a junior's chances - help deciding ED/RD

malaise · March 29, 2013, 1:59pm

Hi everyone! I realize that these Chance boards have been increased exponentially since March SAT scores came out, but I started to wonder about the choices I’ve been making (lolol not that seriously), and really don’t know where I might want to apply ED/RD anymore. I expect most of the schools listed to be reaches, but who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky somewhere.

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I: 2150 (first try - 680CR/760M/710W)
[] SAT II (to be taken): Math II, U.S. History, French
[] Weighted GPA: 4.347 at the end of sophomore year, upwards of 4.6/4.7 at the end of junior year.
[] Rank: 2 at the end of sophomore year
[] AP (junior year, to be taken): Calc AB, U.S. History, Micro, Macro
[] Senior Year Course Load (tentative): Gym, AP Calc BC, AP French, AP U.S. Gov, AP Lit, AP Euro, Marketing, Double Lunch (sinful, I know)

[/ul]Subjective - high school only, up to and including junior year:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: Field hockey (3 years - x2 JV captain, x2 Coaches Award, Varsity member); Model UN (2 years - Co-VP, reformatted club, planned and hosted successful community-wide fundraiser in a month); International Club (2 years - Coordinate food for fundraiser); DECA (2 years - state finalist both years in three events, several awards at regional/state levels)
[] Job Experience: School Store (10th grade)
[] Volunteer/Community service: Peer Leaders (1 year - in school club, do community service related activities); Junior Achievement (10 hours); Field hockey clinic (2 hours)
[] Student of the Month for French (9th grade) and History (11th grade)
[] Teacher recs should be great, trying to avoid having to get a counselor one at all (we don’t get along, he tried to make me take a lab science :p). I like to think my writing is intriguing, but who knows how they’ll turn out.
[] Additional Senior Year Clubs (potentially): NHS, NBHS, SHF (french honor society, trying to see if my school will offer membership)

[/ul]Other:[ul]
[] State: NJ
[] School Type: Public suburban, about 1100 students
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: Female
[] Income: Low, more than likely FA candidate
[] Hooks/Misc: “First gen” college in US, though my dad took some credit courses here, so I’m not sure if that counts - though I wasn’t really going to emphasize that at all. I’m proud of my ethnicity but frankly I’ve only seen it hurt candidates, not help. Bilingual, learning a third (but I can’t read/write the second language).

[/ul]Schools:[ul]
[] ED/RD Huntsman (UPenn - CAS and/or Wharton), Columbia
[] RD Princeton, Yale, UChicago, George Washington, Dickinson, TCNJ
[li] Any other schools that I am a close match for?[/li][/ul]

Intended Field of Study: Social Sciences (Economics/International Relations, maybe Political Science)

If by some miracle you made it to the bottom of this post and can help me get through this mini-crisis, I would highly appreciate it. Let me know if you have any additional questions or need something clarified. Thank you!

malaise · March 30, 2013, 10:54am

oh hello there.

selfish bump.

awkwardpenguin13 · March 30, 2013, 11:11am

Hey! So colleges are very holistic, as you probably know. Your profile is definitely good enough for any college in the country. It’s just a matter of essays and recommendations, to be honest. If you waaant to retake the SAT, fine… I understand that the higher, the better; however, your score is good enough to be considered academically qualified.

Btw, you do count as first generation still since your father never graduated. That is a positive in this process, so you have that going for you!

As for other college suggestions, Georgetown might be a school to look into! Maybe USC too? American University as a safety/match? And obviously Harvard and MIT, who have excellent economic departments.

And lastly, I saw that under income, you wrote “low.” I’m not sure how low that is, buuut you may want to consider applying to be a QuestBridge Finalist next year. It’s a program for low-income students and includes many benefits, such as waived application fees to 35 amazing QuestBridge partners, including most of the ones you’re interested in, an additional application where you can establish your background and express yourself through extra essays, and a very supportive community if you do end up being accepted to a QuestBridge partner. Not only that, but the Questbridge partners do look at QuestBridge finalists somewhat favorably during the admissions process.

Here’s the link: [QuestBridge</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/]QuestBridge”>http://www.questbridge.org/)

And if you have any other questions, just let me know :3 You can PM me, too :3

malaise · March 30, 2013, 2:41pm

Thank you for the informative response! I’ve never heard of QuestBridge but I will certainly look into it and see if I’m eligible for the program.

As for my SAT score, I am planning on retaking it (in May hopefully, so long as I don’t forget to register hahah), and will likely take the ACT as well (in June).

Those schools are definitely ones I’m looking at, I just didn’t want to overburden anyone who was willing enough to read through my stats and chance me. My focus at the moment is just figuring out where I stand in a potential applicant pool. Obviously I’ll want to apply ED to the school I like more, but right now, to me, they’re tied.

awkwardpenguin13 · March 30, 2013, 5:48pm

No problem! And to decide on which school to ED, if you can, try and visit. It definitely gives you insight on which school you love most.

Oh, and there’s also a prospective QuestBridge finalist facebook group. If you’re eligible (typically, your parents have to make <60K, depending on how many dependents), I’d suggest joining it. There are many, many past QB finalists there to help and act as resources to you guys, so I’d definitely encourage you to join. If you want the link, just PM me.

malaise · March 31, 2013, 12:53pm

Will do, thanks again!

selfish bump two.
help ease my… malaise… lawlz :p

malaise · April 1, 2013, 6:06pm

am I annoying enough yet?

:rolleyes:

one chance, that’s all I’m asking.

malaise · April 1, 2013, 9:31pm

pretty please.
bump #toomany
no that’s not a tag.

a junior's chances - help deciding ED/RD

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