Match me PLEASE! NYC, Female, Latino, 3.2 GPA, 1540 SAT, 4 year extracurricular, Mental health issue [<$10k from single parent]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • Location of residency:
    • NYC
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers):
    • Early College Program (I am graduating with an AA degree)
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)
    • Wellesley College Legacy (Although I don’t think Wellesley cares much about legacy)

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Intended Major(s)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.2
  • Weighted HS GPA: (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 (780 RR, 760 M)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

I am in an Early College Program, so APs are not offered. Instead, all of the course work in Junior and Senior year is College level (all of the required highschool content is covered in the Freshman and Sophomore year). College courses are bolded.

  • English:
    • Literature of the Americas, Global Literature, Freshman Literature Seminar
  • Math:
    • Algebra I and II, Trigonometry I and II, Freshman Math Seminar, Calculus
  • Science:
    • Physics I and II, Chemistry I and II, Intro to Biology, General Biology
  • History and social studies:
    • Global History, History of the Americas, Reacting to the Past, The Genealogy of Confession
  • Language other than English:
    • Spanish I, Spanish II, Spanish 101 + 102
  • Visual or performing arts:
    • Guitar

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

  1. 4 year apprentice in a year long, high commitment leadership program at a City Garden
  2. One Semester of tutoring 3x a week in Biology (for free)
  3. Founded schools multicultural club (1 year in action)
  4. 2 years in the schools criminology club
  5. Ushering at major performing arts centers (1 summer)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

  • Still working on essays
  • Strong LORs from Biology teacher, Global teachers

Additional Information:

I consistently struggled throughout my high school career with organization, timely submission, work completion, focus etc. My low GPA is pretty much entirely due to missing or late submissions, because I performed extremely well on tests, in class and on the work I did submit. In Junior fall, I was diagnosed with severe inattentive ADHD, and I was prescribed medication for it in the spring. I struggled for the first month and a half with the side effects so I wasn’t consistently taking it, but in the second half of the spring semester I was and I was able to get great grades relative to my other semesters (not super great becuase I wasn’t really taking it at first). Though I don’t struggle with content at all, my GPA is completely screwed.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

I really need help being matched to some schools! I know that what i’m gunning for is a school with intense academic rigor, diverse course work, small class sizes with good professor accessibility, good research and internship opportunities, and study abroad opportunities. I know that due to my GPA I will be not be able to access many of the schools that check all these boxes, but I am open to having my mind changed about what I want from a school anyways! It feels like my peers just know of all sorts of schools - they can casually pick up on their reference in conversation or tell you their thoughts on schools all over the country, but I really only know of a select few state schools and the big names like boston university, Swarthmore, brynmawr, barnard, Smith, harvard, etc. (essentially I only know of reaches). I would THRIVE with my new treatment in any Ivy level school without a doubt (not to be annoying or arrogant), so I really want to find a school thats akin to an Ivy but that is actually somewhere that would accept me. I just need names thrown at me so I can do research, I just really don’t know where to start!

DREAM SCHOOLS (mega reaches for me, basically impossible to get into with my stats I know): Wellesley, Williams, Cornell, Haverford

Schools I don’t really like: Syracuse, Binghamton, Hunter, Bard ( I sort of don’t like the NY, NJ, PEN area very much because my family is soooo close but honestly its whatever with how little options I will have)

Because my gpa is pretty garbage, I figure I might as well think about location and vibes because its going to be hard getting to the places I really want to go to anyways. I really would love a pretty, not super modern looking campus. I would like to be either rural in a charming area (for example a coastal/beachside school, a school with lots of greenery) that is at most 2 hours from a city or in a city that is really culturally distinct from nyc.

I am also definitely going to be very audacious with my applications and try to sell myself reallyyyyyyyy hard to some of my dream schools. I am saving up money for applications so I figure might as well. I want to do early desicion II to one of my schools so that I can use straight As 1st semester of senior as evidence for my pitch.

I mostly really want Ideas for safeties and reasonable schools that I won’t be completely depressed at! Don’t bother chancing, I know I’m done for. Please please please help!!

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Posters can’t help you build a list until we know your budget, and if you will qualify for need based aid. Run Wellesley’s NPC with your parents to get a cost estimate: Net Price Calculator

You should run NPCs for all schools on your list. Are SUNY’s affordable? Is it an option for you to live at home and commute to a SUNY or CUNY?

