Weighted HS GPA: 4.75 (A=4, B=3 1 point bump for AP, nothing for Honors) 4.24 UC capped.
Class Rank: School does not rank
ACT/SAT Scores: 1510 (750 Verbal 760 Math)
PSAT 11th grade: 1520
List your HS coursework
English: AP Lang (5)
Math: AP PreCalc (5) and AP Calc BC (5)
Science: AP Physics (5)
History and social studies: AP HUGS (5) AP World (5) APUSH (5) and AP Psych (5)
Language other than English: Spanish 3
Visual or performing arts: Digital Media
Other academic courses: Currently taking senior year:
AP Stats
AP Lit
AP Bio
AP Environmental Science
AP Macroeconomics
AP Government
Honors Spanish 4
8 APs so far all 5s.
6 more senior year.
College Coursework (Transfer Applicants) None
Awards: AP Scholar with distinction 10th and 11th grade and will receive National Merit Semifinalist standing middle of September.
Extracurriculars
Cross Country and Track and Field all 4 years: Varsity since 11th grade volunteered approx 100 hours coaching elementary kids with cross country and track.
Summer before junior year, worked on Triclosan research that led to a research paper which got submitted to National High School Journal in May 2025. This mentor professor made introductions to USC and thus my child was offered a volunteer position that quickly turned into a research internship the following summer. Was trusted to handle equipment and lots of data intended for the grad students (aka grunt work-lol).
Summer before senior year, completed a 7 week summer research internship at the Viterbi Engineering Lab at USC (SoCal) working on PFAS characterization remediation. This position was not pay to play. Presented to professor along with his grad students. Professor has agreed to write LoR.
Essays/LORs/Other Above average.
Schools
No ED since there is no dream school.
EA to USC (SoCal)
UCLA, Berekley, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Davis. Student isn’t interested in the other UCs.
Cornell, Georgetown, George Washinton, BU and Northeastern. What targets and safeties are we missing?
Freshman admission by discipline | University of California can give some idea of how the weighted capped GPA stands with respect to recent historical UC frosh admission (environmental science is probably within the life sciences broad discipline).
For someone with such a strong academic record, being from California, the most obvious reach that you are missing might be Stanford. Of course whether this is a fit or not might depend upon multiple issues, including budget (I doubt that it would cost more than some others schools already on your list).
In terms of safeties, other UCs and CSUs come to mind, and maybe Arizona and/or Arizona State.
I honestly do not know whether any of the schools on your list are safeties for you, although I would hope that Santa Barbara and San Diego might be. I am just not sufficiently familiar with the UCs to be sure.
Like @ucbalumnus, I am also hoping that “no budget” means that you are okay spending $100,000 per year.
I have no idea where his focus lies. TBH, I have never heard the words Triclosan or PFAS. When he talks about working on smaller concentrations to create a new calibration curve or the need to detect very low concentrations or that the chemical analysis data was very difficult to optimize, I tend to to get lost.
We visited these schools during spring break. He fell in love with NYU but decided he wanted an actual campus. He was born and raised in the suburbs so would very much like to experience the opposite. Cornell and Georgetown are his reach schools. He doesn’t have a dream school but loved the vibe and campus at Georgia Tech where my other child currently attends for CS. It’s not on his list because he doesn’t think he’ll get in. My oldest graduated from USC.
There are a bunch of universities in the US where for the strongest students admissions is essentially unpredictable, and for everyone else admissions just won’t happen.
A 3.92 unweighted GPA plus a 1500+ SAT puts a student into the “academics is good enough” camp pretty much anywhere (760 math might be slightly low for literally two schools in the entire world, Caltech and MIT, but even there might not quite be a show stopper). After that other factors become important, such as research experience and references. Your son excels on these “other factors”.
Welcome to research!
Welcome to having a child involved in research!
What is the difference between having a child who works in research versus a child who works in medicine? With a child who works in research when they talk you don’t understand what they are saying. With a child who works in medicine (whether human or veterinary), when they talk you wish that you did not understand what they are saying.
OK - I’m not sure it’s the best way to pick a school for the major. I wouldn’t define GW as urban with a campus and I’d think it’d be more for policy - but Gtown and to a lesser extent American would fit better for campus (not necessarily major). I don’t see BU as a campus. A College of Charleston - not near as academicky - would be that school but he could qualify for Charleston Fellows - like my daughter. You get kids, like my daughter’s BFF, who turned down Vandy, Rice, and Penn to go. Their strength will be the water.
When you say Georgia Tech, I say Pitt. That’s a reasonable and urban like safety and strong in most things.
But if the interest was hydrology, I might say UMN (city but much bigger) or Arizona. Climate change - Wisconsin or Washington? Earth Science - Pitt, Arizona, Washington and Wisconsin.
Lots of urban schools - but to me, the counter to Ga Tech…size, somewhat environmentally, would be Pitt - and frankly, much a better fit than some you have based on major and what you describe.
The other thing is - you don’t have cost issues but environmental scientists are likely of less demand in the future and salaries are typically low….so if you do an ROI, the $100K schools likely aren’t smart choices.
Stanford has such a low acceptance rate that even kids with multiple national awards etc don’t get in. We decided to skip the top 10 and focus on the other reaches.
I’m well aware of the COAs. This is my 3rd and last child (thank goodness!). We are full pay.
Perhaps consider purely undergraduate-focused schools, such as Middlebury, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Colby and Bates. Your son could major in environmental studies at these colleges with the opportunity for a second major in, for example, chemistry, geosciences, or data science. For further ideas, these sites may be helpful:
As a general opinion, your son may benefit from emphasizing colleges with an available department in geosciences, which can serve as a source of interesting electives related to environmental science or of a potential second major.
Of course with schools as good as the UCs as your in-state options, there may be no reason to look elsewhere. But if nothing else these schools can act as interesting safeties.