Unique medical situation.

shamus
Mon, 07 May 2007 19:50:26 +0000

Hello, I’m a high school junior from New Hampshire and I’m interested in hearing opinions on my chances of being admitted to Reed, Middlebury, Cornell, or Oberlin.

I currently suffer from chronic migraines, and possibly (not diagnosed yet) narcolepsy. I miss approximately 50% of school and my grades are horrible because of it. I’m on a federal “disability” plan that is supposed to make teachers aware of my current situation and give them accomodations to make (such as no deadlines, altered curriculium etc.). Unfortunately it’s not helping me all that much and a select few teachers have refused assist me in any fashion and have failed me. I work as hard as possible to maintain about a C+/B- average in the rest of my classes.

My PSAT scores were math:70 reading:78 and writing:75. I took the SATs last saturday and believe my scores will be about the same, I’ll be taking them again in October.

I consider myself a fairly talented writer and I will ensure my college essay is outstanding.

Due to all of the medical issues I’ve encountered, my guidance counselor has assured me that she will be writing an excellent reccomendation recounting the past year or so and how hard I’ve worked against the aforementioned obstacles. I have a fairly good rapport with my physics teacher who I stay after a few days a week to make up missed work and to learn subjects outside the HS physics curriculum, and hope he will write me a good reccomendation.

As for extra credits:

-Varsity tennis
-JV soccer
-Jazz band 4 years
-All-State Jazz Ensemble as a junior (hope to repeat this next year)
-I’m on the junior board of a non-profit organization that allocates scholarships to both students and teachers
-I’m part on my city’s green team, a non-profit for environmental conservation and climate control.
-I’ve helped organize and am currently organizing multiple large-scale fundraisers for both of the previously mentioned organizations.
-Organizing a walk to benefit Leukemia
-Organizing a protest and fundraiser to benefit victims of the genocide in Sudan.

Music and jazz in particular is my strong suit. As I mentioned I’ve been in my high school (about 2600 students) jazz band since I was a freshman. I was all-state this year as a junior. I study jazz piano and saxophones with a professional jazz musician and teacher at Middlebury College. I play saxophone, piano, and guitar. I’ve played numerous benefits including a yearly soup kitchen fundraiser put together by all of the local restuarants that earns thousands of dollars each year.

I hope to have the medical issues resolved by the first semester of my senior year, and will (again, hopefully) show my ability and have an A average for the first two quarters.

Any advice as to what I should to to improve my chances, and my current chances will be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I forgot to mention the following.

I work for a school geared towards natural learning, it’s located on a farm on the outskirts of my city. I helped build it and currently work with 2 kindergarten classes and after school grade school kids aged 1-4th grades. I do graphic design for the same people (they own multiple businesses), and am a counselor at their summer camps.