Hello, I’m a rising senior who is just wondering what my chances would be for Stanford, UChicago,UVA, Rice, and schools of that nature! By indecisive I mean that I have no idea what I want to major in or what I want to do in life.
I go to a top 10 stem school that is also an early college program so from 11th grade we take college classes. Notable college classes that I’ve taken/am taking include Multivariable Calculus, Organic Chemistry, and a 300 level Economic and Social Development class.
Class Rank: N/A My school does not rank
UWGPA: 3.88
WGPA: 4.90
SAT: 1500
SAT Subject Tests: Haven’t gotten scores back yet but I took math 2 and chemistry and plan to retake chemistry because I know I did bad
AP Scores:
AP Calculus BC - 5
Calc AB subscore - 5
AP Environmental Science - 4
AP US History - 5
AP English Language and Composition - 5
AP World History - 3(I was dumb and didn’t study for this one)
ACT: 32 ( I may retake this)
ECs:
11th,12th grade - Helped found and am co-preisdent of sports club and am responsible for oganizing volunteering and charity events of which I’ve organized 3 so far.
Almost 100 volunteering hours from various places, working on getting 100 before the end of this summer.
6th-8th, 10-12th grade - Campus Life, Vice President since 11th grade
7th-12th grade - Youth Group at my Church
11th,12th grade - National Honor Society
11th, 12th grade - Questbridge College Prep Scholar
10th, 12th grade - Model Congress team( closed in 11th grade and I helped to re-open the club for 12th grade)
I’m working on a web app to help my school organize volunteering hours for the students, so this will be on my resume as well when I finish
Demographics:
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Income: Under $65k for a family of 5(Usually around 45-50k a year, but was 65k last year because of a retirement distribution from my dad’s old workplace that shut down)
I also think I may apply through the questbridge program. If anyone has any tips on how I can improve my chances that would be great as well, thanks!
It looks like you’re well matched for the schools that you named! You may want to send the 1500 SAT instead of the 32 ACT at places that allow you score choice. Your HS rigor is pretty superb, and you’re well involved in activities.
Make sure that your essays are the best that they can be- that’s how you can improve your chances. Make sure that you feel that you’re genuinely representing who you are in them.
@newkidnewtrix Okay, thank you for the help! I had heard from previous seniors that I should spend alot of time on my essays so I will try and make my essays interesting and reflective of who I am! I was also planning to maybe apply to a few ivy league schools, do you think that I might have a chance at any of those as well?
And Questbridge is a wonderful program – you’ll definitely want to pursue that!
And yes, I think you are very competitive for any of those schools, including ivies. Don’t underestimate the power of strong essays and good teacher/counselor recs.
Your academics are impressive, and your ECs are solid. Those, in conjunction with your demographic status as an URM, make you a very, very strong candidate at any of the elite universities or LACs. I would be surprised if you did not receive multiple offers of admission from the top 15 universities and the WASP set of LACs.
However, I would agree with another poster that the 1500 SAT might work more to your advantage than the 32 ACT.
@linux4: I agree with all the comments made above concerning your impressive academic record to date. The only red flag I can see is the fact that you will be doing Organic Chemistry (I?) your senior year of high school and the fact that you believe you did not so great on your Chemistry SAT Subject Test. Have you completed your typical College Chemistry I & II (w/Labs) series? What grade did you get in those two college courses? What major will you pursue after high school (Pre-Med, ChemE, etc.)? Are you doing your college credits at a 2- or 4-year institution?
U Chicago, Stanford, and MIT sounds like great High Matches/ Low Reaches for you. Good luck to you and great stats, don’t bother retaking, but do take SAT2’s.
@Jamrock411 I did complete the Chemistry 101 course w/ lab(both semesters) for my college and I got high A’s in both semesters, however we did not cover a good portion of what was on the subject test(roughly 10-15%) and I kind of rushed and signed up for the test last minute and used all my time studying for math 2 so when I went into chemistry I was unprepared. I’m not sure which major I want to pick, I’m between Computer Science, Engineering, or maybe something completely different but I’m still unsure. The college is a 4-year institution.
@VANDEMORY1342 Ok- I’ll make sure to get good score on my SAT2s, thank you!
More important, you’ll be evaluated on your full app and supps. To do a great job on them, (in fact, to even “match” yourself, in the first place,) you need f to know a lot about your targets, what makes them tick, so to say.
That’s much more than listing stats and some ECs.
And your possible major matters. Then, some activities reflecting this. Just saying sports club and model congress doesn’t tell much about you.
You’ve got to learn more, to know how and what to present.
You’re an excellent candidate, I wouldn’t retake any more tests, unless the Chem is really bad, but even then you many want to take another test where you could show your knowledge. Focus on your essays and LORs over the summer and you’ll be in good shape.
As for admissions, if you really don’t know what you want to do, Stanford is your best bet, so apply there SCEA, you have a good chance of getting in. I would also apply EA to a public university, you mentioned UVA, but you could also consider UM or UNC, all three have strong programs in all disciplines, but it would be good to if you knew what school you wanted to apply to (arts and science vs. engr. vs bus etc.).
As for RD schools, Rice, Chicago along with Stanford are reaches, maybe high matches, so you need more target schools, lilke USC or NYU and another safety. And the ivies - if you want one with strong stem and non-stem, then Penn, Cornell, Columbia are my recommendations there. Similar to Rice btw in terms of strength across the board would be Northwestern, maybe JHU, if you want to consider midwest or mid-atlantic.
Even if the Chem is really bad, most of the schools let you send only the SAT Subject tests you want to send (even schools that want to see all testing for the ACT and SAT). If you’ve gotten As in a dual enrollment class, you are fine for Chemistry, as @theloniusmonk suggests, take another SAT subject test in a subject that you are more comfortable with.
If you’re doing Questbridge, you are automatically part of an early matching program, so don’t worry about applying under SCEA, EA, or ED to any of the schools you are interested in. The application opens over the summer and in due in September.
@LoveTheBard I started my questbridge app and got my subject test scores back, it was 790 for math 2 and 610 for chemistry. On the app you have to include every test score so I know I have to retake chemistry and I was wondering if that bad score would effect me or if colleges would only look at my better score and I’m also wondering if it is worth it to retake math 2 to get the extra 10 points? Thanks for the help
@lookingforward I have no idea what I wanted to do but the sports club is more than just a club that plays sports, we teach about health, health science, volunteer, etc. also my school has like two major STEM clubs, robotics which has been full so I couldn’t join and HOSA which my club overlaps with. Thanks for the advice
Rather than retaking Chem (if you have to show ALL scores, the 610 will be out there regardless, and you don’t want to look score-obsessed – yet another reason NOT to retake Math) I’d try to get in one or two high scores in subject tests for subjects you feel good about. History? Foreign Language?