What do I do??

Applying to College
1

Race: bi racial
Gender: F

ACT composite: 26 (I’m retaking and aiming for 30+)
Don’t have my SAT scores back yet

APs (not gotten scores back yet)
AP lang
AP us gov+politics
APUSH (next year)
AP lit (next year)

IB:
French SL
Art SL
Bio HL (dropping it but receiving SL credit)

I will have really strong recs.

ECs:
President of Beta
NHS
ENHS
Quizbowl
Varsity xc
varsity track
french club
Governor’s page
Senator’s page
Girls’ State
Writer for an online magazine
I also do a lot of work for my local democratic women’s party, I run their social media accounts.
English tutor to highschool classmates

GPA weighted: 4.0 (I know)
UW GPA: 3.3 (I KNOW)

I’m getting a job this summer, and I plan to volunteer as well.

Ok, here are a few things. I’m kind of a mixed bag here. I am a really strong writer, and think my essays will be my hook for sure, because I think I will be able to convey my passion for politics (also a slight hook) very well. Also my ec’s reflect my interest in politics, and I’m getting a letter of rec from my senator. Another one of my recommendations will reflect that passion as well. I’m intending to major on poli sci wherever I end up, if you can’t tell.
I also struggled a lot with depression and anxiety this year (like almost killed myself struggled,) but I’m only going to refer to it as a “health issue” in the additional info section, and won’t be mentioning suicide haha yikes. Because this totally messed up my GPA. I finished junior year with one D, 2 As, a C and a B. Yeah. I used to be and plan to come back as a straight A stydent.
So, yeah. My junior year grades totally ruined me :))))) but I really am a hard working, motivated student and I’m kinda unsure how to convey that to colleges. Help???

2

What do you do? You speak with your guidance counselor who is experienced in making those explanations to college admission folk.

3

“I also struggled a lot with depression and anxiety this year”

Depression and anxiety are very common. The US has a very stressful education system that makes this problem more common. The anxiety is possible to notice when reading your post.

The first thing that you need to do is to get your anxiety and depression treated effectively. Our medical profession has gotten much better in dealing with this over the past few years. Are you seeing some sort of psychologist or psychiatrist or social worker about this issue?

Hopefully you can get this fixed over the summer and come back as a very strong student in September. Having had one bad year might keep you out of Harvard and Stanford for undergrad, but there are a LOT of very good universities in the US (hundreds of very good universities and colleges and thousands of good ones) and you should be able to find a good fit with an unweighted 3.3, which is still quite good.

Admissions officers are human, and do understand that if a student is ill it can affect their grades. However, if the illness is being effectively treated it will increase the confidence of the admissions officer (and the student) that the student’s three strong years of high school are indicative of how the student will do in university.

I have seen and heard of multiple cases of students who have had some form of depression and anxiety treated effectively, gone back to being straight A students, and gone on to very strong universities and done very well.