My name is Parker and I’m a white male, middle class senior from a tiny town in rural southern Vermont.
I applied to 11 schools:
Bachelor of Architecture major at
-Cornell University
-University of Southern California
-Syracuse University
-Carnegie Mellon University
-Virginia Tech
-Drexel University
And Architecture majors at:
-Tufts University
-Brown University
-Princeton University
-UC Berkeley
-Colby College (free application)
Stats: 1570 SAT, 35 ACT, 4.15 Unweighted GPA, 7 AP Classes with all 5’s so far except 1
I would say my portfolio (required for first 6 schools) is good, not spectacular
Essays are definitely strong, recommendations are probably average
Extracurriculars included 3 week paid internship in Washington DC architectural firm, 4 years varsity XC (Captain Junior and Senior years), 3 years Track and Nordic Skiing, Leadership roles in school programs
I’m nervous about the whole process- any opinions on my chances at these schools would be great! Thank you!
Can you afford these schools?
The UC’s don’t provide financial aid for non-residents. So your parents would be on the hook for $65K per year.
USC, as a private school, does provide some financial aid, and a lot is based on NM status. But they are still expensive.
Estimate your costs by using the Net price calculator on each of these schools’ websites.
Does your high school give a 4.3 for an A+ grade? Does your GPA mean that you got half A’s and half A+'s? If not, then I do not know how to interpret it.
I agree with @“aunt bea” that affordability is an important consideration. Your stats are great, but most of the schools on your list are probably reaches. If you can afford to be full pay ($320,000 at some universities in the US – I did not check the prices at every school on your list) then you certainly have some matches but I am not sure whether you have any safeties.
Does UVM have your intended major? For us our safeties were either in-state public schools (UVM for you), or in Canada (which is not very far away for you).
I am assuming that a moderator will edit out your name. This web site does have “confidential” in its name.