I do hope Bing and Stony Brook work out for you. I don’t know which of your schools accept or require first semester grades, but how were your grades last semester?
My son has similar profile to you – but a better GPA (not by a ton) but worse SAT. He is also autistic and has ADHD as they often go hand-in-hand. Your choices are a bit all over the place but a few thoughts:
Depending on where you want to go and what you want to study consider Lowell has I believe a very good online only platform that might be good for building better GPA. UMaine Orono is also good and has an online only program for Economics and Sociology I think. These are nice alternatives we integrated to his college choices just in case he isn’t happen with other outcomes.
University of Minnesota might be a good option for you depending on what you want to apply for. They did waive his application fee as well and it’s rolling admissions and has a 70% acceptance rate which for the quality of the education is quite good. It just depends on if Minneapolis is a place you might find interesting. Pitt would be a hard target for you but also good school that depending on your major you might get into.
University of Utah is a great school, in a good city but nestled out of the way and is a very nice campus. We visited it and I absolutely enjoyed it and would recommend it. They’ve very aggressive with aid and in-state status for students.
URI is a good option as well and they have some great degree programs that include Masters in 5 years. They’re decently aggressive with aide and if you’re in New England certain degree programs are subject to the New England in-state tuition compact. My son was accepted there with $10K in merit aide and because he’s data-science major he qualifies also for in-state under that program and also qualifies for the 5 years = Masters program as well.
Also look at Elon if it’s still possible - it’s easier to get into than bowdoin and Colby but has a bit of that private smaller college feel and better weather. They also have a wide range of environmental majors (you mentioned WYSE) and they’re also decent on aide. Of all those smaller southern colleges that aren’t super tough admissions rates I liked Elon the most.
FWIW all these schools he got into.
Anyway I hope that helps – I’m unsure which still have applications open but hang in there, it will work out. Best of luck!
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So I don’t think you did anything wrong, you are just in a predictable situation given that you (and I gather your parents) are vetoing many options where your transcript + test scores would be competitive without the need for any sort of special consideration.
And I am not saying it is wrong to try to get special consideration, but by nature it often doesn’t happen. Selective colleges often just have an observable comfort zone when it comes to transcripts, and persuading them to go outside of that zone can be very difficult. The way they tend to see it, surely some other good college will want you as is, so it is not doing you an injustice if they are not that college.
And I am also very much not saying it is inherently wrong to have strict criteria when in your particular circumstances you need those things to thrive in college. But of course that can then mean ending up with very few choices. But if you do need to have such strict criteria, and you get even one suitable offer–that’s a win.
So the only part of all this which concerns me is your parents apparently not supporting applying to colleges where you would be competitive and that do fit your criteria. I of course can’t make them do that, but I do think all of us parents can sometimes be unrealistically overconfident in college admissions when it comes to our kids.
OK, so you may still end up happy with your final offers.
But if not . . . a gap year may end up not being the worst idea if you end up not admitted to the sorts of colleges your parents were expecting. I would not necessarily expect a gap year to change that, but maybe your parents would be more open-minded about where you should be applying the second time.
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My grades last quarter were actually way better than usual (I had a 3.9 for the quarter), I’ve been putting a lot of work in to try to get them up. SBU is asking for 2nd quarter grades, but Bing isn’t - maybe that means I’m being considered more there? Not sure.
Thank you!!
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Knowing that all of us are outsiders to your circumstances, I want to encourage you to look at your situation in a different way.
Over the years, I’ve seen a number of students who (mostly due to where they were accepted) have ended up attending universities that they or their parents believed were “mediocre.” Without fail, every single one of those students discovered that 1) they were not the smartest person in the room - there were academic peers and betters all around them, and 2) there was a way to be happy there once they embraced their actual circumstances rather than their perceived pre-matriculation expectations. (Also - I can promise you someone who thinks they’re too good for their school doesn’t make a ton of friends.)
I don’t doubt that you’ve had a number of personal challenges that have impacted your academic success. I can promise you that you are not unique in that, and that college (no matter which one) will bring its own set of challenges, for you and your fellow students.
Like others, I’m hopeful that one of Stony Brook or Bing comes through for you. (Colby, Northeastern, and UW are unlikely enough to not be a good use of your energy.) If you can’t possibly imagine yourself going to any of the schools where you are accepted, then you will need alternate plans. Those plans probably don’t ever make up for your HS GPA, though. That is what it is, and there isn’t one weird trick that is going to change your trajectory. There was almost certainly nothing “wrong” with your application - I have no doubt you did everything you could. So at some point this is up to you - what mindset are you willing to put forward?
