In my sophomore year, I had severe depression which resulted from me being bullied because I was gay, and as a result, my gpa dropped slightly with 4 Bs (2 each semester) bringing my unweighted gpa to a 3.9 gpa which will become a 3.94 by the end of the first semester of senior year. I know this might seem like a really good gpa, but I checked admit stats for our school for the top 20 colleges and there wasn’t a single school which accepted a student from our school below a 3.97 unweighted gpa. My class rank is also below average for admits to these colleges from my high school (top 4.5%) I pretty much fried my chances of getting into any school, and on top of that I am falling into depression again because of the difficulty of taking on college admissions next year and because I feel like I ruined my life. I’m not even sure if this qualifies to be added in my additional information section.
Have you talked to your parents about your depression? Or another trusted adult? Your mental health is paramount. Counseling (and medication if recommended by a doctor) can be life-changing. You don’t want to go to college without having your mental health issues addressed. I’m speaking as the mom to three adult children with mental health issues ranging from mild to debilitating. Hugs to you! Just know that there IS help available. Even my severely ill child is doing well and is really happy.
For reference…here is this student’s chance me thread which has some great advice in it. This student is currently a HS junior.
- I hope you are getting some professional help for your depression.
- You don’t have to attend an Ivy League or any other elite school to be successful.
- I hope you find some sure things for acceptance on your college application list, that you would be happy to attend, that are affordable. Those should be the first colleges you add to your application list.
First, I echo the other posters to get the help you need for your mental health starting with your parents and school counselor.
You have a great GPA which will not prevent you from getting into most colleges. Only focusing on schools with very low acceptance rates is not how one builds a college list. Work with your HS counselor to build a balanced list…a few reaches, a handful of targets, a few highly likely safeties. If you will be applying for financial aid, you have to run the net price calculators at the schools on your list to determine affordability. When do students at your school start working with your counselor on building college lists?
Typically, one would not explain the reason for B’s anywhere in the app. If you want to write about your mental health you can, but in a positive manner that also shows you are addressing/have addressed the situation. Also know that some colleges have a separate admission step/process for students who do mention having mental health issues in their apps.
Good luck.
There are so many great colleges out there, so why focus on the top 20? Are you in an environment that prioritizes prestige and getting into Ivies and other top schools?
Check out the Colleges that Change Lives website ctcl.org
Are you on medication or in therapy? Both can be life-changing. If you are not being treated for depression, it will probably recur. A rigorous school might not be the best choice anyway unless your depression is effectively managed with meds.
I am sorry you were bullied for your sexual orientation. Make sure to choose schools wisely in terms of being an accepting and welcoming environment.
The idea that you have ruined your life by getting B’s is “catastrophizing” and shows you may still be in the throes of depression. Again, meds can help and they make therapy more effective. Therapy can address the “catastrophizing” by helping you “reframe” your situation. You can get better and thrive! You will need to adjust your thinking some though.
I think you should be very proud of what you have accomplished so far, and excited about what it could mean for you going into college.
Taking a step back, in my now years of conversing with various kids applying to college, your general sort of story is not uncommon. The reasons vary, but HS years can be very hard sometimes on kids–mentally, physically, socially, and so on. And that often leads to periods where kids do not feel like they did their best academically.
It appears to me that you faced such a challenge, and actually did relatively well handling it. Bs are not bad under such circumstances, I have certainly seen far worse. And then you apparently recovered to your normal standards after that. Again, not always how it works.
So what I am seeing is a very good student who faced a challenging time, but managed to handle it relatively well and ultimately show a lot of resilience.
OK, so what happens next? Well, first, I am pretty confident that a lot of great colleges are going to see that story the exact same way. I can’t guarantee any of those will be in that particular athletic league or among whatever 20 undergrad programs at research universities some magazine currently likes best. But there are way, way more great colleges in the US besides those, and again I am very confident some, indeed many, of those colleges would love to have a very good student who showed such resiliency. Indeed, I am quite sure many very good colleges would offer you merit, because they would very badly want you to take their offer.
OK, so if you approach forming your college application list in a reasonable way, someone with your grades is basically guaranteed to get multiple great offers to consider. But that’s not even the best part.
The best part is college years can be challenging too. And some kids experience their first serious scholastic challenges in college, and it can sometimes get pretty severe. But that’s not you. Of course I can’t guarantee you won’t face more challenges, indeed it is very likely you will in one or more ways. But you’ve been there before now, you know you can go through a challenging period and recover, and that experience will serve you well in whatever great college you attend. And then in life after that.
And that is truly the most important thing. I’ve known and studied with and worked alongside a lot of very successful professionals at this point. Some attended very selective colleges, but many did not. What they instead almost universally had in common is good fundamental aptitudes and skills related to their profession, and then very strong characters, including resiliency. And incidentally, since I went to one of those very selective colleges myself, I also know about a lot of people who went to that college and things did not work out so easily for them.
So you are much closer to the start of such a path than the peak of it, but you are in fact on such a path. And it truly does not matter if that path now goes through one of the most selective few colleges in the US. I know a lot of people seem to think life gets way easier if you go to one of those colleges. It does not. But it also doesn’t get impossibly hard if you don’t. The main factor in what happens with you in coming years remains you, no matter exactly where you go to college.
