<p>So before I start rambling I'll give you my situation.</p>
<p>High School Senior
GPA (unweighted): 2.42
ACT: 30 (English 36, Math 33, Reading 24, Science 27, Writing 9)
ACT Superscore: 31 (English 36, Math 33, Reading 27, Science 27, Writing 10)
Graduating with 14 honors courses and 5 AP courses; 27 credits total.
I don't have many extracurricular activities: Lacrosse Team (9th), Swim Team (10th), and Yearbook Staff (11th).</p>
<p>UTK's Standards
Avg. GPA: 3.86
Avg. ACT: 27
Minimum credits required: 14
UTK superscores the ACT and SAT.</p>
<p>I've been extremely concerned that I won't end up getting into UTK, which is my dream school. My GPA is significantly low because Freshman and Sophomore year I had many absences, plus I didn't try that hard, so my grades were very below average those years. Junior year I also had many absences 1st semester (near 30) which were mostly due to my diagnoses of a new disease (along with Type 1 Diabetes which I was diagnosed with in 8th grade), so that also really negatively affected my academic success. I even failed my first course that semester (Precal), but I took credit recovery to replace it and recieved a 93. Then second semester of Junior year I knew I had to improve if I wanted to get into college, so I brought my grades up to the A and B range (including a 94 in Precal). As of the first quarter of senior year I've maintained a 98 GPA and my grades are better than they have ever been, but unfortunately UTK won't see my senior year grades.</p>
<p>Also, on my personal statement for the application I discussed a lot about my diseases and how they deterred my academic performance (though I didn't try to just blame it completely on them) and also about personal growth that I've had due to living with the diseases.
My brother got into UTK with an unweighted 2.1 at the same school I went to and a 27 ACT, but the standards have changed and now many people apply to UTK.</p>
<p>The only thing that I think will save me is the GPA weighting that UTK does, plus I have heard from multiple people that UTK weights GPA even more so just for going to the school that I do (It's the #1 school in TN and #26 in the USA; extremely rigorous curriculum). I also managed to get 1 teacher recommendation which the teacher actually let me read and it ironically paralleled my personal statement entirely, and overall it was a very positive recommendation. And on my application I put Mathematics as the major since I scored very well on my Math ACT and I'm graduating with 6 math credits.</p>
<p>Any thoughts or advice? Do you think I may get in? I have been freaking out about it, though not as much now since my ACT score increased, but I am still very concerned.</p>
<p>Thanks for any input!</p>