Realistic chances at top colleges with weak ECs?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hey I’m yet another nervous rising Senior wanting some opinions on my college résumé. I know for a fact my extracurriculars are weak, so I wanted to know if my test scores and grades are good enough counteract that weakness and get me into top schools. I genuinely enjoy learning about astrophysics/astronomy/physics and just space science in general so I picked schools with big programs or good physics departments with astronomy as a minor. HS didn’t give me much astronomy learning opportunities and I really did it on my own time, so schools with dedicated courses really caught my eye, and I want some real research opportunities as an undergrad to learn as much as possible.

Georgia tech - I live in metro Atlanta so it’s close to home and very affordable because of the Zell Miller scholarship. It’s my safety in case I don’t get questbridge or its partners, but still searching for something even safer cus I’m not 100pct certain i’ll get in
U Chicago - prestigious astrophysics program but super selective. I have some hope because my sister got in 2 years ago and my academics are already stronger than hers,
Cal Berkeley - I think I’ve got a shot because it seems way less selective than the schools below

Reaches: Cal tech, MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton

Student profile
-State of residence: Georgia, metro Atlanta
-Class: Lower middle?? Really not sure
-Race: African American, both my parents are Nigerian immigrants
-Gender: Male

Résumé

4.0 unweighted gpa, 101.595 cumulative, 8/602 class rank, A+ in every class, so grades aren’t a problem

Ap scores
5: Human geography, European history, Lang, world history, Seminar, Calc ab, US history
4: physics 1

Senior courses
AP research
AP lit & comp
AP physics c: m
AP chem
AP calc bc
AP macro/ am gov

SAT SuperScore: 1490
710 RW
780 math
19/24 essay
Taking math2 and physics in August, projecting ~700 on both, and retaking the whole SAT yet again afterwards cus I felt my RW was a fluke since I was getting 730-40 on my practice tests, so I’m aiming for low to mid 1500s

ACT: 32
34 English
35 math
32 reading
27 science
9/12 essay
I took this once and got shook by the time constraints on science and reading, but I’m not comfortable enough on science to take it again over the SAT, so I’ll only retake if I have the time these coming months

Honors
-National AP scholar (and all the preceding ones)
-Questbridge Junior College Prep scholar

Extracurriculars
-Weekly 2hr long Volunteering at my church’s children’s ministry as a media tech/ general helper, will be 7months at application deadline
-2 years math honors society

  • pretty good cello player 6-11 grade, 1St chair multiple times, but had to drop senior year to take the new AP chemistry course
    Over the years it definitely prevented me from taking some elective AP courses but I really enjoyed my time in orchestra
    -quiz bowl JV captain freshman year (changed schools between freshman and sophomore year, no team at my second school)

So Yea that’s pretty much it.

If anyone has suggestions for more schools I can apply to or improvements I can make my senior year before my deadlines? All opinions are appreciated. Wrote this all from my phone so sorry for typos.

2

I don’t know much about Georgia colleges but I would suggest adding a state school as your definite safety. Public universities only really pay attention to testing and grades, if you’re worried about not having enough extracurriculars.

Even though you don’t have many ec’s in quantity, you can still illustrate their quality: highlight your most significant projects, lessons learned, and achievements from the activities you do have, especially the ones that you have been committed to for the longest amount of time.

3

I think you have a good shot at a lot of the universities you mentioned. Definitely play up your extra curricular activities, talk about how doing church work has changed your life, mention your cello and how music has given you a new outlook on life. Things like that, and that is really gonna come down to your essays. Really show colleges how you made the most out of the activities you did, thats what they want to see. Colleges don’t care if you have 80 extra curriculars that mean nothing to you, they want to see genuine passion.

In addition to the colleges you mentioned, I would definitely look at UT Austin, Penn State, and UWisconsin. All have outstanding astrophysics programs and I know students at all 3 of those schools who are very happy.

Chance me back? Thanks!

4

To directly answer your question about “top colleges,” which are probably your reach schools:

Honestly…your chances for you reach schools aren’t great. It really depends; as you mentioned you need to get your SAT score up - generally 1530 is good enough (it converts to a 34 ACT). You won’t have time to take the SAT IIs and SAT I on the same day - the College Board expressly forbids this, so you’ll have to roll with whatever you take in August for your ED.

What I’m confused about is what major you plan to declare. Your resume doesn’t really show an overwhelming passion; you seem competent enough at everything but lack direction in your ECs - they’re all pretty baseline. Keep in mind your reach are the best colleges in the world and get far too many 1st chair musician applicants.

So you have 2 cards to play: If you’re the first person in your family to go to college, you can make that a central focus on your essay - colleges love that but you have to write that kind of essay correctly.

The other thing you can do is try and use the 3-4 months you have to really develop a great EC. 4 months is both a lot and a little time. Since I see math on your resume, I’ll just use that as an example. You’re going to miss the AMC and AIME, so try this. What if you rounded up some nerdy friends and put together a math tournament for either your own school or the local MS or elementary school? You would need to write the questions, talk logistics with the school, market it to students (I suggest teachers giving extra credit - it always works), get sponsers and shirts, and in general bust your ass, but again entirely doable in 4 months. I mean, you probably won’t have that much time to prep for SATs, but for the reach schools you’re considering, I would focus on building up a great EC to both write about and put on your resume. And doing something like creating a local math tournament is a great experience regardless of its use for college apps.

Also start a quizbowl team at your new school dude! Cheers from the Socal circuit B-)

Ethos: Errr…I’m a rising senior with a 1580 SAT? jkjk (not about the score) I’ve had a lot of regrets with my high school EC life putting too much weight on scores and grades. Explore! Better now when relatively little is at stake.

