I’m a senior in high school. I want to go to Northwestern or University of Chicago. I’m female. I want to major in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, or physics and astronomy. I am in a bit of a different situation than other students. I have been home-bound schooled through my high school (so not actually home schooled, my parents don’t teach me) since my sophomore year due to a severe anxiety disorder that I have. It has gotten much better now so I am ready to go to college. I’m wondering if I could use this as an advantage when applying to Northwestern and other colleges, saying that it was an obstacle I had to get through. Or there is the possibility that colleges may see it as a disadvantage and not want to accept me. Being home-bound schooled, I did a lot of my school work on my own and taught myself a lot by reading text books because the school only paid for me to meet with a tutor/teacher 1-2 times a week. I have done wonderful in all my classes, I have gotten all a’s since sophomore year. I have a 4.1 gpa. I have been unable to take ap classes until this year because my school did not have any way to make them available without actually coming to a class at school which I couldn’t do due to my anxiety. So I only have 1 ap class that they finally offered to me this year. I have some honors classes but I couldn’t have all my classes honors because my school had trouble getting teachers that were qualified to teach honors. I got a 29 on the act, 35 in English, 24 math, 28 reading, 29 science. I’m taking the act again tomorrow. Freshman year I took biology, honors algebra, honors English, world history, Spanish 1. Sophomore year I took earth science, algebra 2, psychology, sociology, English 2 and a few other unimportant classes. Junior year I took chemistry, English 3, contemporary literature, us history, government. Senior year I am taking honors precalculus, Spanish 2, ap English literature and composition, physics, honors college composition. My honors precalculus tutor is the head of the math department so I’m hoping his recommendation letter will be impressive to have. I don’t have any extracurriculars because of my anxiety. I live in Illinois. I would like to do an alumni interview and explain my situation a bit more. I wrote my personal essay about my anxiety problems and how I overcame everything. I tried to keep it positive and say that everything worked out and that I learned how to have self discipline to get things done. My top two college choices are Northwestern and University of Chicago. My next choice after them would be Marquette University. How are my chances of getting into Northwestern or Uchi? What about Marquette? Also if you have any college suggestions for me that would be great. Any tips are greatly appreciated. If you need more information let me know.
Oh and I’m taking anatomy and physiology next semester.
Also I’m in the top 10% of my class
I can’t tell how hard it was to get a 4.1 gpa or be ranked in top 10% while being home-bound schooled, and colleges might not know either. That’s why your test scores are very important, and you don’t seem to have any ap scores or subject test scores, and act is below par for Chicago/northwestern. Still, your story is interesting and everybody has a chance, so give it a shot and I hope you make it! There are also lots of slightly lower tier schools that would be lucky to have you.
@ambitionsquared thanks!
Even though you have lower test scores for the schools that you are applying to, I think that if you are able to explain your story in a way that frames it as an obstacle that has been overcome through hard work and passion, you will have a shot at the university. Make sure that your essays are on point, reflecting you, your work, and you again. Good luck! 
Thank you!
Mental health issues can be a major red flag at top universities - every year, a couple thousand students who used to be near the top of their class arrive at UChicago or Northwestern, and and most find out they’re average or below-average for the school. Many colleges are leery of students who could struggle in a stressful environment.