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Don’t hear…but go see. You have access to neighboring Syracuse U - clubs, classes, dining, etc. Always bets to go see. SU has a great program too so that’s a great way in.
On parents hoping to shoe horn into SBU - that’s great - but hope is not a plan - so you are smart to “plan”. URI does make sense and Marist for learning supports. If you want to be close, how about Montclair State or LIU? And a bit further but I noted Salisbury before. All have your major.
I’ll disagree with you on RW and GMU in that you are basing your assessment on selectivity or rank or “what you hear” but let me tell you - there are “elite” schools that are not necessarily rigorous and there are non elite schools that kick kid’s butts. And often time the “rigor” is major related. Go see, talk to people, vs. assuming. Tons of studs go to GMU - I assure you - for cost, location or otherwise. Kids choose safeties for many reasons (both mine did) and safety or less “prestige” doesn’t mean a lesser education.
In the previous post, your GPA was 3.7/3.9 so it went down a bit?
Also, you said you are first gen but you say your dad went to Rutgers. Can you clarify?
You have other options that fit distance wise - but you have to open your mind vs. saying - well I heard this…or they don’t punch their weight.
You don’t know that - and often times, being more motivated is a plus - you might have access to research opportunities because fewer kids want them vs. a more selective school.
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I’m not sure either, you might talk with your HS counselor. Your HS counselor can also send your Q2 grades to Bing even though they didn’t ask (assuming they do accept them). You could also check your portal to see if you can send them yourself.
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Busy atm so I can’t respond to everything, but as for the first gen thing: both parents went to college, neither finished or got a degree.
If you take college courses after leaving high school, then it is best if you commit to the transfer pathway. While some colleges may allow frosh application if you take a small number of courses/credits after leaving high school, you need to check each college individually if you want to do that.
The transfer pathway usually means taking at least a year (30 credits) of transferable course work for sophomore transfer or two years (60 credits) for junior transfer. Such course work should include preparation for your intended major, particularly for junior transfers. You will also have to consider course articulation for transfer subject credit at each target college, as well as varying major and general education requirements.
Sophomore transfer applicants will be evaluated on both high school and the small amount of college record presented. Junior transfer applicants will be evaluated primarily or only on college record.
Taking just a few courses after leaving high school could leave you in a situation where many colleges will not allow you to apply as frosh, but you may have too few courses or credits to be admissible as a transfer.
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OK - you “may” be first gen - depends on the school - but no matter, you’ve gotten in based on your academic qualifications!!!
My understanding is that for a marine biology major you start off pretty much majoring in biology, and specialize over time. One daughter thought for a while that she might be interested in marine biology, so we have looked at schools that have good programs (she ended up with a bachelor’s degree in biology, and is currently studying for a PhD in a biomedical field – shifts in focus such as this are very common).
This does look like the weakest part of your application for your various reach schools. Our daughter who was interested in marine biology has so far only had one B in her life and we still thought of Bowdoin and Colby as reaches (affordability was also an issue for us). I would similarly think of Northeastern and U.Washington as high reaches with a 3.5 unweighted GPA (and being out of state for Washington).
We also did consider Roger Williams. If you are still interested in marine biology it is quite a good choice. I would expect that you still have a good chance at College of the Atlantic, and it would also be a good choice, as would U.Maine. I am guessing that “UMaine Fairbanks” is a misprint. U.Maine is quite good for marine biology. When my daughter was younger and was still considering marine biology we had dinner with a marine biologist who had graduated from U. Maine (at a very good restaurant right on the water with a beautiful view overlooking the Maine shore and Atlantic Ocean). George Mason is also quite a good choice.
I did not think that U.Mass Lowell had marine biology, although it would be a good choice for general biology. I do not know Hampshire College as well but have heard good things about it. Your west coast acceptances look to be to be a long way to go for a bachelor’s degree.
There are a LOT of very good colleges and universities. Academic jobs for recent PhD graduates are hard to come by, which means that some very good PhD graduates take jobs at a wide range of colleges and universities. This in turn implies that there are some very strong professors doing very interesting research at a wide range of colleges and universities.
Also, if you look at graduate students at highly ranked universities, you will see that they did their bachelor’s degrees at a very wide range of colleges and universities. It is not unusual at all for a student to get their bachelor’s degree at a school that is ranked somewhere between 50 and 150 and then attend a very highly ranked school for a graduate degree. I know someone very well who got their bachelor’s degree at a school ranked somewhere between 100 and 120 and then got two related master’s degrees at an Ivy League school. I know someone else very well who got their bachelor’s at a school ranked between 100 and 120 and who is currently getting a DVM at a program ranked in the top 5 in the world. My point is that you can get a bachelor’s degree at any of a very wide range of universities and go on to do very well in your field and optionally, if you want to do it, get a graduate degree at a very highly ranked school.
