i feel like I don't know what to do

<p>I am a senior, an I have applied to Uchicago, Bryn Mawr, USC, DePaul, Umass Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith and Barnard. I have been rejected ED to Northwestern's Medill School, Tulane, and I got an "unlikely" letter to Wellesley College Early Evaluation. I feel like I do not know what to do. I was a bit surprised for Wellesley. I at least thought I would get a "possible". I had a good interview there too. Now I just wait til April for the other schools but I am very nervous.</p>

<p>I show a lot of passion through my application, even though I had less than stellar grades (those were explained in my recommendations from Guidance Counselor and teacher). My recommendations explained all that I have had to go through during my high school years, such as having a terminally ill father and a mother who has been intstutionalized three times, and also a breast cancer survivor. This is on top of my own kidney disease that I have been born with.It has been hard generally thoughout my life with both households, except before high school I was a perfect student getting mostly A+'s and always getting the best grades in my class, but as I got to high school, things had gotten worse. It has been hard throughout high school, especially last year, because there would be times in which both households were not exactly the greatest for me to live in, so it was really a struggle. I had even applied to boarding school last year with the help from my cousin, because I had needed to get away. (I didn't end up getting in, because they do not normally except seniors ever). So, my low GPA (3.0 out of 4, and 3.5 out of 5), has been explained, as well as my class rank of 190 out of 359. I have taken a total of 8 regular college preporatory courses, 17 honors, and one AP (World History). </p>

<p>I have excellent extracurricular activites, (Violin since third grade, part of string orchestra, pit orchesta for musicals, and full orchestra, also junior year I was member of the music honors society. I have also been a copy editor for the school paper in tenth grade, and contributing writer in 11th and 12 grades. Ever article I have written for the paper has been published, and our paper has won an Honorable Mention each of the last four years at the annual conference of the New England Scholastic Press Association. I am also president/creator of my high school STAND chapter, which is an antigenocide coalition) My volunteering hours have been about 220 altogether. I guess my point is that I believe that intellectually I am far above my peers at school, and clearly my grades do not reflect this, although they are explained. My SAT score was 1720 out of 2400, so that was not too great either, however my essays I feel are the strongest part of my application. </p>

<p>I show my mature and intellectual ability through my writing, and I hope the admissions officers can see this. My parents seem convinced I will not get in ANYWHERE. I also had interviews at Wellesley and an alumna interview for Bryn Mawr. My Wellesley inteview went well, and my Bryn Mawr interview went great and it lasted an hour! I also had a great Barnard alumna interview. I had a fantastic Smith interview with an alumna from the Black Alumni of Smith College Association and it lasted an hour and a half. She said she would really advocate for me, and I also had an overnight there. I have also had a fantastic uchicago interview. </p>

<p>I am took the Feb ACT (I scored perfect on the science section practice test, and 33 out of 36 on the math). I seem to do well on the act practice tests. Normally on standardized test practice I do the same on the practice as I do on the actual test. I will most likely be in the range of a composite score of somwhere around 31-33 out of 36. How much do you think this will help me? </p>

<p>My recommendations in general are very strong. I have my current Russian Lit teacher writing one, of whom I have one of the highest grades in his class, and my spanish teacher of whom I had for two years in high school. My Guidance counselor said she really advocated for me and wrote a very strong recommendation, and said that there is a lot of unmet potential that has been met during high school. She had written to the colleges that I would do very well at their schools.</p>

<p>My personal statement is very good as well. I had also written a letter to the schools explaining that I really feel that I am a great match and my transcript does not accurately reflect my intellectual ability.</p>

<p>Do you think that I am basically screwed for these schools? I am very nervous.</p>

<p>Seems like you applied to many reaches and too few safeties (UMass)</p>

<p>Send your ACT off to the schools immediately.</p>

<p>If you end up at somewhere that is not your first choice, that is OK. That is why you apply to matches and safeties. You can always apply to transfer after freshmen year, using your ACT and hopefully stellar college GPA.</p>

<p>Good luck and concentrate and where you get in and not where you do not!!!</p>

<p>I agree with crazed.</p>

<p>Obviously most of those schools aren’t safeties, and we all go into this process knowing that sometimes we don’t get into the reaches that we want. That’s totally okay. If UMass is your WORST case scenario, it’s still a great school. Focus on that! You basically can’t go wrong; Amherst is a beautiful town and UMass is a great place to be. Of course I hope you have more choices than that, but you know that your worst case scenario will still be fine.</p>

<p><em>sigh</em> I’m so sorry you are going through this! I was in your shoes, and got rejected from some great schools that I thought I could get into. I went through a lot of garbage in high school, that was, just like you explained throughout my recommendations, and my essay. I wouldn’t call the schools that you got rejected from necessarily “safeties” or even “target” schools, but they aren’t unattainable. As the previous posters said, UMass is an awesome school. I visited it and really liked it. If worst comes to worse, you can always go there, and transfer out if you want to. </p>

<p>Just a quick note about Wellesley. I got an “unlikely” letter from my top school, BUT I kept my first semester grades up like crazy, and my guidance counselor made a call to the person that was reviewing my application. The hard work paid off because I wound up getting into the school. Do. not. give. up. People get into schools that would never have dreamed of all the time. Don’t count anything out until you get that final decision in the mail. Hold your head up high! You’ve still got time before the rest of the decisions come out for some schools.</p>