I struggled in the area of my grades and extracurriculars.
My extracurriculars include 120 hours of volunteering, and basketball for 1 year as my school didn’t offer anything else as I went to a boarding school for 3 years.
I suffer from clinical depression, and I had a bit of a struggle in the 9th and 10th grades, and suffered academically as I didn’t go to school, only going 1-2 a week for a few months at a time.
As I hit 11th and 12th grade, I adapted to the boarding school and become mostly B’s with 12th grade becoming all A’s so far.
My ACT score is a 27.
My EFC is 0 (I live with my mother who is a divorcee who doesn’t make much at all, my father is the breadwinner making 90k)
My guidance counselor told me my GPA is a 3.0.
I can afford a school up to 25k a year, possibly 30k if I use the federal loans for 5.5k a year.
I would prefer a bigger school (8k+ undergrads)
I would prefer a big party scene
I am open to mainly the midwest, and the South as well as the Northeast. The farthest west I would go is probably Texas.
You don’t need to a big party scene to find parties at college. If you’re worried it’ll be strict, don’t worry… college is wha you make of it. Any college will have parties. The challenge will be balancing parties with classes, office hours, studying, leadership/clubs, health/exercise, etc.
(My guess is that your #1 goal isn’t having fun in college, but graduating. Success in college can take some weekend partying but not nonstop fun. I’m sure you’ve figured that out this year but please realize most students don’t graduate in 4 years and a high percentage simply don’t graduate at all. You have to hit the ground running first week freshman year if you don’t want to be one of the casualties.)
SUNY’s are an obvious choice for you.
Look at UMass Lowell, Towson, West Chester U, Penn State Altoona, Christopher Newport University, Shepherd University, Marshall University, UNC Charlotte, UNC Wilmington, USC Aiken.
If you can consider private colleges: Keystone, Arcadia, Albright, Juniata, Washington&Jefferson, Albion, Alma, Virginia Wesleyan, Ohio Wesleyan, are all possibilities too.
Run the NPC on all of these.
Others will have (and have had) good suggestions for you as far as creating a good college list, but I wanted to add a couple of other things to consider. First, congratulations on getting your depression and academics under control! You sound like a determined and hardworking person to have gotten to where you are now with such a difficult go of it the first couple of years of high school. Keep at it!
Second, regarding your preference for a school with a “big party scene,” please be very careful about this part for several reasons. Alcohol and other substance use can really mess with whatever balance you have going on that’s allowing your depression to be under control. “Partying” away at college can be very dangerous in this aspect for someone with depression.
Also, college is a major transition in so many ways in addition to suddenly being able to just “party” at will now that you’re on your own. Your sleeping, eating and exercise habits may change drastically, all of which can be destabilizing for a person with depression without conscious strategies in place to anticipate and prevent relapse. You’ll want to be sure that wherever you go to school, there are high quality, reliable health & support resources for you to access if you find the need.
Keep up the good work as you finish high school and good luck with the next chapter!