And you will find some very strong students and very strong professors at Roger Williams and at any of the SUNY’s and at U.Maine and at the other schools that you have been accepted to.
One other issue related to mental health: One professor that I know has said that he thinks that all of the strongest students who he has known have at some point dealt with some mental health issues. I suspect that “all” is exaggerating a bit, but only a bit. Having a year or a few years of mediocre grades is often a part of this. For some people it is worthwhile to get some help from mental health professionals. Our medical experts really have gotten much better at dealing with mental health issues. This is something that is worth taking care of. Related to this, for some students having a slightly less stressful university for our bachelor’s degree can be a plus. There still will be very good professors and very good opportunities at a wide range of universities. If you have gotten your act together and become a strong student, then you can do very well, and you can do this at the schools that you have gotten accepted to or the schools that you are about to get accepted to.
And you are already accepted to a few very good universities, and you can only attend one university at a time.
I know that the rejections are disappointing. This is part of the process. You wll have a very good university to attend in September.
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As far as your health challenges in essays, I think it’s ok to write about them if you focus on what you have learned and how you’ve overcome obstacles with your health challenges, don’t just use them as excuses. My daughter has POTS/migraines/connective tissue disorder and a few other things and wrote about her challenges in the context of learning about health equity and empathy for others in hospital volunteering. I think if you highlight what you have to offer to a school from the perspective of a person with challenges, that is the right way to approach it.
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That is what I did
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Sorry if any of my replies sound passive aggressive by the way; they’re all meant to be genuine. Hard to portray tone while multitasking 
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I saw Bates in your origial list. Did you decide against it? You could apply ED2 today, which is the deadline. Maybe the NPC indicated it was unaffordable. EDIT: Skidmore ED2 was yesterday. But maybe email and ask if you could apply ED2 still? I think it’s a tiny bit less reachy for you than Bates.
March is still to come. Some of those colleges won’t notify until then. There are still plenty of good colleges with Feb deadlines too.
Given your GPA, you have applied to a lot of reaches. I see from your original post that you incorrectly regarded Skidmore as a likely. SBU and Bing are getting harder to be admitted to. But I suspect you might be admitted a bit later, depending on their yield. If you like SBU, I’m suprised you dont like Bing, which is much less of a suitcase school. It certainly has much more a college town vibe than SBU.
Do you mean U Maine Orono? You seem interested in Maine. Your list seems very uncohesive. Just wondered if there is something particular you are looking for.
EDIT: Bowdoin, Colby and Bates are more alike than not. If you like Colby and Bowdoin, strongly consider getting the app in to Bates by the end of the day. My kid had a great experience there. And my other kid had a great experience at Bing, so I am biased.
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Just wanted to add, as a VA resident who lives in Northern VA, if you do end up thinking more about GMU, know that the state of Virginia isn’t a monolith. The northern suburbs, where GMU is located, are more liberal than much of the rest of the state, and do not, generally, feel like a “southern” state, despite our location below the mason-dixon line. If the southern nature of VA is the main worry about GMU, then I’d keep this acceptance as a possible choice and come and visit the campus to see how it feels.
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(Again, can’t respond to everything rn) Meant Farmington, sorry!
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I stayed on campus for about a week over the summer and saw confederate flags hanging nearby + it just wasn’t very accessible for me (especially with the buildings being a decent distance apart and the elevators being broken constantly).
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It looks like you were accepted to the majority of colleges to which you applied – 8 out of 15. However, you said that you would not consider going to the majority of colleges you applied to. That majority you would not attend is presumably the majority you were accepted to.
Why bother applying to colleges you will not attend? If the idea is having a safety college in case you are rejected everywhere, it’s not a true safety unless you are willing to attend the college.
Regarding why you were rejected, your post above says an UW GPA of 3.5, while the linked post from 2024 says UW GPA of 3.6 to 3.7. Is this a typo, or did you bomb the most recent quarter? Consistent with this, you said you were on the honor role in 9th and 10th grade, but not in 11th. Does that mean your grades declined significantly in 11th and 12 grade?
Either way transcript is likely a weak point, but it’s difficult to say with certainty without know more about context, such as grade distribution of HS, which courses had lower grades, upward/downward trend, etc.
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Could you explain a little bit about UAlaska? It’s the first thing that jumped out at me in your OP and my first reaction was “Wow, what a great opportunity!”