<p>Whew, you guys, please bear with me in this explanation! I have always been a good honors/AP student, and only struggled some with math until 11th grade. A tragic event happened in my family, and I was depressed from my junior year of high school until about November of last year. My high school and college GPAs took HUGE hits (H.S. 2.95) (College 1.95) due to my lack of focusing and caring. I'm now much better; I transferred from my 4 year college to a local CC, and I'm enjoying my first semester there. </p>
<p>I completed a year in my original university (Penn State), but I am considered a 2nd semester freshman at the CC due to only 18 of 34 credits attempted had acceptable grades. At Penn State, I was planning to major in Biology, but I am so much happier pursuing my new major, Economics.</p>
<p>I'm definitely in a different place than I was some time ago, but I do have a long road ahead. My plan to SERIOUSLY work hard, retake the SATs (currently 1580), and take part in some quality ECs. After a 1-1/2 years, I want to transfer to my dream school, University of Chicago. I'm also looking into schools such as Boston College, UPenn and a few others and have some safety schools in mind such as Temple (in-state), West Chester (in-state), and Hood College. However, my true love is UChicago; it's a feeling I didn't have with my original university (Penn State), and I attended it for the wrong reasons. </p>
<p>I don't want to feel like I'm just settling for a college just because I won't be able to get anywhere else. But I also feel I will be just getting my hopes up applying to UChicago based on my school history and their elite admission rates. Would my bad history forever remain as a black mark on college apps, even if I'm working hard to turn things around? You guys would make my day by giving your opinions. Thanks!</p>