Tennessee senior, chance me to top schools for social sciences! (4.0 UW GPA, 35 ACT, music ECs) [need full FA/scholarship]

[yeehaw827]

Please be honest in chancing me! I know most of these schools are wild reaches but I want to see what I can do and others’ perspective on my application. My main concern is that I have very few classes/ECs that relate to my intended majors; I stated in my application that my school doesn’t have any of those kinds of clubs (Model UN etc) but I still feel like that part of my application is weaker.

Demographics

• US citizen
• State/Location of residency: midsize TN city
• 2200 student public high school
• Other special factors: low income, Questbridge finalist

Cost Constraints / Budget
Due to my income, I expect to get full cost covered by financial aid at almost all top private schools. I have no financial support from my family so basically my only option is a full ride, but that should be covered by need-based aid pretty much everywhere. I also plan to work during college.

Intended Major(s)

public policy, urban studies, sociology, international studies

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

• Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
• Weighted HS GPA: 4.51
• Class Rank: my school doesn’t rank, top 10% of 465-ish class
• ACT/SAT Scores: 35 composite, 36 superscore (36 on all subsections but math, 34 on math)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

• 10 APs by graduation - limited 9th & 10th grade, currently in 6 APs
• English: AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Seminar, AP Research
• Math: Alg I- AP Calc AB/BC
• Science: Honors bio, chem, anatomy; pharmacology class & intership culminating in Pharmacy Technician certification
• History and social studies: AP Human Geo, AP Gov, DE US History, AP Psych
• Language other than English: Honors Span 1, French 1-AP French
• Visual or performing arts: Orchestra, choir
• Other academic courses: Teaching as a Profession

Awards

Gates Scholarship semifinalist

Questbridge College Prep Scholar & National College Match Finalist

All-State Choir and Orchestra

Volunteer Girls State

Governor’s School for the Arts

TN Seal of Biliteracy in French

Various school awards

National Merit Commended Scholar

Scholarship, recognition, special performance opportunities from local symphony

AP Scholar with Honors

AP Capstone diploma candidate

CollegeBoard National School Recognition Award

Extracurriculars

Music is main EC -

Choirs: section leader at school, Governor’s School for the Arts, participation and leadership in various community choirs (but limited in length of time)

Orchestras: local youth symphony (was principal jr year), self-taught with rapid progression, school section leader, volunteering with youth orchestra to teach/mentor younger players

moderate local and state recognition for music, many local and school solo performances, devote over 20 hours/week to music practice and activities, applied as music major to several schools (not listed in this post), not virtuoso or prodigy but very solid, hard-working musician

church: president of youth group, youth camp leader, member of many planning committees, church choir since childhood, church chorister (direct music); lots of service through church, especially individual - less publicized but I played up personal impact; daily Bible class before school; lots of summer camps; 8ish hours/week

NHS president, Tri-M Music Honor Society founder & president, Student Council all 4 years (but no leadership), Mu Alpha Theta, Earth Club

Quite a bit of babysitting, occasional music gigs

Essays/LORs/Other

Questbridge essays (was application to most of these schools): 7.5/10 - very personal but could have been more concise and vivid, but overall pretty good, was able to talk about service and music in addition to personal statement

Common App essay (italics denotes which schools got my Common App): 8.5/10 - later version of my QB essay, much more concise and “me,” however since there’s only one common app essay I couldn’t cover as wide of a scope

Supplementals: 8-9/10 - some were a bit rushed but the content and ones I recycled were pretty good, was able to talk about conflict resolution, interest in majors, etc; very specific to each school

LORs (I’ve read them due to having to submit them to a scholarship): 9.5/10 from anatomy teacher, 7.5/10 from French teacher

Circumstances: big family and can’t afford car insurance for me, very limited transportation - difficult/unable to participate in sports, job, many ECs; other family/finance challenges (but not significant family responsibilities)

Schools
The ones I care most about: Brown, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, JHU, Rice, UVA, Vanderbilt (applied for the Match as a music major, rejected from music school; RD as Public Policy major); WashU, Yale

Others I applied to: Boston College, Bowdoin (only did one essay out of the many optional materials), Emory, Macalester, Northwestern (same situation as Vandy, but RD as International Studies), Notre Dame, Oberlin, Tufts, Tulane

Just for fun here are the schools I auditioned at for music: BU, Carnegie Mellon, JHU Peabody Institute, NYU

I’ve already gotten into some public schools but I can’t really afford them so I’m very much hoping to get into a couple of these schools.

Thank y’all and I’d love any feedback or predictions!

[MWolf]

First - congratulations on every you have achieved. You accomplishments are pretty impressive.

It’s really difficult to chance you, since, as a QB finalist, your chances are higher that you will be accepted to at least of of the QB partners, but nobody actually knows how much higher.

Based on your profile, you’re competitive for all of the colleges here. The fact that you are a QB finalist supports that. But again, when acceptance rates are in single digits, having 2X the average acceptance rate will often still leave your chance in the single digits.

At most I can say that I think that there is a very good chance for Oberlin and Macalester, and there is a very good chance that you will be accepted to at least one, perhaps more, of the other colleges, but I cannot tell you which one.

Good luck!

[Bill_Marsh]

Congratulations on your accomplishments, which are very impressive. I think the colleges will be as impressed as we are.

