unique situation--junior year disaster?

<p>I have a unique situation that has been causing me headaches for some time. Because Of illness and absences (I would get dizzy and faint) during junior year, I have no idea where I stand on college and how I should tell colleges about my situation I also tried to show colleges that I recovered by taking community college classes during the summer and getting A’s. I had good grades all through 9-10, and suddenly my grades fell during 11th. I’ve been lurking around CC for a while and would and really appreciate all the input. Would you guys mind helping a girl out? :-)
(And I’ll pre-apologize for the long post)</p>

<p>Due to my absences, I am banned from taking AP classes my senior year. There are no honors classes’ senior years. You need a teacher’s recommendation to take AP classes, and my teachers won’t recommend me. There’s no way around it and even if I were able to, those teachers would already have it out for me. Meanwhile, my dad is moving and so I have the choice of going to another school where I will be able to take AP classes b/c they have an open enrollment AP policy. The problem is, that school is ultra-competitive and many go to ivy leagues. If I went there, I would be able to get decent recommendations for college Apps, and take AP classes, but my class rank would fall all the way down.</p>

<p>Colleges consider your application in context to your high school, so if I transfer to this other top public school for senior year, would my application be judged harder? Since not many people from my school apply to UC’s, or even privates, I would have a better chance. I heard that if you come from a mediocre school, UC’s won’t be as hard on you. People from my school get 3.4’s and get into top UC's while people from this top public school get 3.7’s and are rejected. Colleges expect more from people attending this other school, so would I be at a disadvantage?</p>

<p>Should I transfer hs, what colleges do I have a chance at, and how should I explain my situation (junior year disaster) to colleges?</p>

<p>chances for UC and privates (USC, Amherst, Wesleyan, Carnegie Mellon, other recommendations?). </p>

<p>UCLA, UCSD, UCI and UCD? I hope to go to UCLA or UCSD.</p>

<p>Location: SoCal suburb
UC GPA: 3.74--grade drop junior year
Regular school GPA: 3.8ish<br>
Rank: top 15%
Unweighted GPA: uh…3.0 or lower.
Ethnicity: my parents are from hawaii.
mixed asian, 1/8 english.
asian last name
Essays: great/excellent-I’m a good writer</p>

<p>AP: three 3’s </p>

<p>Bad Note: I have a downward trend during junior year second semester due to illness/ absences, but during summer took a dozen units dual credit classes at local college w/ 4.0. (it actually helped bring my hs GPA up)</p>

<p>9th:
English 9, music literature, bio, PE, geometry, Spanish 2
-All A’s</p>

<p>Tested out of Spanish 3, algebra II</p>

<p>10th
AP Euro (A/A) Hon English (A/A) Spanish (A/A) Hon. Chemistry (A/B)
Pre-calulus and Trig (B/A) , Spanish 4 </p>

<p>11th semester one—I was in a mess b/c I really really sick and was absent a lot,…and my grades reflect that. :- (</p>

<p>AP bio (A), AP history (B), AP Spanish (B), Business and Advertising (A), hon. English (C) AP statistics (C)</p>

<p>11th Semester two—dropped AP history, AP bio
AP stats (c), AP Spanish (B), biz. & advertising (A), hon English (C), US history (C) </p>

<p>11-12 summer—much better- I took 4 UC-transferable classes (w/4.0 GPA) at the Community college and my HS took it and weighed it into my GPA</p>

<p>Standardized testing
Sat ii Spanish: 680
Sat ii writing 770, full 800 subscore on essay
Sat ii bio-don’t remember, 750-800 range
Plan on taking literature (predicted 750+),
math iic—700ish
SAT: 1850 first time, will retake. </p>

<p>Work Experience:
Employed for one semester as a sales associate/cashier at JCPenny’s (15 hours/wk). Will probably get another job in retail this fall.</p>

<p>EC’s
Music/Creative writing
-Governor’s school for arts –Csssa alumni
-California arts scholar medallion
-(Arts) published in minor mag’s.</p>

