UW GPA 3.98, WGPA and UC GPA 4.8sh, ST 2300 one sitting, SAT Math 2 720 will retake, ACT from sophomore year 32 one sitting
9 APs so far. Will take 6 more senior year.
PSAT 224,
In 3% of my class. Highly competitive HS.
Individual sport for 7 years with some state and regional awards. Competed in junior olympics 3 times. This year had to quit sport due to the injury. After that I bacame very interested in Speach and Debate and place fairly well this year.
President and founder of 2 clubs for 4 years
Officer of NHS
Part time job for a year now 15 hours per week
Some volunteer activities
Pending patent application
Please chance for Engineering electrical, mechanical or CS.
I’m pretty new at this, but have been following the process with my CA senior this year and her friends:
Stanford - high reach for everyone
Caltech - reach for everyone
UCLA - low reach
USC - match
UCB - low reach
UCSD - match
Harvey Mudd - reach for everyone
CalState SLO - match
Basically, you have great stats, BUT the UC schools and Cal Poly wait listed a lot of kids this year. I think your chances of getting in several of those schools are quite good, but I’d add a few safeties that you’d be happy about (and btw, Davis is not a safety).
You’re stats are very good so I’d say you have a shot at any of those schools, but as @washugrad pointed out some of those schools are a reach for anyone. Your stats won’t keep you out, but nothing can guarantee you’ll get in. Make sure you have a few safeties thrown in.
“I believe a good chance for Stanford and easy reach for Caltech”
Ha- dont believe this^^!
unless you scored 800 on your SAT math score and score a much higher SAT 2 math score, and have demonstrated a strong interest in science- i.e. EC’s , research, etc - you will have little chance at Caltech.
Great chance based on stats and being a girl pursuing engineering. But that would be maybe a 10% chance at 5% schools, or heck, possibly a 20% chance? That still means 4 out of 5 times, they pass you by.
I would put two safeties on your list - schools where you would be 75th percentile or higher and they have 40%+ acceptance rates. Also if you are middle class, you need to look for FA safeties, places that would give significant merit aid based on your stats.
The ECs are kind of weak after the sport went away, keep pursuing Speech and Debate.
Although I wonder how you can’t spell Speech and SAT correctly and got 2300 in one sitting on the SAT (and other grammar errors in the post as well)
Dinka- If $$ is in any way a deciding factor as to where you can afford to go to college, with a 224 PSAT score, you will most probably qualify as a NMSF and there are lots of great U’s outside of Calif that will pay you to go to college.
Check out the FA and scholarships forum.
BE SURE to complete your USC application by Dec 1 .
That way you will qualify to be considered for their Full or 1/2 tuition scholarships.
If accepted at USC you will be awarded their NMF 1/2 tuition scholarship.
And find some safeties that you would be happy to go to- that is a MUCH harder task than falling in love with the top U’s that everyone wants to go to!
Get going!
@rhandco English is not my native language and yes I got 2300 in one sitting. Also,j are my EC really weak? With my sport involvement for 20 hours per week for the past 7 years I did not have time for anything else. And now with 7 AP classes I take and 15 hours per week part time job I don’t really know what else to do.
Please tell me what can I do between now and next year to improve my chances at highly selective colleges? I don’t think I need to improve my GPA, rigor or test scores. Please correct me if I am wrong. Is my EC really weak? Any suggestions for improvement?
@washugrad I think your response is very accurate. @vhops schools are trying to recruit more females to engineering. Since you are very competitive combined with a slight female edge your list looks solid however it would be prudent to add a few schools with higher admission rates for a better balanced list.
@monarch1 Thank you. I am trying to get into summer research programs. So far I got into one and still waiting for a few more. But realistically, what can you do in 6-8 weeks? What else can I do between now and next October? I see how many people with high stats got rejected from UCLA and the rest of the UCs. Even Davis is hard to get into now.
@Dinka7 research universities love research experience. Do not under estimate what a great summer experience can do for your admissions and beyond. Engineering admissions look for demonstrated interest, in the UCLA Engineering session for counselors this fall the director spoke about how much they enjoy seeing “engineering academy” or “robotics club” on an application to engineering vs. no demonstrated interest or experience.
@Dinka7 You don’t need to rely on structured summer research programs, which have application dates that may have passed, often have prohibitive fees, and where you aren’t likely to obtain a personalized recommendation. You can always go the old-fashioned route and find research opps yourself. There are plenty of university faculty/labs in CA that might take on a smart, ambitious student (key word: ambitious!). It requires time and effort to identify your interests, compile a list of contacts, and send a nicely worded proposal email/CV, with no guarantee of success, but you might end up with a more interesting, unique, real-world summer STEM experience and a good recommendation. In other words, the payoff is that you can set yourself apart, which is all-important in college apps. Stanford publishes a summary of how to do this: http://oso.stanford.edu/files/programs_111.pdf
Also, I see from another thread that you are full-pay, due to family income, but you expressed concerns about your actual ability to pay. That’s crucial info in building a college list because you need to understand if merit aid is required. How much can you realistically afford per year?
