Specifically for me, how much would the essay affect my chances?

Applying to College
1

So during my high school years I encountered a special circumstance.
My mom is diagnosed with some kind of nerve disease and brain disease and therefore cannot drive. I have to take care of her when I get home and basically I have no means of public transportation. I tried carpooling for a year, with about 2-3 families simultaneously, but in the end it didn’t work out. We moved near the school so I could walk to school. I often have to walk to the nearest supermarket to buy groceries. I will be getting my license soon which will alleviate the problem, but due to these constraints, I have a lack of extracurricular activities. During the summers, I had to go back to China and get treatment for her. Not too much extra time over the summer, as I spent most of my days in the hospital with her. During the extra time, I attended some chess competitions and did SAT prep.

Now I don’t want to sound like a whiner. I know that colleges will take my circumstances into account, but to what degree? I have stats for top schools but I was thinking that the colleges will want some kind of evidence on how have overcome such circumstances. But, I did not do something extraordinary like starting a fundraiser for XXX disease awareness or anything like that. I helped out mostly around my neighborhood as I had to be close to home, did some tutoring which I liked, but couldn’t go anywhere too far from home since if anything happened to my mom I would have to be there ASAP.
So basically if I explain my situation thoroughly, how much “pardon” does it give for the severe lack of activities at top schools?
I understand that this isn’t an excuse for not having any activities, and that many people have perhaps suffered more and still have been successful. I am not expecting any of these to get me in, I am just curious on how top colleges view these types of cases. Can a certain circumstance allow you to be severely lacking in an area?

Wow that is a lot to read. Sorry about writing so much.

Thanks so much everyone, please be honest. I don’t mind not getting in a top school as I know I probably don’t have a good shot. Any advice/past experiences are greatly appreciated!

Oh also, my dad doesn’t live with me. He works in China and comes over to visit once or twice a year.

2

I think an essay will be important but you have to take care how you write it. It is not you that is suffering, it is your mother.

In general you can and should let the colleges know that you seem to play a primary caretaker role for your mother in this way. So yes they will take it into consideration. It takes a lot of character and devotion to be such a rock for your mother and those are important qualities. To stand out to these colleges you still have to convey what interests and potential you have. There are many things you can do on your own or on your computer. How you find a way to go above and beyond given the constraints you have will be something you can distinguish yourself with. You seem to have so much downtime, you could be analyzing baseball stats, blogging the molecular gastronomy dishes you invent, doing citizen science, taking MOOCs in subjects you do citizen science in, entering creative writing contests, making your own youtube videos, I don’t know your interests…maybe you just play a lot of video games, making them would be more interesting.

Oh, study for SAT is not an EC. If you do that instead of an EC do not mention it.

3

I like playing chess. I am secretary of chess club and have organized some chess tournaments within the school and with some other schools, but nothing major. I played in chess tournaments whenever my dad came over, and won some prizes. I play violin, was principal second violin, but without a private teacher, I was unable to audition for some of the prestigious orchestras in my area, for some reason they require it.

I think the main thing is that I don’t know how I am supposed to convey potential? Is there any way to show them that I am still a capable person. I have interests and I devote a lot of time to them, but I havent had too many opportunities to serve as evidence to my prowess in that area.
This is for all schools, if the top schools and the bottom schools view this differently.