Student Forced to Stay Home ==> Few EC's

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

My parents don’t allow me to leave home for anything except work and school, so I couldn’t do many extracurriculars. We can’t afford to travel anywhere, either. But I’m still applying to selective schools because I guess I have big dreams. So here are my statistics:

GPA 3.59
the last time I checked (first semester of junior year).

But this is out of date, and the only reason I have such a low GPA is because I suspect I have mild dyscalculia or math anxiety (not yet diagnosed) and I’ve been placed in advanced math classes since elementary school. I get A’s in every other class. It seems that no matter how hard I try or how many hours I study, the numbers get really mixed up in my head. I’ve gotten D’s in math ever since middle school, but I’ve managed to pass every time, so I was never demoted, so to speak.

CLASS RANK 25%
This rank is in one of the 50 top high schools in the country, as rated by Business Insider. However, I’m not sure if the competitiveness of my high school makes much difference to the admissions committee.

ACT 32
E: 35
R: 36
M: 29
S: 29
Writing: 33
ELA: 35

SAT 1410 (780 writing/reading, 630 math)

SAT II’s
US History 750
Literature 800

AP CLASSES
U.S. History (5), English Language and Composition (5)

I’ve taken few AP classes because up until junior year, I was in IB. Next year, I plan on taking a lot more because I had to drop IB. These are the AP classes I will take next year:

AP English Literature and Composition
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP World History
AP French Language and Culture

EXTRACURRICULARS
Part-time job at small business (restaurant)
NFHS, member
Political campaign phone banking volunteer
Film Club, Secretary
ASL Club, Treasurer
Culture Exchange Club, Secretary
Show Club, President and founder
Made documentary/short films
Had substantial roles in theatre productions

AWARDS
Student Leadership Award: 2014, 2015, 2016
4.0 GPA Award (weighted): 2014, 2015, 2016

ESSAYS
I haven’t finalized them, but I’m cautiously optimistic based on the positive feedback I’ve received.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Because my parents discouraged relationships with teachers, I’m not sure who I could ask to write my recommendations. One of the teachers I have in mind and my counselor know me moderately well on a personal level, but the other teacher won’t know me that well beyond my personal achievements in theatre class.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES:
First-generation Indonesian immigrant, now US citizen
Very low-income
Schizophrenic mother/controlling father ==> toxic home environment

In junior year, all the stress got to me. A big contribution was my mom’s diagnosis with life-threatening diabetes type 2. Circumstances culminated in a big misunderstanding where I “ran away” from home (in reality, my parents had disconnected the internet to punish me, and I needed it for an assignment. So I snuck off to my friend’s house late at night to use his WiFi and ended up sleeping there on accident).

Long story short, I was eventually made by my family and counselor to drop many of my IB classes to “lessen the load.”

I know I’m going to have to explain all this in the Additional Information section or my essay but I’m not sure how to without sounding like I made up a sob story or am a serious risk to accept to a college.

COLLEGES I’M APPLYING TO:
Texas State University (safety, I have assured admission)
Mount Holyoke College
Occidental College
Wellesley College
Vassar College
Wesleyan University
University of Southern California
Pomona College (a wild reach! especially since Forbe’s 2015 ranking)

I need some perspective. Am I deluding myself by trying to apply to these selective schools? Should I stick with something more in my league? I see a lot of insanely impressive Chance Me discussions on CollegeConfidential and it just makes my heart sink. Paradoxically, these schools are basically the only ones I can afford because they meet 100% of need-based aid.

2

Work is an EC. And the lower income you are, the more significant an EC it is.

The school defines what your financial “need” is, which may or may not coincide with what you think it is. Try the each school’s Net Price Calculator.

3

Thank you for the reply! I’ve already done each school’s net price calculator with the help of last year’s tax returns. Their net costs of attendance are all (except for USC) affordable, although varied.

Could you please elaborate on what you mean by work being an increasingly significant EC the lower my family’s income is?

4

Rich kids don’t need to work to survive.

5

Is your guidance counselor/college counselor aware of your family dynamics and issues? He/she can speak to some of that in their write-up for your application as far as extenuating circumstances go.

6

She is aware that my mom has a lot of health issues, but nothing else. I’ve been planning to send her an email to address schedule changes in senior year and college apps. Would that be a good time to tell her, or should I wait until school starts?

7

PrimeMeridian… true. I thought there would be some other, secret reason, haha. I’ll be sure to emphasize my job in my résumé of activities. Thanks again

8

A face to face conversation is going to get you a lot more help.
It can be incredibly hard to face all of this alone, and your counselor could be a trusted adult to talk everything through with.

