What do I do? Lost senior; no chance at all?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I thank you for those that have the time to read this post. I have a major problem- where do I apply with my stats? To be clear, I had several problems throughout high school- parent died freshman year, had to deal with lawyers and estate. A very complicated situation that I do not want to tackle right now. I go to an extremley competitve high school in Texas (suburb of Houston) in which the top 250 people in my class made all A's and B's throughout their four years. For me however, I had various problems which I just mentioned and as someone who people think is in the top 20%, I'm not.</p>

<p>Looking back I regret not telling my teachers about my situation; I am a very private person. When we recieved our ranks junior year I didn't realize how badly I ranked. It was rather embrassing and I promised that I would not tell anyone. When people asked about my rank, I didn't tell them the real rank (in the first place they had no idea about my situation and really it was none of their business) instead I just told them i was in the top 35%. I wasn't and still am not- I'm about 399 out of 570. As someone who takes school seriously, my father's death occured at the wrong time just as I was adjusting in high school and it got worse when my mother had to hire three different lawyers to help protect my estate from the lady my dad re-married before he died.</p>

<p>My question is- as someone who is seen by most teachers as very intelligent (I have taken about 1-2 honors/AP classes each year in high school) and has been nominated for various leadership awards in school by teachers, teachers who have since last year asked for me to give them first the college teacher recommendations forms, some of the various admission committes are going to see two different students- a very committed person in band who is a leader in the band, is very involved in Habitat for Humanity and our school's local fundraiser for it- Build-a-thon, and who is an active member of Philopsophy Club verus a student who made very, very average if not lower than average grades in high school. I know I am not as acoomplished as the people on this board when it comes to outside activities, but I do particiapte when I can. (It's a bit hard when our band comes in finals at state contest in 2004 meaning we have practice every single day for 3 months including summer months).</p>

<p>My question- where do I go to school? I know my reaches; I know the places I want to go to. I don't have really safties though. I'm hoping for the admissions committees not to play the number game on me and look at me as a whole. I want to do something with international relations/politics/government which later will turn into law (graduate years).
To be honest, I really don't want to stay in Texas, I would love to be in the Northeast, when I visit up there I always feel at home. Here are my big, big reaches-
Boston Univ
Northeastern Univ
George Washington Univ (I know, I know)
American Univ (I have stayed at this campus before at a camp)
Clark Univ
Bard College
University of Texas- Austin (applying to whole UT system)
Trinity Univ
University of Houston (my only saftey?)</p>

<p>Am I lost cause or what? I know this is a big list and very ambitious, but I wish it wasn't about the numbers. I am so worried at this moment, worried of getting rejected everywhere because I had something happen at the wrong time in mylife, perhaps the most important time. What do I do? Where do I go? Please help! My conselor (the fourth one in four years; the other ones quit or were fired) really isn't helpful and I believe it's her first year as a conselor.</p>

<p>I really appreciate you speding the time and reading this. I know my list of colleges is way out of reach, I just want a new life where I can start over and from scratch and not let what happend in my family life to haunt me forever.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>First, no you are not a lost cause and I think you know that. I think you do need to tell us your gpa and sat scores for some direction. I think you should discuss your past family situation with your gc. The gc can incorporate that information in her report to the schools you apply to. It would be helpful to indicate the major you are interested in, if you know, to help select possibilities.</p>

3

<p>I am so sorry to hear about your misfortune. Perhaps it will make you a stronger person in the long run. You sound like an oustanding person and I am sure there is a good college out there for you. Your list of colleges looks good. It would help to know more about your grades and test scores. That way, it might be possible to tell which colleges are good matches for you.</p>

<p>Have you taken the SATs? High SAT scores might help compensate for the low rank/grades. What is your gpa? Colleges base most of their decision on grades and on the difficulty of courses you have taken, but SATs are an important factor. </p>

<p>Some colleges might give more consideration to your special circumstances than others, colleges with a religious affiliation and small liberal arts colleges, for example. I hope others on this board can offer specific suggestions. If you don't get into a school you like the first time around, maybe an open admissions community college would be an opportunity to prove what kind of work you can really do.</p>

<p>This might not apply to you, but if you think you might be depressed you should see your family doctor. Even mild depression makes it hard to concentrate. Several of my friends take medication for it. It's more common than people realize.</p>

<p>I hope everything works out ok.</p>

4

<p>I'm sorry to hear about your situation. The first few years were probably very hard. Did your grades pull up Junior year after things settled down? If teachers think you are smart, what reason have you given for adcoms to think you're not? Presumably, these teachers gave you good grades. If it's very obvious that you're on the right track now, you've got solid chances of getting into some good colleges. Would you mind going to a lesser-known place for a couple years, then transferring? You could explain your circumstances and have two years of steady work to show you are genuine.</p>

