My intended majors are in chemistry and applied mathematics. I hope the following circumstances shed some light to my low gpa.
In seventh grade, I suffered from a falsely accused domestic abuse case. This had caused me to struggle in my classes (including high-school credits) because of constant trips to lawyers and social services. This issue was not resolved until the break after my first semester of my eight grade year. My mom works 45 minutes away from our town. Once high school started, I was responsible for taking care of my brother and helping out with cooking dinner and such chores around the house, as my mom would not come home until 6 in the evening. My father arrives around the same time range, as his job is very demanding. I struggled to balance caring for my brother and the house with my academics and extracurriculars for the majority of my first two years in high school. Once I was able to drive, my problems were significantly reduced in my junior year(aka this present school year), as caring for my brother’s needs were possible by placing him into his school’s after school program. However, my dad got relocated into a town two hours away. He only comes back on the weekends. Luckily, I was able to pull myself together this year and get all A’s this year in 6 AP’s, as I practiced really hard to maintain a steady work ethic. I also had a kidney stone removed this spring break. The back pain and nausea from this deposit may have also contributed to my horrible freshman and sophomore years.
I am sorry about this long post. All of this is true and can be readily verified by legal and medical documents.
GPA: 3.55 UW
Rank: Top 20% in a top 30 Florida high school
ACT: 35 Composite (36 Math, 35 English, 35 Science, 34 Reading) with a 34 on the essay
Volunteer: 300 hours over the summers at a migrant clinic in a rural town 20 minutes away (I tested the patients for their hearing)
800 on Math 2, 800 on Chemistry, and 800 on Biology M
AP’s: Chemistry(5), Euro(4), Physics 1(5), Calc AB(5)
I am taking AP Bio, AP English Lang, AP Psych, AP US History, AP Physics 2, and AP Calc BC this year as a junior.
Senior year schedule: Physical chemistry 1 for first semester (Thermodynamics and kinetics) at local college, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 for two semesters at local college, Ordinary differential equations first semester/ Biochem 1 second semester, AP Gov/Macro, AP English Lit, and AP Physics C (both classes)
Extracurriculars: Envirothon team member this year and next year for the number one team in my region and top 10 in state
Math tutor in Algebra 2 through Calc
Chem tutor in Chem honors, Ap Chem, and Orgo
Mock trial team member for a team that is top 3 in the state
Investment club board member who gives lectures and presentations on the basis of investing
Key club member freshman year
Olympiad training group founder(works with various teachers to incorporate practice sessions for the amc10/12, aime, USNCO(Local and national rounds), F=ma, and USAPHO)
Brain bowl member and secretary
Mu alpha theta member
(Estimated to be top 30 in the state calculus individual test, top 10 in the integration topic test, top 50 in the national calculus individual test, and top 10 in the national integration topic test)
Research role in polymerization and nanoparticles. Paper will be published by the end of August. I was promised as a secondary author.
Regional soccer champion freshman year
Second place in regional chemathon lab team round
Founder of a gender inclusivity club in academics that provides guest speakers from local colleges of various majors to encourage both genders to try new academic interests
I am also in the process of designing a teaching curriculum for physics C at my school. Only 8 people are taking this course, thus causing us 8 students to be mixed with the Physics 1 and 2 kids.
Race: Asian
Total Income: $150k+
Also, what are my chances for Johns Hopkins? I forgot to mention this, but I will be applying to Weinberg at Northwestern and Mellon College of Science at CMU.