Safety/Match/Reach... Advice please?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So let me start by saying I'm a bit confused about where I should be applying... my GPA is low for Ivies and MIT caliber schools, though I do have extenuating circumstances.</p>

<p>I had a house fire that left me homeless and roaming about from the end of my sophomore year and through the first semester of my junior year. I'm not sure if they will take this in to consideration but essentially I had stellar grades until the end of my sophomore year and the trend continued at the end of my junior year. (2nd semester on)</p>

<p>I have a huge passion for physics and I've been really interested, recently, in doing research in astrophysics, I've been watching quite a few of Neil deGrasse Tyson's lectures. My AP Chem teacher also set me down a path with some self-studied/researched Nuclear Physics that I loved as well. </p>

<p>Stats:
White (Caucasian) Male
UW GPA - 3.7/4.0
W GPA - ~4.6/5.0
ACT: 35 (36 M, 33 R, 36 S, 34 E)
SAT II: Have not taken but I expect 800 Math/800 Chem
AP: 13 total, 1 Sophomore year, 4 Junior Year, 8 Senior Year (5 Chem, 5 Lang, 5 WH, 5 Bio, 4 USH) and then Calc BC, Econ, Gov, Lit, Human Geo, Psych, Physics C, and Euro History this year</p>

<p>ECs:
Job as a supervisor/cashier at a local farmers market (20 hours/week since the fire)
1st Chair All-State Eb Clarinetist (won't specify what state to protect privacy)
Marching Band (I love music)
Attended some lectures on Genetics and Biochemical Engineering during my Junior Year, would have loved to do some research but never could find time for it, or opportunity where I'm at.. :(
I also spent part of my summer learning to repair cars, kinda sparked an interest in mechanical engineering as I put quite a few hours in to my own</p>

<p>Location: Out of the South preferably. I visited Berkeley and UCLA. Loved both campuses though I prefer the big city feel, where I'm at is hot and spread out. It'd be nice to use a subway every now and then.</p>

<p>Money: My grandparents saved about 80k for me that they intend to 'gift' or 'grant' to me when I turn 18 (and go to college). That comes to about 20k/year and my parents are about 15-20k on the EFC from MIT.</p>

<p>To be honest I get drawn in to almost everything... I also have a distinct mind for math and even interest in Economics, I've been playing with the MarketWatch simulator for months now. I have a really creative side and I'd like to be able to express that and follow some of my curiosities wherever I go. Is that through a double major?</p>

<p>School List:
MIT
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UIUC
UT Austin
Carnegie Mellon
NYU-Poly</p>

<p>If someone could recommend more Safties/Matches it would be greatly appreciated! If you need any more info just let me know :)</p>

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<p>I think a house fire that leaves you homeless is definitely something you should tell them about on your common app</p>

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<p>Well I had somewhere to sleep at night but it was changing for about a month. Grandparents house to motel, to another motel. Just constantly moving around until we got an apartment and eventually rebuilt the house. I moved back in (finally!) in the spring of Junior Year.</p>

<p>Edit: For clarity.</p>

4

<p>I had a house fire that left me homeless and roaming about from the end of my sophomore year and through the first semester of my junior ye</p>

<p>???</p>

<p>Where were your parents during this time?</p>

<p>Was this a home that they owned? If they had insurance, then you would have been put up in a rental or residential hotel (like Residence Inn) while your home was rebuilt.</p>

5

<p>My parents were there, and we did have insurance. However there was a huge investigation in to whether we were at fault in the fire. We jumped about 4 hotels in the course of a month and ended up in a residential hotel until school ended. After that we signed a lease with an apartment complex and stayed there for three months however the rebuilding was not finished so we were back in to moving what we had left in to a different residential hotel. We ended up not being at fault, and the rebuilding of the house was ended in the early spring/late winter (March) of Junior Year.</p>

<p>Anyways the point was not to paint a ‘poor me’ picture. I’d really just like some schools for the prospective major of Physics with my stats, ECs, and interests. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the replies everyone!</p>

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<p>Edit: Combined the post to the one above to save space.</p>

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<p>Please don’t use the term homeless when you write about this. That mocks those students who actually ARE homeless.</p>