How do college AOs view someone who overworks themself?

Applying to College
1

Hey CollegeConfidential. Now entering week 3 of school, one thing has been bugging me; I'm not sure how I should go about applying to college because I don't know how colleges would view my academic record and ECs.

I currently go to a very competitive high school in Dallas, Texas. I’m an African American male living under the poverty line. I have a 1530 SAT, 800 SAT Math 2, 800 SAT Physics, 780 SAT Biology, 4.4 WGPA, 3.5 UWGPA, 3.3 core UWGPA, and 4.1 core WGPA. In a class of 412 people, I’m ranked number 186. Rankings are based off of WGPA. I’m also an IB student who has taken 11 AP classes so far.

My freshman year didn’t start off that well. My 8th hour class, band, would last until 6 everyday. My school is an hour and a half away from my house, so I’d get home at 7:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays. I also tried to continue Karate (black belt) which would last me until 9:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was taking AP World History and AP Physics 1 with permission from my school (though about half the school was taking at least 2, anyway). This all came collapsing on me, as you probably would be able to tell, and I ended up failing the second semester of AP Physics. I also failed the AP Exam with a 2, which my teacher only had a 20% passing rate on. I could never get enough sleep, until I decided to start going to sleep at midnight, which significantly dropped my grades to mostly Bs and Cs (3 As, including band).

Come sophomore year, I didn’t know what to do, so I took AP Biology online (accredited online school which my HS accepts credits from). I didn’t do band that school year and left Karate. I joined my school’s forensics and math teams, competing in tournaments and qualified for one of the 3 national tournaments in forensics. I also auditioned for an got into my school’s spring theater production, which would go on everyday of school until 5. In addition, I did newspaper and got to write articles for my schools newspaper, also getting a certification in Photoshop. I got an A both semesters for 6/8 of my classes, C/B in AP Spanish, and C/C in AP English Lang (my class had 18/21 Cs, 2/21 Bs, and 1 A) (btw, was taking 6 APs).

Junior year, I started going through the IB program, so I naturally took 7 IB classes (with a TOK half-semester). I took AP U.S. Gov’t the first semester, the one before TOK began. Online, I added AP Human Geo and AP Environmental. I continued my activities (except the math team) and added on student council, of which I was elected the vice president. In each of my activities, I took on an active leadership role. My grades were As and Bs, which IMO is a pretty good feat taking into account my workload. I didn’t want to leave any other of my activities because I’m really passionate about them, but I still care heavily about academics; I just don’t have as much time to study as I wish I had.

I know I certainly meet a lot of the criteria colleges are looking for: passionate, active, leadership, concentrates attention towards one discipline (communications) to show mastery and commitment, higher-end SAT + SAT IIs (not exactly what they look for itself, but kind of is), and obviously not a procrastinator (if I was, I would have had Cs and Ds duing my junior year, taking on such a workload). I also have a lower-end socioeconomic status.

How would college AOs view me if I apply to a more selective college like Brown?

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Unfortunately your class rank 186 of 412 (top 45%) will hinder you at schools like Brown. For example class of 2021 had the following acceptance rates at Brown:

Valedictorian 19%
Salutadicorian 14%
Top 10% of class 10%
2nd tenth% 2%

Extrapolating below your chances become very very small. Sorry wish the stats suggested otherwise. Your scores are great however. Good luck.

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Sending you a pm

4

It is better to take the “regular” amount of courses and do well in them than to take more than required and not do well.
I would look at my state schools where you can use many of your credits.

5

I think you have a compelling story, great scores and a strong hook. Unless, you get rejected automatically for the class rank, the elites schools will at least take a closer look since your SAT is the average for many of the elites and will be above average compared to other African-American males.

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As an African American male with superb standardized test scores & in the top half of your class. you are a competitive applicant for admission to Brown.

7

While your class rank won’t help your case, the fact that you have had an upward trend in your grades may offset that somewhat. Might your GC mention something about your long commute and adjusting to a highly competitive environment without the same type of educational advantages as some of your peers might have had?

What will help a lot is that you have solid standardized test scores and that you are are an African-American from a low SES environment (Are you first generation, by any chance??). The fact that you have shown passion and leadership will all play in your favor.

Just try to write a compelling narrative and make sure you get some really solid teacher recs.

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OP let’s look at the numbers. Brown reported 2,600 accepted applicants and a 2% acceptance rate among those ranked below top 10% (these are dated by a year). That means you would have to be chosen to join the 52 people accepted who are below the top 10% ranking threshold amongst the 33,000 rejected applicant.

Keeping in mind you are not in the top 20,30 or 40th percentile or taking into consideration the athletes, development cases and legacies that would be given a pass on class rank. 52 spots quickly becomes a very small window of opportunity.

Hardly impossible and your credentials away from rank are great but I wouldn’t want to see you waste your ED without a full analysis of the numbers. Remember school’s with a 7% acceptance rate are typically differentiating to find a way to say no.

9

You should apply via QuestBridge. If you are selected as a finalist, rank Brown (and additional colleges, up to 12 total). Both the application and the recommendation letters ask specifically about obstacles and hardships, and it’s much better to address those issues in those short essays, so that your main essay can be more about who you are rather than the difficult circumstances you have faced. Your rank should go up considerably with the IB curriculum—have your counselor address that. Deadline is September 27th—I think you have a good chance to be selected as a finalist if you can write compelling essays, get stellar recommendations as others have mentioned and your family income and assets fall within the QB range.

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You are a solid candidate for acceptance to highly selective schools. I second the QuestBridge suggestion. If your school does not have many students from lower income families, QuestBridge may not be featured in counseling sessions or presentations but it’s an awesome program.

Many top liberal arts colleges weigh high test scores more strongly than GPA and class rank (at least when compared to Ivies). In my experience, students who are drawn to Brown also tend to apply to LACs. If you’re having trouble coming up with colleges to apply to, the colleges in the QuestBridge program make a great place to start.