Location: U.S. (Attending a West coast boarding school)
Residency: U.S. citizen
High School Type: Highly rigorous college-prep boarding school on the West Coast
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: African American
First-Gen: Yes
Legacy: None
Intended Major(s)
Psychology
Also open to Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, or Sociology / African American Studies
GPA / Rank / Test Scores
UW GPA: 3.58 (freshman year I had A’s in every class except science: took physics)
Weighted GPA: 4.0
Class Rank: School does not rank (Weighted GPA currently in the 2nd quintile of my class, unweighted GPA is like 4th quintile)
Test Scores:
Not taking tests till senior fall.
Coursework
Strong humanities/social science focus
Freshman year: English I, Sophomore Year: English II, Junior Year (Current): English III Honors
Freshman year: World History, Sophomore Year: Modern Middle East I & II, Junior Year: Honors U.S. History (currently publishing an essay to my school’s historical review site!)
Freshman year: 2 terms physics, 1 term chem, Sophomore year: 2 terms physics, 1 term chem, Junior year: 1 term chem, 2 terms bio, senior year: (I anticipate taking Psychology honors)
Freshman year: Mandarin I, Sophomore year: Mandarin II, Junior year: Mandarin III, senior year: (I anticipate taking Mandarin IIII Honors)
Sophomore & Junior year + senior year: Honors Chamber Singers (audition-only, international travel chorus group)
Freshman year: Math I (pre-algebra, algebra I), Sophomore Year: Math II (algebra 1, trigonometry, intro algebra 2), Math III: (Algebra 2, pre-calc), Math IIII: Pre-calc + calc last trimester.
Taking the most rigorous courses available in English, history, and science
Honors / AP-eligible curriculum: (school restricts AP labeling but maintains comparable rigor)
Awards
School leadership recognition
Writing/Humanities academic distinctions
Community/club leadership acknowledgments=
Extracurriculars
Student Government: Former Class President
Cultural Affinity Group Leader: Assistant head of BSU on campus
Club Leadership: Co-head of Caribbean Club
Peer Tutor: Writing & history tutor
Admissions Ambassador: Tour guide for prospective families
Special Program Participation: Upper-level rider in school’s western riding horse program
Additional campus service, volunteering, and community leadership roles
Summer Activities
Planning to pursue psychology-related summer program and/or work experience.
Essays / LORs / Other
Essays: Strong writer; expect to have strong personal voice
LORs: Should be REALLY strong; close relationships with humanities teachers, advisors, faculty I have co-led camping trips w/, head of school, college counselors, BSU faculty advisor, dorm heads.
Cost Constraints / Budget
High financial need
Will require full need-based aid (or generous merit, depending on school)
Schools I’m Considering
*
Brown University*
Tufts University
Amherst College
Wesleyan University
Safeties:
Looking for suggestions — preferably schools that meet strong merit or need-based aid
Matches:
Looking for strong psychology programs with good aid and supportive environments
Reaches:
Interested in selective liberal arts colleges and research universities with strong social science departments
ED/EA Plans:
Unsure / open to suggestions
What I’m Looking For
Strong psychology opportunities (research access a plus)
Supportive campus culture
Good financial aid
Not too large; prefer medium-sized universities or LACs
Geographic flexibility (okay with East Coast, Midwest, West Coast)
In the section that says, “UW GPA: 3.58 (freshman year I had A’s in every class except science: took physics)” it may sound like I only had straight A’s my freshman year… This is false, I meant to just imply why my UW GPA looks so low. It was because of my science class freshman year. One, my teacher was explicitly just not supportive and would dismiss my questions in class, put me down in comparison to other students, and he even called me “handicapped”. I finished that class with an F unfortunately, which I personally believe was done out of spite. Every other class my freshman, sophomore, and currently (junior year), are in the A/A- range though.
You may want to check the residency for tuition purposes rules in MA (or where your parents live) and the state where you go to boarding school to see if you have in state tuition and financial aid at the state universities.
Some states allow for in-state status or equivalent after graduating high school there with a specified number of years of living there or attending school there. Check if the state the boarding school is in has that provision and if you are eligible for it.
It is probably better to take the SAT and ACT by the end of junior year in order to get a better idea of which colleges are admission (and/or scholarship) realistic before you start making college lists early in senior year.
in your title, you say you need full financial aid.
In cost, you say full need aid or generous merit, depending on school.
What’s your true budget?
What can you pay in other words. Has your family run the Brown, Amherst, and Tufts net price calculator, as all three offer no merit?
Have you attended any fly ins?
What language will you take next year?
Science - psych is not a science. It counts as a social science, like history.
If you are a Junior and you had all As but 1 F, if you had 6 classes a semester, through two years and 24 classes, your GPA would be higher than a 3.58.
The test will tell a lot - but I would add Hail Mary schools like SMU (Presidential) and W&L Johnson (10% of the class gets) - full rides.
Given you are at a boarding school, that’s who you should talk to - but regardless of the reasons, the F in Physics might keep you out but on the other hand, it looks like you repeated.
Does your family make less than $65K? If so, Questbridge may be a good thing for you.
Yes, my family makes less than $65K. My grandma is retired and my mom is unemployed.
At my school, Psych is listed as a course offered by the science department.
I will take Mandarin again next year.
I have not yet attended any fly-ins, however I visited Brown last spring trimester.
My true budget would most likely be a low family contribution, between $0 and $2,500.
I am already a Red Sox Scholar, which is a $10,000 scholarship program provided for selected students in Boston.
I was considering applying to QuestBridge’s National Match my senior year, I will definitely apply for the QuestBridge College Prep Scholars program that begins February.
Fair point, my college counselor at my boarding school suggested that I wait until senior fall to take the SAT/ACT because my testing path isn’t yet set in stone. I did diagnostic testing to see which test would be the best fit for me last spring trimester, and the college counselor concluded that because of my current math background being insufficient for the SAT/ACT, to wait until I do complete my Math III this year so I will have a stronger foundational understanding of the math that may appear on the test.