<p>I hope everything works out for you.</p>

5

<p>I think tkm is right about the transferring.</p>

<p>College admissions is all about adcoms trying to decide if you can do college work. At the freshmen level, they are going off your high school record because it's all they've got. Transfer admission is something different.</p>

<p>If you enroll somewhere (even if it's not the calibre of school you were hoping for) and prove you can do college work, other institutions will care much less about your high school record. </p>

<p>There are many institutions who would be willing to take a chance on a student who presented circumstances such as yours. Don't let the talk here fool you--it's naturally dominated by the more selective colleges. Not all college turn away people who aren't in the top 20%. Who knows, you might end up loving it and staying. But do well and prove yourself, and you can attempt to transfer to one the places that feels like such a big reach now.</p>

6

<p>Some schools will not include your freshman grades in your gpa calculation.</p>

7

<p>dcifan,</p>

<p>I second the SAT comments above to fine tune suggestions. I also second the idea of having your GC explain the stresses of your dad's death and the legal fight. This is a big mitigating factor to your grades. </p>

<p>First I want to mention a fall back plan and then I will mention some possible safeties. Consider the possibility of a Post Graduate year or a Gap year-- you would be a good candidate for that. A PG year means you do one more year of HS at a prestigious boarding school (or one of their foreign programs.) Most New England prep schools offer PG years. You could probably google the term and find many of them. A Gap year could also be spent working, traveling, learning, or any combination of those, but gap years are less formally structured than PG and don't always offer the chance to be graded.</p>

<p>The PG year would help you by allowing you one more year to beef up GPA and to show your ability to succeed academically in a rigorous program. In effect your current senior year would be like "junior year" and your PG year would be like "senior year."</p>

<p>For matches & safeties: get the book "Colleges That Change Lives." It has many schools with excellent academics and more permissive admission standards. Look at the US News lists in the 50-150 ranked Liberal Arts colleges or look for schools where your SAT puts you in the upper half and the school accepts a majority of its applicants.</p>

<p>Look for schools with minuscle Texan populations so you will provide a little geographic bonus. If you are female, you might look at women's colleges like Mt Holyoke or Smith; these schools will cut a little bit of academic slack for a promising student.</p>

<p>You will probably find plenty of appealing, realistic schools. The PG can be a back up plan if you are not satisfied with your options from this application season.</p>

8

<p>Can you explain this PG thing?</p>

<p>About SAT; I only took it once, in June and I did not prearing at all for it. I was a bit disappointed with my scores, writing was all right, reading and math (especially math was a bit low). Problem about SAT- our band directors are saying we can only take it once more! Even though of course there are three more chances to take it. I plan on taking the ACT as well.</p>

<p>I have take 2 APs in the past- US History (4), World History (3).</p>

<p>I really hope that the colleges see beyond the numbers, beyond my grades. To tell you the truth, looking at my transcript, I see a different person. It really doesn't fit me at all. I'm working as hard as I can right now and I'm looking foward to an awesome senior year even though we are still dealing with the lawyers and what not. </p>

<p>I really thank you for all the suggestions- about community college; I don't think that can happen. I really need to go to a four year university; If I don't like it then I will transfer out, but I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible.</p>

<p>I know most people here are worried about getting into top notch universities and I wish them the best of luck. I hope that the college admission officers will consider me to join their great instutions because frankly I need to move on. </p>

<p>Thank you again.</p>

9

<p>i bet clark will look at you wholistically, they're really nice and if you explain your situation they'll probably give you a shot</p>

10

<p>look, its time to stop the pity party ;) Truth is, outside of the 100 or so colleges highest in demand, most colleges in this country accept the majority of their applicants. Bet you didn't know that! </p>

<p>There's a great article on college admissions from the US News at <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/06average_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/06average_brief.php&lt;/a> </p>

<p>I'd also suggest reading this -- <a href="http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/78/07879796/0787979678.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/78/07879796/0787979678.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>What it boils down to is this -- if you want to go to one of those colleges that everyone on this board always discusses, it might be hard. If you're willing to spend the time finding a college thats a good fit for you, there are lots of good colleges out there looking for students like you.</p>

11

<p>Re PG I am not knowledgeable past what I told you above. Google "Post Graduate Year," to see what different things are offered. </p>

<p>Usually it will be to take one year on the campus of a prep school OR to do a year abroad under the direction of a prep school (something like Choate in London, Exeter in Barcelona, etc.) You are basically being treated like a high school senior in terms of structured program but it is designed for kids who have already completed HS officially.</p>

<p>I do agree with mikemac, there are plenty of schools out there. Do some research re your SATs-- where they would be mid-range or better.</p>