Rocky Past

Chance Me / Match Me
1

First things first, I’d like to make it be known that this post isn’t a pity party, just me explaining my circumstances and asking for honest feedback given said circumstances.

Anyhow, before I start, I’d like to elaborate a bit on the title ‘rocky past’. To be honest, this is the best way I could think of explaining it. Freshman year, all was going well, and first semester sophomore year was the same. Come second semester, right around Spring Break, something tragic occurs, my dad gets admitted into a hospital for what was originally thought of as a stroke but was instead a sudden reappearance of melanoma which he had been diagnosed with a few years back, however, this time it was Stage 4, in his brain, and metastasizing quick. Long story short, I missed a lot of school. I got back to school, and I truly didn’t really care. I didn’t want to make up tests, do homework, anything, really. I was more concerned with other things in my life, prioritizing my mom, and then taking over the majority of my fathers business, a pool company, by doing just about everything except for the labor. This includes getting the permits for every pool being built, which started with me doing the annotated sketches for them, handling finances, invoicing, all the good stuff that comes with a business. Believe it or not, we ended the year pretty well, especially for a 17 year old running it. Not too long after, my uncle, my father’s closest brother, passed from the same thing, rapidly metastasizing melanoma. All of this being said, my GPA took quite a plummet in my sophomore year, second semester. My second semester sophomore year GPA was a 3.5W and an 3.14UW. This brought down my cumulative GPA to 3.819W and 3.62UW. Thankfully, I’ve been able to recover partially from this, as my GPA is going back up, however, I’m just concerned about how this will all seem to colleges I want to apply to. Coming back my junior year (current), and pulling straight A’s in very competitive classes, I hope to see that this would show perseverance and determination, however, I’m worried it will instead be overlooked and my application won’t be looked at past my GPA.

All of this being considered, I feel that in my opinion some of my lacking points are understandable, both in GPA and ECs… keeping in mind I was working 40+ hours a week while in my sophomore year and still work a fair amount.

So on to the stats:

Currently a junior at a fairly well ranked public high school, ranked in the upper 15% of my class of 400, give or take a few.
White, male
First generation college student, neither of my parents made it past a high school diploma.
GPA (as of first semester): 3.9514W, 3.6944UW.
AP Classes: AP World (Sophomore year, no test), AP Biology, Chemistry (currently enrolled, expecting to get a 4/5, not to be conceited, just have a very good understanding and passion in the two), and senior year I will be taking AP Physics, AP Calculus (AB/BC), AP Statistics, AP Microeconomics/Macroeconomics, and AP Literature. Along with this I will be taking the PLTW course BI, or Biomedical Innovations, and the final of the PLTW Engineering courses (taken IED, POE and scored 8 of 9, which is advanced, on both exams, currently enrolled in DE, and will be taking EDD next year).
ACT: E: 29, R: 34, M: 34, S:34, C: 33, also taking the ACT Feb 6, and have studied a bit to increase scores (didn’t study before).
SAT: Taking March 5
PSAT: 1440/1520, NMSCI: 215

ECs: Nothing really except for Science National Honor Society and I volunteer time at a program called Friends of Kids with Cancer. Other than these two, I’m pretty busy with running a pool company, hoping that’s understandable to admissions.

The schools I’m looking at are very prestigious, such as schools like MIT, UChicago, Northwestern, Stanford, Caltech, etc. Also considering U of I, Urbana Champaign but I don’t really think I will have to worry about that too much, hoping I can get by without any difficulty there. I plan on studying biomedical engineering or biochemical engineering, unless I go to UChicago in which case I hope to study molecular engineering. My end goal is to research cancer, and specifically melanoma. Hoping this can be an attractive aspect of me, as I think it’s reasonable and shows I have a bit of dedication to my cause…

Like I said, this post isn’t intended to be a pity party, I don’t want anything to do with that. I just want to know my honest chances given my circumstances and everything else. Even suggestions of schools that are good fits for me are greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance, and I apologize for such the massive post.

