Besides transferring (the obvious choice), I am going into my gap year to research more in my academia position.
As a more robust way of understanding the situation, I will provide this preface starting with grades: Freshman year - All As, Sophmore-Senior year many Ds and Cs with failed classes and dropped college classes.
Test scores: after the third attempt: 1590
ECs: ISEF 3rd in Category, 2 Published Papers with a professor with one as the First author in a high impact journal, internship at T1 school for ML/math, another semifinalist at Biotech conference/competition for high schoolers, selected speaker at machine learning conference, cello for 14 years (principal all state, used to go to many international festivals when in middle school).
Essentially, I basically never went to (in-person) school and ended up failing a lot of classes due to my own very bad medical problems as well as my family’s. I did take a lot of discrete math super young so I was very into programming and ended up with ML. Flash forward to Junior year, I landed a big internship through just cold emailing professors and with that work, I went to ISEF and other competitions and conferences. Now, I’m in an odd position where transferring is still a very obvious option, but I still need to continue my research, so I would have to ideally live in the Boston area. My family’s health is so poor where I have very few resources to rely on at this point, so I am highly anxious as to what I am supposed to do.
Sorry for the confusion, I’ve been rejected almost everywhere except my state school with no aid. However, I very much so rushed through the whole application process so I was wondering how should I even reapply of if I should anyways.
You need to retake and pass every class with a D (or F).
Is there a way for you to be a super senior? If you have medical documentation for your health problems, did you provide it to your school and didn’t they offer you to retake classes?
Is your gpa something like a 2.3?
Do you know what you want to major in?
To be competitive, you need
4 years of English
4 years of Social Science/History (1 US history, 1 world/European/African American history…)
math: sounds like you got it covered
bio, chem, physics +1 more science class
Level 3 or 4 in world language
Do you have any deficiency to make up?
You can only apply to 4 year colleges once those Ds have become As (or Bs, but colleges will want to see As).
What was your original list of colleges?
If you had health issues during high school, you should have had a 504 plan and been accommodated. Did you do school online at all? Public schools even have to provide a tutor if you are out a certain amount of time. Were you truant? Did you actually graduate or get a GED?
Why aren’t you going to your state school where you got in? Cost? Are you thinking you can go back to the drawing board and get more aid?
I would take part-time classes- two are needed for financial aid- and work. You can build a good record and GPA that way and might even continue in that way if finances dictate it. You can do this at the state school that admitted you or at a community college.
If your health is still a challenge, that is a priority. Maybe take one class.
You can certainly continue with your outside EC’s which are impressive and may ultimately help with admissions but right now you need to show you can do the work.
ps One of mine worked and did college classes a semester for several years and graduated without debt.
If you have a high school diploma, then that ship has sailed. I suggest you start at the local 4 yr public college now. If you have a med or psych issue, get help for it. In addition to making sure you do well in college, focus on getting internships using your skills. If you do well in those, it wont matter where you went to college.
You need to take care of your health issues first and foremost. College will be there if and when you are ready.
Do you live within commuting distance of this four year college you got accepted to? If so, can you take one or two classes at a time to ease into college studies? Is this school affordable?
This makes it sound like you are already IN college with the idea of transferring to some college in Boston. Frankly, your post is very unclear, and I hope you can clarify what you really mean.
What were your grades junior and senior year? Or are you saying that you were a first author, ISEF winner, and invited speaker as a sophomore drop out?
My school is in a very very rural part of New England so there was very little support structures. The 504 plan option was not even brought up to our family until the last half of the senior year, which we took, but it was already too late by then.
I think because of my very good Freshman year it eventually ended up at around 3.1 UW? And yes, I took these online credit recovery classes so that I could actually graduate with a diploma.
I just apologize to everyone as the wording is very unclear in my post. I have graduated high school with a real diploma (no GED), and am now on my gap year to work and recover health wise. I have a 3.1ish UW GPA and 3.6 W.
I mentioned transferring as an optional plan within the four-year state school college, however this doesn’t really ideally work due to money reasons.
You won’t be transferring, it sounds like you will be entering as an incoming freshman. What can your family afford to pay for college each year? Do you have a commutable two or four year option close by?
School is a very rural public school in New England so their support structures for such an extreme case were very poor. I was offered a 504 plan, but much too late to offer any use. I did graduate. The state school has no programs music and research-wise that are suited to me, as well as being expensive due to no aid.
I am certainly considering taking part-time classes (most likely online) at the community college and thinking about it from there. The main point is whether or not I should consider reapplying more seriously to see if my test scores and ECs can attract any schools.
Thanks for providing the info.
So, you have a 3.1UW, 3.6W (not bad), SAT 1590, made up the D/F credits (did you get As?), graduated HS Spring 2023, are on a gap year to work&get better healthwise, from a very small, rural HS, and amazing achievement outside of school.
(Note: you’d be applying as a freshman, not a transfer, since you just graduated HS. This is the status most likely to yield scholarships so don’t “spoil” it by taking random college classes till you have a plan in place.)
Can you keep doing some of these activities, especially ISEFrelated/research?
what are you interested in studying?
what colleges did you apply to last year?
will your GC and teachers support your application? Do they have a school profile? Can they explain in which ways you’re exceptional, how your health should have led to a 504, etc?
what is the highest level of math and foreign language you have reached? What classes did you take for History or science?
would you be 1st generation at a 4 year college in your family? Do you+your family make 65k or under annually? Do you know your FAFSA EFC? Have you run Net Price Calculators before?