First of all, I need to explain myself before I tell you any of my stats. For the past 3 years of my life I have struggled with a mystery illness that has kind of messed up my life. I am now a senior in high school and will be taking a year off to apply to colleges. Also, I was homeschooled for the second half of my junior year and that is why my GPA is low. I was forced to take regular classes. I still struggle a lot with my autoimmune symptoms, and as a result don’t look like the average college student. Now with that onto my stats.
GPA (unweighted/weighted): 4.87/5.25 (highest at my school is around 5.5)
Class Rank: we don’t have class ranks but have quartiles. I’m in the top quartile.
ACT: 29 (28 E, 28 M, 35 R, 24 S)(I am taking it again because when I took it my symptoms were acting up pretty bad.)
AP Human Geography (4), AP World History, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Government, AP English Literature, AP US History, AP American Language
Teacher Recs: both I believe were pretty outstanding. I know one of my teachers talked about the fact that I had to teach myself in the class and how I demonstrate a lot of courage and perseverance that she hasn’t seen in many kids to get through my classes while sick. My other teacher talked about how far advanced my mindset was compared to a lot of the students he has taught. He was one of my favorite teachers and he gave me an amazing rec.
Counselor rec: unlike most kids I know my counselor really well, and she knows me really well. So, her rec was pretty amazing too. I didn’t read it but she said she talked a lot about my maturity and the qualities that set me apart from every other high school kid.
Additional rec: I got an additional rec from the tutor that was my home bound tutor when I was really sick. She gave me the best rec she’s ever given someone. She used to be a principal and has a phd in literature and education from UPenn.
EC:
-NHS Member
-Speech team member
-180 tutoring hours
-Worked as a camp counselor for a summer
-Went to a prestigious speech camp for 3 summers and won an award all 3 years
-Theatre member for 3 years. I was a principal in a play. I was also in a play that went to a state festival.
-2.5year choir member
-Suicide hotline volunteer
State: IL
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Mixed (Asian and Caucasian… My dad is from Japan)
Hooks: I’ve had a lot of struggles with my health in high school and I’ve overcome a lot of adversity. I don’t want to get into a lot of medical details but it is very hard to deal with severe medical problems and still do well in school.
Should I even consider applying to prestigious schools like uchicago? What can I do to bolster up my application? Thank you so much for taking the time to read!
