hi! this is my first time using this website however i was wondering if y’all could help me seeing if I’m in a bad place or not with my current stats and what colleges i could apply and get into.
i have a 5.6 gpa in a 6.5 scale, 3.4 unweighted as a current junior
i have had full scholarships and participated in various rice summer programs such as ethics and society, tapia camp, and the creative writing program
i have had an internship with the city of houston and im apart of the city’s youth ambassador program collaborating with unicef for three years
I took indian classical music and dancing in the past
i am also apart of national technical honor society and taking a law career course
and was top ten for a NAM state pageant lol
I only took two AP’s as of now ( ap psych and lang ) however im planning to take ap gov and econ during the summer as well as pre cal gl potentially and dual credit english 4 during the year, if there’s any other good courses to take during the summer please let me know!
and im definitely going to do another college program this summer with another internship
if i also hypothetically got a 4 on my ap exams and a really good sat score would that make my stats more redeeming? im also trying to make a philosophy club in my school and a non profit attached to it so pretend that’s hypothetically apart of my stats. i think i could get some college rec letters as well
i just really want to go to a solid college in texas that has a brand name to make my parents and myself proud like baylor, a&m, rice(probably not im not that delusional LOLL), trinity and hopefully get to law school in the future
please be honest and let me know if there is anything i can possibly do to better my chances at college, thank you. (apologies if this is a mess i wrote this sleep deprived)
also additionally i would appreciate if there were any scholarship recs along with maybe ways to boost my gpa by next year? i think my idea of summer courses could help with more credits but forgive me im not that educated in terms of highschool strategies 
also are there any tips to get a REALLY good score for sats besides just obviously studying, im taking my first one march 9th
think ill try doing early decision but idk, what do y’all think?
No need to keep bumping your thread. A better title will get readers’ attention.
Your counselor can tell you whether you are an auto admit to any public schools in Texas based on rank. Those are likely your most cost-effective option. You should take the SAT/ACT to help qualify if your rank alone is insufficient.
ty!
How many APs were available at your school? Colleges look at students in context of their schools; if many APs were avilable but weren’t taken, then that appears differently than if a school only offers a couple of APs. Additionally, I would strongly advise you NOT to take an AP class during the summer, if it’s even offered. Summer classes usually do not go into nearly the same depth as a regular school year class will, and frequently the rigor will be less as well. Colleges like rigor and depth, not whether there is an AP designation by the class. For instance, many of the very selective and “elite” boarding schools don’t offer any AP classees, but they are still extremely respected by colleges because they know the classes are very rigorous.
How does this compare with others at your school? Do you have an approximate rank (like top 10%, 20%, 50%, etc)? Like with AP classees, colleges will compare you to your peers. At some schools a 3.4 might be in the bottom 50%, whereas at other schools it might be in the top 10%. That will make a difference.
Your GPA is what it is. A 5 is actually the top AP score, but 4s and 5s generally help to show that you learned the material in an AP class. Strong standardized test scores are almost always a benefit in college applications as well.
Don’t bother unless this is something that you’re really passionate about. Colleges want to see what kind of leadership and longevity you’ve had. Starting a club in the fall of your senior year is likely to be seen as a last-ditch effort to improve college apps, even if that isn’t the case. Same thing with forming a nonprofit. It would probably be more beneficial to volunteer at an existing nonprofit and share that on your app instead.
You are likely to need at least one recommendation letter from a teacher and one recommendation letter from your school counselor. The teacher recommendation should be from an academic subject (English, math, social studies, science, or foreign language). Many schools will want two teacher recommendations, one from a humanities/social science teacher and one from a STEM teacher. You would do well to ask teachers for recommendations later this spring, as some teachers will only write a certain number of recommendation letters, and if you ask after they have filled up their quota, then you’re out of luck. Most schools want recs from teachers who taught you in your junior or senior years.
