<p>Freshman year and sophomore year were rough. Mostly B's and C's with occasional A's. I had undiagnosed ADHD until it was diagnosed half-way through sophomore year and I never really learned how to be a good student in grade school. Don't get me wrong, I am smart and capable. I just go a 30 on the Plan (out of 32) and I expect my ACT to be around a 32-34. My GPA is currently a 3.2 or so and if I get straight a's next year it should bump to a 3.5. With a 3.5 (at a top jesuit highschool in St Louis/ avg act is 31), 33 ACT, 6-8 C's over the course of freshman and sophomore year, and decent EC's what types of schools should I realistically have a good shot at. My parents can pay full tuition anywhere. In my mind my ultimate school is BC (and all the other prestigious schools I have no shot at), but IK that is extremely unrealistic. My realistic goals would be like Illinois (still a reach), Minnesota, SLU, Portland, Creighton, UMASS, and American. One of biggest dreams in life is to go to a prestigious college, but i goofed up those chances. Something I have considered is going to a school lke Portland or UMASS (or any other average state schools) and getting a 4.0 freshman year and then transferring to a good school. This friend of my sister at Mizzou, went to the same school as me and had a similar situation and he transferred to Vandy. Idk how well that would work though. PS: I plan on going into either IT, PolySci, or Accounting/Business. If any of you have any thoughts or advice for me that would be great. Thanks!</p>
<p>You sound similar to my friend - although he’s just lazy and not ADHD. He had a 31 ACT but got D’s and C’s in a bunch of his classes. That 31 ACT wasn’t good enough to get him into NC State with his grades. But don’t take what the PLAN/PSAT says too much to heart, I got a 179 on the PSAT then proceed to get a 1560 on the SAT twice before I got it up. Life isn’t just about getting into a “prestigious” school. School, undergrad specifically, is what you make of it. I’d say an “average” state school is a good bet for you, as your GPA will hinder you (Umass is a fine school). I can’t specifically offer too much advice, as I’m only a HS senior myself, but don’t assume that you’ll get a 4.0 freshman year and transfer somewhere else - You might not get it, and you might not want to transfer anyway after a year. So when you start getting serious for schools,
pick one that you’d be comfortable with for 4 years just in case. There are a number of websites that have scatter plots of admissions by people who have applied and who’s gotten accepted/rejected by a school, Parchment is one that comes to mind. Although it’s not perfect by any means, you can plug your stats in and see where you fall on a schools scatter plot.</p>
<p>Yeah I have considered that option. I think I’ll go average state school or average catholic (like Portland) and work my ass off. And If I want to stay, I’ll stay. If I want to transfer I will try. I did some research and it seems like a lot of kids go public for a couple years and get a good gpa and have good ec’s then they transfer to prestigious schools ( who are looking to replace the stupid partygoers who flunked out or transferred). And believe me i got a 208 PSAT this year as a soph. and i have gotten 99th percentile on standardized tests since i was a little kid. I know I can do anything academically (I don’t mean it to sound boastful or cocky). Thank you very much for the advice.</p>
<p>I’d think about a good, small-ish college that offers good support for ADHD students. Since you’re in Missouri, try to look for schools in the Upper Midwest, Northeast, or Pacific NOrthwest since you’d get bonus points by increasing their geographic diversity (check out colleges in these areas that have basically no one from MO :p). If your parents can pay in full (check with them how much they can afford), a lot of private colleges would be interested in a high-scoring, much-improved student. They’d offer more support if you need help with study habits (apparently you had to improve there for high school, and college is an entire new ballgame) - in a large university setting ADHD students, especially those diagnosed late, have a very hard time since everything conspires to distract them and keep them unfocused, with less support than in smaller schools. A pretty good college (not elite but good) is within the realm of possibility if you manage to get to a 3.5/3.6 with top scores (note however that what matters most if the rigor of your curriculum so try to take courses that are as challenging as is possible). In addition, private colleges offer merit aid which would probably sweeten the for you; for example, if you score 30 on your ACT Carroll College of Montana offers a nice merit scholarship. Look for those guides: “A schools for B students” and “Colleges that change lives” (for the easier-to-get into colleges on their list)</p>