Chance me as a junior and provide ANY advice/feedback (be blunt) (unique circumstances) [4.0 GPA in 3+ high schools, 1500 SAT, math, biology, or engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics: South Asian Male, Middle Income

US domestic - American
State/Location of residency: NY, VA, and most likely MA or NY for senior year
Type of high school : Uncompetitive public school
Other special factors: Had to move two times in high school, went to three different schools, and only lived with one parent for all of high school (not completely sure where I’ll be going for school senior year)

Cost Constraints / Budget: None really, will most likely apply for some financial aid

Intended Major(s): Not sure, most likely in math, biology or engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores:
Probably no rank because I’ll be at my third different high school
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, probably a very high weighted GPA (for context, my lowest grade was 96)
Course Rigor: 14 AP’s by end of high school hopefully, 2 DE’s
Test Scores: 1500 SAT (770 M, 770 R) - will likely retake

9th grade - all honors and 1 AP
10th grade - all honors and 3 AP
11th grade - 4 AP and 2 DE and 1 honors
12th grade - 5 AP and rest honors(not finaliEd)

Taken: AP Human Geo (5), AP Psych (5), AP Seminar (4), AP World History (5), APUSH, AP Precalc, AP Biology, AP Lang, AP Stats, DE English, DE Math course
Will Likely Take: AP Chemistry, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP French, AP Gov

Awards (not completed but most likely won’t get anything special):

  1. Competed in Science Olympiad States (VA)
  2. Recipient of Fiscal Sponsorship from Hack Club for non-profit
  3. Will likely receive AP Scholar With Distinction
  4. National French Contest Gold Medal
  5. National French Contest Silver Medal

Extracurriculars

  1. Published research on social psychology in a peer-reviewed journal
  2. Assistant Chair of mental health nonprofit that raised $10,000
  3. Co-founder of nonprofit geared towards providing peer tutoring and giving students materials they need to succeed in school
  4. Math tutor at mathnasium
  5. Family
  6. Internship at small nonprofit working towards improving vision around the world
  7. Research Assistant at local university
  8. Science Olympiad
  9. Internship at online organization geared to providing education to refugees
  10. not sure, may do research or a summer program in pakistan (going in the summer)

Will probably have decent LOR’s, nothing too special as I wasn’t really settled down in one high school for too long
Will likely write my essay about change, and moving schools

Cornell - hopefully ED (let me know if I should apply elsewhere for ED)
UVA - EA
Stony Brook University - EA
NYU - RD
Carnegie Mellon - EA/RD
Columbia - RD
Duke - RD
Dartmouth - RD
JHU - RD
Brown - RD
Farmingdale State College (Safety) - RD
UPenn - RD
Georgetown - RD

Thank you so much. I really appreciate any advice (even if it’s rude). I’ve felt really lost during the college search process and during high school and would value any feedback or chances to get into my dream college of Cornell.

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This is coming off a lot like validation seeking. You meet all the marks with your SAT, GPA, and ECs. Add 2 target schools because you mostly have reach schools.

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No cost constraints or no (known) budget? If you have no cost constraints, you may not qualify for (need-based) financial aid. Do you have a sense of what your family can realistically afford? If so, make sure you run the net price calculators for each school on your list.

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I’m really sorry if that’s what it came off as to you. Now that I’m thinking about it, you’re honestly right. It’s just that high school’s been really difficult for me and now that I know I may have a decent shot at top colleges, I want to be reassured or told the truth regarding my application because I, just like everyone, am NOT perfect and I could use a lot of improvement. I completely see what you’re saying and i’m sorry if i made you feel bad but i honestly can’t afford any form of college counseling so this was my last resort.

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yeah, thanks for replying and considering my thread or whatever it is. my mom will likely become a doctor and I hope that she makes a salary sufficient for my education. i think i may apply for need-based financial aid but i’m not too sure about how all that works as of now. like i said, i have no clue regarding college admissions, so i would appreciate any and all advice.

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Why is Farmingdale your safety?

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Will your mother need to use her doctor’s pay to pay off her own medical school loans?

Need based financial aid may depend on either your custodial parent finances (custodial parent is the one who provides the most financial support to you), or both parents’ finances. Most highly selective private colleges want both parents’ finances. Check each college’s financial aid web site to see if it does.

Each college’s web site has a net price calculator to estimate financial aid. Be sure to take into account whether the college uses custodial parent or both parents’ finances in order to fill in the net price calculator correctly.

If you are uncertain whether you will be a resident or MA or NY, you may want to consider more public schools in both states as less selective ones or safeties. Then when you do know where you will be, keep the ones in the state you will be a resident of.

