Are my chances of having a bright future completely ruined?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello, thank you for your time. I’m currently going into my senior year and I’ve been looking at several colleges, however, I’ve found a common issue with all the places I want to go.

I do not have two years of a foreign language. Instead, I have three years of a fine arts. Now, I talked to my councilor and found that I have the opportunity to get my two years at the American School, but that will cost me around $500.

I could do that, but now I’m debating whether or not it’s worth trying. Mostly because I screwed up my sophomore year and had a mental breakdown and got caught under suspicion of being intoxicated at a dance. However, I got minimal punishment and it is literally the only bad mark on my record. Nothing was found on me, it was all purely based on suspicion and an ex-friend that alerted the deans.

ACT composite: 23 (Retaking it in September as I was completely unprepared for it last April.)

Current cumulative GPA: 2.7 (expected to go up to a 3.2 once high school is over)

AP courses: AP US History, AP Psychology, AP Language and Composition, and AP Literature.

Rank: 212 out of 481 (Top 50%) (Also expected to lower because I just made up for credits and my grades from freshman year have changed)

Other Credentials: Regular member of thirteen clubs at my school. President of Environmental, Secretary of Junior Class, Treasurer of GSA, and Lead Make-up Chair for Drama Club. I’m also a volunteer at my local library and have represented my library by speaking at a conference in Chicago last January. I’m also on track to possibly becoming a published author.

Basically, my question here is if I should even bother trying to get into decent college and pay $500 to get my two years of a language. I know I messed up greatly my first two years of school, but I’ve been hellbent on trying to repair my mistakes. All I’m really aiming to major in is creative writing and screenwriting, and possibly English (as a teacher). I’ve been looking at Portland State, Iowa State, U of I, ISU, NYU, USC, and several other schools with English and writing programs. But I don’t know, it all really seems hopeless in the end because of my one mistake sophomore year.

I’m not even sure if this is where to post this, as I’m new, but yeah. I’m in desperate need of words of wisdom. If you could help me out, I’ll be eternally grateful.

2

http://wallstreetplayboys.com/the-real-guide-to-our-college-education-system/

Even if you’re not interested in wall street at all the advice still stands:
“Mediocre Student? If you have sub-par grades and know that a meaningful university is out of the question, attend a community college with a high transfer rate to top schools. No point in incurring debt for a school that won’t increase your income correct? Correct.”

So yeah, go to some CC for the first two years, work hard when you’re in it, and then transfer later. I doubt you’ll be accepted to most of those unless you can pull of a stellar essay that explained everything.

Rofl you got so much hate for supposed intoxication? Where do u live, Salt Lake City?

3

Schools appreciate people who work hard to get their life in order. I would have to agree, however, that a course or two won’t do that. Community College seems to be a better route. Excel there and you’ll have a shot at transferring to those colleges but you have little shot otherwise. The one caveat being that if you do get published and it’s a major event (not just an article or something) it might help. I would say if you don’t get at least a five figure advance for it then it’s not something that will make up for your low GPA and test scores.

Alternatively, you could set your sights on less selective colleges. USC and NYU would be hit or miss if you had a 32 ACT and a 3.7 and you aren’t close to that.