To get into law school the most important things are your LSAT score and your college GPA, not the name of your college…even for for places like Harvard Law. You want to make sure you attend a college where you feel confident you will do well academically. If you get a high SAT/ACT score, then that bodes well for getting a high LSAT score. Also, law school is quite expensive, so any money that can be saved from college expenses that could be used for law school is a great idea, unless your family is willing to pay for all of your law school costs (estimated at around $100k/year).
I understand you mentioned that you were sleep-deprived while writing your post. But using standard punctuation and capitalization in your communications can be a big indicator for how likely you are to succeed in college. I’ve made plenty of typos or similar in my own posts here on the board. But there’s a difference between a slip-up and then a repeated series of nonstandard language usage. Please, never ever send a communication like the one you sent here to a college.
What’s your class rank? As you know, this is the be-all&end-all at Texas public universities.
A 3.4 uw makes Rice, UT and TAMU unlikely, but since Rice is private and you’ve done summer programs on scholarship there so why not as a sort of hail mary pass? It’s probably out of reach but it can be your one “out of reach attempt”.
UHouston is a solid choice (and their honors-college is very good). Texas State (honors), UTD (for science&Business). TCU for a reach.
Trinity and Southwestern are reaches too but they’re solid, especially if your goal is Law School (where small seminars with lots of reading/writing will form an essential background + a very high GPA + Lsat).
Hendrix would be a match academically, see if you qualify for their Flagship Match scholarship.
Ole Miss, UArkansas, Truman State, UNew Mexico would all be possibilities worth exploring.
DO NOT take AP classes during the summer. You want the time to learn and study so you can absorb the material&methods, then do well in May.
If you want to take weighted classes, what about Human Geography and a history class at UHouston?
And have a job, saving money. A job is a solid EC and not that common - it shows reliability, commitment, discipline qualities colleges want to see for a B/B+ student. In addition, volunteer in an environment unlike your own.
Over senior year take Precalculus, AP Gov&AP Econ, DE English, Foreign Language 4, a science, and a Humanities or art course such as Graphic Design, Choir, AP art History (or journalism, yearbook, etc.)
Look at colleges from the Colleges that Change Lives list as well as the USNews list " A+ Colleges for B+ students".
I’m sorry if I missed it but what about finances? How much a year can your family afford for college?
Most scholarships are given by the colleges themselves…they are the best source of funding. Most outside scholarships are for relatively low amounts of money ($500-1500) and are only good for the first year. Your best bet is to choose an affordable college that your family can pay for and consider any scholarships as sources for book money or extra spending money (use the scholarship for tuition, and then the money your family would have paid in tuition equaling the scholarship can be spending money or savings for law school, etc).
With respect to your GPA, there’s not much you can do by the time you’re reaching the end of your junior year. Do the best you can this semester, and remember that many colleges will look at your first semester grades from senior year. Almost all colleges will take into consideration an upward trend in your grades.
What is your budget? How much is your family willing and able to pay each year for four years, not including any loans?
How are you studying? I would recommend that you take a practice test (timed) and see in which areas you need to improve and then focus on those areas. I have heard good things about the free SAT resources available on Khan Academy’s website. If you create an account on Khan it will keep track of which areas you need to improve on and then give you those lessons.
Only do early decision if a school is your clear first choice school and your family has run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at the school and the result shows an affordable price for your family. Also, I would never allow my own child to ED to a school unless my child had visited the campus while school was in-session.
If you’re looking for something else to improve your college applications, get a job. It can be part-time during the year and full-time during the summer. Jobs show that a student has learned responsibility, how to deal with difficult personalities, has a good set of life skills AND it has the added benefit of bringing in money. So instead of trying for outside scholarships which are a definite gamble with little chance of financial success, you have a guaranteed route of earning money. This money could then be used toward your college expenses. Additionally, a job as an EC is also a good look for college applications AND scholarship applications.
The first two things that I notice is a sincere desire to do well, and a 3.4 unweighted GPA. A 3.4 GPA is pretty good. It suggests that you are on track to attend university and do well. It is not going to make you competitive for the highest ranked and more competitive universities.