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hey, thanks for commenting. farmingdale is the only safety i have listed down because it’s really the only safety i know of that i’d actually attend. since im originally from long island and will likely settle there in the future years to come, i think that i should apply there. do you have any suggestions and is there anything wrong with it? im not too knowledgable on how to create a good college list.

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Two things immediately come to mind.

The first is related to finances. Do you know what you can afford to spend for university? Do you know what you can afford to spend without taking on debt?

Students with divorced parents can sometimes be in a difficult situation with regard to paying for university. Sometimes the parents get along, but sometimes they do not. Sometimes they agree to support their child, sometimes a non-custodial parent does not. Also, the way that universities calculate “need” apparently is often an issue for divorced parents. I have not been in this situation and am not sure whether this is because of the cost of maintaining two households, or because of a non-cooperative non-custodial parent, or because of step-parent income, or for some other reason.

The other thing that I wonder about is what state if any will consider you to be in-state for the purpose of paying tuition at in-state public universities. All of New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts have very good in-state public universities, and these universities are very good for math, biology, and various forms of engineering. Being in-state somewhere is likely to help with finances as long as one of these three states considers you to be an in-state student. Strictly speaking I suppose that it might be possible that two of them might think that you are in-state if your two parents live in two different states.

Regardless your chances of attending Cornell will depend upon both your ability to get accepted and your ability to afford the cost of attendance. You are competitive for admissions, but so are most of the other applicants (and you can check the acceptance rate).

A few students graduate from medical school with no debt. A few graduate with a small debt. Most students graduate from medical school with a huge debt. How much debt your mother already has will of course have an impact on what she can afford to spend for your education. If she has not yet gotten her MD, then she is likely to have multiple years of residency still to come, and residents are not paid particularly well.

One piece of good news is that there are quite a few people who regularly reply on this web site who have gone through this already. Some of us went through it ourselves years or even decades ago and have more recently then gone through the process again with our children. Hopefully we can help, although you are also likely to get asked questions and you should remember that many of us are just parents or students who are responding based largely on our own experiences.

Another piece of good news is that of course you are a very strong student.

Usually it is not a good idea to even have a dream college. I think that you will want to figure out what your budget is and what Cornell is likely to cost you before you either apply there ED or get too invested in it as a dream college.

I think that you are very likely to get into several very good universities. Whether one of them will be Cornell is very difficult to predict at this point.

I might add that maintaining a 4.0 unweighted GPA, carrying a very challenging course load, and getting a 1500 SAT is very difficult for any student, and is even tougher for a student who has to switch high schools more than once.

And pretty much all of mathematics (my major), biology (my younger daughter’s major), and engineering are fields in which there are a lot of very good universities, and the “prestige” of where you get your bachelor’s degree really does not matter.

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I don’t know very much about Farmington. It could be a very good school. The point is that you should probably know a little bit about it since the odds are it could be your only admit once the dust settles. I’m from Queens originally and the only SUNY colleges I ever heard much about were Stony Brook, Binghamton and Albany. Back in the day, those three were where all the top students applied. So I was just wondering whether all that had changed?

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This doesn’t add up. What’s your score?

If Cornell is your top choice and is affordable per the NPC, why would you want strangers on an internet message board to choose a different ED school for you?

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Congratulations on your achievements. It’s great you’ve participated in quality ECs considering all your moves.

Your state of residency situation might be complicated. Make sure you understand the rules of residency in all these states…it is difficult to qualify in multiple states as a resident. You will likely need a parent and/or a counselor to help you sort thru the details.

Regarding budget, talk with your parents about what they will be able to contribute to college. Cornell and many of the schools on your list cost close to $90K per year. Run each school’s NPC with your parents to see what they estimate for your COA and go from there. Here’s Cornell’s: Net Price Calculator

You don’t have to share any of the financial info here, but posters can make better recommendations when we know residency/budget/affordability. For example, if Cornell’s NPC shows that you will be full pay, and that’s not affordable for your family, Cornell won’t be an option because they only give need based aid, not merit aid (like many schools on your list.) Another example, if you are a MA resident, you might add U Mass Amherst to your list because it will come in at a lower cost than if you are not a resident.

Regarding your list, Georgetown seems to be an outlier for your possible majors. What appeals to you about Georgetown?

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You seem like a great student but, to put it bluntly (since you asked) there’s a lot of great students out there. Sometimes great students just don’t get in to schools for which they clearly meet and exceed the admittance standards, simply because there’s a lot of them out there.

