Sophomore needing College Advice! [TX resident, 3.88 GPA, top quartile rank]

Hi! I’m currently an Asian-American (Brown) sophomore (class of 2027) at a SUPER large and competitive high school in the northern Texas area. I just want to see if my stats are good and if where I am right now is a good point for admissions. I want to major in finance. I’m from an upper middle class family.

Cumulative GPA (as of 1st semester sophomore year) = 4.0548 W, 3.88 UW (Top 25% ish, we don’t do class rank, but we have these things called quartiles. Quartile 1 = top 25%, Quart 2 = top 50%, and so forth)

PLANNED Amount of APs = 10 (5 on the only exam I have taken so far), 9 honors classes
Sophomore PSAT score = 1210 (retaking in October of junior year)

Planned/Current ECs (will try and get officer positions in at least 2-3):

  • Model UN (10-12)
  • DECA (10-12)
  • Peer Mentoring (10-11)
  • National Honor Society (10-12)
  • Principals Advisory Committee (10-12)
  • Library Volunteering (9-11/12)
  • Peer Tutoring (11-12)
  • Psychology Club (11-12)
  • Lacrosse (11-12)
  • Working on publishing a fictional coming of age novel
  • Will try and get an internship. My school offers a chance to intern with the Credit Union of Texas so I will be trying for that
  • I have a not-for-profit with another classmate. We haven’t gotten much done yet but teachers are aware about it and we are actively implementing it as the main fundraiser for our school’s chapter of Hope Squad, a club dedicated to suicide prevention.

Awards:

  • Outstanding Effort in Biology (9)
  • Honorable Mention in Scholastic Art and Writing (9)
  • Honorable Delegate at YMCA Fall Summit for Model UN (10)
  • Scholastic Art and Writing Silver Key (10)
  • Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key (10)

Is this good for a sophomore? Since my school is super competitive, it feels like I’m not doing quite enough. I’m surrounded by kids who’ve raised thousands of dollars to causes, on national teams for their sports, invented life-saving gadgets, and other huge accomplishments.

I’m applying to: University of Washington, University of Oklahoma, Texas Women’s University, UT Austin, Tulane University, Michigan State, Louisiana State, UT Dallas, University of Houston, Texas A&M, Penn State, University of Georgia, and UMich. Are my stats so far going to be enough for UW, UT Austin, Tulane, Penn State, UGA, and UMich?

Sorry for the yapping. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and have a wonderful day. If you’re like me and you’re in high school, I wish you luck on your endeavors and I know you will achieve great things.

You are a sophomore. I’m quite sure you will get better advice when you have grades for end of this year, and at least middle of junior year…and an SAT or ACT score.

You have a lot of out of state public universities on your list. I would make sure they are going to be affordable for your family if you get accepted.

As you know, top 25% in your class makes UT Austin a reach for acceptance.

At this point, do the very best you can.

I am curious…who helped you created the college list on your post here.

It sounds like you’re working really hard, and that the college process is already weighing on you a bit. Specifically, your insecurities seem to be in the “am I doing enough?” vein. I maybe have good news for you? It seems to me like you’re possibly already doing too much, at least in terms of extracurriculars. It’s tempting, when you hear of Classmate A who’s done Impressive Thing X, and Classmates B and C, who both have achieved National Award Y, to feel like “how can I possibly measure up??” and to figure there’s an arms race of outside-of-school activities that will show colleges that you’re good enough.

The thing about colleges, though, is that the primary thing they care about is your academic record — how well did you do in your classes, and what kind of “rigor” in your coursework did you take on? They’ll even tell you that this is what they care about, at item C7 in their Common Data Set reports. Here’s that section of Michigan’s CDS. Note that the only two things in the “Very Important” column are the things I mentioned above — “record” being “did they take the toughest courses available to them at their school?” and “Academic GPA” being “how did they do in those courses?”. To U Michigan, ECs are, literally, not “Important”.

So if you were a friend of my kids, and you asked me about how to approach high school, I’d suggest that you ① pull back on the ECs a bit, and only do the ones you really love. Then, ② take that time that you’re saving and reinvest it in your studies, so you can really do well with the academic part of school. As you’re a sophomore, you have time (and should have bandwidth, if you rein in your EC scope) to pull that GPA up, especially if you aren’t adding on more ECs (it looks like several of your ECs aren’t even things you do yet? maybe cut those first?).

This all maps to the advice in this amazing blog post — Applying Sideways — where an MIT admissions officer counsels students like this:

  • Do well in school. Take tough classes. Interrogate your beliefs and presumptions. Pursue knowledge with dogged precision. Because it is better to be educated and intelligent than not.
  • Be nice. This cannot be overstated. Don’t be wanton or careless or cruel. Treat those around you with kindness. Help people. Contribute to your community.
  • Pursue your passion. Find what you love, and do it. Maybe it’s a sport. Maybe it’s an instrument. Maybe it’s research. Maybe it’s being a leader in your community. Math. Baking. Napping. Hopscotch. Whatever it is, spend time on it. Immerse yourself in it. Enjoy it.

