Is it unrealistic for me to get into these schools? Am I just dreaming?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I have a failed semester of courses, rigor is also lacking. I'm going to explain my circumstances in the additional portion section of the Common App, but I'm not sure how much that would really help. Basically, I went to about 6 schools, plus 1 online, over the course of 9th and 10th grade, which made it difficult to maintain my grades. Also, I was taken away from my mom while doing online. The house I moved to didn't have I internet access, so I couldn't continue with my studies, resulting in Fs. I hate excuses, but I really had no control over this. I did try to make the best of it though, and retook all the failed courses during 11th grade.</p>

<p>9th: As, A-s, 1 B
10th: 4 Fs, 2 D-s, 5As(2nd sem.)
11th: All As/ a few A-s
12th: Going to make sure I get all As(5 APs)</p>

<p>SAT: 2150
SAT II: Haven't yet taken, but these are projected scores:
Math 2: 740-800
US History: 650-730
Biology M: 680-750</p>

<p>AP English Lang: 4
GPA:3.86, Should go up to 3.90 after 1st semester
Hispanic female, low income</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Piano/Guitar: 9th 10th 11th 12th
Interact Club: Member 11th, President 12th
Hero Club: Member 11th, Vice president 12th
FBLA: Treasurer 11th
Hospice Volunteer: 11th, 12th
Elementary School Tutor: 11th-summer
Fast Food Job: 12th+summer
CSF: 11th 12th</p>

<p>No significant awards/honors.</p>

<p>These are some schools I would be so incredibly happy to go to:
1)Rice!!(Why Rice? Essay should be pretty good, so many things come to mind)
2)WashU
3)Stanford
4)Grinnell
5)Swarthmore</p>

<p>Also, please don't think I just care about rankings. There are many "lower-ranked" schools I'd be happy to attend if they met full financial need.</p>

<p>My initial plan was to attend CC and then a state school, but I'd really like to get a feel for attending a school for 4 years while being completely independent. Also, I want to be challenged in all areas of study and I want to be surrounded by intellectual students who I can have "nerdy" discussions with. And the opportunities at all of these wonderful colleges seem endless, I would be so unimaginably happy to attend any of these. </p>

<p>I know I'm not the best candidate or perfect transcript, but I've been hearing that colleges take a holistic approach in admissions. My question is are they so holistic that they could forgive my far-less-than-stellar record?
Do I have any chance at all of getting into these institutions? </p>

2

<p>You have a compelling story and your overall GPA is pretty good despite the difficult semester. Of course you have a chance at those schools but none are safeties and they have many, many applicants so they aren’t a sure thing. If you are interested in engineering or science, you might look into the [url=“&lt;a href=“http://www.theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”&gt;http://www.theaitu.org”]AITU[/url</a>] schools. Some of the smaller ones might meet your interests and have some full tuition scholarships that you might be competitive for. Also, there are plenty of “nerdy” students there. CC is alweys a possibility as well.</p>

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<p>If you are truly low income then you should DEFINITELY look into Questbridge. Good luck :)>- </p>

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<p>@Jay2631‌ Thanks! I considered QB but since the deadline is in September, I thought it would be best to just apply regularly so I could work on SAT Subject tests and so that colleges can see my senior year grades. </p>

<p>@xraymancs‌ Wow thanks so much! I had no idea about AITU I’m definitely looking into those. I noticed that many of them have full tuition scholarships and great support/mentoring, which would be great. I know Harvey Mudd, MIT, and Caltech meet full need, but my chances at any of those 3 are nil. I’m definitely going to give some of the others a shot though.</p>

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<p>I think you definitely have a good shot of getting into all of the schools. Your story is interesting and sets you apart, you have a nice SAT score, and your grades are good minus the one year which can be accounted for. I would apply to a few of those top schools and then a few more safety schools just to be sure, because with these schools it’s always hard to tell. Best of luck!
Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1674062-take-a-chance-on-me-chances-for-top-schools-vanderbilt-columbia-northwestern.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1674062-take-a-chance-on-me-chances-for-top-schools-vanderbilt-columbia-northwestern.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I think (hope) that admissions officers would understand both that you have consistently high grades for all except one semester, and that there is a very clear reason why that one semester (and ONLY that one semester) was bad. So I think (hope) that they might look at your application as a “special case”, where the cumulative gpa is not an accurate measure of your likely academic performance.</p>

<p>With that being said, it’s probably more important for you than for most applicants to apply widely. You also should request application fee waivers everywhere.</p>

<p>I am sorry to hear about your family troubles. I sincerely hope you have some exciting news to share with us next spring.</p>

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<p>@stamp333‌ Thank you so much! I’m definitely going to try to find some safeties to apply to!</p>

<p>@FCCDAD‌ Thank you so much for your kind words. I am most definitely going to apply to a wide vatiety of schools. Hopefully everything works out and I can post positive results on here and hopefully inspire others in relatable situations.</p>

<p>Also, if anyone could help me out and suggest some safety schools, that would be really great.</p>

<p>I’m mostly looking through schools on this website:
<a href=“Colleges That Meet the Financial Needs of Students | CollegeXpress”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-that-meet-the-financial-needs-of-students/349/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’d prefer little to no greek life, strong STEM program, residential campus, intramural sports, outdoorsy type of feel, and great financial aid, though I can’t get too picky haha…so I’m of course willing to sacrifice many of these preferences(financial aid is still a must).</p>

<p>If anyone could maybe give me some advice as to how to improve my chances, I would be so grateful.</p>

<p>All feedback and advice is so greatly appreciated, thank you:)</p>

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<p>I was in a similar situation 9th and 10th grade. I went to five different schools those two years while going through a terrible custody battle that forced me back and forth from mom’s house to dad’s. I maintained a 3.8 gpa those two years and brought it up to a 4.0 my junior year even with 8 AP’s. Once i was in one school (junior year) it was much easier to get good grades.</p>

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<p>Two schools known to give automatic merit aid are Temple (Philadelphia) and Alabama. If you meet their SAT/GPA thresholds, they are your safeties.</p>

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<p>@austin23‌ Wow that is truly an amazing accomplishment, congratulations! That just shows me how strong the competition is going to be this year…thanks for that reality check haha. Good luck!</p>

<p>@FCCDAD‌ Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>The LACs are probably going to excuse the F’s. If you are interested in Grinnell and Swarthmore there are many other LACs that you could consider, like Vassar, Carleton, Whitman, etc.</p>