9

An email couldn’t hurt but you should also be sure to sit down with her one on one and talk about the things you’ve mentioned here. As long as you feel comfortable talking about things, the more your counselor knows the more she can paint an accurate portrayal to help insure the colleges have an accurate picture of your unique circumstances.

10

Wait till school starts and make an appt with the GC to discuss. Some issues merit a F2F discussion, not just an FYI email.

11

Thank you all so much. Your replies mean more than you know. I’ll schedule an appointment with her as soon as I can.

I’m still not sure if I have a fair chance at the schools I am applying to. Is my shortlist too much of a long shot?

12

Your chances will generally be better at women’s colleges. Therefore, instead of Pomona, you might want to consider Scripps.

Also look at some of these LACs:
http://ctcl.org/

The one’s in the Midwest will have a lower percentage of Asian students and may welcome the diversity of a student with an Indonesian background.

13

You need to get from your parents exactly what they can contribute.

Would you be happy at your safety, Texas State? Because you need a safety that you would be really OK to attend. Finding the reaches are easy. It’s finding safeties that you would be happy to attend that is npmuch harder.

I would look into adding some schools where you would get merit too.

I’m thinking that Vassar, Wellesley and Wesleyan are need blind and meet 100% need.

If your parents are so controlling, how will they let you go so far ( I’m assuming that you are in Texas) ?

14

Why do you have USC? It does not fit in with the rest of your schools which appears to be LAC oriented ( with the exception of Tx St because it’s your public safety).

15

Wesleyan isn’t officially need-blind. It’s close to it, but not completely. About 5% of total decisions are made with a clear eye on what funds are left in the financial aid budget, resulting in many rejections for anyone requiring aid as the balance reaches $0. Those who have been admitted, as stated upstream, will have 100% of their need (according to Wesleyan) met.

16

^ Thanks for the clarification. So it’s like some other very selective colleges that as the fin aid budget dwindles they admit based on ability to pay.

17

^Yes. It looks as if Haverford is the latest SLAC (selective liberal arts college) to adopt a “need-aware” policy:

http://articles.philly.com/2016-06-27/news/74031412_1_haverford-college-philadelphia-futures-joan-mazzotti

18

—PrimeMeridian: Thank you for the recommendations. I’ll go ahead and look through Colleges That Change Lives. Scripps is a good idea. It has a much higher acceptance rate. But is there a rule against applying for both, since they are both a part of the 5C’s?

----goingnutsmom: They can’t contribute much. I don’t think my dad wants to worry or care about college apps until the FAFSA gives its EFC.

Texas State is close to my hometown and it’s quite affordable. I don’t think I would be challenged there but I would be okay. Apparently, some of its departments are very good. If I fail to get into any other school I could at least use it as a jumping-off point to transfer.

As for merit-based aid, I’m not sure I would qualify for anything at these higher-tier schools… My numbers are good but not the best, especially my GPA. My EC’s aren’t that impressive compared to other students who have solo performances at places like Carnegie Hall (extreme example) but I get the impression from their websites detailing merit-based aid that that’s how accomplished I have to be to qualify for merit-based aid.

I don’t know about need-blind, but I know they meet 100% of financial need. The same goes for Mount Holyoke, Occidental and Pomona.

My reasoning is they can’t physically/legally stop me from going where I want to go once I turn 18 this January. I’ll be a legal adult and I can move as far as I need to.

As for USC, I have it because one of my preferred majors is Cinematography/Film Production. USC has an amazing specialized department for film production, which is the field I want to go to in the future. Even though it’s relatively costly, my logic is that the alumni network, internship/job opportunities, location, and quality of education are worth it.

—circuitrider: I haven’t considered that. Is my resume too unattractive for colleges to admit while being aware of my need (my need is 50,000+ a year for most of these colleges)? Would applying ED to my top choice improve my chances? I know the acceptance rate is higher in ED but the applicants are also much stronger.

19

“My reasoning is they can’t physically/legally stop me from going where I want to go once I turn 18 this January. I’ll be a legal adult and I can move as far as I need to.”

Yes, but that does not mean that colleges will ignore their income in determining what need-based aid to award, and you will still need them to sign forms.

20

I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that that was what y’all meant. My dad is the only person who files taxes/earns money and he is very willing to file the FAFSA/CSS/anything else needed. My mom, who is mentally ill, is the only person who would resist me going out-of-state. However, she doesn’t have any real power over whether or not I go.