Hello, currently I am a 10th grader with a 4.36 GPA. I come from an extremely low-income family (roughly 20k yearly).
8th grade year my family went bankrupt, father got cancer, and my family spent all of our savings to pay for his chemo (nearly half a million dollars).
My freshman year I attended an under-funded school on the Southside of Chicago, in which class scheduling was fixed (meaning I had no options in terms of classes). I took reg. algebra I, reg. biology, reg. English I, reg. World Studies, we had no P.E., art, or language. I managed to be Treasurer of Student Council, Southside Antiviolence advocator, and Student Ambassador. I work summers and after school with my father in masonry to feed my family so my EC’s are rather limited. I finished off the year with impeccable grades.
I decided to challenge myself and pursue an education outside of the community so I applied to a selective enrollment school (ranked highly nationwide too) and got accepted. Since I’m a transfer student, my schedule was for-the-most-part fixed except for the honors science and AP social science. I’ve kept my straight A’s taking AP U.S. History, Honors Chem., math II, reg. American Lit., [jumped to] Spanish II, digital imaging, and PE. Since I was accepted a few weeks after school had started, leadership positions were already decided, and so I enrolled in afterschool American Sign Language through a program at Columbia College. I scored a 35 on the ACT this year. I still work after school and summers because my household needs me, meaning I can’t pay for or attend summer programs.
However, I have chosen my classes for next year: AP Seminar (part of AP Capstone), AP English Lang., AP Spanish Lang., AP Environmental Science, Math III, Math IV, and chorus. I know I will perform and score well in these (that is not my concern). I plan on seizing leadership positions next year and enroll in more ECs. I’m aiming for Harvard, Yale, and Princeton because they’re not only prestigious, but also need-aware. I plan on studying Political Science so that I can help fix the public school system in Chicago. I write poetry and reading is my escape. I write dozens of papers on societal issues, and I attend protests to report on them.
Will the fact that I can’t do programs over the summer affect me?
Given my economic situation, what can I do to increase my likelihood of getting accepted to these elite institutions?