<p>Conservation
-Went on a (free-not one of those pay to volunteer type programs) intense three-week summer trail-work/conservation program in Nevada desert backcountry and Colorado, climbed to 12-13,000 feet in Rockies.
-Did a one-year conservation program with same group, they choose 25 kids from So Cal, go on monthly all weekend (three day) camping trips and do services like bridge building, wee pulling etc in S.F
-Brief magazine Internship with above program,<br>
-Greyhound rescue shelter volunteer (9th and up)</p>

<p>City Volunteer
-Camp counselor for two summers at city day camp
-Appointed to forum for city issues</p>

<p>-FBLA Club
Member –9th/co-VP-10th/co-VP-11th –chosen for regional leader group but training conflicted with gov’s school. Donated 1K to various charities, etc, helped organize state sectionals itinerary.
-Participated in conferences/competitions for retail, went to state twice (top 8, 3rd), international once (did not place), regional twice (top 8), state sectionals once). Invited by advisor to help judge at regionals. </p>

<p>Building with books Club
Literacy tutor-member (9), secretary (10), president (11)</p>

<p>Greyhound rescue-volunteer, treasurer</p>

<p>Volunteer
- didn’t know I was supposed to document hours. Hours not required to graduate at my HS
estimate:
-300 for two summer’s as camp counselor at day camp.
-125 hours for 3-week summer conservation program.
-100-125 for yearlong program group
-50 for greyhound rescue shelter.</p>

<p>Well the question I'd ask first is whether or not you have a doctor willing to write a note confirming that you'd been sick often and absent as a result of that. If that's so, I dont think colleges would look upon you negatively for your doing poorly junior year, and you'd have a decent shot.</p>

<p>That said, if your teachers do "have it out for you" (I know how awful that feels) and you can't take APs, I would suggest you switch to the more competitive school. Include in your apps your ranking in your old school, to give them some reference, and explain to them the reason why you had to switch out of the school (wanting to take a more challenging courseload). That way, your new, lower ranking wouldnt hurt you as much. </p>

<p>I dont know anything about UC schools, but Carnegie Mellon, and perhaps RPI (if you're interested in sciences) would be solid match schools for you.</p>

<p>So, in conclusion, I'd suggest switching and making a supplementary packet of materials to send to the school explaining your situation. Include previous school's ranking, doctor's note, short note about not being allowed to take APs (even better if you can find some sort of school policy about it and include that). And take challenging classes and do well! First semester grades will be so important in your case...and don't overwork yourself if you're still ill. Good luck!</p>

<p>It is not true that if you come from a medicore school UCs won't be as hard on you. UCs are on a formula and the only way your school counts is that if you are in the top 4% you are guaranteed one of the UCs (not the one you choose). Look up "ELC" on the UC forums and it is explained.<br>
If you are in CA, what about two years at one of the better CCs? The private schools might be okay, but with your stats I doubt UCLA or UCSD. This is based on my son's experiences with the UCs.<br>
As far as changing schools, I'll let the more experienced answer that one but with a unique situation like yours you are definitely going to get a better read at the privates and not at the UCs which are formula driven.</p>

<p>yeah i'd suggest that you transfer to a different high school.</p>

<p>i'd transfer</p>

<p>I think your situation is really complicated. In another thread, there's a discussion of private college counselors. I am skeptical about their value in lots of cases, but you could probably use some one-on-one attention and strategizing with a knowledgable person who had no other axes to grind. If you can find someone good who's affordable for you, that's one positive step I would take. Sooner rather than later, because the question which school you're going to attend is pretty important.</p>

<p>I think it's tough to switch schools in 12th grade. My daughter switched in 11th grade, and that turned out to be much more difficult than I had imagined. She faced the same issues you have -- translating School A's transcript into School B trashed her class rank and made her look comparatively bad. Getting good teacher recommendations will be a challenge -- maybe at either school. Getting a meaningful GC recommendation will also be a challenge. In either case, you will have to be proactive (and not defensive) to make certain the GC reflects your situation and is sympathetic with your goals. Easier said than done in some cases.</p>

<p>Lots of people know lots more about UC admissions than I do, but right now you look like a tough case at any of the campuses you named. My understanding is that for the most part it's numbers/rank based. If you got a 770 on the old SAT II Writing (when did you take that??), there's no way you should have 1850 on the new SAT I. Obviously, you need to retake that; at that level, it's a huge barrier to your plans. But really, you need to do detailed research and to talk with a counselor about what the admissions standards for the various campuses really are, what level you need to get to to have someone pay attention to your essays, your ECs, the reason for your 11th grade issues, and who you are, and how the choice of school and course load affects that.</p>

