School does not offer AP; all courses are Honors/Advanced Studies
Dual Enrollment: Cancer Biology (Oberlin College, A), Work Experience Education (SRJC, A)
Advanced Mandarin (placed out of Spanish due to fluency)
AS equivalents: Calc I/II (AP AB/BC), Environmental Science, Statistics, Physics 1/2/C (partial), Chemistry, Philosophy, Humanities (AP Lit/Lang equivalent), Chinese Language & Culture
Non-AS Coursework (still very rigorous)
Humanities I: World History 9
Humanities I: English 9
Honors Algebra II
Biology
Mandarin I
Foundation Arts: Visual Thinking & Fabrication
Honors Chamber Ensemble
Concert Choir
Humanities II: World History 10
Humanities II: English 10
Honors Geometry
Honors Precalculus
Honors Chemistry
Mandarin II
Honors Chamber Singers
1979: A Year that Transformed the Middle East and the World (Middle Eastern Studies)
Comparative Religions: The Afterlife
Humanities III: U.S. History (Fall & Spring)
Humanities III: American Literature (Fall & Spring)
Neuroscience
Astronomy
Earth Science
Mandarin III
Solo Singing
Back to the Earth (Gardening/Mindfulness)
Awards
Young Leadership Summit Scholar & Finalist (2025)
Shelby M.C. Davis Charitable Foundation Scholar (2022–2026) (Private school full-ride valued $270,000)
5x North Coast Section Scholar Athlete (Lacrosse/Soccer, 2022–2026)
California Association for Piano Music Teachers Taffy Glasner Best Performance Award, District 7
Dartmouth Bound Scholar
Windows on Williams Scholar
Extracurriculars
Research: Pioneer Research Program (10–12, PG), Student Advisory Council. Cancer biology research on stress and reproductive cancers in Central America (Prof. Engda Hagos, Colgate). Paper nominated for publication (top 1%). Published study on audiovisual learning comprehension archived via CERN/Zenodo. Received grant for ecology research & presented findings to underrepresented community groups.
Piano Performance & Teaching: 12 years training, Taffy Glasner Award winner (State), CAMPT Lvl 12 Music Theory Proficiency (undergrad-level, State). 2 yrs teaching underserved students and running free piano lessons at high school.
Concert & Sports Photography: Lead sports photographer, shot concerts (2,000+ attendees), launched free Senior Portrait Project for under-resourced youth.
Sports: Varsity Soccer 4 years (RW), Varsity Lacrosse 4 years (Goalie), JV Basketball 1 year(PF). 4x Regional Scholar Athlete, North Coast Section Soccer playoffs champion.
Environmental Science Internship: Pepperwood Nature Preserve, SRJC Work Experience. Collected biodiversity data, researched butterflies, presented findings at research symposium and created pamphlets for local elementary schoolers.
Athletics/Powerlifting: 2x local deadlift champion, trained with USPA athletes, peer trainer.
Latine Affinity Group Leader: 4 yrs DEI leader, Student Diversity Leadership Conference (International) peer facilitator, was chosen as keynote speaker to perform in front of (9,000+ attendees), coordinated guest speakers and activism with local orgs at school.
Student Government: Student Council President, Tri-M Music Society officer, Bilingual Admissions Rep for school, Prom Committee leader.
Community Engagement Committee: Founder. Raised $25k+ for LA wildfire relief, created arts/education access programs for underserved youth.
Community Service: Landpaths camp counselor, Sonoma County Regional Parks intern, designed Spanish-language educational programs. Food drive for 200+ individuals. Tech/docent at local church.
Music (Vocal): Lead tenor, Choir, selected to go on tour in San Fransisco/Los Angeles/Disneyland.
Employment: Apprentice Electrician, Tech Electric Services Inc. (Family Business)
Essays / LORs / Other
Essays: Strong, focus on leadership, resilience, and multifaceted identity.
Recs: “Glowing.” Pioneer professor evaluation places me in top 5% of students ever taught (high school, undergrad, grad). Teachers highlight leadership, communication, and work ethic.
Cost Constraints
Very low EFC
Applying QuestBridge ED, EA at some schools for scholarships, RD for others
Will need significant aid/merit to attend
School List (tentative)
QuestBridge Partner Schools
Princeton University - Reach
Brown University - Reach
University of Chicago - Reach
Stanford University - Reach
Johns Hopkins University - Reach
Wake Forest University - Reach
Middlebury College - Reach
Harvard University - Reach
Colgate University - Match
Dartmouth College - Reach
Posse
University of Puget Sound
UC + CSU + Common App Schools
UCs: UCLA - Reach, UC Davis - Match, UC San Diego - Reach
CSU: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo - Target
Common App schools (from list): All of the QuestBridge partners above, plus Whitman College - Likely, Sacred Heart University - Likely, University of Montana - Likely
What I’m Asking
How do my chances look at top QB partner schools (I’m planning to rank ~10–12)?
Any other schools you think might be good fits academically/socially/research funding, especially with strong pre-med advising and aid for FGLI students?
I want to continue my lifelong passion for music as well double-majoring or minoring in music/piano performance.
You have a great profile! As you a FGLI student, be sure and evaluate travel ease when selecting your Questbridge schools. Premed can be done anywhere - some schools that you might evaluate further: Case Western, Emory, Rice, and WashU - all have robust premed offerings including research opportunities and are in cities where travel might be a bit easier.
That is very true. From looking at my list, I would only be completely okay with going to the schools listed, but as I do more research and potentially make it into more fly-ins, that may completely change!
