Hello forum! As I stated in the title, I’m not the kind of Asian boy that Asian parents brag about. However, I’m not completely a lost cause - I think. I’m currently looking at business or CS – UMich (Ross?), NYU (Stern?), UVA, UI Bloomington, UIUC, Vanderbilt, and MSU (safety). If anyone else sees other colleges that fit, feel free to list them. Thanks!
Demographic/Socioeconomic
Asian male, incoming senior at a very competitive public high school in Michigan
Moved 3 times from 5th-9th grade (California, New Mexico, Michigan)
Upper middle class
Stats
PSAT: 1470, made the nat’l merit cutoff for last year
SAT: 1470 (21 Writing); 1510 (23 Writing); planning on taking Math II, most likely can get over 780
ACT: 34 (12 Writing), taking it again in July
GPA: ~3.6 UW, 3.74 W (I’ve taken all honors and AP courses, I just don’t study)
AP: 10 APs including the ones I’m taking senior year, so far all 5s
EC
I’ve moved around 7 times across the country in total so it’s hard for me to stick to ECs, so the majority are the ones I’ve jumped into during HS
Cross Country/Track: 4 years, varsity, captain for XC, qualified for freshmen counties and Nike Cross Regionals
DECA: 3 years, chapter representative, school’s executive board, state finalist, international qualifier
Model UN: 3 years, Best Delegate at several conferences
Finance Club: 3 years, co-president
NHS: 100+ hours of volunteering at various events and organizations
Work: I worked at Chick-fil-A from the winter of my sophomore year to the winter of my junior year. I worked up front but also ended up doing marketing for my location. This past year I founded a tutoring company with some of my upperclassmen friends. We make around ~$40k each session and have expanded to multiple cities.
Honestly, I don’t think your stats are that bad. Your DECA stands out the most with your cross country.
On your AP’s, they make up for your Standardized testing, though I think schools could tell that with your high AP’s it doesn’t correlate with your GPA. They might realize that you just didn’t try that hard, which isn’t good. So actually, your AP’s might contradict your GPA; watchout for that, try to raise it up.
Your EC’s are actually pretty strong, though schools would like to probably see more over the summer. XCountry, DECA, MUN, NHS, And your work demonstrate good initiative both in school and outside of school.
With good essays (and maybe raising that SAT to 1550) you could get into any of these schools (though maybe Vanderbilt is a bigger reach).
Why are you bothering to retake standardized tests with an ACT of 34 and an SAT of 1510? Those are fine scores for the schools you are interested in. I’m no expert, but my guess is that a few more points won’t make any difference. The problem is not the tests, its the GPA.
Work on continuing to develop yourself as a student and as a candidate with ECs and a great essay. Work on figuring out how to make yourself study because you will need that skill in college. I’m sure you already know that CS is one of the most competative majors these days.
Have you thought about Tulane? Purdue? Penn State?
@gallentjill I’m quite confident that if I actually sat down and practiced for the tests I could get a better score. I feel like I need to get a better score to help make up for my GPA. You’re definitely right about figuring out how to study; I need to work on that. I haven’t looked into Tulane much, Purdue’s engineering program is the only standout, and Penn State’s possibility.
@pieguy54321 You’re not wrong about me not trying that hard. I think I’m going to milk the fact that I’ve moved around so much as a way to explain my poor grades.
Just curious why only 3.74 W with 3.6 UW when you “taken all honors and AP courses”? Also “10 APs including the ones I’m taking senior year, so far all 5s” - mostly people do good in classes but bad in AP tests.
Unfortunately, I think the more competitive of those schools are gonna realize that, because moving around a lot isn’t really an excuse for poor grades? I think those schools would understand moving around = less EC’s, but I don’t think that moving equals poor grades, especially since you mostly moved before high school. Then again, a 3.7 unweighted is close to matching some of these schools.
plz chance back http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2088056-chance-a-rising-junior-for-ivies-and-top-school.html#latest
LOL my kids moved around more than that- and they were always international moves. Looks as if you had all of HS in one place. Don’t be expecting that excuse to get you very far.
Also, some AdComm readers see high test scores + modest GPA = "not trying that hard
But I love your honesty (including the ‘I know I’m a below-average performer but I still want an above-average name without that pesky part of actually working at the academic part of school’)
@wally1688 I’ve gotten almost all Bs in my APs, so thats why my W is relatively low. And with the AP scores, I’m good at test taking (as shown by my standardized tests that I took with little-to-no prep) but don’t study much during the actual class.
@collegemom3717 I’m most likely going to study business-related courses. In regards to tuition, my parents really want me to go to UMich Ross (it’s in-state) but if I get into schools out of state that are better like NYU Stern they would be OK with paying.
If they have heard of the school or the city, it is either a + or a neutral (fwiw, there are a lot of opinions on that topic!). Irl, your internships will matter more. Get a (paid!) summer internship @ a name-brand firm over the summers (very do-able from any of the top-10 unis) & that will do wonders for your employment prospects.
It is typical for the major employers in the UK to offer summer-long, decently paid internships to uni students. These include consumer (P&G, Unilever), resource (BP), finance (Goldman, etc), consulting (all the usual suspects), law (even if you aren’t doing law), etc. The application process is well structured and pretty straight forward (it is competitive, of course, but not irrationally so). Worth a look anyway.
I don’t suggest you “milk” anything to explain your grades. As the French proverb says, “To excuse a fault is to double it.”
Consider Lehigh. They’re strong in both STEM and business, and they count Asians as URM. Admission chances are probably 50:50 with your stats. Bucknell is another, with slightly better odds than Lehigh. Also consider Pitt, which admits to Honors based on test scores. Tulane is a good suggestion too.
Another thought - you seem like you shine the most in real-world situations. Do you think you might be happier and more successful at a co-op school where work experience would be an integral part of your education? Northeastern is probably out of reach because of your GPA, but RIT, Drexel, and U of Cincinnati all have excellent co-op business programs. (And Cincinnati would be a bargain, because you would qualify for their National Outreach Award, for which Michigan is one of the target states whose residents can get in-state tuition with qualifying stats. Possibly even full-tuition for NMF)