And again I personally think you should be pretty proud and happy about how you are coming along.
Reading your other thread - are you a Senior ? So you don’t have decisions yet.
Many schools, not just tippy top in perceived high rank, chew up and spit out 4.0 and 36/1550 for sport. But one never knows why they don’t get in.
That said, rereading your other thread, you certainly are worthy of applying anywhere.
You have a fantastic record - and I’m a very critical poster - so when I say that, that’s hard for me to do. I noted - you are certainly worthy of applying ED to Columbia. Those words are hard for me to say.
I still don’t know if you’re CS which you can do anywhere. Heck, my nephew is a Poli Sci from Arizona working in CS at one of the FAANG firms. For medicine, where you go doesn’t matter.
There are deeper issues here, of course. Too many struggle with mental health and your health is far more important than any school name.
No matter where you attend, YOU are what matters - not whether it’s Harvard or U Houston. You’ve got a fantastic record and your smarts and hustle is what will carry you through life, not where you get a degree from.
If it’s medicine, I just saw my dermatologist. U Kentucky undergrad. E Carolina Med School. Booked more than a year out so I always book my appointments for two years out. Sounds like a success to me.
I echo others - your mental health is far more important here but as long as you pursue your educational goals ( the where is irrelevant), you have every chance to accomplish anything and everything in life that you want to.
You should be very proud of your record. It’s pretty incredible. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
In October, on that other thread I linked, the student said they were a junior.
Thanks. I thought I saw that - I was thrown off by the title then - which is presumptuous and unknown.
I hate the stress kids put on themselves and i know some is family induced/expectation.
I hope, as a HS student, he can find a friend group, and have a happy last two years. Bullying, unfortunately, happens any and everywhere - it’s not a Texas or Southern only thing.
No one, except for a tiny amount of students, is guaranteed to get into an ivy, even those with straight A’s, many AP’s, perfect test scores, there’s not nearly enough seats.
I didn’t talk about my depression with anyone but I have found ways to manage it and it’s gotten a lot better this year 
Just remember next year, you and zillions will apply to college.
Some will get in. Some won’t at each. For those who don’t take you, it’s their loss. Someone, many if you apply to many, will love you. Love them back.
No one has any idea why someone is taken. Or not. It could be money (some top schools, like Emory, BU) are need aware so amount of need could impact, your home state, if over represented like Texas often is, could be a reason, essays, LORs, rigor, test, subsection of test.
You be you. You are the same person with the same desire to learn and grow whether at Stanford or San Angelo State.
Breathe deep. Schools that admit 5% are unlikely for most everyone. It says zero about you. But you can’t also say - I could have gone Ivy.
No one knows.And you’ve yet to apply to college.
My daughter’s Val had a 4.0, 10 or 11 APs, a 36 ACT and was 0 for 16 in top 20 apps. She got into NYU full pay and went to UTK. I’m sure she’s done just fine.
Then there was another local girl who chose Auburn over Yale and per payscale makes more $$ than either the average Auburn or Yale grads at this stage in life.
Those who think that the school is what makes them are missing their own value. You bring a lot. Please don’t forget that.
You wrote that you had severe depression. This is called “major depressive disorder” when diagnosed and tends to recur. If I were you I would not consider college until you have been treated. Meaning medications and therapy.
If your depression was not actually “severe” or it was “situational” then I withdraw that comment. I just want you to know that clinical depression ebbs and flows. It can come back in time, often without a reason. I am glad you are feeling better for now.
It does recur every few months and I am trying to convince my parents to see a psychiatrist in the next month so that I can get some help for it. When it comes I often have like little episodes for a few days in which I’m not able to do anything at all besides lie in my bed and sleep. My attendance is also becoming an issue
Thank you so much for the reassurance, my friend group is really toxic and they said that with my Bs I wouldn’t be going anywhere good. I did check my school’s past admit data, and pretty much everyone admitted to an ivy league college had a unweighted of 3.97 or higher. Would a difference of like 0.03-0.04 in unweighted gpa hurt me meaningfully? The sample size for each individual college was between like 1-5 kids so i’m not exactly sure what the effect of this is.
If your definition of a “good school” is Ivy league, you may have a really hard time. They will look at your grades relative to your classmates. If your class rank is 50/850, your chances will be extremely low. Unfortunately, that’s just reality.
However, there are a ton of great schools who would love to have you, but probably not the T20.
There’s hundreds of ‘good’ schools. Actually likely thousands. Top kids go everywhere because kids choose for varying reasons - location, sports, money and more. The girl who chose Auburn over Yale said it wasn’t just cost but transport cost.
You know what ? Get a new friend group. They don’t sound very supportive but rather demeaning.
Would being 30-40th put me in a slightly better situation?
You should probably ask your guidance counselor.
How many kids does your school usually send to T20 schools? 10, 20, 30, 40, 50?
i’m actually not sure, 10-20 approximately. most of these are top 3%