discouraged senior from very underrepresented state- please help!!

College Search & Lists
1

Intended Major: Health and science major, public health, or biology (last choice)- I want to be a dentist
State: West Virginia (!!!)- not sure how much being from WV helps, but I’m hoping it does something
School Type: Public school, around 2,000 kids
Ethnicity: Chinese- I was born in Hawaii, parents are from China
Gender: Female

SAT: 1510 (760 CR, 750 M)
ACT: Didn’t take
SAT II: 730 Lit, 700 Bio E
Weighted GPA: 3.94, highest GPA in my grade this year is 4.5 (I have mostly As, 1 C freshman year, but 4 Bs junior year) also have a trend where 1st semester of each year is bad and then 2nd semester is straight As or close
Rank: school doesn’t rank but probably top 10%-- my class has some super high achieving kids, but most kids don’t care at all about doing well in school
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo (5), US History (5), Lang (4), Chem (4), World History (3), Environmental (5), taking Lit, Calc AB, and Bio this year, gonna get Bs in bio and maybe calc

Major Awards: none really… 1st place at a statewide violin competition, also All State Orchestra every year and WVU Honors Orchestra. AP scholar w/ distinction, National Merit Semifinalist

Extracurriculars:
National Honor Society (Historian)- I’m in charge of social media accounts and I help plan fundraisers
Science Honor
National Spanish Honorary Society
Violin- I’ve played for 7 years, I’m in the school orchestra plus a few chamber groups

Job/Work Experience:
I’ve worked at a dessert cafe for 2 years (14hrs/week)

Volunteer/Community service:
I play violin at local nursing homes and have practices almost every week
Volunteer with my church (feeding the homeless, helping set up for community events)
Junior hospital volunteer(worked in the Breast Care Center and hospital gift shop)
I played in a charity concert this year, I’m not sure if that even counts
Some NHS volunteering

I struggled with social anxiety for most of high school and basically didn’t do anything freshman year except read books in my room. I started pushing myself to get out more junior year, but even those few clubs I’m involved in were exhausting to maintain for me. I was scared to go after leadership until this year, being a pretty introverted person. Volunteering was easier, since I really enjoy helping others. Working a job was nerve-wracking, but I’m really proud I am able to still do it; it gets easier to talk to people every day.

After reading so many chance me threads and results, I guess I became desensitized to just how much other people have done during high school. Looking at my own stats, I’m feeling pretty discouraged, especially about ECs and GPA. I did put a lot of work into my Common App essay, so I’m hoping that will be a strong point in my application. I wrote about compassion, how it changed me and helped me overcome fears.

Also: I’ve applied to USC, BU, Washington and Lee (they sent me a fee waiver), U of Kentucky (fee waiver), and WVU.
If I don’t get in anywhere, I’ll be going to WVU and getting paid for it.

I’ve written most essays for the schools below, but I’m not sure if I should pay application fees for almost-certain disappointment:

Penn
Brown
Pomona
Northwestern
Tufts
Emory
Bowdoin
Vassar

*I know all the schools are very different and I have various reasons why I like them

Whew… thanks for reading all of that. How high could I aim with these not-so-great stats? Which colleges should I eliminate? What are some matches for me? Any suggestions would be appreciated

2

First off congratulations on your achievements and working through your social anxiety. Don’t let self doubt overwhelm you. It is normal to be nervous when applying to college.

“I’ve written most essays for the schools below, but I’m not sure if I should pay application fees for almost-certain disappointment”

Given that you have already written the essays and accumulated some impressive credentials you will be choosing between “wasting” that effort (along with loosing the opportunity to get into some very competitive schools) versus application fees.

I can’t reassure you that you will get accepted given how competitive admissions are but I think it highly likely that you will look back with regret if you don’t play it out based on fear of disappointment. Part of what makes people successful and happy in life is not just a willingness to take risks, but the acceptance of failure as part of growth.

Good luck and be proud of yourself no matter the outcomes, but don’t sell yourself short.

3

I think you should consider Mt. Holyoke and perhaps Carleton.

4

@merc81 and @Nocreativity1 Thank you for the replies! Do you guys think my “reaches” are unattainable?

5

Do you think I have an advantage, coming from WV?

6

Overall acceptance rates at your listed schools are:

Pomona 8%

Brown 9%
Northwestern 9%
Penn 9%

Bowdoin College 14%
Tufts 15%

Emory 22%
Vassar College 24%

However, since, for example, Northwestern’s ED admission rate is significantly higher than the overall admission rate of 9%, the RD admit rate at Northwestern is either 5% or 6%. If you analyze each school in this way, it may make it easier for you to evaluate whether or not you want to spend an application fee on a particular college or university.

7

I think they are true reaches. Not unattainable but 5% acceptance rate RD school’s are as billed reaches. Your essays will have to stand out in a very crowded pool.

WV will help but won’t carry the day in isolation. Your application will have to stand on its own merits. Essays, LORs etc will need to be unique, passionate and consistent.

8

Although I am not certain, I do think that you might get a small boost based on your state of residence as it is an underrepresented state at these schools.

9

Publisher-Actually Brown was 7.2% acceptance rate overall last year and Penn was 8.4%.

Both were around 5.5% RD round with greater numbers accepted ED this year so likely lower.

10

Northwestern’s overall acceptance rate was identical to Penn’s last cycle at 8.39%. The listed rates were as noted in the most recent edition (2019) of US News.

My point was to make OP aware that since she did not apply ED to any of the listed schools, that her chance of admission was below that of the published overall acceptance rate, therefore applying may not be an economically wise or feasible option without a fee waiver.

11

Have you run the Net Price Calculators at the places on your list, and verified that your parents find those numbers affordable?

I like the recommendation of Mt Holyoke for you, and I’d suggest a quick look at Bryn Mawr as well.

12

@happymomof1 I did run the NPC for most schools on my list, but it didn’t seem accurate… my parents have some investments and rental properties that seemed to increase the EFC wayy more than they should’ve

13

I will definitely check out those colleges, thank you!

14

Are there any schools that would immediately reject me because of my GPA? If the highest GPA in my class is 4.5, and I only have a 3.94

15

No. Nyet. Nein.

16

The rental properties and investments are things that make the NPCs less accurate. Just be sure that you and your parents are clear about how much they are truly ready, willing, and able to pay. That way if the aid packages all come in as unaffordable, you will be fully prepared to kick those offers to the curb, and head to WVU which has indeed shown you the love with that big merit offer.

17

So you have a full ride at WVU? What makes you not want to go there? Is it too close to home?

18

@readthetealeaves I’m just trying to get away from my town if possible; there’s maybe 8 Asian people in my high school class and I do experience racism and feel like I don’t belong/fit in. If I didn’t get in anywhere else, I’d go to WVU and be fine with it. But that small town, conservative mindset really irks me.

19

@londonmo7 Have you considered University of California campuses? Lots of Asian people at many campuses and there is no racism as the campuses are very diverse if not Asian leaning. UCB, UCI, UCR, UCSD. Others are very diverse as well. UCLA, UCM, UCD, UCSC. Lots of Asians in California. UC Berkley, among others, are ranked very highly

20

@readthetealeaves thanks for the suggestion! I would LOVE to go to a UC school… however, I’ve heard it’s really hard to get in and expensive for OOS students. Is that true?