I am not from Texas (we live in the northeast of the US). However, from what I have heard, it seems like Rice and UT Austin are probably not going to happen. That is fine. There are a lot of very good universities in the US, and quite a few very good universities in Texas.
You should continue to work hard in high school and try to do as well as you can right now and in the future. Your junior year grades are going to matter, and doing well this semester will help you.
I do not think that you need to push yourself with respect to AP classes. Just take the classes that make sense for you. If you are going to take AP classes, take them in the subjects where you are personally strong. I am not convinced that you need to take AP classes over the summer. Getting more A’s and fewer B’s and nothing lower is likely to matter more compared to trying to pile on more AP classes.
One daughter attended a high school that was very competitive, with a lot of my daughter’s friends striving very hard to take a lot of AP classes and get a lot of A’s. One friend was less competitively oriented and never took a single AP class. She was a very nice and very level headed person who got along with everyone. She went to a pretty good university (ranked between 150 and 250 in the US) and had a practical major in a health care related field. Who got a good job immediately after graduating university? Well, most of them, but definitely including my daughter’s friend who had never taken a single AP class. Being personable and level headed and responsible has helped her do well in a health-care related field that includes dealing directly with patients. AP classes just weren’t needed.
You should find out from your parents what your budget is for university. A bit of caution is usually appropriate when planning a budget. Some students (actually the majority of students across the US) take more than 4 years to graduate university. It might not be a bad idea to make sure that you would be financially okay if things take 5 years, although you should also plan to graduate university in 4 years unless there is some good reason not to. One thing about finances for students who take more than 4 years to graduate university: Quite often financial aid ends after 4 years, but if you attend an in-state public school, you will still be in-state if a 5th year is needed.
I see a mention of law school in your post. Admissions to law school is going to depend upon your LSAT score and your university/college GPA. You are going to want to do well in university. You should be trying now to learn how to be a stronger student. Stay ahead in all of your homework and reading. Make an effort to understand the concepts in math and science classes. If you are learning a language, use it outside of class.
You should talk to your guidance counselor about which universities you should be considering. There are many very good public universities in Texas to consider, and instate public universities are often more affordable for many students. Unfortunately I am not the right person to suggest which ones in Texas might make sense for you.
In terms of ECs, I would just do what you want to do, and what makes sense for you. ECs are one way that Harvard and MIT decide who to admit from a long list of students with essentially perfect grades. You are not going to need to worry about this. Whether you start a club should depend upon whether you want to start a club, and whether this makes sense for you. You can get into good universities with very little in the way of ECs. Participating in existing clubs, doing a bit of volunteering, or just doing what makes sense for you is fine.
Also, get some sleep! If you want to pull off a law-school-worthy GPA in university, you are going to need to learn to keep ahead in your homework while still getting enough sleep. The world does not need sleep-deprived lawyers.
don’t be sorry you’re helping a lot tysm! i believe we’ve saved up to 100k
LOL noted! ill definitely take a nap once I get home haha, thank you!
Some great advice on this thread. I just want to add a couple of things:
-
While full admission to A&M is a reach for students outside the top 10%, A&M has several alternative pathways that are offered to many applicants who are not otherwise offered admission. Some involve an extra summer session or a year spent at a satellite campus or junior college, but you end up in College Station and graduate with an A&M degree. You can also apply directly to a different campus (TAMU-Galveston, TAMU-Corpus Christi, etc.) for your freshman year and then apply to transfer into College Station, and I’ve read that you can sometimes transfer automatically by changing your major to something offered only at the CS campus. If A&M is one of your top choices, all of this is worth looking into.
-
For a school that’s similar to Trinity in some ways but a little less competitive for admission, what about Austin College in Sherman? You’d get a great liberal arts education that would be good preparation for law school, and a 3.4 GPA would get an automatic $27k scholarship to bring the cost closer to a public-school price.
the “SAT black book” was something i found very helpful
UT Arlington? University of North Texas? Both solid public options.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.