Chance a delusional horrible at math girl for Stanford (JHU is my safety totally) [CA resident, 3.93 UW, 1570 superscore, Env Sci/Ecology]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident)
  • State/Location of residency: California
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Large, competitive public
  • Other special factors: n/a

Cost Constraints / Budget

No contraints mainly

Intended Major(s)

Environmental Science/Ecology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.93/4.00
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.36 (honors courses/APs count as 5.00)
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank: at least top 15%; highschool does not really rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores:
  • 1540, Superscore: 1570

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Eng 9H, Eng 10, Eng 11H, Eng 12
  • Math: Accel geo/Alg Trig, Accel Alg 2 Pre Calc (did very bad B and C), CP Calc, AP Statistics
  • Science: Living Earth, Chemistry, AP Bio, AP Enviro
  • History and social studies: Civics, AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, USH, Gov/Econ
  • Language other than English: Chinese 4, AP Chinese
  • Visual or performing arts: Art 1, Digital Photo, AP Music Theory (got a 2 on the exam :(()
  • Other academic courses:

Community college Coursework (Not a Transfer Applicant)

Part of honors program

Dean’s list? (not sure if this is helpful!!)

  • General education course work: Elementray Statistics, Rock History, Transfer Life-currently taking
  • Major preparation course work: Emerging Diseases Honors, Evolution - Life on Earth, Genetics/Society Honors, Environmental Biology

Awards

  1. Clark Scholar (free 7 week program w/ 1% acceptance)
  2. water ambassador (regional program by my water district, 14 chosen from 300)
  3. photography competition finalist (top 80 out of about 12,000 submissions nationally)
  4. Presidential Service Silver & Bronze Awards
  5. 4 awards by non-profit for conserving endangered fish (given for caring for priority list species, educating members, distributing fry I bred)

Extracurriculars (im a fish-lover!!!)

1. American Cancer Society regional board

Raised $450K+ in 2 yrs w/ board; Oversaw flagship fundraisers; Secured corporate sponsors like disney; Supported 15 smaller committees

2. Environmental Nonprofit

Role: Marketing Manager

Managed team of 25; Developed website/volunteer tracker; Conveyed objectives to all teams; Worked w/ founder on campaigns; Expanded to 2 new cities/school boards

3. Clark Scholars Research Program

1/12 chosen from 1200; free research program where worked personal project with PI as mentor & received 750 stipend after, article published in journal with IF (2.1)

4. Conservation Fish Program

Raised/bred 15+ critically endangered/endangered species (Betta, Parosphromenus, goodeids e.g.) for conservation group; experimented w/ optimizing water & diet; donated fry for auction and distributed to hobbyist/members

5. Non-profit for stray cats (our city has a cat problem!!)

co-founder/marketing head

Partnered w/ shelters to treat, spay/neuter & rehome strays; Directly rehomed 30+ cats; Fed/monitored strays weekly; Raised ~$5k/year; Designed site

6. large ca youth symphony

Role: First Chair and Section Leader

Led 5 player section for 5 years; All State Performer [2021]; did all major solos, guided members, performed in large/professional concert halls 4 times yearly, rare instrument?

7. Volunteer Naturalist

Role: Staff

Completed tide ecology training & fieldwork course; Guided 15 tours at tidal pools, introducing tidal pool ecology & organisms to visitors

8. Specialized fish preservation organization

Role: Member/Forum Moderator

Endangered fish breeding project; Kept and bred 2 critically endangered species of the genus this project conserves; Helped w/ husbandry on forum; Removed misleading posts; Community manager

9. 1 internship at art gallery, 3 at book advocacy organization

Company 1: managed art gallery social media; improved marketing techniques by analyzing survey/social media data;

Company 2: 2x marketing intern; 1x youth advocate, supported young authors and helped them promote/publish their books, contacted local schools to do surveys, workshops, etc.

10. English Tutor for adults w/ special needs

Reviewed & created teaching resources, Communicated with parents & adapted curriculum to fit student needs; Volunteered 160 hours

Essays/LORs/Other
LOR:
Program director (5/10): we didn’t really get to talk a lot but he’s a really cool guy; hopefully the letter will be positive!!

History teacher: (6-7/10) didnt know each other as well, but wrote a detailed brag sheet/questionaire

English Teacher: (7-7.5/10) she knew me more i think, hopefully its in a positive light?

