Hey there, I’m looking to see what my chances are. For the types of schools I’m looking at (I’d really like to attend the most selective school I can get accepted into with the best campus atmosphere because I would love to be at a community chock full of very bright intellectuals a la Harvard or something [though I’m pretty sure I’m not getting into harvard… just want to be somewhere with a lot of eggheads and thinkers like me])
So:
WGPA: 3.7
UWGPA: 3.33
(Both of these are only factoring in what I have in so far being partway through junior year)
I scored a 32 my first go-round on my ACT and am preparing to take the SAT in May. I will likely take the ACT again, as I didn’t even prepare at all for the ACT and likely can get an even better grade if I actually prepare for it.
Things to note: I’m currently in the midst of several IB classes, my schedule next year is almost entirely IB, took an AP class last year and got college credit, besides this I took honors in basically everything aside from electives that weren’t offered in honors.
Extracurriculars:
- SGA Student Body President (class president freshman & sophomore years, student body vice president for junior year, student body president senior year)
- Own & operate my goat business where I feed, medicate, breed, raise, and sell goats on my own, doing all my own marketing as well as sales.
- Volunteer profusely with the local church: through all four years of high school I’ve been helping in organizing can drives, going on mission trips, assisting in putting on vacation bible schools each summer, delivering food to needy families, and numerous other things all through my local church.
- Member of the Model UN club for all four years of HS and went to several conferences.
Also, I’m not sure whether this “counts” as an EC so if anyone could shed light on that for me whether I should include it or not: My politically-minded friends and I in our spare time use sandbox games such as Minecraft as a platform to create and administrate our own states (or live within a state) within this “game world”. We navigate political controversy, establish borders and politically resolve border conflicts, explore the establishment of governments and systems thereof and the pro & cons of things like local autonomy vs. centralization, and how best to shape a governmental system from the ground up to govern over others. We appoint governors and marshals, hold referendums, establish frontiers and mandate policy. This isn’t a part of the game itself, but rather a role playing political thought exercise we participate in which helps us to understand and contextualize history, and more specifically statecraft.
Another thing I have which I don’t know really whether it’s proper to note on an application or how I would do that is why my grades are poorer especially as time goes on. I’ve had a really tumultuous home life for the past few years in which my dad despite living at home most nights would be inexplicably gone usually drinking. Not only did this wreak havoc on my emotional and mental wellbeing but I had to often console and keep my mom company, her being all alone after a long day. So, a lot of the time, my at-home assignments fell my the wayside due to this atmosphere. Is this something colleges would understand? Or am I better off leaving it off and just having them think of me as a slacker? If I did put it on there, is there a place for it on the form or would I have to do it for my personal experience or something?
Sorry for the slew of questions. I’m new to this college stuff. Thanks to anyone who’ll read and help me out! Anyway, what are my chances? What kinds of schools am I looking at getting into with this sort of resume?
Good news: you will be able to get into a college that is “chock full of very bright intellectuals”!
Reality check: it almost certainly won’t be a tippy top name.
Bonus good news: some of those tippy-tops have rather fewer “eggheads and thinkers” than some of the places you might not be familiar with (yet)
So: here’s the college 1-2-3 for you:
- Figure out what your college budget is. Remember that even schools that "meet full need" meet what they think is your full need, not what you / your family thinks is full need. So have a straight up conversation with the relevant adults: what's the money situation?
- With your budget in hand, go google around for nerdy & geeky colleges, and see what ones appeal to you- then check your GPA & ACT against their admitted students ranges (you can find them all at collegedata.com). You want to have your GPA & ACT be inside the middle 50% to be a match, and in the upper 25% to be a likely; if you are in the lower 25% you are in 'win the lottery' territory. Make a list with a couple of lottery choices, but mostly matches & likelies- and at least 1 absolutely 100% you will get in, can afford it, and won't cry if that is your only choice.
- Cross check your choices with your budget. How likely are you to be able to afford each place? trim you list accordingly.
é voila! you have a list of colleges that you are likely to get into and able to afford 
As for explaining why grades aren’t what they could be, remember that among other things, colleges want to know that you can (and will) do the work. In general, having a GC or LoR reference the challenge is better. For example, a teacher could write that ‘Student is so (insert relevant / true / positive adjectives) and has done an amazing job of coping with a very difficult home situation. In particular, Student’s work on X demonstrated the depth of understanding and a rare ability to convey Y’.
If you choose to write one of your essays on the challenges at home (risky, b/c it’s very hard to do well and easy to do badly), be sure that the focus in on you, showing how you have matured through this, rather than telling the story!
Thank you so much for the in depth response! I’ll definitely take your advice, thank you.
As for the personal challenges, the only issue is that none of my school faculty know about it because I didn’t really want to air dirty laundry or anything so I just kind of grinned and bore it. That’s one big problem just at school in general is none of my teachers have any idea of what my home life is looking like because I didn’t want to air all my personal family stuff to them because I knew my mom wouldn’t want that sort of thing to get out.
Have you found support for yourself elsewhere? If not, you should. There are confidentiality protocols, so it’s not advertising that your family has challenges to all and sundry (btw, most families have challenges)- it’s finding support for you. Assuming that things are as you describe them, you need some back up (as does your mom, since your plan involves moving away).
Is there a counselor (school or otherwise) that you could talk to? have you checked out al-anon’s teen corner*? Your recs won’t be written until next autumn, so there is time to establish not just the fact, but some support & backup, which could help you have some improvement in your marks. It won’t be a magic solution, either for home or school, but it could make a difference.
*https://al-anon.org/newcomers/teen-corner-alateen/
I haven’t but I guess that would be good for me to do. Everyone’s already branded me a slacker so I’m apprehensive because I feel like they’ll just regard it as an excuse, and I feel like there’s not much they can do to help me, but I reckon it’s worth a shot, no? Thank you btw, I appreciate you helping me out with all this.
So does it really make a difference to colleges if you have some sort of an excuse like that, do you think? Obviously it’s not going to make them forgive me entirely for it but hopefully it’ll lead to a little understanding.