Second semester junior in need of advice/insights!!!

College Search & Lists
1

Hi, I’m a junior in high school and first semester in my district ended two weeks ago. This means just one more semester before summer and then college applications, which is why I’d love some advice pertaining to these questions:

  • Considering my grades/ECs, how are my chances looking for the schools I’m aiming for?
  • How can I improve my competitiveness in admissions with the bit of time that I have left before senior year?
  • What are some other schools I might match (based on grades, intended major, and desire for urban environment)?

I want to also address the fact that I got a C in math this semester - which definitely affects my chances negatively. My school’s entire curriculum changed a couple years ago due to the new Common Core standards, so for reference, the class is basically the equivalent of honors pre-calculus.

I want to major/double major in international relations, sociology, or English in college, with the intent of working as a journalist in the future. Therefore, math isn’t directly related to what I want to study in the future, but everything in the college admissions process is relevant…

I have a few schools that I’m aiming for and that I’d love to go to if I get the chance:
-Boston University
-NYU
-Northwestern University
-University of Chicago
-UCLA or Berkeley

Also FYI, I go to a public high school that is “selective” - it takes the top 5% of the elementary/middle school students in the nearby districts and so all of us are competing with one another for the A’s in our classes. It’s one of those schools that makes the news for being a top school in the country, and the environment is very competitive and rigorous to begin with, AP’s and honors classes aside.

MORE INFO:

Unweighted GPA: 3.73 (my school doesn’t calculate weighted)
SAT: 1430, Writing: 21/24 (I’m retaking it though in a couple months)
SAT2 Chinese: 730 (Non-native speaker and completely self-studied)
AP Euro: 5

SAT2 US History, Math II: later this year
AP Spanish, US History, English Lang: later this year

Also, I took a political science class at a UC last summer and earned an A-.

FRESHMAN YEAR (no freshmen allowed to take AP’s):
Honors Math I (B+/B+)
Honors Biology (A/B+)
Honors English I (A/A)
Honors Spanish II (A/A)
Honors World History (A/A)
Physical Education (A/A)

SOPHOMORE YEAR (sophomores only allowed to take 1 AP):
AP European History (B/A)
Honors Math II (B+/B)
Regular Chemistry (A/A)
Honors English II (A/A)
Honors Spanish III (A/A)
Physical Education (A/A)
Model United Nations (A/A)

JUNIOR YEAR:
Honors Pre-calculus ©
Organic/Biochemistry (A)
Honors Physics (B+)
AP English Language (A)
AP Spanish (B)
AP US History (A)
Model United Nations (A)

SENIOR YEAR (tentatively):
AP Statistics
Advanced Topics Biology
AP English Literature
AP Psychology
Civics/Economics
Orchestra
Model United Nations

EXTRACURRICULARS (only senior year, to shorten the list):

  • Key Club Vice President (300 volunteer hours)
  • Model United Nations Secretary General
  • Book club President
  • Volunteer gallery presenter at local museum (200 volunteer hours)
  • High school column writer for local newspaper (and hopefully an intern this summer)
  • Violinist for 10 years, 2 years in an orchestra and performer at a selective state music showcase every year since 2008
  • National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society
  • I want to create an online school newspaper because my school currently has no newspapers/magazines/etc. It’s been a bit of an issue in the past with our school’s administration because they are very strict with our student organizations, but I’m working with them on it so, if all goes well, I’ll be the editor of that next year too!

Anything would be appreciated! Thank you!

2

I think you need to find more matches & safeties. Your stats are light for a lot of those schools. I don’t think your “Common Core” excuse for your C in math is meaningful.

Dickinson might be a school to look at. Or Macalester.

Have you run the net price calculators on each college website that you are interested in? Some of those schools give poor FA (NYU). The California schools are expensive if you are OOS. There is a special way for calculating GPA for CA public schools, too.

3

What have your parents told you about the money? Have they run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of any of these places? Truly, until you have the money issues sorted out, any list you come up with is moot.

4

What is your budget? Have you run the NPCs on the schools on your list?

Your list is full of reaches, and as @intparent says some are reaches that tend to be expensive after FA, if any, is considered. You need to think about matches and safeties.

If you ever take calculus, then having a C in precalc is going to make it a very tough course. I would work hard to try to pull up your C in precalc.

5

Are you a CA resident? If so, include a few more UC’s on your list as Match and Safeties

UC GPA calculator: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

All UC’s use the capped weighted and UCLA/UCB will also use the fully weighted.

Some statistical information based on UC capped weighted GPA and test scores for the UC’s.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:

UCB: 1.8%
UCLA: 2.2%
UCSD: 7.2%
UCSB: 10.1%
UCI: 11.1%
UCD: 16.6%
UCSC: 43.8%
UCR: 63.3%
UCM: 88.7%

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:

UCB: 12.6%
UCLA: 11.7%
UCSD: 38.7%
UCSB: 53.6%
UCD: 56.5%
UCI: 52.1%
UCSC: 75.7%
UCR: 90.1%
UCM: 96.1%

25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:

UCB: 1280-1490

UCLA: 1280-1500
UCSD: 1250-1470
UCSB: 1210- 1450
UCD: 1190-1430
UCI: 1190-1420
UCSC: 1170-1380
UCR: 1090-1310
UCM: 1020-1230

6

I agree. You need to talk to your folks about the financial side of college. What’s the budget?

7

SAT score of 1430 on the new scale is too low for Northwestern University & for the University of Chicago without a significant hook.

Retake the SAT. Probably need 1500 or above to be competitive for these two universities.

Consider Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Tufts & Johns Hopkins University.

8

Unfortunately, cost is a huge factor in deciding which colleges to apply to. Our answers will be very different if you’re paying full price, if you need merit aid to make it work, or if your family contribution is 0 and you must find need-blind schools.

9

Model UN is a class? If it is an actual class you take each day, relying on it as a key extracurricular is of doubtful value. Also, if you are a second-semester junior, you need to actually create an online newspaper and not just talk about your plans to do so. As it is, your grades are very good but not great, your test scores are very good but not great, and your ECs are good to very good, depending on how much you elaborate on the commitment to music.

As is, you are good enough to apply for the top reaches, but likely to be unsuccessful without a hook or connection of some sort. I agree with an above poster, you need to find instead more matches and a good safety—look hard at schools outside of the top 20 universities and top 10 LACs, those with volumes of applicants. By all means take a shot at those super-competitive schools, but spend your time doing your homework on some high matches also.

10

You have too many reaches.
Get a Fiske guide or Insider’s guide or Princeton review’s best colleges and start reading, aiming to find 15 colleges you don’t know that that a 35%+ acceptance sound like good fits. Run the NPC on each of them. Read the ‘colleges they change lives’ website, find 5 colleges, run the NPC. Post on this thread with at least 2 safeties and 5 matches.
You’ll fare best at LACs which evaluate holistically and will appreciate your course rigor and general profile.
If you’re not a California resident it doesn’t make sense to apply to a UC. There’s no financial aid so unless your parents are willing to pay private college prices for a public university, save UCs for grad school.