Essays:

goodish? my counselor said they were pretty goodish but i might rewrite them as they talk too much about my major/ecs

i will try to make my stanford supps as gud as possible! :frowning:

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

EA: Umich, USC

ED: JHU (I really don’t want to go to JHU, i know very dumb of me to ed, but if i really have a shot at stanford i think i might request ed change to ea)

RD: all others (hoping i wont crash in my senior year courses, it might not be so gud qmh)

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): Community college (we have really good tag programs and i really want to stay as close to home as possible, seriously considering)
  • Extremely Likely:
  • UC Santa Barbara
  • Likely:
  • UC Davis
  • Lower Probability:
  • USC, UCLA, Berkeley
  • Low Probability:
  • JHU, Stanford, Brown, Uchicago, ED2 (may apply: Duke, Columbia, HYP)

My dad told me i probably have no shot-probably don’t even apply and just ed to jhu, but I really want to go to Stanford because of how close it is to my family (and my pets!) and of course it is just a very cool school

with deadlines coming closer and closer i think im getting a little delusional because im really worried ill get in to jhu ed (but also worried i wont!!)

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I can’t chance you for the UCs but you said JHU is your safety and I doubt that it is. Your SAT will not be seen by the UCs.

If it means Johns Hopkins, yes you are delusional especially with your math struggles.

It doesn’t mean you won’t get in, but you need a safe admit and I don’t see one.

I would not count on a UC unless it’s a Merced or Riverside type.

Top schools in the major include Washington, Minnesota, Florida and Colorado State. The last three would be safe for you - but you might have missed deadlines. So check. If you want smaller but still large -Pitt.

You could very well end up at CC with this list. Perhaps you get into one - but you asked if you are delusional and in an assured acceptance, then very (in my opinion).

Good luck.

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If you really don’t want to attend JHU, then switch your application to RD. This will enable you to compare multiple acceptances and decide at the end of April.

If you get accepted to JHU ED, you have signed a contract saying you WILL attend,and you will withdraw ALL pending applications and decline any other acceptances you might have. Is this what you want to do?

Re: Stanford…it’s a high reach for everyone so there is no way to chance you on your acceptance potential there.

My suggestion…since you don’t appear to have a clear favorite here…apply RD to every place and wait to see. This keeps your options open. You are a strong student and should have some good choices.

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I’ll admit I am pretty confused by what you are doing.

You would like to stay closer to home, and fortunately there is no shortage of great colleges in California. But you are then also applying to colleges not at all close to home, including not just your ED, but also Michigan, and apparently Brown, Chicago (as a possible ED2?), Duke, Columbia, HYP . . . .

I can guess at what dynamic is leading to you selecting these colleges, but my personal advice would be to un-ED from Hopkins, keep the UCs, and then do a quick overhaul of the rest of your list. With your interests, I would suggest checking out both Santa Clara and the University of San Diego, both excellent overall universities with robust relevant offerings:

Outside of California, I think easily the most obvious suggestion would be the University of Washington, which is one of the top ES research universities in the world:

I think the last question is whether you should be applying to some CSUs in addition to the UCs. I’m not an expert on that question, but I know a bunch of them have popular ES programs, and indeed are well-located for such a major.

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UC Santa Barbara is not extremely likely, and I’m not sure if Davis is likely - although it may be. I’d recommend that you consider adding UC Santa Cruz, U Washington (already mentioned), and finding a few safety or pretty-darn-likelies.

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Note the math rigor and lack of expected success alone will keep you out of the top:

Accel geo/Alg Trig, Accel Alg 2 Pre Calc (did very bad B and C), CP Calc, AP Statistics

Why are you so ranked focus. You will be somewhere four years, day after day. Did you even visit to see if you’d like it. Rank means nada the second you step on campus. It doesn’t make your experience - one way or another. It’s a non factor day to day.

You are getting a degree that likely requires more schooling and the where is unlikely to matter except if you don’t want to be there.

Not a fan of your process at all. You should find schools you actually like and want to be at.

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I am curious how much of your list is you and how much is what your father wants you to do.

CC with TAG is a very solid option and it’s a great safety to have (of course, if you go this route you can still apply to non-TAG UCs as well as the TAG college, and my daughter has a friend who attended Berkeley through this route). As others here have said your math performance may be a stumbling block for top colleges but if you are really happy with CC as an option I don’t see why not shoot your shot for Stanford, realizing it’s a small chance. You really shouldn’t be EDing anywhere you don’t really want to go to.

