(this is my first time using this application, not sure if I’m doing it correctly)
Demographics:
U.S. and Brazilian Citizen
California (Bay Area)
School: Large, competitive, and public
Latina
Parents are immigrants, I am first-gen to America but not to college as parents have bachelors from institutions in Brazil
Intended Major:
Astronomy Major
Maybe a minor in History (ancient history)
Budget:
No budget as of now, I am working on getting scholarships and I just want to know which institutions would be best for me
Current Courses (junior):
AP Calculus AB, AP Physics 2, AP English Language and Composition, APUSH, Honors Spanish 4, Advanced Jazz Ensemble
Senior Year Courses:
AP Calculus BC, English Composition, AP Gov, AP Spanish, Advanced Jazz Ensemble, I am planning on taking Physics 3 at local community college
UW GPA: 3.97 (had one B in 8th grade algebra 1 class)
W GPA: 4.22 (my school only offers 2 AP’s for sophomore’s, I took both and 2 honors classes)
Test Scores:
Awaiting SAT score from October SAT, scheduled to take December and March SAT as well
Have not taken ACT
5 on AP Euro sophomore year, 4 on AP CSP sophomore year
Extracurriculars:
NASA Research Intern (summer)
Volunteer Position at NASA Ames Visitor Center, I teach science to diverse audiences, and have recently been promoted to a more important volunteer role (3 years), I have the chance to be promoted to an intern next year
Marching Band (3 years) I have the chance to be promoted to a section leader next year
History Club member (3 years), History club secretary/VP (2 years)
Girl Scout (10 years), I have had some leadership in my troop but it often rotates around so it is not consistent
Member of a jazz band that raises money for children with cancer, 3 years
Worked on a documentary with Fiske planetarium (one semester)
I speak Portuguese and English with native fluency, I am proficient in Spanish and use all three languages at home and at my volunteer work!
Awards:
Presidential Volunteer Service Award (I have earned this twice)
School Award for good academics (I have earned this twice)
School Award for student with the most academic and personal excellency (I got this freshman year)
Essays/LORs:
I am not entirely sure what to write about for my essay, changing my appearance to assimilate to American culture is something very prominent in my life but not sure if it is a good essay
I was thinking of getting a LOR from my history teacher (I am very close with my history teacher as a member of the history club, and as an active participating student), from my math teacher (very accomplished, went to IIT, and has previously given me a great LOR), the head of my volunteer program (he knows me very well and has seen me grow since freshman year), the head of my research team from my NASA internship (we definitely weren’t as close as my other potential recommenders, but she seemed to like me a lot and I think a recommendation from her may be helpful)
Please let me know what you think of the essay idea, and who the best LOR would be!
Schools:
I will be applying to pretty much any school that has a good astronomy program
I really want to apply EA to Barnard because it is a school whose mission really resonates with me
I am interested in learning about how I can improve my application, what my chances are, and if there are other institutions that have strong astronomy programs that I may be interested in
Means that your parents’ contribution is $0, or your parents can pay whatever it costs like $95k per year for some private schools? Or something in between? Or you don’t know?
I am not really sure, my parents said they will be willing to pay for tuition if I get into a good enough school. As of now, I just want advice on my current application.
I would suggest you sit down with your parents and run a couple of net price calculators for schools that interest you. See what the net cost estimate is. And find out if that really is affordable for your family for four years.
My first reaction is that if reasonably possible you should avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree, particularly if you do not have a major that obviously immediately leads to a solid career. As such you should try to find out what your budget is. You or your parents might want to run the NPC for a few private universities or colleges that meet full need, and see what the NPC says and what your parent’s reaction is. Note that the schools that “meet full need” do so according to their definition of need, which might or might not be a good match to your family’s actual circumstances. You also should verify whether your parents can handle the full cost of a UC or CSU, again preferably without debt.
Astronomy is a major that often leads to some form of graduate school. PhD’s are usually funded (with a stipend that is sort of barely enough to live on). Master’s degrees are typically not funded and can add quite a bit to the cost of getting an education.
Of course the top schools for any one major do not necessarily have any overlap with whatever US News ranks as “top 50” overall. Also, highly ranked graduate programs typically have students who came from a very wide range of undergraduate schools.
In terms of how to improve your application, you really just need to keep doing very well. You might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, the recommendation is that you do what is right for you, and do it very well. This approach has worked for my family to help with admissions at a range of universities (and not just at MIT), including several “top 50” schools. This also sounds like what you are already doing.
In terms of other schools to consider: You are in a WUE/WICHE state. You might want to look at the various WUE options and see which of them offer astronomy. In terms of smaller schools that offer astronomy, many years ago when I was a student at MIT I knew someone who was taking an astronomy course at Wellesley College (students can cross register between these two schools). Apparently Wellesley has a good astronomy program, and an observatory. One oddity was that the course had one class per week starting at midnight Friday night, which I guess makes sense if you want to look at the stars (and other stuff). I do not know but wonder whether MIT offers a class at its Haystack Radio Telescope, and if so whether Wellesley College students sometime cross register for this, or even if Wellesley has a course there. I had a tour of Haystack a number of years ago, which was quite impressive. As a former math major I did notice that there is a fair amount of math in operating Haystack and interpreting the data that it collects.
