Parent And Family Responsibilities - Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: Fill & Download for Free

okie doke I figure this would be a good use of quarantine time.Let me just get this out of the way: I am an URM (half Hispanic, half white (Jewish no less lol)) from a low-income family. When I mean low-income I mean two servers supporting six children type low-income.My stats weren’t considerably high, standardized testing in particular was a pain for me. Because of this I considered my chances to be very slim at many top institutions. Let me add some more context:GPA: 3.88/4 UW; 4.25 WACT: (Only submitted to one school~): 25 (HA!)—okay chill though, I got an 11/12 on the essay section. Foreshadowing.SAT II: N/AAP Scores: AP English Language and Composition (5), AP Psychology (5), AP European History (5), AP Human Geography (3)for senior year I am taking eight AP classes. They are as follows:AP Computer Science Principles, AP Physics I, AP Statistics, AP Macroeconomics, AP US Government, AP English Literature, AP World History, and AP US HistoryClass rank: 44/444 (top 10% by a hair)LOR’s - I was a little nervous about these solely because I entreated two English teachers to write mine in lieu of diversifying, but in retrospect I’m glad I did because they were the teachers who knew me best. My AP Lang teacher from junior year is my favorite person ever I seriously love her to bits and I am not convinced her words of wisdom didn’t get me into these schools on their own. The other recommendation came from my sophomore english teacher. I chose him because he was the only teacher to see my true personality shine. Humor and all. With other teachers, especially AP teachers, I often act a bit like the caricature of a good student, but Mr. Nealen saw me as me, and I knew that would be valuable.Extracurricular’s: (im gonna include extenuating circumstances here bc they were a big part of my application)Essay’s: my chapel hill essays were good, but not my best work. one of the essays asked what we would change in our community and i discussed the poor social mobility in Charlotte, NC. as someone who comes from a low-income household, i can’t stand to see people like me condemned to poverty. the other chapel hill essay was about what i as a student can bring to the community. to my recollection i detailed my drive for inquiry and my natural cooperative nature. it would be safe to say that my uchicago essays were special to me. i spent a lot of time working on them, and have since reread them countless times. my ‘uncommon’ essay, as it is commonly known, was in response to the prompt: ‘You’re on a voyage in the thirteenth century, sailing across the tempestuous seas. What if, suddenly, you fell off the edge of the Earth?’ i wrote my essay like a series of journal entries that detailed the descent into madness of a merchant. the merchant is driven to insanity because he had fallen off the edge of the world and discovered that what lays beyond is not to be feared, but instead elicits a euphoric sensation. i tried to make it sound like heaven—but nothing. just sort a dark bliss if that makes any sense. well the guy just keeps going crazy trying to find his way back but all of his ventures are fruitless. so eventually he sacrifices his daughter and uses her blood, and supposedly her soul, to construct a new, more capable boat. the essay ends with him venturing off one more time, except now instead of eager to meet his destiny he seems almost fearful of what he has become, and what lies ahead. if that makes any sense. for my why uchicago essay, i put a lot of emphasis in my desire to be involved in the uchi institute of politics which i ADORE. i also talked about my admiration for alumni of uchicago, bernie sanders in particular kindled a flame in me for public service that i hope burns brighter as i enter college. and of course it wouldn’t be a why uchicago essay without me talking about how enamored by the sheer culture of learning. nowhere is learning for the sake of learning more prevalent, and i made it clear that i valued that. my common application was about personal hardships i overcame which i will detail more below.I founded and was president of my high school’s Jewish Club—something I am very proud of. I was part of NHS, Young Democrats, Young Republicans (what can I say, I like talking about politics), Unified club, environmental club, and I also participated in a few other organizations at my school but to a lesser degree and less frequently than those stated.In 2016 I volunteered for Bernie Sander’s Presidential campaign. In 2018, I volunteered for Congressional candidate Dan McCready, you might have heard of him if you are interested in American politics because of all the controversy that mired his loss. I’m still salty ;( we love u dan mccready dont lose ur sparkle.oh and i did some phone banking for Bernie this year too but I didn’t include that in any applications.Okay, this is where things get complicated.I have two younger brothers (one now in first grade, the other kindergarten) that I have taken care of a lot throughout high school. In fact, my freshman year was completed in absentia (i.e home school) because my parents, both