Demographics
- US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident)
- State/Location of residency: New England
- Type of high school: medium-sized public high school
- Other special factors: N/A
Cost Constraints / Budget
Parents say there’s “no budget on education” and are very strong on it, but I’m looking to find more schools, preferably with good merit aid, that fall around or below $70,000 annual tuition for target and safety schools. I’m not looking to go to medical, law, or any of the sort after undergrad.
Intended Major(s)
Still thinking about this, so here are just some of my thoughts. I’m hoping to find a school with programs strong in these majors (and similar) since I’m very open to changing majors once I’m in college (hopefully):
- Applied Mathematics (top choice since it opens doors to a wide range of fields and I don’t want to be trapped)
- Data Science (I’ve heard that it might be bad to major specifically in this, though, since it’s more of a master’s program focus)
- Economics (haven’t taken a full year class in it, but am scheduled to for next semester- the summer work makes it out to be something I’m really into with the mathematical analysis + social phenomena)
- for CMU specifically, I’m looking to go into Information Systems, but could also apply as applied maths- mostly depends on which one I would be a stronger candidate for since I’m not opposed to either
- I’m also interested in linguistics and would like to pursue it in college, but not as an official major or minor (probably), so flexibility in courses is a plus
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
- Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
- Class Rank: not given by school
- ACT/SAT Scores: 1550 SAT (760 ERW, 790 Math)
List your HS coursework
(includes classes scheduled for my senior year- not yet completed)
- English: Honors English class x2, Dual Enrollment ECE English, AP English Lit
- Math: Honors Algebra II, Honors Precalculus, AP Calculus BC, Multivariable Calculus (highest level), AP Statistics
- Science: Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C
- History and social studies: Honors World History, Honors Civics, AP US History, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics
- Language other than English: Honors Spanish x2, AP Spanish Lang, AP Spanish Lit, official Independent Study Ancient Greek (2 years)
- Visual or performing arts: Orchestra/Symphony Orchestra (all 4 years), Choir, Photography
- Other academic courses: AP CS A, Data Structures + Algorithms
Awards
Chemistry Olympiad National Qualifier
Regional Math League Award x2
Rensselaer Medal
Individual Medalist in Science Olympiad x2 (team 3rd at states)
School Harvard Prize Book
Spanish Honors Society
I’m not sure if I should include any of these following awards in my application since it’s unrelated to any of my intended majors, but it could also be something standout ?:
Silver in Ancient Greek for State Poetry Competition
National Greek Exam High Honors x2
National Medusa Mythology Exam Summa Cum Laude (equivalent to gold)
Extracurriculars
Mock Trial - Secretary, VP (pretty standard)
Science Olympiad - Treasurer (pretty standard)
School Newspaper - Art Editor/Visual Projects Manager: edit articles pertaining to art/music and other topics as needed to meet deadlines; manage projects for building local awareness + attracting readers
Math Team - Competitor (pretty standard)
Crochet Club - Co-Founder, President: host markets in school and locally during the year to fundraise for charities; made and donated crocheted blankets and hats to local community
Crochet Small Business - Founder + Artist: commission work, test patterns for other crochet designers, participate in local art markets, post regularly on social media
Ambassador/Writer for Crochet Volunteering Service: growing membership for start-up of crochet non-profit volunteer service that donates crochet plushies to children and hospital patients; write creative background and stories for each plushie
Academic Tutor for elementary students (pretty standard)
Hospital Volunteer: 100+ hours; prepared patient paperwork, managed patient beds in recovery, transported patients to/from procedures, took phone calls/communicated with family
Independent Study of Japanese and Korean (not sure if I want to include, but I really enjoy language learning and, as mentioned earlier, would like to pursue linguistics in college): learned through youtube videos, online courses; compared east asian languages and researched roots and origins of different words across languages; nothing official, just a personal interest
Essays/LORs/Other
Essay: literally no clue- I think I have unique ideas, but might be poorly implementing them (7.5/10 ?)
LOR Teacher 1: (9.5/10) english teacher that really likes me and knows a lot from personal writing in class
LOR Teacher 2: (7/10) STEM teacher also club advisor; not super close, but has great stories from class projects and club experiences
Schools
I’m pretty unaware of the whole college thing (trying more now), so I’m unsure on my chances with a lot of these schools. It would be really helpful if you guys could sort them into the categories.
UMass Amherst, Stony Brook, UConn, UIUC, URochester, Tufts, CMU
- Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
- Extremely Likely:
- Likely:
- Toss-up:
- Lower Probability:
- Low Probability: Duke, Northwestern, Brown
I would like to have a list of around 15 schools to apply to. I’m looking to mostly add more safety/target type schools, but any reach schools that fit my preference and I would have a decent-ish chance at based on my profile would also be appreciated.
I prefer schools in the northeast or northern midwest, but am open to going further down if it’s a really great school- nowhere in the south south, though. I would like a medium to large sized school- nothing smaller than around 4,000. My parents prefer it to be a private school, but public schools with good reputation (and no infamous housing issues) are good. I really enjoy the vibe of Brown and Northwestern, so that’s a good plus, but academic strength in my chosen majors (and related fields) and success in employment post-grad are the main priorities.
I tried to include as much info as possible since I’ve seen a lot of posts where stuff is missing, but I’m probably still missing something. Thanks for going through all that if you did and I appreciate the help!