where you would have close access to the faculty may be especially important for someone who has less guidance from home. This is a suggestion that you should simply think about. </p>