<p>Hi</p>
<p>I've been very interested in applying and attending RPI since my sophmore year when I first heard about it, I am now a senior. I have a high interest in math and the sciences, however I am not sure if my grades or EC's are good enough for it.</p>
<p>I was not sure if college admissions take into account special circumstances.</p>
<p>My EC's are:</p>
<p>Freshman-
member of chess club
member of the math league</p>
<p>Sophmore-</p>
<p>Junior-
member of guitar club</p>
<p>Senior-
starting up the chess club again as president
starting up the math league again as co-president</p>
<p>Job experience:
Volunteered over 200 hours at a local temple religious school on sundays as a teachers aid freshman,junior, and senior year, could have gotten paid but I declined it (as a teacher's aid)</p>
<p>As a 6th grader I was diagnosed with a GI disease which made me miss a great portion of school. Freshman year I was out of school 48 days, not very much. Sophmore year was the bad one, I was out more than 3/4 of the year due to a major surgery which required months of healing at home after. I had the surgery may, although months prior I had been out of school due to disease related issues/searching for surgeons with my parents. Junior year I was out 33 days due to me still recuperating/adjusting to new changes of my body (getting severely dehydrated almost each day due to no large intestine).</p>
<p>My years through high school I have had one main tutor for subjects and basically had the severe disadvantage of completing material based on limited info given to me by the school. I came out with fairly modest grades, although I am not sure if they are what RPI is looking for. The lack of EC's because of illness isn't exactly great for me either!</p>
<p>My high school GPA so far (fresh-junior) is 3.24 (counting on a 4.0 scale), although I did take ap us as a junior and honors english as a sophmore. I am currently 61/263 students. My SAT scores from last year were 640M, 610CR, 590W. I hope to get over a 700 on each this next time.</p>
<p>Last year I took pre-calculus and as a result of being absent so many times (as well as going home early due to dehydration) I fell behind and didn't seek help until after the first semester concluded. The first semester I got a D+ average, with an F on the midterm. My own excuse for this is that I studied completely wrong for the midterm-- while my class was given a study sheet which basically was the midterm and went over it in class, I was next door making up a pre cal test I had missed. Therefor I studied with the wrong techniques, resulting in the grade I got. </p>
<p>After getting a tutor and getting health issues under control, I quickly raised my grade, ending with a solid A average for the second semester, with an A- on the final exam. </p>
<p>I am not sure if there is a place on either the common application to try to provide an excuse for the poor grades I received, or if it would even be acknowledged as legitimate. Would it be worth trying to explain this on the application?</p>
<p>I am currently in my senior year of high school and I am taking almost all of the most challenging courses that my school is offering. </p>
<p>My schedule currently is:</p>
<p>Marketing adv (I needed this last elective to graduate, it isn't an impressive class)
Physics 2 AP
English 12 adv</p>
<h2>Latin III/IV AP</h2>
<p>Calculus adv
Chem 2 lab
Chem 2 AP
Euro history AP</p>
<p>I am doing fairly well in all of my classes so far and I anticipate a B as the lowest grade I will receive in any of the courses.</p>
<p>I am honestly working my butt off, I have been working until 2 am, then waking up at 5 to get an extra hour of work in before having to get ready for school. </p>
<p>I believe that receiving high grades in these classes will allow me to skip 10-20 class ranks as most people opt to slack off their senior year, the only reason I am in such a bad rank is because unlike others, I didn't go to school every day.</p>
<p>Will this be any sort of positive indication to RPI admissions that I take my education seriously and am willing to challenge myself?</p>
<p>Also, on the topic of college recommendation admissions essays-
I am conflicted on who should write me a letter of recommendation for my application.</p>
<p>I had a really good chemistry teacher I liked last year. I wavered on the A-/B+ grade each quarter for the year, but I believe I was among his favorite students as I put forth an honest effort despite being at a disadvantage. The class average was a C- for the year. I know he would write an awesome letter for me.</p>
<p>I also had a really good tutor who I have formed a friendship with for the past 6/7 years and who has seen me grow as not only a student, but a person. He is a graduate of Yale and held a powerful job title, his academic background is quite strong. He knows me personally much more than my teacher.</p>
<p>I read on these boards that RPI admissions prefer only one college recommendation letter and preferably from a sciences teacher. Do you think I should go for my chemistry teacher's recommendation, or should I ask my former tutor?</p>
<p>Sorry for this huge post, I wanted to try to get all of my questions across in one place.</p>
<p>Thank you for any help you may be able to provide me,
Joshua</p>