Thank you for the sincere response, and I will definitely look more into Bates. As far as demonstrated need, I’ve spoken personally to admissions deans from Whitman, Sacred Heart, and UMontana and they have all assured me that they would meet my need if I pursued the appropiate merit scholarships and applied through an earlier timeline to their honors colleges.
Honestly, if not given a full ride or close-to-full ride, community college → UC might be the move for me as financial constraints are real, especially with my desire to go to medical school after (which is extremely expensive) and i’m not trying to go $800,000 into debt at age 26…
I have yet to do research on all the QB schools but the ones listed are the only ones so far that I would truly enjoy my time at. I’m looking for a colder environment, great cell/molecular biology major, active student life, great music programs, and overall just vibes from their reps that i’ve talked to.
Thank you so much for your advice!! I will certainly take a look into Emory, although all are a bit on the warmer climate for me. I also never thought about travel ease, although I heard that some colleges provide a travel stipend.
Cheers!
It doesn’t have to be Bates. There are 55 QB partners. In the end, if you’re low income - I hate to say it like this - that beggars can’t be choosers. The point is though - that anyone willing to fully fund you - whether Denison or Dartmouth, Case Western or Cornell, Richmond or Rice - it doesn’t matter - it’s a gift. Make sure you have 15 - and while all are highly rejective, include some less rejective - if you land any - it’s a HUGE WIN. All of these are GREAT schools.
Many of the schools are need aware - so there’s a lot of QB that meet need (but maybe here they will be need blind - don’t know) and there’s a lot of meets need schools that are aware that are not QB - from F&M to UNC to Lehigh to Sewanee and so so so many more - Connecticut College, Union, Lafayette, etc. The question becomes - if you’re full need, will they reject you for that reason - there’s an article where Lafayette was featured and honest and said they turned down 200 they would have accepted - based on the amount of need. They have defined budgets - and want to share it with more people. So that’s the risk. You can apply to some of these too.
But W&L has the Johnson, SMU the Presidential, Providence has the Roddy for Pre-Med…and there’s more.
So all that is a lot of work - beyond QB - that you can try.
QB is a gift - don’t let spaces slip. Use all 15. There are 15 cold ones with music for non majors.
You’re awesome and I hope you match…but your chances would likely be better with more cracks at the apple.
I can be completely wrong but I’m guessing Duke gets multiple times the app requests as Dension, Yale more than Grinnell or Haverford, etc.
Smart call on debt - you can literally go to a top med school from ANYWHERE - at Vandy, they show the residents - unergrads like Luther, Northern Illinios, Murray State, Kansas State, etc…so yep, you are FANTASTIC and keep that debt to the bare minimum.
University of Montana will discount its price for WUE and you likely get a Pell grant, but that still appears to leave a net price of $29k per year, so it is unlikely to be affordable unless you get big merit scholarships.
I would agree that you may want to find 15 QB schools that you like to maximize the chance of a QB full ride. Also, consider increasing the list of UCs and CSUs that you apply to.
No - on awards, the OP listed this: * Dartmouth Bound Scholar
If you look it up, it’s to sell kids like OP on Dartmouth - well they don’t say that but it’s part my interpretation For them at least, I’d mention it.
I know you were asking about the Questbridge schools but I wanted to comment on Cal Poly SLO. SLO is the only CSU that uses 9-11th a-g course grades for their GPA calculation with an 8 semester Honors point cap for qualified courses taken 10-11th grades. You can recalculate your SLO GPA by including 9th grades.
SLO does not have a Molecular/Cell Biology major but a Biology major with that concentration.
Biology is the most applied major in the College of Science and Mathematics and had around a projected admit rate of 13% so I would say it is a Reach school but definitely possible.
Best of luck and if the NPC’s for the UC’s and CSU’s show that they are affordable, I would add a few more schools to the list.
Case Western (Cleveland) and Washington University of St Louis are not warm and both are excellent for premed. Keep researching the partner schools. It’s easy to default to the ones you’ve heard of before, but these are excellent schools and offering a full ride - a huge opportunity. I know that schools will offer stipends for travel, but it’s not just the money. It’s often a struggle for FGLI students (I know I was one!) to be far from home and travel logistics can make a huge difference on whether a visit home during holidays or bigger breaks is possible even if you have funds. Some of the more rural schools far from a major airport could make travel back to CA more challenging. Not saying it should be the only criteria, just saying don’t discount it. Best of luck to you.
Posse only covers tuition. Unless UPS meets need for Posse scholars (I don’t think they do, but look into that), you would have to pay for room and board. Plus travel, books, incidentals, etc. If you would have to pay room and board, UPS won’t be affordable, so you might consider stopping the Posse process now.
Are you applying to Oberlin, whether thru QB or not?
Have you taken physics? If not, are you taking it senior year?
Not only is this program trying to sell Dartmouth to kids like the OP, they are actively recruiting them because it’s part of who they are. In its charter, Dartmouth stated in this founding document that the purpose of this college was to “educate . . . the youth of the Indian tribes . . . and also the English, and any others.”
Historically they have given preferential treatment in admissions to applicants of Natuve American descent from anywhere in the country and as a result have the highest percent of Native American students of any Ivy League college. How this will hold up in light of the Supreme Court ruling on race based admissions remains to be seen, but clearly any Native American applicant would be well served to make their ancestry part of the topic of their essay.
I think that the Court’s view on this will be interesting due to the fact that this is written into their founding charter. If preference is not allowed in this case, then what about HBCUs and women’s colleges?
In the end, when you want a full ride - there’s going to be give and take. Troy would be an auto full ride (not transport). But often with these, there are deadlines - you can’t say - well, if I don’t match or get in anywhere else…
For them at least, I’d mention it.