Demographic:
Domestic, NY, Mid-size competitive school (~350 in class), FGLI
Intended Major(s): Environmental Sciences
GPA: 3.9/4.0 UW (We don’t do Weighted GPA)
Rank: We don’t do rank
Test Score: 1500 on SAT, will retake most likely
9th: APWH, everything else was Honors (Chem, Russian, English, Geometry, etc.)
10th: APWH, everything else was Honors (Physics, Advanced Russian, English, Alg 2, etc.)
11th: APLANG, APUSH, AP Pre-calc, APES, College Russian
*The # of AP’s we’re allowed to take before 11th grade is very limited
Awards/Honors
Essay Contest on Asian American identity and experience (international + ended published in a book as one of the top 20/??? submissions)
Harvard Library’s Young Reader’s Prize (Runner-up)
Russian Olympiad. & Essay (National + Gold)
Extracurriculars
Art Club/Mural Team: President and Captain (9-Present)
- Kind of self-explanatory, but I led a team and we painted lots of BIG murals around school (everything from brainstorming, design, approval was on us)
- Fundraised $$ to provide free art classes + materials for underprivileged students
Independent Research (worked with a mentor, don’t worry) (10-Present)
- Vaguely: Finding sustainable treatments for invasive species
- Came up and carried out everything from hypothesis, design, data analysis, etc. by myself
Intern @ an international environmental magazine
- Researched, wrote, and published several pieces
- 6 million+ readers
Envirothon(11th-Present)
Internship @ one of the biggest libraries in the world (10th)
- Helped host festivals
- Registered people to vote/pre-vote (the presidential election was coming up)
- Presented proposals advocating for education equality in front of State Council Members
- Published several times on this library’s site
Literary Magazine Club: Editor (11th-Present)
Volleyball (9th-Present)
- JV for 2, Varsity for 2)
Shadowed general dentist (9th)
Band & Orchestra
Essays/LORs/Other
LOR 1: 9/10 - I’m on really good terms with them. We’ve known each other since my freshman year and they have expressed great interest in writing a LOR for me in the past
LOR 2: 7/10 - I work hard in her class and she knows that I’m interested in Environmental Science. We don’t know each other too well, but I have several opportunities to get to know her by the time applications roll around
Essay: I would say that I’m a pretty strong writer. I have some Ivy League friends who are willing to help me out. I’m basing it off of an essay that I won an award for.
I don’t know a lot about the east coast environmental schools, but would the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry make sense to look into? It might have more targeted majors for what you’re looking for than some of your likelies?
Do you have a specific area of interest ? Different schools excel in different environmental areas ?
Any cost constraints? If so have you run NPCs?
Bring from NY, why Rutgers ?
Admission wise, your matches are all safeties in my opinion.
The reaches are possible but reaches - sue to FGLI.
Want to check budget. Rutgers, for example, may not be appropriate but an FSU, strong in ES with its renowned atmospheric sciences program, costs less, etc. it seems like you want to be NE but then you have Northwestern.
I agree with ESF. It’s like getting Syracuse (a little) at a great rate.
You’re a very solid student. You can take the SAT again but I wouldn’t overdo it. Maybe once more.
Based on your interests, I would only leave Cornell there, and maybe Brown. Northwestern eliminated its Ecology program years ago, and I would not trust that that its environmental sciences program would be at the level that matches other similar colleges.
SUNY ESF is probably better than both NYU and Northwestern for Environmental Sciences, so I don’t think that these two are the best choices for this major. As a matter of fact, SUNY ESF is likely better for Environmental Sciences than Rutgers as well.
While it may be an even higher reach, Yale’s School of the Environment is a better choice than Brown.
As others have said - look perhaps at LACs in the NE, since you’re looking at some small colleges anyways.
Another likely/safety you may want to look at is U Vermont, and U Maine may be worth looking at as well.
You’ve done very well, and you will likely have multiple acceptances from which to choose.
When I was reading about your interests, the first school that came to mind was SUNY ESF. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one. Something to note is that students can cross-register for classes at neighboring Syracuse, so there’s a wide range of additional courses available, all while paying the SUNY price. As a FGLI student, I would expect that there are special grant programs that would significantly defray the costs of a SUNY degree.
Speaking of SUNY campuses, there are some others you may want to investigate.
SUNY - Brockport is mid-sized with about 5400 undergrads, and has a number of offerings that could be of interest such as majors in climate studies, environmental science (including an option to accelerate and get a Master’s in Ecology), sustainability, and water resources, among others. Here are some examples of undergrads doing environmental science research at Brockport.
I think that you would be an extremely likely admit for any of these SUNY campuses.
A more selective school that might be of interest is U. of Rochester (NY). It has a very open curriculum, like Brown where you’re thinking of EDing. It too has a number of majors and minors that could be of potential interest. I think Rochester would either be a toss-up or likely admit for you.
There are two national scholarship programs that you may want to investigate:
QuestBridge: This is an opportunity for top students from lower income families to get a full ride to a top college. They can list up to 20 colleges in the order of their preference and if the college also selected the applicant, they’re matched at their top choice. The Match Scholarship | QuestBridge
Posse Scholars: This is a program that you have to be nominated for, but it’s designed for students who show a lot of leadership potential and come from underrepresented backgrounds. Posse Scholars are given full tuition scholarship. Shaping the Future | The Posse Foundation
Check if your high school participates in the Posse program. If it’s a public high school in NYC, they are eligible to register with Posse, and nominate up to 10 seniors every year. Other than being a public high school in a Posse city, there are no additional requirements for a school to register. Seniors are nominated in spring or summer before their senior year.
Something to note is that students can cross-register for classes at neighboring Syracuse, so there’s a wide range of additional courses available, all while paying the SUNY price. As a FGLI student, I would expect that there are special grant programs that would significantly defray the costs of a SUNY degree.