<p>For the private colleges, same thing. I know practically nothing about USC, but your profile does not look like the kids from around here that get into Amherst, Wesleyan, or CMU, all of which are competitive at the Berkeley/UCLA level. One idea: See if you can talk to an admissions person at USC. Tell them about your issues, and ask how to present them effectively in an application there. I don't know that you'll get a completely satisfactory answer, but you'll probably learn something. (My daughter did that at two schools, and it was very helpful, because what they wanted and what her schools would have done on their own was pretty different. It helped a lot to be able to say "I talked to the admissions deans at X and Y, and they said provide this, not that.")</p>

<p>Some options you may want to think about: </p>

<p>Staying at your existing school, but studying for and taking the AP exams you would otherwise have taken. (This makes sense only in conjunction with some of the other ideas.)</p>

<p>Planning for a gap year, and not applying to college at all this year (or not applying to the colleges on your list). If you can complete a really good year (at either school), and then do something meaningful and productive, you will have much more effective applications in 2007 than you will in 2006. And you can ask people to write recommendations in the spring, when there is a lot less pressure, you can get more individualized attention, and your teachers from this year (who will love you, of course) will have a more solid basis for their recommendations.</p>

<p>Plan to go to a community college next year, and apply to transfer into one of the UC campuses you like (provided you do well). I know one very smart kid with a troubled high school background (4 schools in 3 states in 4 years, including one expulsion) who is doing that after some considerable research.</p>

<p>I may be way off base here -- everything may work out fine for you without so much trouble. You seem like a great kid with a lot to offer, but who will be confusing to look at on paper and won't reduce well to a formula. </p>

<p>It will be hard, but try not to get caught up in the now-or-never, name-brand frenzy of 12th grade college applications. Your college and graduate education is a life-long asset. If, given what happened last year, you need to step back and take more time getting there, or getting where you want to be, or if you have to take responsibility for getting the education you want at some less-famous college than those on your list . . . none of that will matter at all 10 or 15 years from now, or for the rest of your life. Don't do anything crazy now in a desperate attempt to get some particular result immediately that may be tough to achieve no matter what. You have some challenges that no magic wand is going to wave away, so do the mature thing: identify your real goals (i.e., not "I gotta go to Berkeley because everyone respects that" but specific educational goals), identify the challenges, identify real (not cosmetic) solutions, figure out the steps you need to take to implement them, figure out the timeline, make a plan, and go do it.</p>

<p>How Do I go about finding good yet affordable college couselors? I've talked with the counselor at my (maybe to be) new school but he doesn't seem very informed. Do you guys have any recommendations for counselors, esp. in the Bay Area? My father is moving there and if i transfer (probably will) that's where my new school will be.</p>

<p>thanks, I REALLY appreciate all the advice</p>

<p>JHS, well said. Procrastinator89 take a minute, take a deep breath and re-read JHS' post. I feel like you are caught up in "doing" rather than thinking this thing out a bit...I understand how nerve racking all this stuff is, just take a minute and sort it out in your mind. I don't now about college counselors in the Bay area, but don't forget a counselor can't change your situation. Your grades and situation are unique to you...the counselors can advise you and help you "position" yourself but they can't change your stats.</p>

<p>You don't have to take an AP course to take an AP test. How about you do independent study, and ace your AP tests, and then write about it in your essays. I'd have a great deal of respect for anyone who'd do that.</p>

<p>I'm a (going to be )senior, and even before I take the AP tests, colleges will have already made their decision.</p>

<p>Does anybody have an idea of what other colleges might be a good choice?</p>

<p>Procrastinator89, start checking out smaller private liberal arts schools that have a good program in the field you are most interested. My D (now a sophomore) went to two years of CSSSA and had lots of volunteer and leadership experience, but so-so SATs and a 3.4 average. The schools she got a great response from (and loads of scholarship offers) were places like Chapman and Loyola. Schools small enough to look at specific talents are your best bet.</p>

<p>forgot to add (she is a sophomore in college, not high school)</p>