Very badly affected by Hurricane Katrina... now what?

Applying to College
1

<p>I keep worrying about this, and it's really not helping with my academics.</p>

<p>I moved to New Orleans sophmore year of high school last year completely against my will but made the best of it. I ended up doing really well at the school I went to there and made a good name for myself. Plus I realized the whole south thing would help me get into college.</p>

<p>Welll, freshmen year, I was at another school and I did pretty well then, too. I set myself up for a lot of positions, since everyone at that school doesn't get off their butts until sophmore/junior year, so seniority plays a big role in officer positions etc.</p>

<p>Now I'm back at that school I was at freshmen year, except now I have nothing. I had a few positions I was elected to but never really got to fulfill from New Orleans. All I see around me are peers who got the positions they wanted and I really should be with them being editor of this and vice prez of that and .... it's just not there. Somehow that makes everything even more depressing.</p>

<p>I know that colleges will 'understand' that I can't do much, but how will this compare to the kids from the same school who got everything? I'm really trying hard right now and rejoined my old activities, but those were only the ones from freshmen year. I could write a good essay, but I doubt that'd make all the difference. I'm having a lot of trouble motivating myself at the moment. My house was mostly destroyed and, because my dad was on medical staff, I was stuck in New Orleans at the convention center for a while, which was pretty traumatizing. I'm even considering just getting hammered (totally out of character) this weekend instead of studying for the PSAT like I should.</p>

<p>I can't help but think I get the worst end of the stick for every situation. My curriculum is really bad now. I went from 5 to 3 APs, and last year I couldn't take the sophmore AP Euro because of my moving... I've pretty much accepted that I will always have to take classes with people younger than me and take tons of gym classes to make up credits. It just looks really weird and bad on the application. I can't really ignore the fact that there will be people with applications that maybe I would've had if I hadn't moved around so much and they'll just edge me out. By the way, I'm a 1st generation Asian girl. I've moved around a lot; it's three countries and counting. </p>

<p>What do you all think? Is there something for me to do right now that might make up for all of this? What about later? :-/ I just can't figure out how to start the compensation process. And what is your honest opinion of how this will all affect admissions?</p>

<p>I'm not sure if my school in New Orleans will reopen or not, but it seems likely that it might next semester. Would it be worth it to go back and reclaim all my positions from there? I've had adjustment and EC problems there, too, but I have more positions... </p>

<p>I'm looking at Ivies and other comparable schools for college. Last year my PSAT score with not too much prep was 215 and I took the SATII Bio last year with a 780 after Honors Bio. GPA unweighted is around 3.9, but maybe not, because it's all messed up after moving around so much I'm not sure anymore.</p>

2

<p>Colleges will understand what happened, and won't expect that you could walk into a new school and become an immediate leader of organizations.</p>

<p>What you could do, however, would be to rise above your current difficulties by doing something like working with organizations or starting organizations to help hurricane victims. Perhaps, for instance, you could help establish a sister relationship between your current school and your former school, asking people to make donations of supplies, etc. to help your former school and its students when it reopens.</p>

<p>Think about what you could do to help others whose lives have been hurt by the hurricane or other disasters, then get involved in helping them.</p>

3

<p>I would recommend you go back to your old school when it reopens and continue what you were doing there and do some volunteer work. It shows resiliency plus it's good for you and the people of New Orleans. Also, colleges will definitely understand. Just make sure you put on all the apps what positions you had before you had to change schools.</p>

4

<p>Consiglieri - I can't help you but just wanted to say I am so sorry that you are having all these problems. I am sure that anyone with a heart will understand that your schooling have been affected by things beyond your control. If they don't, would you really want to go to such an uncaring school?</p>

5

<p>One thing about the wide dispersal of hurricane victims is that it has made many people aware of the numerous and sometimes unexpected issues people are having. College admissions offices know that they're going to be seeing challenged kids applying for New Orleans in the next few years; students with interrupted schedules, missing records, fewer extracurriculars, and a lot of personal upheaval.</p>

<p>It sounds like you are conscientious about your education and I believe you will make the right decisions for yourself. Take care of yourself, that's so important right now. Don't worry about colleges not understanding, and don't worry about how you're "competing" against people whose recovery from Katrina has been different.</p>