What do I even do?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi all,
So I’m a junior in high school, and I’m going to be completely honest when I say that high school has not been the best for me so far. My dad, you see, suffers a mental illness. He thinks he’s sick when he’s not (That’s what the doctor/psychotherapist said). Thing is, he goes to doctor’s appointments at least on a weekly basis. This has been taking a toll on the financial situation. Furthermore, when I get home, I come home to screaming. And yelling. Not fun. He’s had legit health problems for years on end. Its horrible.

But I’ve been trying anyways. I’ve been making sure I take the hardest classes, keep my hopes up. But the home situation has not helped my grades:
Freshman:
Honors Bio B/A
Honors Geometry C/A
AP Human B/B
Honors English A/B
Spanish A/A
Orchestra A/A
Gym A/A

Sophomore year:
Honors Chem B/B
AP European History B/A
Honors Algebra 2 trig B/B
Honors English A/B
Spanish A/A
Orchestra A/A
Gym A/A

Junior year
APUSH A/
AP Bio B/
APEng3 A
Honors Precalc C
Orchestra A
Gym A
Honors PHysics B

Junior year has come by.

I dont even know
I had a B in math
then the final dropped me
I bawled my eyes out like a baby ugh
I’m at a 4.1 Weighted with my grades at present.
But colleges aren’t gonna look at my gpa, they’re not gonna give a damn about what happened at home
They’re going to see what I had in math freshman and junior year
These were the colleges I was looking at before Honors precalc

Northwestern
UIUC
UCLA
Berkeley
Purdue
UNC Chapel Hill
Boston
NYU
WashU
SLU
Case Western
Emory

Extracurriculars

Awards/Honors:
Solo and Ensemble (Division I rating for 2011, and 2012, Division II for 2013)

Science Olympiad
Water Quality-4th (Regionals)
Entomology-4th (Regionals)
Science Olympiad State Qualifier/Competitor-(2013-2014)
Green Generation-5th in the state
Geocaching- 17th in the state

Indian Classical Carnatic Music (2005-present)
Received many certificates and awards for performances

Junior Statesmen of America
Recieved many best speaker gavels for debates
Cabinet Member of the month

Orchestra (Violin, Concert Orchestra-9th Grade; Symphonic Strings-10th grade; Chamber Orchestra-11th Grade)-(2009-present)
Tennis-(2005-present)
Science Olympiad-(2012-present)
Junior Statesman of America-(2013-present)
Indian Classical Carnatic Music(2005-present)

Leadership positions:
Junior Statesmen of America
Director of Debate (2014-2015)
Fundraising Agent of the Midwest Cabinet (Governing body of the Midwest JSA region, ranging from Nebraska to Michigan) (2014-2015)
Science Olympiad
Co-Junior Captain (2014-2015)

Community Service:
Volunteer at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago-(2012-present)
Library Management Committee
Duties: Help manage the library by checking in and checking out books for patrons, refining the current library system, training new volunteers, giving tours and presentations to visitors, and promoting and managing Temple events.

I dont want to sound sappy
or pretentious
or whatever
I’m just desperate and I need help
My ACT’s are pretty good (33)
But honestly because of math I highly doubt i have a chance at any of the aforementioned colleges
Thoughts?
Oh and plus I’m an Asian Female

2

Since you mentioned financial concerns, you really need to spend some time on this forum and pay attention to college costs. I doubt if any of the above schools will be affordable if you do get admitted. Look at your state’s flagship. Many states give grants to in state students with financial need.

To get an idea of the grades and test scores your listed schools expect, google their “common data sets” and have a look at the stats for admitted students. Good luck.

3

I’d say you still have a decent chance for Purdue, Boston, NYU, UWash, and Emory. UCLA and Berkeley may be a bit of a reach, but it’s still possible. I’m not familiar with the other colleges.

Just make sure you’re not majoring in math or something.

4

OspreyCV22- I understand your concerns. However, some of the colleges I listed are famous for merit aid, so I’m hoping that goes well haha

ettudis-thanks for your input! The C honestly was hard to swallow…I hope it doesn’t kill my chances.