5

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply guys, you’ve helped a lot

@the_general
UGA is the state school here and my SAT score would be way above average so yea this should be really safe

@Frodjekhalverson
thanks for the suggestions, I was seriously considering UT at one point, but my sister told me its not a good idea to apply out of state public schools since they dont give good financial aid to out of staters. Is this true, and should it stop me from attending UT over UGA?

@RegalDragon
thanks so much for the honesty, it’s what I needed to hear, because my lack of urgency the past couple years really made me blow my chances at these schools. You were pretty much said what I was thinking when I looked at everyone else’s activities on this site I really wish I solidified my astronomy passion a lot earlier or found this website sooner, because the tournament you proposed sounds like so much fun. I’ve literally never heard of the AMC or AIME before which either goes to show the lack of STEM EC opportunities in my district or my laziness to search for them.

Also yea, I was worried I wouldn’t have time to take the SAT again, I feel like it was my best shot at getting matched for questbridge, but I’ll still retake it for reg decision, and hopefully my studying is good enough to improve my ACT by a lot

btw would mentioning the 2 research papers I wrote for AP seminar last year improve my chances? I see “meaningful research” as an extracurricular stronger applicants are putting down here, but im not sure if AP seminar counts. Evidently mine were pretty good since I got a 5 on the exam

6

Depends on what they’re about - it’s all about trying to build a resume that shows you’re passionate about something - or multiple things. By all means include it - it probably won’t hurt - and if its something you take pride in it can be a good essay topic.

A few more suggestions for how to fill your 4 months until app submission:

Apply to the Coca Coca Scholars Program (you live in Atlanta after all)

Start a USAAO club - its okay if your open score doesn’t come back by the time apps are due - if you get deferred your score will come back in time to help your resume. Make a school account, get an advisor (can be any teacher, hopefully also the one u use for rec), recruit some students for the exam, and register. If you do so technically you’re the “team captain,” but this doesn’t mean much unless you actually help those you recruited, teaching them the material and so on.

Start your own “business”: my friend took two months to make hers - she just ordered supplies to make that fluffy slime that’s trending on youtube and sold it on Etsy - she makes 30,000 a year from that (ik, ppl are weird). You have twice the amount of time she had - so it’s feasible! Don’t worry too much about startup costs - she started with like $150 in supplies, and I’m sure your parents would be very supportive of you attempting to make money by yourself.

Good luck :slight_smile:

7

Your academics definitely qualify you for the schools that you listed, but that’s just half the battle. Your EC’s are, as you said, “weak”. I wouldn’t really go for other EC’s because: 1) you’re taking 6 APs and 2) having new EC’s at the start of senior year might not help at all. However, right about now, look for things you’re interested in as a career. See what you can do to beef up your application. I’m only a sophomore in college, so I’ll leave that for more experienced posters to decide what you can do.

I disagree with @RegalDragon. Starting a business is a big investment and can cost a lot of money. It’ll also take time away from your studies (I sound like an Asian parent lol). However, I do agree with him/her about your prospects for reach schools. Stanford, by default, is a high reach with its ~5% acceptance (from what I remember).

I think you’ll have to be realistic about what your safeties are. GTech has a 25% acceptance rate. There’s a likely chance that you won’t get in. UC Berkeley is VERY hard to get into, especially for out of state applicants. One of my close friends is a business major there. When we were both seniors, he actually enrolled at Cornell first, then UC Berkeley because they let him off the wait list when it was very close to May 1st. He then switched to UC Berkeley for reasons I don’t remember. So, with that, you can still apply to UC Berkeley and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of you getting admitted, but don’t count on it.

If I were you, I would retake the ACT to be a little more locked in. Your score is on the lower edge of the applicant pool, so maybe aim for a 33-35? I’ll leave for other posters to decide if you should do so.

When it comes time for you to apply, ask yourself some questions, like: “Which colleges do I know I’ll fit in at? What can I do to make sure that I’m on the right track? Do I apply ED, EA, etc to my #1 school?”

Hope this helped and best of luck! You can do it :slight_smile:

8

Besides not getting into Berkeley, no one has mentioned that being out of state for California means you won’t get any financial aid. It is very unaffordable if you need financial aid. Plan on paying $60K per year as an OOS resident at the UC’s.

The UC’s are public universities funded by the state taxpayers of California. If you are not a resident, you won’t get any funding. Also, there is political pressure to accept more instate residents.

Affirmative action is illegal in California so race doesn’t matter in acceptances.

Your present test scores are not at the current level of admitted students at Caltech.

9

You have a great chance of getting into alot of your reaches because of your terrific grades and Male URM (most highly sought after demographic). That said, I would take the rest of the summer to prep for science section of the ACT. You can beat the time constraints! It will help your app.

I think your ECs are fine. Write a great essay.

Forget about Cal Berkeley- too expensive out of state (they give no aid to out of state) and they won’t take URM into account. Add some match schools to your list. Good luck!

10

The SAT might work better for you timing-wise than the ACT and there isn’t the same type of science section. This is the first year they are offering a summer administration of the SAT. I’d consider taking advantage of that and doing some practice tests though Khan Academy to prep for it.

As for ECs, starting a Quiz Bowl club at your school is a great idea. Starting and leading a club shows initiative and leadership. Try seeking out a faculty mentor as soon as you can. See if you can continue your cello in a youth orchestra outside of school. There are a few youth orchestra/conservatory programs in my city --surely there are in yours. It’s not the quantity of ECs that matters – it’s the passion you bring to them that matters.