So I think it would be a good idea for you to add a few more lower tier schools to your list, just so you know you’ll have something that feels like a good fit. What kind of school vibe are you looking for? You sound like a STEM kid with the math/bio/engineering interests - would you consider a STEM school? (like an RPI, WPI, RIT, URochester or a Case Western) I’m not particularly good at knowing who is known for merit aid, but those are all great schools if you want a STEM focus, and all should be easier to get into than the ones currently on your list - they could fill a mid-level hole.

But maybe you want something more liberal arts-y, or something bigger (those are smallish), or something that’s got a little more rah-rah school spirit and athletics. You’ve got a mix of some very urban and some fairly rural/suburban, does one of those call to you more?

What are you thinking feels like the right environment for you?

I think you can get into the schools you’ve listed, but I also think it’s a cr@pshoot for almost anyone, so I think you should expand your list.

Someone mentioned adding in some state schools - if you can claim VA residency, think about adding Virginia Tech and JMU. The downside of VT is that you have to declare the college you are interested in, and if you pick engineering (instead of Science, which would be where Bio and Math are housed), that is really competitive, but you’d still be a strong candidate. I’d expect you’d get into JMU with no problem and it’s so inexpensive in state.

In short, I think there’s nothing wrong with your list, but I think it would be smart to add more choices, and if you let us know what matters most to you in terms of fit, there are folks here who can help you come up with some solid options.

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770 + 770 does not equal 1500. Assuming this was a typo.

Why would you have both Columbia/NYU and Dartmouth? Two very different schools; the only thing they have in common is Ivy League/Prestige.

You need more safeties. I didn’t appreciate being told that when I first posted here, but I am so glad I have a good amount of safeties alongside my reaches. You’re obviously prestige shotgunning—picking schools solely based on prestige and not fit—which is not a winning strategy and will come back to bite alongside your lack of financial awareness (especially if your mom is still studying). You don’t even have any targets. They are all reaches with one obvious exception.

You’re a good student. But there are too many good students out there. SAT (assuming you did get a 1500) is amazing but not stunning, GPA is good. Extracurriculars and awards are all over the place and just seems like your prestige reaching. French Contest? Hack Club? Nebulous internships and nonprofit chairs? It doesn’t really seem like you’re going anywhere besides resume padding. It can obviously be true that you are interested in Math/Psychology/French/Etc, but realize that this might throw AOs off. Obviously 1) you can’t go back in time and 2) your ECs are still impressive on their own, so what I would do is order them by major. You wanna do math? Put the math ones towards the top, and maybe do some more math stuff

Since you’ve moved around, try and think about where you were happiest. Do you see yourself academically and personally successful in the city or the suburbs? Do state politics (red/blue) affect you? Any programs that draw your eye? I wouldn’t go to Columbia even if I got in with money just because I couldn’t focus in a city and my grades/happiness would be lower than if I went to a lower-ranked suburban school.

You asked for honesty, and here it is. Figure out what you want for yourself before getting hyper focused on a certain group of colleges.

Edit: Lehigh, Fordham, Villanova, GWU, Stony Brook, and Northeastern might be work a look.

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What does this mean?

Would you like other suggestions for sure things for admission? There are a LOT of colleges “between” your reaches and Farmingdale.

When? Has she been accepted to medical school? That could easily cost $100,000 a year. PLUS…she will have zero income while in medical school, and then she will do residency where she will work tons of hours for pay that calculates to be less than minimum wage for 3-7 years depending on her specialty. And after residency, many do fellowships that don’t exactly pay a lot. So…if your mom hasn’t started medical school…yet…it could easily be more than 10 years before she earns a significant wage.

What state will you be living in for a full year before you start college. THAT is the state where you will be considered instate for tuition purposes. In some states, you will be considered instate if your second parent lives in that state. You need to check that.

You don’t have to attend college on Long Island to eventually live and work there.

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Hi OP,

Congrats on all your accomplishments. All the hard work you have put in to prepare yourself academically will pay off no matter what college you end up at.

I agree with those above who say that figuring out your financial situation is very important. Unfortunately, a lot of students end up in a “donut hole” situation where their parents make “too much” to qualify for aid, but their families don’t have enough money to pay for expensive schools.

I agree with those above who say the good news is that all 3 states you have lived in (NY, MA, VA) have terrific public schools. Finding out which schools are going to qualify for in-state status is going to matter. Here are the various rules:

https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/residency/

https://www.schev.edu/financial-aid/in-state-residency

https://www.umass.edu/bursar/undergraduate-residency

In terms of your current list, the good news is that you are an excellent student and are qualified for any of these schools. The bad news is that almost all your schools attract tens of thousands of applications from strong students like yourself from all over the nation and world. And you are “unhooked”, i.e. you are not a recruited athlete, or major donor, or child of an alum or faculty member. The admit rate for unhooked applicants to these schools is even lower than the published admit rates. So these schools must be considered an extreme reach for ALL unhooked applicants. So you need to add more non-reach schools. You need more schools on your list that are like Stony Brook (i.e. schools that are highly respected by employers and grad schools, provide rigorous academics in your desired majors, have more accessible admit rates, and are potentially affordable.)