The most important thing is your health. Because the ADHD issues are relatively recent, I would encourage you to be open to a gap year depending on how senior year goes.

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What kinds of grades did you earn before high school? Also, did you ever take the PSAT and qualify as a National Merit Semifinalist? You have a very competitive, balanced SAT score already (no need to retake). Not sure what you mean by “my gpa is pretty garbage.” Do you mean, doesn’t accurate my overall level of performance in high school or grades are not that important? You have a documented medical disability, severe inattentive ADHD, and the side effects of the prescribed medications interfered with your school work. What classes did you take and how much did you learn? You currently have a 3.2 GPA; if you were to reassign all of your grades to more accurately reflect how much you learned (mastered content) in your own self-assessment, what would the GPA be - a 3.7, a 4.0?

What colleges are going to be most concerned with is whether the ADHD is going to affect you in college to the point where you have to transfer or drop out in addition to being able to handle the academic workload. Assuming that Wellesley College is your top choice, they’ll want to make sure that you can thrive in their environment and graduate in a reasonable amount of time, typically four years, without compromising your mental or physical health.

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Hi, Thank you for responding!!!

Thank you for the calculator resource!

I just realized I forgot to include that information. I definitely need to be cautious with tuition cost, because we can really only afford to pay around 10k in tuition annually (although I will obviously be taking out tons of loans). As for financial aid: I live in a single parent household that receives no financial assitance from my other parent, my sibling is attending a T20 and we are paying almost 20k for that annually, and my parent technically has no assets; however, the household income is around 200k so I don’t qualify for much aid. My college experience is really important to me and I don’t want to be a financial burden on my parent so I am very open to taking out substantial loans for the right school.

SUNY’s I think fall right within the range we are looking for, but I haven’t found one I particularly like yet (there will definitely be a bunch of them on my application list either way though). While I could go to a CUNY, I dislike the idea of attending one because leaving my house for college is really really important to me.

While I do see your point about taking a gap year, I am not sure it is really an option for me. I was thinking that, if worst comes to worst, I could apply to a safety CUNY or SUNY and then transfer into a school I really love (I really want to avoid doing this though). I will definitely consider the gap year, and I really appreciate your guidance!!

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Hi! Thank you for replying!!

Before highschool, I was in the top 95th percentile in my city academically. I got a much lower score on my PSAT (1290) so I don’t think I qualified. I consider my GPA to be pretty poor because it is well below the average for my school, and defintely a reflection of my poor performance seriously getting in my way. I think my GPA is frustrating because I do think I seriously mastered the content I was taught (based on teacher feed back), but sabotaged my self with the work ethic portion. I honestly do think that I would be in the 3.7-4.0 range if I was medicated for all of highschool, but I don’t want to be cocky or seem like I am making excuses on any application.

Thank you for your second point as well. I do think that I am one of those people who really loves academics, and I do think that with treatment I am more motivated then ever. I also think that being in an early college program gives me the advantage of being somewhat familiar with college level work loads on and off medication. I think I could maybe pitch this to one of the schools by writing about independent research on my application and showing a serious improvement in senior year.

Thank you so much for you time and guidance, I really really appreciate this and will keep thinking about it!

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You won’t believe me but I’ll say it anyway- Macauley Honors. Run the numbers. If it’s affordable without loans it goes on the list.

Once you lock that down, you can get creative. But with a budget of 10K (and use your research skills to find out what you can borrow…. it is likely a tiny fraction of what you think you can borrow) you need a rock solid safety within budget before you look further afield.

You sound like a terrific candidate for any college. But your budget is going to determine your list more than your “terrific-ness”. And before you pushback- I PROMISE you that you will find intellectual challenges and incredible faculty at a lot more places besides the schools on your initial list.

The most “intellectual” kid I know- majored in philosophy at Wittenberg. A special merit award for a kid majoring in philosophy- don’t know if they still have it. The brainiest kid in my town last year ended up at Union- why? Big family, big dreams, she got a full ride. An absolute superstar child of close friends- Earlham. Same deal- the price was right. All three of these kids report getting their ^&* kicked in– you take hard classes, prepared to work hard, you’ll get an exceptional and rigorous education.

Good luck!!!

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Thank you!!!

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Is this parent income for one of your parents or for both combined. Be aware that many colleges that meet full need use the CSS Profile to calculate institutional need based aid. And many also require the non-custodial parent to complete their form. If required, and not submitted, your financial aid application will be deemed incomplete.