Applying sideways, as a mantra, means don’t do things because you think they will help you get into MIT (or Harvard, or CalTech, or anywhere). Instead, you should study hard, be nice, and pursue your passion, because then you will have spent high school doing all the rights things, and, as a complete side effect, you’ll be cast in the best light possible for competitive college admissions.

There’s more to it that’s really good … I just don’t want to quote the whole thing here. But you should read it!

So, yeah, reiterating my earlier thoughts, maybe don’t take on quite so much outside of the classroom, maybe take on a bit more inside the classroom, and absolutely have some grace for yourself. You’re working hard, and I hope you can find time and space to really enjoy your time as a high schooler.

4 Likes

Of course you are doing well. You know why - you can study finance at zillions of schools and get a GREAT education.

Keep doing well in class, take a rigorous but not over stressful schedule. In other words, strain but don’t stress.

If you want to open yourself up to even more schools, get involved outside the classroom - in clubs, sports, etc. which it seems like you plan to do as you have a few things 10-12 and others I presume you plan to do 11-12. ECs aren’t imperative to most/many schools but they are to many schools kids desire. You don’t need 100, just a couple with tenure. Doing 30 things isn’t going to open up more than 2 or 3 things, and it looks like you are overdoing it. If you’re doing it for love, great. If you’re doing it for apps, don’t. It’s quality, not quantity - and you have schools on your list like OU and LSU where it won’t matter if you have any at all.

How do you know where you’re applying? You’re in 10th grade. Have you been to any of these? Do you know you even want a huge program? Or in these crazy geographies?

Anyway, keep doing what you’re doing and there’s many programs on your list you’re going to be fine for.

Maybe not all, but so what ?

btw - since you are concerned with UW, UT, etc - once you get your SAT/ACT, you might want to add Indiana. If it’s high enough, it’s an elite school for finance with less onerous requirements - simply achieve a GPA (which you’ll have) and an SAT, etc.

But you are premature.

Be the best you and you’ll find a home - including at many on your initial list.

PS - why Texas Women’s? It’s smaller and more regional, etc.

Keep up the good work and check back in a year - when we can guide you.

In the meantime, when you have an off day, have mom or dad take you on some visits - not just large schools but mid size and small. You can take time - or if on vacation, grab a visit somewhere, and confirm the type of environment you want to be in - as other than large, you showed many weather, environments (city, rural etc.) above. Make sure you visit - to see that you are or aren’t overwhelmed, etc. or have a preference for one type over another.

Good luck.

1 Like

You’re doing great! Keep up the good work. Be yourself.

Your application is very impressive already, so it will get you into most of the schools on your list. Tulane is the only private school on your list, so I want to comment on that one in particular. The average gpa for the admitted students for this year’s freshman class was 3.79. Of the accepted applicants, 60% did not even submit any test score. So, you’re in good shape there. Schools like Tulane are going to know that your high school is very competitive and will account for that.

Here are two pieces of good news. First, this year is the highest number of high school graduates ever and as a result, the highest number of college applicants. After this year, the number of college applicants will drop off each year. So, whatever you read about what was required to gain acceptance to any particular college last year, will be out of date by the time you’re applying. It will not be as difficult.

Second, 60% of college students are female. BUT engineering and business are the two exceptions to that. Both have more males than females. Of all the business majors, the one that is most heavily male is Finance. What’s the relevance to you? Colleges would like to get more young women in these male dominated fields. That will give you an advantage in the application process if you stuck with Finance as your intended major.

I’ll leave you with this thought. All you can do is all you can do.

First with regard to ECs: The point is not to produce a long list. Instead, the point is to participate in the ECs that matter to you; whatever you do do it well; and treat other people well or at least fairly while you are doing it. If you do get into a leadership position, you should again treat people fairly and focus on making the activity better for everyone. Leadership should be more about listening and less about getting your own way.

In high school I fell into a leadership position as president of the chess club because no one else was willing to do it. I had no idea at all what I should do, so asked other people, listened, and then helped people to put the better suggestions into place. I was very lucky in the sense that this is actually what a leader should do, but I sort of backed into it almost entirely by mistake.

Also, your grades and generally how you do in class are more important than ECs.

Your list includes a number of out of state schools that might be solid (eg, Oklahoma), and some out of state schools that will be reaches with a 3.88 unweighted GPA (Michigan, Washington, maybe Georgia). Trying to pull up your grades as much as you reasonably can will generally be helpful.

Your guidance counselor will know your chances in-state better than I do. However, it looks to me as if UT Austin is likely to again be a reach with a 3.88 GPA, but some of the other very good in-state schools look very likely to me.

And I agree with the “applying sideways” advice – do what is right for you, do well in class, treat people well, then find a university that likes what you have done.

