Budget? You say low income. The UCs give no aid to out of state students. Do you have a source of funding for UCL? Have you checked if all the RD schools on your list meet need (I know a lot do but not sure about all of them)?
Your stats and rigor look inline for the schools on your list, but so are many other applicants. Do you have the time to devote to completing solid applications for all these schools? It may be wiser to cull the list and focus on fewer. What are your preferences in a college - you have some widely divergent types of schools there?Are you looking for suggestions for targets and safeties?
For the UC schools, my dad is an instate resident in California and got confirmation that I would only need to pay the instate tuition rate. I spent a good amount of time on each of my essays as I started writing them early and over the summer. I also got good feedback from teachers and counselors and already submitted most of them. I do not have any funding for UCL but I can afford the tuition and lodging. My other RD schools thankfully do offer the financial need packages I need.
I applied to the LACs due to the fact that I don’t mind a small college community and I can compete XC/track on the d3 level. A few of these colleges reached out to me for recruitment and I also have been in communications with all of the coaches confirming my spots on their teams if I get admitted.
I have 3 years of Japanese and I am fluent in Korean.
Tuition and lodging at UCL works out at around $55-60k a year at current exchange rates, then there’s food, air fare etc. Is this your budget for other colleges too? Not wanting to get too into the weeds but that’s hard to reconcile with being a low income student. Bear in mind that US meet needs schools use their definition of need. If your family financials tally with $60k to spend on college a year you might not get the aid you’re expecting.
I think your achievements are impressive and you’re a strong candidate. That said, your list is all reaches. You’ll probably get some admits out of there but we also see sometimes very strong candidates get closed out of everywhere they apply when they have a reach-heavy list. I strongly urge you to add a couple of targets and safeties to your list unless you are treating UCL as your sure thing and know for certain it’s within your budget.
For UCL my tuition comes up to around ~44k and I have free lodging thanks to a connection with a family friend. However I do agree that all my other schools except maybe UCI is a reach. Are there any target schools you would recommend? And out of my list which are the more likely ones I would get into?
If you are in Hawaii please also calculate in the travel expenses you will incur especially to east coast schools. And that is a long flight, even if you can fly direct. What are your safeties? As you know, even as a strong applicant, these are almost all low admission rate schools.
Can you also clarify what you did in school with Barnes and Noble? Do you mean you worked there during the school year?
If it were me, I would cut at least half the RD Reaches, and add some Target/Likely schools. There are a variety of interesting schools that could be great fits for you.
Let us know if you are interested in suggestions along those lines.
Well…you have an acceptance. If it’s a place you would be happy to attend and is affordable, then you are set.
If not, you need to find some sure things to add to your application list. Soon.
You have a very long list of reach schools. You are a strong applicant, but there is no way to predict chances on colleges with a 20% acceptance rate…or under…and that’s what you have.
I’ll let @Gumbymom comment on the UCs on your list.
Congratulations on having a wonderful academic profile.
I will only address the California UC’s in this post. First of all, I am sure you are aware that the UC’s are test blind so your SAT score will not be considered for admissions or scholarships, only course placement.
The UC’s calculate out 3 UC GPA’s: unweighted, capped weighted and weighted uncapped so here is the calculator:
You state that your Dad is a CA resident, so using the Condit Bill, you receive a conditional waiver of Nonresident Supplemental Tuition for one academic year if you are the dependent child of a California resident parent. You as a student must have continuous enrollment and your parent must have established residency in California for tuition purposes. At the end of the conditional year, then you must meet the full residency requirements to continue paying in-state tuition. Just remember that you will receive the in-state tuition rate but you are not eligible for any other California state aid until you establish permanent residency.
For UC Berkeley and UCLA, Political Science/IR majors are found in the College of Letters and Sciences which does not consider major choice in admission decisions.
UC Berkeley’s social science majors had around a 9% admit rate while the College had an overall 15% admit rate. Campus GPA admit ranges (25th-75th percentile) were as follows:
Capped weighted: 4.15-4.29. Unweighted: 3.90-4.00 and Weighted Uncapped: 4.32-4.68.
UCLA’s College of Letters and Sciences had an overall admit rate of 11% and Social Science majors had a 9.3% admit rate.
The Weighted Uncapped GPA admit range (25th-75th percentile) was 4.41-4.76 and the campus Unweighted was 3.95-4.00 and Capped weighted at 4.2-4.30.
UCI admits by major so the Political science major had a 37% admit rate and International studies had a 50% admit rate. Campus GPA ranges (25h-75th percentile) were Capped weighted 4.04-4.27 and Unweighted: 3.84-4.00. Weighted uncapped not disclosed.
Overall you are a competitive applicant and best of luck with your chances and hopefully the affordability factor.