<p>-GPA: 3.3 (very low I know, should go up by end of senior year)
-SAT: 2180
-Top 12% of class (45 of 401)
-Extracurriculars: Art Honor Society, French Honor Society, National Society of High School Scholars, Orchestra 9th and 10th grade
-6 AP classes, all others are honors
-Volunteering at 2 animal shelters for over a year, plus tutoring
-Art: Attended a photography class otuside of school, and I've won a few student art shows, I'm planning on getting a photo internship in NYC this summer if all goes as planned</p>
<p>I can write a really good admissions essay, and will submit my art as well. Also, many people have said the "Your Space" part of the Vassar application is very important, and seeing as I'm an art student I think I could make mine good.</p>
<p>I don't want to sound like I'm making up excuses, especially not to college admissions, but my GPA sucks so bad because of medical conditions that have caused me to a miss a bunch of school (had to appeal with a big formal statement from my doctor once b/c I was denied credit for absence).
Should I bother writing on any applications that medical conditions have caused me to miss a bunch of school, being the reason for my low GPA? Or does that sound like too much of an excuse? It's hard to do well in AP classes while being absent 28+ times!</p>
<p>My question is, will they just see my low GPA and not even bother looking at the rest of the application? And if I have no chances of getting in, can anyone suggest other liberal arts school near New York that have small class sizes (I know NYU doesn't have small class sizes) and a good reputation?</p>