2

FYI: it didn’t seem like too much of a pity party.

You are one incredible human being. I can barely run an independent tutoring service, and your designing and running a swimming pool company (lol thanks for making me feel worse about myself!). All while managing a 3.7 UW and a 31ish ACT composite DRY?!?!? You are insane bro, hope you make some of these schools. Northwestern is within reach, but as far as I know, Stanford and MIT are reaches for everyone, but GL!

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I appreciate it, that really does mean a lot. I’m just worried about not making it past the first page of my application, metaphorically, because of the not so outstanding statistics due to unforeseen circumstances.

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You are remarkable, I am sorry about what you had to endure.

Quite honestly a 3.7 UW and 31 ACT with what you had to go through is amazing. Sure you might not have that 4.0 and 35 act but who cares? There were bigger way important things going on in your life.

Now, I can’t say that means the top tier schools will automatically give you a boost but if you can convey this in a well-written essay and keep up the hard work till senior year comes I am sure you will be a competitive applicant for whatever college you want to attend.

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@Toothpick8394 I agree, they don’t look at everyone’s “first page”, then choose who to look at more in depth. They will spend an equal (granted also a short) amount of time reading each application, so they will see your situation if you can convey it in an essay.

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Thanks for the feedback, @thecoolboy1234, but yeah like I said ACT is currently 33 and taking it again tomorrow, I just am unsure about that mixed with the GPA. I’m slightly more optimistic because of the admissions essays and I feel I should do a moderately well job of conveying a message, but my ACT/GPA just aren’t really on par I feel to even have essays outweigh it.

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@Toothpick8394 While a 33 ACT isn’t the “best score” it is definitely a competitive enough score for schools like MIT, Northwestern, Stanford, etc. The average accepted score from Stanford for the ACT is a 33 which means you are in a pretty solid group. Of course getting a higher ACT will only up your chances.

Good luck on your ACT! But note that your ACT is already on par and the only thing you should really focus on is bringing up that UW GPA! I had a lower GPA UW GPA than you and I got into Northwestern (and I didn’t have any rocky past) so you certainly have a chance.

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@thecoolboy1234 Realistically how much more can I do with the UW GPA though, after this semester it could go up to a 3.738, and then 3.7755 after first semester senior year, and these are with 4.0’s UW each semester (which I am sure will be easily doable) but is that enough? It put me in a rough spot

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@Toothpick8394 If anything, any uptick helps. Colleges like to see upward trends, in that regard you will be looked highly with a 3.77 since its a upward trend compared to another student who stayed at a consistent 3.77UW. And through your essay your are showcasing your academic capabilities to the colleges and that the main reason of your “low” gpa was because of your circumstances during your freshman/sophomore years.

Granted, I cannot say for-sure if that “is enough” but it is better than not trying at all. A 3.77 UW will not be thrown in the “autmoatic reject” pile from these colleges and with a 33+ ACT colleges will at least give your applications a thorough look. And if your essays shine well, then you’re in a good position.

Assuming you are aiming for these top universities don’t forget, top 20+ colleges are a crap-shoot for everyone (unless you found the cure for cancer or something). As long as you understand that you are in a good position.

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Do you have a good college adviser at school? Who will write your letters of recommendation? Your adviser should be fully informed of the difficulties you dealt with, and can mention them in the recommendation.

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Very helpful, thanks a lot @thecoolboy1234.
@woogzmama, unfortunately the student to counselor ratio is 400:1 or so, unless you have special appointments with a counselor who you are closer with. Yes, my counselor is familiar with the situation, however, probably not as much as would be beneficial. Depending on how many letters of recommendation I will need, I will most likely do one from my AP Biology teacher who I am very close with and then probably my AP Physics teacher next year who also likes me a lot, and she is the leader of the Science Honor Society so it’ll double in purpose. Then I’m still deciding what math teacher I’d like to use, most likely AP Calc, and for English I I’d used my sophomore year Honors English II teacher who was my teacher whenever the situation occurred.