<p>tl;dr:
I live in on the western edge of Nebraska. I got a 30 on my ACT first time, aiming for a 34-36 before I graduate. Wanting a creative writing major, at least four year degree. Mother has breast cancer, only a few years left to live. No saved money for college, relying totally on student loans and scholarships. Scholarships more so. Parents want me to stay close for the first two years, within driving distance. I want to go to the east coast. I want to shoot for the stars, and not settle for something less just because of my circumstances. Parents are afraid I’m not mature enough and will drop out in my freshman or sophomore year.</p>
<p>I’m a junior in High School living in a town with less than 2000 population on the western edge of Nebraska. A few months ago I took the ACT plus writing for the first time and got the following:</p>
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<p>I plan to take it again in January of this year, and in the fall of my senior year. I hope to have at least a 34 before I graduate. My grades aren’t perfect, but they are As. In my class (about 60 students) there’s one other student who gets perfect scores in every class, and will cry or get angry to the point of hurting others or himself if he gets anything less. He’s my best friend, go figure. Great guy, but he’s got problems.</p>
<p>I want to be a Creative Writing Major, and I’ve been writing for years, though I’ve never gone out and gotten published yet. I know it’s a career that I wouldn’t mind spending my life doing, and I feel like it’s the path I want to go. I’ve got a book that I was working on, and was going very smoothly. It’s sitting at 46K words out of a most likely 150K, but something came up that interrupted the progress.</p>
<p>About May this year, my mother was diagnosed with a rare form of Breast Cancer known as Inflammatory Brest Cancer, from diagnosis she had roughly a 2.5% survival rate. (5% survival, 50% chance of reoccurrence. If it reoccurs, it’s almost always terminal) Chances are, she has less than three-to-five years to live. Thanks to the Every Woman Matters program, the financial hit hasn’t been hard. But it is enough that we have very little college money saved, almost nothing. Since her diagnosis, I haven’t been able to continue my book, despite praise from peers and teachers alike, I just can’t get my ideas on paper anymore.</p>
<p>I have an older sister as well, who is much less likely to get scholarships (she’s a senior this year with an ACT score of 18) she doesn’t know what kind of career she wants, but she is going to a local community college, as it’s mostly her only option left. I predict that any money left will most likely be spent on keeping her in college, because of this.</p>
<p>I want to go to a college out of this region. My ideal state to go to college would be Massachusetts. I’ve been to Boston, New Hampshire and Maine before on a long vacation, and I love the climate, as well as the people. I felt more at home living in an old relative’s house in Maine than I ever did here in Nebraska. But my mother has other plans, and wants me to, at the farthest, go to college in Colorado. Her most recent pick has been CU, but I’m just not sure. I wouldn’t mind Colorado, but I know so little about the school itself. She recommended it because my aunt and uncle are getting their master’s there. Neither of my parents have gone to college, and my father dropped out of high school his junior year. They are both caring and intelligent, but they are older (he’s 55 and she’s 46… yes I know. Too young for cancer.) and have never done any learning past that. </p>
<p>Ideally, she wants me to go to the same college as my sister, which is a cheap and all-accepting community college. (Western Nebraska Community College), which is probably the college I would LEAST want to go to. I’ve been there before in the classes, and I can’t justify even wanting to attend. My mother’s plan is to have me spend two years there and get an associates, then go off to a larger college in an adjacent state maybe. She feels that if I go anywhere too far away (she wants me to drive home on the weekends, I’d rather not, I love my parents but I want my space.) then I’ll get in over my head and drop out of college and have to bum my way back home. </p>
<p>But every time I look for a college, I’m overwhelmed with options. I can never seem to get the right information from the college websites, nor do I feel as if I’m able to see a large enough pool of choices to really understand where I want to go. No colleges have really jumped out at me yet, because there are so many of them.</p>
<p>Additional information: Being in a positive, comfortable, and creative atmosphere is probably my biggest concern, after location. I want a school that wants to help writers achieve their dreams, with intelligent people and relaxing demeanor. </p>
<p>I’m not very interested in sports endeavors.</p>
<p>I’d rather not go to a religious institution. I’m Christian and so are my parents, but I don’t want to go to a place where that is the standard. I want to believe things on my own terms. I’m an in-the-closet bisexual, and I wanted to come out when I went to college, where I might be accepted more. I wouldn’t dare come out where I live.</p>
<p>I’m also older for my class. I’ll be 18 next November, and 19 during my first year of college.</p>
<p>tl;dr:
I live in on the western edge of Nebraska. I got a 30 on my ACT first time, aiming for a 34-36 before I graduate. Wanting a creative writing major, at least four year degree. Mother has breast cancer, only a few years left to live. No saved money for college, relying totally on student loans and scholarships. Scholarships more so. Parents want me to stay close for the first two years, within driving distance. I want to go to the east coast. I want to shoot for the stars, and not settle for something less just because of my circumstances. Parents are afraid I’m not mature enough and will drop out in my freshman or sophomore year.</p>