5

You are going to do well, no matter what college you attend…i believe the colleges above are good ones for you to try…you have a chance at all…but be kind with yourself…and also look at others…you will blossom where you land.

6

Your grades and ECs look great. But be sure to explain your personal situation with your dad, as colleges will ask about those Bs you earned a while ago. Awesome ACT score as well. Do you also mind providing your unweighted GPA? Colleges put more emphasis on it as opposed to weighted GPA.

Regardless, there’s an upward trend in your grades and you’ll do fine in college.

7

My unweighted is a 3.6, so not superb, but I can get it to a 3.8 because I have two semesters left. What worries me is my individual transcripts…I’m not sure how those will look, even if there were circumstances that seem to lead towards those grades

8

But thanks for your help!

9

anyone else?

10

UIUC,Purdue,case, and SLU I would say you’re in at. Boston, WashU, UCLA and Emory you probably have a shot at and the others are reaches. kids from my school have gotten into northwestern with Lower GPA’s and test scores than yours too if that helps. SLU would probably be your best bet financially, seeing as people I know have gotten full rides with a 32. Use your situation at home to write compelling essays and you can get into a good amount of these schools.

11

Would you say the kids that have gotten into Northwestern got in through sports/family troubles? (not to sound nosy/weird)

12

Northwestern is actually my #1, I’ve been there a lot and I just really love it there…we have some plans for fin aid/tuition as well hahah

13

bumpp

14

any other thoughts?

15

late but gonna bump one more time

16

You need to start a college list based on a) what your family can and will pay per year, b) the net price calculator to show that the amount the family can pay is viable, c) where you have a realistic chance of getting merit AND the family can pay the rest according to the family portion, remember that merit aid makes your need less so you get less need aid. Merit aid will not replace the family portion, it will replace need aid unless the merit aid is so much that it replaces all the need and then there is enough to replace the family portion. *You can get a little relief in that a student loan of 5k may be reduced first, but the larger problem still remains. Visit the financial aid forum for more details, Don’t post in the ridiculous Chances section when you look for help.

Then when you follow the advice, you will not have schools like UCB that will cost you 55k a year on your list. You will not get anything from them unless you are a Pell Grant student, they are able to give some need aid to OOS students but the minimum you will pay will be the OOS tuition surcharge of 23k+8k student contribution+EFC. Or Purdue likely give you enough to attend. Or UIUC You won’t likely get any merit aid from NU but you can leave one such school on your list as long as you have a better list with actual places you can afford, I don;t know what haha plan for aid are. You will probably take lousy aid schools like NYU off your list. It is hard to say because you haven’t gone into that here.

Also you seem pretty clueless about admissions if you state that colleges don’t look at gpa, you might need to get more familiar.

17

Agree with @BrownParent‌, you didn’t look at costs when you made up your list. Anyone who posts about looking at public schools in California has no idea that you won’t get much in financial aid. As Brownparent stated, it’s $55K per year. So take off UCLA and Berkeley from that list.
NYU is even worse. They are known for giving crappy aid.
Do some homework and try to look for non-publics who actually will give your decent aid.

18

First off, you should definitely write about your troubles at home with your father for your college essay. Colleges like personal essays, and it’s a way of showing something that has significantly impacted your life that isn’t elsewhere on the application. Also, I am a current senior and took honors precalculus last year, and I struggled A LOT in that class. I have always gotten good grades, and that was the first time I had ever gotten a C+ in a class. It really bothered me a lot at the time, but At this point it doesn’t matter to me as much because I know that one C+ will not be the deciding factor in the whole admissions process, especially if you show huge improvement. I stuck with honors calc this year and have gotten an A- in the class so far. (Trust me, it gets easier in calc) I applied to great schools regardless. You should go for it. You have such an amazing application, and you shouldn’t let that one C stand in your way. I was EXTREMELY impressed reading about you. I wish you the best of luck!

19

I would not write about your troubles with your dad in your essay, but I would go talk to your GC about this and the impact on your grades, and ask if they can comment on your family issues in their recommendation. Beyond that, I agree with the above posters that you can’t hope & dream your way to making those schools on your list affordable. You have to run net price calculators for all schools, and look hard at your in-state public options. Also, you aren’t going to get merit at schools like Northwestern.