full-time servers often working 13 hours per day, could not reasonably take care of my little brothers because of their crazy hours.So I did home school. I was offered no honors courses, and upon transferring to my high school in sophomore year, I had no choice in what level courses I could take because I was entering school three weeks later than my peers (shoutout to mom and dad for being a little lackadaisical in getting their child back to school). I was only able to take three honors courses and no AP’s.Unfortunately, this would affect my junior year courses because my counselor wasn’t content on letting me do the six AP classes I originally intended to take. At least in my school, counselors can’t do that anymore, so at least there is some progress in that front—but that partially explains my lower than average GPA.My sophomore year of high school, my dad had a manic episode (he is Bipolar and (was) an alcoholic—a bad combination), which resulted in him leaving the house in very dramatic fashion. He had been bouncing between psychiatric wards and rehabilitation clinics until a little into my senior year. Keep in mind the financial burden this put on my family. At the time my mother hid this from me, but during this period we rarely paid down our mortgage with our own money. It was a difficult time, for everyone. But we got through it. We got through it alright.Unfortunately, after my father’s departure, my relationship with my mother began to deteriorate greatly. In March of my junior year, she kicked me out and I lived in my friend’s closet for the next month—an experience I detailed in my common app essay. Writing that essay took a lot out of me. But showing my grit, in my opinion, made my application stick out just a little bit.My relationship with my mother never healed, even after I moved back in. A month before my birthday, after I had already committed to the school I chose, she once again kicked me out. Well, this time it was my stepfather on her behalf. Luckily, my father had just finished rehabilitation and had purchased a house with my grandfather that I was able to move into. This wasn’t included in my application because I had already decided where I was going to attend at that point. But i think it adds some context to the ruins that are my relationship with my mother.I applied to only two schools:UNC Chapel Hill (my state flagship and dream school growing up)I chose to apply Early ActionUniversity of Chicago (my dream school throughout high school)I chose to apply Early Decision IThese were both reaches for me. I applied for Political Science to both.UNC (EA) - Accepted! I live in Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina by quite a bit, and I had heard that getting into UNC from Mecklenburg County (my county) was almost as difficult as getting in out-of-state—a concept that terrified me because, well, stats. Luckily, these fears were for naught and I was offered a spot in the class of 2024. Boy, getting into UNC achieved childhood dreams that not even getting into Harvard could match. I think UNC was lenient on my school this year because we had a low-level school shooting at my school last year. There was, unfortunately, one fatality, and it gained quite a bit of coverage in NC, and most certainly Charlotte. Maybe I’m over thinking it, though. (I guess you can add that shooting to my ever growing list of extenuating circumstances.)University of Chicago (ED I) - ACCEPTED!!!!! (believe me, i was surprised as you are!) AHH I love this school so much. I, like most people, had never heard of this school growing up. But it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with it. From it’s quirky intellectualism to its gorgeous campus—I was smitten. But what I probably loved most when applying (besides the FABULOUS essay prompts) was the option to apply test optional. Goodbye 25 on the ACT! I couldn’t see any reason not to apply ED, especially with their reputation for giving GREAT aid. Low and behold, I was accepted! Not only accepted, but accepted with an Odyssey Scholarship. All in all, my aid totals over $77,000/yr. I can’t explain how significant this is to me, once a child discouraged from the prospect of college because of my financial disposition. it is surreal. I think it was my essays that made the difference. I don’t want to sound arrogant but my writing can be really good. Like really fucking good. *flashback to ACT* and luckily for me, the University of Chicago agrees. And I am incredibly grateful to be able to attend next year. I plan on double majoring in Political Science and Russian Studies.Looking back at my answer, I notice it is a little verbose. But if there is anyone else out there like me—someone who has had some extraordinarily not great things happen to them—just know that there’s still a chance for you. No matter how slim that chance may be. All you need to do is convince a few people in an intimidating room that you deserve it as much as you know you do. Good luck whoever has this hellish process ahead of them. And keep this in mind if you feel like you aren’t worth applying to top schools. You have nothing to lose!and i know this looks messy but, as dostoevsky would probably say, life is messy.