- When you apply to college in the US you have, in essence, 6 semesters of academic work to demonstrate your abilities. From your post it sounds as though you have 3 very poor semesters and 3 very good semesters.
IMO it is grossly unfair that work from age 14 / Grade 9 so heavily affects your college chances and choices: 17/18 year old you should be evaluated much more than 13/14 year old you, as that is who will be attending*. Unfortunately, there are huge numbers of students who were mature / ambitious / self-disciplined / lucky enough that they have a strong record right the way through- and they will be applying for the same spots at the same schools that you want to go to.
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For colleges that are not need-blind (which is lots of them), how much financial aid you need plays a part in whether they offer you a place. So, money first: do you need financial aid, and if so, how much? For the ones who are need-blind and “meet need” is what they will expect you to pay affordable to your family (there is often a difference between what the college thinks your family can pay and what your family thinks they can pay). Run the NPCs
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@lookingforward regularly beats the drum of ‘figure out what the college(s) you are applying to are looking for’- what they value. So far (at least here) you are looking at colleges by rank, not by how they fit you / your goals - or how you fit them. The better the fit between you and them the better your odds are. Public universities will typically put more weight on stats (to be fair, they are looking at huge numbers of apps); LACs (especially ones that don’t have to subsidize you) will have more time to look at your story, both the backstory on your early grades and your story about who you are / where you are going / how you and the LAC are a good fit for each other.
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That means sorting this out:
What do those ECs tell the universities about you - either as a student or as a prospective member of the community?
*In much of the world the main thing that matters for admission to university is what you do in the last 1/2 years of secondary school