Do you have a qualified cosigner for these loans…who will qualify all four years you are on college? Your loan limits on your own will be limited. The federally funded Direct Loan for freshmen is $5500, for example.

Please do some research into the SUNY schools and CUNY. IIRC, CUNY does have dorms, but someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

I agree with the MacCauley Honors suggestion. Well worth a look!

Any particular interests? This might help folks give you some suggestions…although it’s fine not to know your college major as a HS student.

There ARE colleges where you will be a welcome addition. Please be more optimistic. This is a journey, not a race, and you are already on that journey.

I would suggest looking at the Colleges That Change Lives list of colleges. Some might be appealing to you. I’m just not sure you can get to a $10,000 price point. But look and see what they have to offer.

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I’m going to recommend a school that I come on here often to recommend, as it is a terrific school that often gets overlooked: St. Olaf in Northfield, MN. It ticks all of the boxes you listed above. Gorgeous campus with historic stone buildings sitting a bluff, located in a awesome college town (Carleton is also there) that is about 45 minutes south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Your SAT score is higher than their average and my guess is that your grades are lower. So I’m not sure if it would be a target, or a lower reach. Probably a target. I know a lot of happy students there - nice warm student body, and great academics. Check it out!

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PSAT of 1290 is a great score (I believe around 90th percentile); not a qualifying NMS score but still a good one. So you believe that your GPA is inaccurate since you seriously mastered the content but have issues with work ethic (due to ADHD). You also have a passion for learning, are self-motivated, and interested in conducting independent research. You will need to compose a convincing argument in your personal essays (like written interviews) to college committees & also in oral interviews, if required. College is very unstructured unlike the structured high school when it’s usually the case that a student reports to 6 or 7 different teachers each day. You spend much less time in class & more time outside of class with reading textbooks, completing assignments, working on projects, both independently and with other people. Many students that are “average” high school students end up flourishing in college, growing up into adulthood. Your SAT score of 1540 is well above average, and you have gained experience mastering some college coursework, both positives to your applications.

You will need to consider applying to at least a couple of CUNY and SUNY schools as safeties but you do have a shot of gaining admission to some more competitive schools, ones like Wellesley. Wellesley does take legacy status into consideration, by the way. You reference a mixture of liberal arts and larger research focused universities. Do you have a particular preference? Are you interested in attending a college with a smaller or larger number of undergraduate students? Are you interested in any particular majors right now? The medical services at the colleges for students with disabilities and mental health issues is very important; not all schools offer the same level of support. If you were to apply to 10 of the most competitive colleges/universities, I think you can get admitted to at least 2 or 3, with carefully crafted essays, including optional essays & some discussion about your ADHD and how this has affected your academics. The best college options will be the ones offering the best support for students with your disability. I’m pretty sure that all of these colleges have admitted students in similar situations before. All the colleges you get admitted to want to make sure that you will swim and not sink!

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I don’t think that the schools that my child applied to overlap much with what you are looking for, but I did want to link a post about them that I wrote because their profile is very similar to yours - low GPA (a bit higher than yours, but just normal high school courses so less rigor than yours), high SAT (a bit lower than yours) and for much the same reasons (late adhd diagnosis). Their college application season was far more successful than we had dared hope, and I think how you approach your application will be key. Definitely go for a couple of reaches but really consider what others here suggest to you as safeties and targets. (I think St Olaf is a great suggestion, and one my kid might have looked at seriously if it had their major.) Good luck!

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Will your school counselor be able to explain your grade issues in their counselor recommendation. Very often, that is the place for these types of explanations to take place.

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Only you will be able to decide if your brain can get over the name of the college not adding to your assumed depression in college.

(I know some of the below dont fit all of your wish list.)

Salve Regina? U of Iowa? Kalamazoo? Michigan State? Indiana U? Marquette? St. Louis U?

My (also very adhd) 3.3 gpa 35 ACT kid with tons of ECs is at syra cuse (I know you aren’t a fan, we are from the midwest and he got free tuition there from my employer). My 3.3 TO latina daughter is at Central Michigan (with a multicultural scholarship making it super affordable. she feels its a great supportive environment and really loved her professors last year).

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Welcome to College Confidential, @Vi_moral!

For clarity, do you mean $10k for tuition or $10k towards college costs, inclusive of room & board?