One comment, is it too late to get another LOR? The general recommendation is to have one humanities teacher and one STEM teacher, and you don’t have a STEM one. Especially given you are aiming at a STEM major, this may be worthwhile for the other schools on your list that take LORs and that you haven’t yet applied to.

Of the schools on your list my feel is that you probably have a solid chance at Davis and I understand it is a very good option for environmental science.

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I am only going to address the UC’s in this post.

First of all the UC’s are test blind, so your excellent SAT score will not be used for admissions or scholarship consideration, only for course placement.

UC’s calculate out 3 UC GPA’s (unweighted, capped weighted and weighted uncapped) so using the linked calculator can you please calculate out these GPA’s and repost.

You have some wonderful EC’s and you are highly competitive applicant but UC Santa Barbara is more in the Likely category than the Extremely Likely. I agree that UC Santa Cruz which has a wonderful Environmental program would be an Extremely Likely option.

The admit data below is for 2024 Freshman applicants but it will give you an idea of some of your school options.

Campus Environmental Science/Public Policy
UC Berkeley 15.4% College of CNR
UC Davis 39.8% College of Agriculture Env Sci
UC Irvine 44.3% Environmental Science and Policy
UCLA 11% Env Science in College of L&S
UC Merced 90% Environmental Systems
UC Riverside 85.4% Env. Sci / 84.5% Pub Policy
UC San Diego Projected 40% Environmental Systems
UC Santa Barbara 32% Env Studies College of L&S
UC Santa Cruz 70.8% Env Studies/ 71.4% Env Science

Best of luck and you will have several good options. If you want more information about the Environmental Science program at Davis, you can send me a PM since my older son is a UC Davis Environmental Science graduate.

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Not only will the UCs not see your test scores, but Johns Hopkins and Stanford, your top 2 choices, don’t consider standardized test scores to be an important factor in admissions either.

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If you want to expand beyond community colleges for your safety, here’s a safety within a days drive of Stanford with a fisheries major:

I’m not making any accusations, but make sure to focus on what you specifically did in your volunteer roles, not what a group accomplished.

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I’m confused as well.

Why JHU as an ED? As previously mentioned, an ED is a BINDING contract that you will absolutely attend, no matter what. (“I didn’t know” is not an excuse.). Your counselor/school have signed a contract indicating that you will attend JHU. So if Stanford, is your first choice, then you would not attend there, because you are obligated to JHU.

Also, is Chinese your home language? It makes a difference in the rigor of your application. I am concerned that besides Chinese, the only other mention, of an AP score, is a 2 in Music theory.

You need a safety. A safety is a school where you have a strong chance of getting in, is affordable, and where you would be happy to attend. Your list of schools is all over the place. The Cal States aren’t on your list and they’re really good schools. They might be your only admits, but you have to apply.

I’m also concerned about your LORs. Are your teachers unfamiliar with you/your record? Do you actively participate in class?

Please know that there are only so many seats at the colleges, and each university is different in who they want or need. If Stanford needs a tuba player or oboist for their music program, then that’s who they will look for in their admission of students. You just don’t know.
It sounds like Daddy wants you at JHU or an elite university, but you have to live there, study there, and thrive there for 4 years. Remember that you are going to school and not your Dad.

Please apply for yourself or you will be unhappy.

This!

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Especially since you are looking at John’s Hopkins as ED, you should check out the neighborhoods around campus to be sure that you are comfortable with any safety issues in that part of the city.

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Oregon State is a GREAT suggestion. Definitely check them out.

I just did some quick research on CSUs with particularly popular ES majors based on NCES data. They include:

Cal Poly Humboldt (I love that part of California, again seems like a great location for such a major, although I understand some would consider it remote):

Also Cal State Channel Islands (again just feels to me like a super cool location for this, although I understand its smaller size and more isolated setting might not be for everyone):

Monterey Bay also has an obviously cool location, and then a pretty interesting twist on the major:

Others that popped up included “usual suspects” like San Diego State, San Jose State, and Long Beach.

Anyway, point being there seems like a lot of possible options for more likely California colleges that would be good fits academically, and might be in some pretty cool locations (depending on your preferences, of course).

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First off you’re not horrible at math. You were accelerated and you hit a point where things did not go smoothly. Sometimes as math becomes more abstract, the acceleration can really be a detriment just based on personal brain development. There have been numerous studies about how a year or two can make a huge difference in understanding. I hope you’re making sure to get any additional support you may need and going into your math classes WITHOUT a preconceived notion that you will not do well. A B and a C in precal is a bump.