I am curious: Wouldn’t the lights of New York City make it tough to operate an observatory anywhere near Barnard College? Is actually using an observatory something you would do elsewhere, perhaps over the summer or in a semester elsewhere?
As a general consideration, physics tends to represent the more comprehensive and respected major for an undergraduate interested in astronomy/astrophysics. Choosing electives that would lead to an astronomy minor would balance this approach. If you might be interested in planetary science, you would benefit from geosciences courses as well.
As an opinion on selecting schools, consider giving additional attention to colleges with relatively dark and natural night skies and accessible observatories, such as, to varying degrees, Williams, Haverford , Hamilton , Amherst, Wesleyan and Vassar.
There are lots of good astronomy/astrophysics programs at UCs. UCB and UCLA will be a reach but UCSC is probably close to a safety with your grades/ECs. SDSU is another good astronomy program that is likely a safety for you.
Arizona would be a safety but given this year’s reduction in merit, I doubt it’s worth paying extra for over UCSC. My S23 is enjoying astrophysics at UCSC and worked at Lick this summer.
You have an impressive resume, congrats on doing so much! My addition to this thread - don’t overlook the incredible resource you have right at your fingertips - NASA! It seems like they like you, given your recent promotions, and it’s likely you’ve developed some relationships there. Use them! Ask to be hooked up with someone who could mentor you and to whom you can ask questions about undergrad majors, institutions and career planning. People LOVE to share the insights they have gained through experience in their chosen career, and quite honestly, fostering a genuine relationship with someone successful in your field will likely do more for your career than where you attend undergrad. Do not be shy - being able to find a mentor there is a major deal and you should be persistent in finding one. Good luck!
I’ve seem many OPs separate (materially, not grammatically) LACs from “T-x” schools. What you interpreted as a correction, I posted as a suggestion to broaden the OP’s perspective, if needed. Information on these types of categorizations may be particularly important for first-gen students, as is the case (at least with respect to the U.S.) with the OP.
Just do what you are doing. Looking at your classes and EC’s tells a very consistent story. You do need to work on your school list, and as others have pointed out, cost is something that needs to be sorted out first.
Maybe something to think about that I have always advised my children, when you are young, choose paths that give you the most options. Personally, I love astronomy and have had telescopes since I was 10, but to specialize in astronomy so early seems to be narrowing your path prematurely. You have a strong background in math and physics, why not major in physics? You’ll have way more options post undergrad.
If you need scholarships to attend a school they should be considered a reach school
The very First thing you need to do is determine with your parents a budget
Do your parents know what tuition costs
Do you qualify for need based aid
Do your parents have a max for tuition per year 20K 40K 60K plus room and board travel etc
Look at schools run the net price calculator for each school you are considering to determine if it is affordable
You don’t want to apply and get accepted to your dream school and then sticker shock we cant afford it
Several of us have mentioned the cost issue. I think that it is a good idea to put down some specific numbers.
Right now the most expensive private universities in the US cost about $95,000/year (if you do not qualify for aid). Many, many private universities are relatively close to this number. University costs have been rising rapidly for decades, and a 5% cost increase per year is perhaps a reasonable guess. This puts the cost of a bachelor’s degree, at a private university without financial aid, as @tsbna44 suggests, at about $400,000. This assumes that the student succeeds in graduating in four years, which is an optimistic assumption. One bad semester or a late change in major might for example defeat this assumption.
However, astronomy is a major where some form of graduate school is likely. A master’s degree is a real possibility. A master’s degree is typically not funded, and can take anywhere from one to two years. By the time that a student who is currently a high school junior gets to graduate school, the cost is likely to be well over $100,000 per year. A two year master’s degree could conceivably cost $250,000.
For a student whose parents can afford to spend $650,000 in total to educate each child, it is indeed very reasonable to just ignore the cost of education (unless medical school or law school are likely, either of which could increase this a bit). For the rest of us, the cost of education is something that we need to take into account. There are plenty of millionaires who cannot afford to spend $650,000 per child for an education.
And outside scholarships are usually not enough to make a big dent in this. We got a few that added up to I think about $200. The scholarships and financial aid that matter for most of us are from the schools themselves, and will vary enormously depending upon which university a student attends. This can vary from student to student.
Fortunately, there are a lot of universities that have very good astronomy programs, and many will be significantly less expensive. I am pretty sure that three UCs and at least one CSU are included in the set of universities with very good astronomy programs. There are also multiple WUE schools that have good astronomy programs (the fact that “western” includes the continental divide places several WUE schools quite well for astronomy facilities).