Either way, this is your biggest constraint, not your GPA. There are many great colleges that I think are likely to accept you with your academic turnaround and SAT scores. The likelihood of them getting down to $10k if your family does not have significant financial need is extraordinarily slim, however. If you do not qualify for need-based aid, then you essentially need a full tuition scholarship, and then would need a loan to cover the remainder of the difference between the $10k and the cost of room and board.

But in looking back at your original post, it appears that your family is paying $20k/year for a sibling at a T20. That school probably uses the CSS, and many CSS schools (though not all) still consider multiple siblings in school, even though FAFSA-only schools do not. Essentially, make sure you run the NPC at every school under consideration.

Also, as @thumper1 mentioned, you can only take out a limited amount of loans before they need to be cosigned ($5500 freshman year, $6500 sophomore year, and $7500 for each of your last two years). And the co-signer would need to qualify for the loans every year that you’re taking them out.

I think that the SUNYs have a free application month…maybe in October? Keep a lookout and I would probably apply to all of them. You may end up being offered honors colleges or special programs at some but not others, and it’s always nice to have choice (and they may give out different levels of scholarships to try and entice you to attend). But I think that Geneseo and New Paltz should definitely get a closer look among the SUNYs for you.

I’ll second the Colleges That Change Lives schools. In particular, you may want to check out:

And I’m just going to stop, because there are so many you can consider (though I’ll second the suggestion of St. Olaf and mention College of Wooster as another one to get extra special consideration). Although the profiles are marketing material, I think they generally give a good sense of the college.

Okay, veering away from CTCL schools, some other place you may want to consider are:

  • Gustavus Adolphus (MN): About 1900 undergrads. I wrote this about it recently:

  • U. of the South (TN): About 1600 undergrads in a beautiful natural setting that’s a little under an hour from Chattanooga.

  • Lewis & Clark (OR): About 2100 undergrads

  • St. Lawrence (NY): About 1900 undergrads

  • Mount Holyoke (MA): A women’s college of about 2200 undergrads and part of a consortium with Amherst, U. of Massachusetts, and Smith

  • Trinity U. (TX): About 2500 undergrads in San Antonio. They’re trying to improve their national profile, which means that being from NY might be particularly attractive for them

  • Furman (SC): About 2400 undergrads.

  • Connecticut College: About 2k undergrads

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Thank you so much for this reply

I am realizing I know a LOT less about aid and loans then I thought. That is the income for one of my parents, and we are completely out of the loop with my other parent so i’m not sure how we’d even get a second form filled out, so this is really helpful information! I have been building up a credit score for the past year which will hopefully give me more wiggle room with how much I can take out without a cosigner (although I am not completely sure if thats how it works, I looked it up briefly before this reply) but I do think I have a cosigner.

I don’t know exactly what I’ll major in, but I am positive that I want to study biology, social science and global history in college. These are the subjects I am most passionate about and I see myself likely majoring in one of the three. I think thats why the smaller schools with equally good STEM and humanities opportunities are really appealing to me.

I will check out the Colleges That Change Lives list!! Thank you so much for all of these suggestions, this was very helpful!

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Thank you, I definitely will!

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Thank you!

Hearing this makes me feel a bit more optimistic about what I can do. I think I do have a preference for liberal arts programs over large research universities because I do really want smaller class sizes and accessible professors. I also want a program that is well rounded in both the humanities and in the sciences because I passionate about Biology, Social Science and Global History. For that reason I think a smaller college is better because those are the places where I imagine good professor accessibility being. I am open to changing my mind for sure, but I just know I really want smaller class sizes.

Thank you for your advice also, I really need to look into the academic resource departments of each of the schools on my list to see if I will be supported. Thank you!!!

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You should also explore scholarship opportunities available for students with ADHD, if money is an issue. Examine each scholarship’s criteria for GPA and test scores requirements, especially ones that value high test scores. Many scholarships require just a 3.0 or 3.2 GPA (B/B+).

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Based on what you wrote above, your seeming interest in a national search, your general criteria and your academic profile, look into Reed as a potential reach:

Of the schools you listed in your original post, Reed is probably most like Haverford. Reed’s affordability may be similar to that of many other private colleges.

For a school at which you would be fairly likely to gain admission, look into Wheaton (MA).

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This may not be the best approach.

Consider the Honors College at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Should be a safety which offers significant merit scholarship money. Is culturally distinct from NYC in an area very close to the beach. Academic intensity will vary, but should be more demanding in the Honors College courses.

P.S. Unfortunately, the non-resident merit scholarship will still leave a substantial amount.

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