I do think you need to really take a step back and NOT apply to any school ED if you do not want to go there. Find a school that you’re excited to attend - and if that’s close wonderful! Stanford is a lottery school, so find schools nearly that are more assured. Best of luck to you!

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I think that you should change this ASAP, preferably today. You should not be applying ED to a school that you do not want to attend.

You are a competitive applicant anywhere. Yes Stanford is a reach. However, your stats are competitive there. They will look at your SAT, which is superb.

Also, Johns Hopkins is a very long way to go for someone who lives in California, and is a very long way to go for someone who does not really want to go there, and is likely to be expensive particularly for someone who is in-state for the many excellent Universities of California and Cal State Universities.

Then absolutely positively do not apply ED to a school on the other side of the country. Yes Johns Hopkins is a very good university. However, it does not seem like there is any reason for you to apply there ED, or for you to go there at all.

To me, your post seems to suggest that you should not ED anywhere. You do not need to apply ED anywhere. In my family no one applied ED anywhere. We still got accepted to some very good universities. Perhaps more importantly, for at least my two daughters both got their bachelor’s degrees at schools that were a very good fit for them, and then got accepted to graduate programs that were a very good fit for them and were highly ranked for their particular majors.

And environmental science is a field where some form of graduate program is at least a realistic possibility, and you can get into highly ranked graduate programs (on the level of Stanford or HYP) with a degree from any school on your list, or for example any of the UCs.

Which brings me to the most important point: Fit is way, way more important than rankings. You should be looking for a school that is a good fit for you. If you want to stay close to home, then this will not be a school that is on the other side of the USA (such as JHU, Columbia, or HYP or Duke).

I am a bit biased. I got my master’s degree at Stanford and loved it. It is a high reach for pretty much everyone. However, I do think that you have a chance there. I think that your stats are good enough to get you solidly into the “academically qualified” group (which is still 80% of applicants for a school with a 4% acceptance rate), and then they will look at your ECs, essays, and letters of reference, all of which will be very important and look to be very good in your case.

If you right away change your ED to an EA or RD, then you have a good list of schools that you have applied to. UC Santa Barbara is a very good university. UC Davis is a very good university. The other UCs are also very good (ALL of them, including Riverside and Merced). You might want to think about whether to add one or two of the Cal States. I agree with another comment above that Colorado State is worth looking at (it is probably a safety and is likely to be very affordable since it is a WICHE/WUE school, one small nit there is that it has a superb and highly ranked DVM program and there will be some very, very strong pre-vet students there, some of whom would be in some of your classes and might be interesting to meet).

So change your ED to EA or RD, make sure that you have applied to at least two safeties, look for a good fit, and ignore rankings. With this I think that you are likely to do very well.

And I do not think that anyone who is really horrid at mathematics would have gotten at least 770 on the math part of the SAT! :wink:

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I was joking about JHU haha; it obviously is not a safety for anyone!! I’m pretty good about going to community college, although it is not my first choice, and that’s the reason for the lack of safeties. I think I might just go to cc and transfer if I don’t get into get into UC Davis; I would only really be willing to leave the state if I somehow get into a very good school.

Thank you for the advice!! I really needed a third or fourth opinion to tame my expectations!

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Thank you so much for the kind words!! I really like Merced and Riverside too; one of the professors I admire a lot used to teach there, and I heard the community is amazing. I didn’t put them on the list because I think I qualify for the 9% Statewide guarantee and will be admitted to Merced/Riverside if I don’t get into any of my reaches.
Thank you for the confidence booster as well!!! I’ve just been thinking about this a lot and I really needed someone else’s opinion/advice so I could commit to a decision. I’ll definitely talk to my dad about switching to EA.

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Based on past experience, the 9 percent guarantee will almost certainly be Merced and not Riverside.

@Gumbymom can you confirm or add more info?

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JHU does not offer EA - only ED1 and ED2. If you don’t want to be bound to commit, then you have to change your application to RD.

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Oh wow; thank you so much doing all this research!! This is super helpful; I really can’t thank you enough. I will definitely look into these programs; I haven’t looked into any of the CSUs yet, but these majors look really cool! Being next to Monterey Bay would be amazing as well (I love the bay aquarium so much!!)!

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