Best wishes! Any school would be lucky to have you. We are rooting for you!

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So in our feederish HS with excellent college counseling, the standard recommendation is to do 2 Likelies, 3-5 Targets, and 2-3 Reaches, for a total of around 7-10.

Anecdotally, at least, it seems a lot of higher number kids do more Reaches. Which I think sometimes makes sense, although I think more than double that amount, so more than say 5-6, is rarely a good idea for a US domestic applicant.

Similarly if a kid is chasing merit, more Likelies in terms of admission may make sense, because the merit on top of admissions may be uncertain.

OK, so currently you seem to have something like 11 Reaches, 1 Target (I am thinking this is the right category for Stony Brook), and 1 “Safety”. Obviously this is not what we would recommend.

So what would I change? First, I would really embrace the difference between a Likely and a Safety. A Safety sounds like something you would only do in an emergency, and I think that leads to people choosing Safeties they actually would not be excited to attend. A Likely is more neutral, it just means the college is likely to admit you. But you could still be very excited to attend a carefully chosen Likely, because it is such a good fit for you, would be particularly low cost, or indeed a combination of both.

Speaking of cost, as others have noted, your cost situation sounds complex. But it does seem to me like you should at least consider chasing merit. Again this requires applying to more of what are going to be Likelies for you (that is usually the point of merit, to attract students who would be above their normal numerical ranges for full pay/need-only enrollees). And there are a lot of really cool schools that also have merit, so chasing merit can be a lot of fun and rewarding in multiple ways.

OK, so at least two really carefully chosen Likelies, and more if you want to try chasing merit.

Then another 2-4 Targets besides Stony Brook. This is also in my view a very fun part of the search process, really thinking about what would be a very good college for you, that would also see you as a very good choice. It is just so personal, and again can be very rewarding.

OK, then some Reaches is fine, but 11 is in my view excessive. The obvious thing to do is think about what you most want in a college, but I believe not enough kids I encounter online are looking at it from the other side–what do these colleges most want in a student? And if you look up what they say on that subject, and reflect on it, it may become apparent some of those colleges are more likely to be looking for you than others.

So if you pick, say, 3-5 like that, where both you have very clear and specific reasons for wanting to go to that specific college, and very clear and specific reasons for thinking they would want to admit someone specifically like you, then that is truly enough to maximize your chances of actually getting admitted to at least one. Including because you will then be able to write the most honest and reflective and specific applications possible.

So that is a lot of “homework assignments”, but you have plenty of time to do it. It is usually a good idea to start from the Likely end, so put aside the Reaches for now. Start investigating which Likelies would actually be special and exciting to you. Consider merit and chasing merit. Maybe visit some if it is practical, or at least do a lot of online research–virtual tours, going through departmental and even faculty websites, reading student reviews, and so on.

I think by the time people have really done that, they start having a lot more clarity on what would count as an even better fit for them. So then you can start hunting for the Targets which also make the most sense for you.

And then similarly once you have a good handle on your Likelies and Targets, you will be in a good position to find that smaller list of Reaches that really make sense for you, and which are most likely to feel the same way in return.

And all along, if you need ideas of schools to check out, we are happy to help! It is often an evolving process too. So, say, you figure out a Likely or Target that seems promising, but either there is some critical issue with that school that makes it unsuitable, or perhaps you like that one but are struggling to identify more. We can use that sort of information to provide specific recommendations for additional colleges to check out.

And again, you still have plenty of time for such a process. Which I am confident will be well worth it in the end.

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But note that it is also possible for no state to see you as in-state if you and/or your parents move during the last year before you start college.

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Wow, i never knew that. That’s quite unfortunate but it’s out of my control sadly.

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Thanks for all the advice. You are right that I should diversify the schools I’m applying to but I personally wouldn’t want to attend a community college or any other very uncompetitive college (i know this sounds kinda wrong). What schools would you recommend if I’ll likely only be able to stay in the Northeast and am trying to prioritize staying on Long Island? As for my financial situation, I’ll have to figure that out with my parents but all I do know is that they’re willing to take out a loan if I get accepted to a very prestigious school (which is very unlikely). Thank you once again!