And I think that you are doing well and have a pretty good initial set of schools to apply to.

3 Likes

Most of it was myself but I did ask around with a few teachers for some suggestions

I see. Thank you for the advice. One of my spikes is writing, because it’s genuinely something I’m good at and I’ve won high level awards for it. Would it be best to tie this hobby into some of my ECs? A few of my teachers have reccomended double majoring/minoring in English, but I don’t know how much that will benefit me if I’m going into finance.

1 Like

Does “Top 25-ish” mean below top 25% of your class ?

U Texas at Austin is unlikely with your current class rank.

Communication skills are important in almost all career fields including finance related careers.

1 Like

Writing well can be helpful in a rather wide range of careers. As one example I majored in math, and found writing well to be a major benefit in my career, and a benefit that became more important as I got more experienced. As a very rough approximation, when young I was trying to figure out how to get stuff to work. When I was older I was also writing about how to get stuff to work. There are a wide variety of specifications of various kinds that need to be written. As another example, people who write scientific papers generally need to be an expert on whatever narrow area they are writing about, but it is best if they can also write well (and often there is at least one co-author on each paper who does write well). I am not as clear regarding what needs to be written in the area of finance, but my guess is that this will come up.

However, that does not mean that you necessarily need to double major. Just taking the appropriate classes and/or getting the appropriate writing experience can often be enough.

One thing that I forgot to mention in my previous post: You can’t live your life comparing yourself to others. There are a lot of people who are very smart and/or hardworking and/or ambitious, and the further you get in your education the more of them you are going to meet. This is good. This gives you people to learn from and strong coworkers to cooperate with. However, you can’t be trying to be better than everyone else. Just be the best you that you can be. Whatever you are good at, do it and do it well. Be responsible and kind. Things will work out.

3 Likes

I did the math and I’m around top 19-20% in my class. My class rank is around 342/1737

1 Like

Just keep doing well in class, do 2-3 activities with tenure, and come back in a year. A summer job is a good thing too.

You’ll be fine.

PS - saw your other thread. ECs don’t need to be related to your major. If you enjoy writing, write. Perhaps you want to be a financial writer.

If you enjoy walking dogs at the shelter, do that.

If you have a job, do that.

If you are in the band, do that.

There’s zero need to tie to your major. There is a need for you to do things of interest to you. Not to game for admission purposes. That would stink - you do things you hate because it looks impressive and get rejected.

Take advantage of your HS years for you.

As for your rank - it is what it is. It’s fine - top 20%. But if you were top 50% or 75%, you are where you are.

There will be plenty of colleges for you to study finance at. In most cases, the where for the major will matter little.

Relax and enjoy school. You don’t need the stress.

4 Likes

One thing to be aware of for Tulane specifically. They admit most of their class through Early Decision, which of course is binding. The regular decision acceptance rate is very low, probably lower than 10%. So depending on what type of application, it is no sure thing.

2 Likes

Correct - and if considering applying ED/ED2, make sure it’s affordable. They do a pretty good job getting families close to the SAI number but run through the Net Price Calculator to see if it’s going to be feasible for you.

1 Like

This still makes UT Austin a reach for you.

I’ve seen this oft repeated here on CC and I don’t know where it comes from. I’m truly confused and am not trying to be snarky or disagreeable. And I’m not really responding to you in particular because of seen it oft repeated by others. So, I’m asking if you can help me out to get a better understanding of this.

Here’s what I’m seeing. According to Tulane’s common data set, they 1838 students enrolled in this current year’s freshman class. Of those, 1156 were admitted via early decision. For the sake of this conversation, I’ll assume that all 1156 actually enrolled at Tulane although it’s possible that some withdrew due to a lack of adequate financial aid. That leaves 682 spots which were filled after early decision acceptances are accounted for. That’s way more than 10%. It’s more like 37%.

Now if 63% of the spots are filled via early admission, that’s still a huge percent of the freshman class, and it’s still sound advice to encourage a student to apply early admission.

Again, from the common data set, 1946 candidates applied to Tulane for this year’s freshman class. So, the 1156 who were accepted represent 59% of that applicant pool. So, if a student is set on Tulane as their first choice and if they are within the range of Tulane’s accepted applicants, as this student appears to be, that 59% looks like pretty good odds to me.

Again, not trying to be snarky or anything, but what am I missing here?

1 Like

Also, IIRC, Tulane is one of those schools that places emphasis on “demonstrated interest” – such as visiting campus. I don’t know which of the other schools mentioned by the OP, if any, also are big on demonstrated interest.

Yes McCombs is a reach for everybody, even those in-state and top 5 percent.

One route some students take is to study Economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and take (some) finance courses at McCombs. If you are open to this option it would be a much higher chance of admission than McCombs.

1 Like

I think you misread the CDS. Tulane received over 32,000 applications last cycle.

Please move on from debating the Tulane’s CDC information and get back to the OP. TIA!

1 Like