Student with slightly different circumstances...chance me/advice??

<p>Hi everyone,
This may end up being a long post but I'll try to keep things short. I'm a rising senior who goes to a pretty competitive public school that sends quite a few people to ivies and top colleges per year. My grades freshman and sophomore year were not outstanding by any means but they weren't terrible either (3.57). However, during my junior year (specifically the first 3 quarters) everything went downhill primarily to family circumstances. My mom was previously diagnosed with cancer and she had a relapse around the beginning of the year. My dad has also been unemployed for more than 2 years because he was studying to get a degree after he was laid off from his previous job. However, he was unable to find a job and coupled with my mom's hospitalization for cancer treatments we had to apply for unemployment pensions. I really regret not being able to keep my grades up because I've always been taught that even when your personal life is falling apart nothing should interfere with your academics. Now I'll get to my point: My dad managed to secure a job that pays relatively well and my mom was discharged from the hospital a couple of weeks ago. As junior year comes to a close, I'm starting to worry about the colleges I am supposed to be looking at. I am very passionate about volunteering and I was previously very interested in pre-med and going to medical school but because of my mom's relapse and financial difficulties I am now more interested in a business career (accounting and/or finance). I was wondering if anyone can comment/chance me on my current college list and perhaps suggest some more? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I truly appreciate it.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
Ethnicity: Asian
School type: Public</p>

<p>Academics:
-GPA: 3.3 UW/4.0 W
-AP Courses taken: Gov&Politics (4), Bio, Chem, English Lang, World History, Environmental Science, Calc AB, Psychology
I haven't received my ap scores back yet.....
-SAT: 2370 (second time taking it) Essay: 11
-SAT II: Math (800), World History (800), Bio (800)</p>

<p>ECs:
National Honor Society
Future Business Leaders of America*
Science National Honor Society
Science Olympiad
Mu Alpha Theta
History Scholars (Honor Society)*
UNICEF*
Red Cross*
Chemistry Olympiad*
Spanish Honor Society
Tutoring Club*
cross country for 3 years
works at Kumon
*denotes leadership position (either president, vice president or secretary)</p>

<p>lots of volunteering probably 400+ through the volunteering clubs as well as on my own time
summer: working at Kumon, volunteering at homeless shelters and/or soup kitchens as well as hospital, running</p>

<p>Awards: National Merit Commended, AP Scholar with Honors (or National Scholar if I manage to get at least 4s or 5s on all of the tests I took this year), Honor Roll, regional and state medals for both science + chemistry olympiad, some cross country medals and plaques</p>

<p>Household Income
$100k+
no hooks</p>

<p>Current College List
UMBC (in state)
UMCP (in state)
UIUC
IU
NYU (?????)</p>

<p>also looking at lehigh, william and mary, and villanova</p>

<p>as for recs, they should be pretty good as they both know me well</p>

<p>bumpity bump bump</p>

<p>your list is kind of underachieving in my opinion with such a high SAT and weighted GPA you should be looking at some better schools. Also, it’s very sad what happened to you during your Junior year, but when you apply to college they allow you to explain scenarios just like these and how they impacted your grades, so I wouldn’t stress too much about your GPA at that point. </p>

<p>you’re in at all the Maryland schools, you’re 100% in at Indiana that’s a safety, UIUC is a low match so you’re most likely in. NYU is the only school on there that is a match - high match, but you still stand a great chance. </p>

<p>Lehigh: Match
W and M: Match
Villanova: Don’t know much about this school </p>

<p>Look at other schools that are on the level of NYU to add to your list.</p>

<p>Lehigh: Match/High Match
W&M: Match
Villanova: Match
Don’t know much about UMBC, UMCP, & IU
UIUC: High match
NYU: High match</p>

<p>Your chances are solid considering your scores are above and beyond and your EC’s are great. I think you will get into every school, if anything you won’t get into NYU or Lehigh but your chances are slim of not getting in. Good luck</p>

<p>bumppp</p>

<p>Shoot higher, in my opinion. You can explain your low gpa in your essays, and everything else looks really good. </p>