asian f from bay area but counts as international (canada) that needs aid :(
100-130k income, single parent working. both have post-grad degrees :(
GPA: 3.93 uw /4.2 w:( 3/40 of my grades are b’s, but strong upward trend ig
UC GPA: 3.96/4.29
Rank: unsure but probz top 4-7%
SAT 1530 single sitting superscore is the same
AP: comp gov (5) lang (5) apes (never signed up for test) ap csa (didn’t sign up for test) ap art history (didn’t sign up for test)
currently taking ap lit, bc calc, ap bio, ap csp
will have taken 8/14 aps school offers (they have lots of rules like no ap science till junior year and no taking more than one science at a time) and 4/5 of their honors courses. the courses i haven’t taken are either language, science, or art since art also requires a bunch of prerequisites
dual enrollment: health class, anthropology, astronomy, psychology. having trouble accessing transcripts
awards (didn’t start submitting places till half-way throughout jr yr, so didn’t have opportunity to submit to scholastic and other bigger awards none of these are tht big of a deal tbh so i tried to add percentiles for context ):
natl poetry scholarship recipient
intl essay contest 2nd place in category, 1.8% across all categories received same honor or higher
local writing competition 1st place, interviewed by one of biggest news outlets in cali
another writing award, all ages + international. top 1.2%
semifinalist for this other poetry award
finalist for award for this craft thing, invited to intl art gallery in canada, and invited to sell there and at many festivals
natl merit commendation
natl french contest silver medal
piano diploma + accomplishment awards
ECs:
creative writing, published in lit mags, some with <5% acceptance rate (10-12)
editing some lit mags (11-12)
started art classes and lead them at two sr homes (10-12)
environmental mag internship (11)
leadership in clubs, but not a big deal (9-12)
volunteer in a garden for blind folk, one of its major builders (12)
craft-making thing, sold internationally through a major distributor of the craft (11-12)
summer writing program with <8% acceptance (12)
Recs/essays: ehhh having trouble rn hope i’ll pull thru
thank you for your time! i can’t rlly do uc’s due to complicated moving situations just a note. i have safeties already too.
Forget things like “T-15” - what specific college would you like to attend? As far as I can see you have a pretty strong profile, especially if you are looking to major in humanities.
Let’s see:
Great GPA - check
SAT score in the top 1% - check
Great EC’s - check
Multiple national level awards and recognition - check
You are definitely in the running for any college to which you choose to apply. However, many of them have extremely low acceptance rates, so even the top contenders are more likely to be rejected than not.
So it is worth your while to apply to any college which you would like to attend. However, make sure that you have a good list, which includes good matches and safeties. If you are looking at writing as a major, you are lucky that some of the best colleges in creative writing would be safeties for you.
There may be an issue if you want to apply for Computer Science or Physics as a major, though…
Congratulations on your achievements. Yes, this process is stressful and it sounds like you have some other stressors as well (moving?)
It is good you have some safeties lined up, I assume those are in Canada and affordable for your family? Have you completed those apps?
What major are you applying to for the UCs? As an international student you won’t get financial aid at the UCs, so they may not be affordable for you.
Of course you can apply for T15s, but as an international needing financial aid it will be tough to gain admission as those T15s (and beyond) have international admission rates in the low to mid single digits…and many of those internationals are full pay.
Is your GC helping you with your apps, and accessing the DE transcripts? Make sure to get help where you can so that you don’t feel isolated and overwhelmed. Try to make some progress on your apps every day, a little at a time and you will get there.
First of all, the problem that I see is that trying to get into a “top 15” university makes it sound like you do not know what you are looking for in a university. Do you know which schools you would prefer?
Do you want a large school or a small school? Do you want to be in the middle of a big city, or a small city, or a small town, or in a rural environment? What is your likely major, or what majors are you considering?
Do you know what your budget is? Have you run the NPC on any top 15 universities and are you and your family okay with the results?
Are you a Canadian citizen? If so, are your safeties in Canada? Your stats do make it look like your chances would be excellent at any university in Canada.
If you have Toronto and McGill as safeties (or UBC or Queens, or Mount Allison if you want a small school, or any of ten or twenty other top Canadian schools), then you are already in great shape. You should be able to relax and look at the highly ranked US schools as sort of like a lottery ticket for someone who already has a good chunk of money in the bank.
I do by the way think that your stats are competitive at “top 15” schools, but that they are definitely reaches.
yah i know, i’m just trying to compile a list of reaches and wonder whether or not it is worth it to aim as high as t15’s. i already have my canadian matches/safeties but i’m wondering now about reaches