We can’t tell you which colleges you will get into, but the suspense will be over in a few weeks anyway. I think we can safely say that you will have multiple acceptances.

If I had to guess, I think that you have a very good chance at Bowdoin. Others where I think you are a strong applicant would include Boston College, Brown, Macalester, Oberlin, and Tufts. Just a guess.

Best of luck! Let us know how your acceptances work out.

[ucbalumnus]

Do you have any colleges which are both affordable and assured admits (or already admitted)?

[tsbna44]

You’ll know sooner then later. So chancing you won’t be helpful. I assume the QB National Match didn’t pan out?

One thing is for sure, if you don’t land anywhere - it’s their loss. Very impressive credentials. And I’m sure many will want you, but when you note at Bowdoin, you didn’t go all in -well, that’s not going to help. Optional means do it!!

Did you apply to UVA and UNC (publics that meet need) and the TN Promise schools? Do you live near one (I don’t believe they cover room and board) - I’m guessing you do live near one. What is the plan if you don’t get into one of these full rides? Community College?

I wish you luck but applying to need aware schools or RD like Tulane limits your chances.

There were other full-rides but dates have passed.

I wish you luck and while I think you can get in anywhere, some - like a Mac, Tulane, if you need that much $ will be harder but not impossible.

Best of luck to you.

[yeehaw827]

I am considering University of South Carolina and University of Tennessee Knoxville, but have not gotten my full scholarship & aid packages so I have no idea how much they will cost. It is almost assured that if I get into one of these top private schools, it will be much cheaper than USC or UTK, but know that I do have backups I’ve already been admitted and gotten scholarships to.

[yeehaw827]

You’re correct, I did not Match. I’m aware that not doing optional materials at Bowdoin severely hurts my chances, so I’m not expecting to be accepted. I did apply to UVA and UNC, but unfortunately RD (not EA), and I had a technical issue with my UNC application so I’m not sure if they received it before the deadline, which is why I didn’t list it. The only Tennessee schools I applied to are UTK and Vanderbilt, but there’s a problem with my UTK financial info that I need to straighten out, so I don’t know how much money I’ll end up getting. UTK or South Carolina are my plan if I don’t get a full ride anywhere, and I’ve applied to dozens of external scholarships and will continue to apply to school-specific ones. It’s good to know that some schools like Tulane are not need-blind, and thank you for the good wishes!

[tsbna44]

But if you can’t afford R&B at UTK - then how can you go there. TN Promise will cover tuition and there are 13 publics in TN I believe covered.

Do you live near either?

R&B at a UTK or U of SC will be $15K plus and you make it seem like you can’t afford that.

So then you’re left with community college.

I don’t know if it’s too late to apply for TN Promise but which school is within commute distance of your home? Maybe it’s UTK. Otherwise, I don’t see how you can afford it.

Just out of curiosity and maybe for others - as you are a strong candidate - where did you try and match? Many kids it seem try only the creme de la creme schools and not the less competitive - and I”m just wondering if:

1. You used all 15 slots and

2. did you only apply to the schools that are the highest perceived peidgree and thus likely get far more apps.

[Mwfan1921]

@tsbna44

Just out of curiousity and maybe for others - as you are a strong candidate - where did you try and match? Many kids it seem try only the creme de la creme schools and not the less competitive - and I”m just wondering if:

Before one can be evaluated to match to a ranked school in Questbridge, the student has to become a QB finalist. About 30% or so of QB applicants become finalists each year (that selection process has nothing to do with the schools a student ranked.) Those finaists are the only ones who can be matched to a school they ranked. Last year about 36% of finalists matched. (More got into QB partner schools in other admission rounds.)

OP, we’re you a QB finalist?

Regardless, I hope that one of the meet full need schools comes thru for you. Did you run NPCs at all the schools in your list?

[tsbna44]

@yeehaw827

Questbridge College Prep Scholar & National College Match Finalist

I had read this.

[Mwfan1921]

Thanks, didn’t see that. Hopefully OP took advantage of the additional application options they had as an unmatched finalist.

[yeehaw827]

I live within driving distance of UTK, and know I will get a lot of merit scholarships there and U of SC, and I applied for the UT Promise (need-based aid), but not sure if I qualify depending on whether they take family size into account when evaluating financial eligibility. I also have TN Hope and have applied to many other scholarships. My primary plan is to go somewhere that will give me full aid as I hope to get into at least one school on my list, but if that doesn’t work out, I will make UTK or USC work somehow; that may be something I have to face but I’m really hoping that one of my full FA options will pan out, and if not that Gates or some other scholarship will cover a state school.

For the Match, I was intent on being a music major (bad decision - ED for music isn’t really a thing as they haven’t heard anyone else audition yet so they only take la crème de la crème; I think I would have had a very good chance RD but ended up rejected from Vandy and Northwestern’s music schools simply because I did RD), so I only ranked Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and BU. I chose not to rank any other schools because I did not want to get locked into a non-music major for ED when I could have gotten into somewhere like Carnegie Mellon that’s not a QB partner through RD. However, I wish I would have skipped the Match altogether or applied for the Match as a non-music major and then auditioned for the music school once I was admitted – hindsight is 20/20, I guess. My strategy for the Match was not to maximize my chances to get Matched somewhere, even if not my top choice, but instead to make sure I didn’t get ED’d into a major I didn’t really want. I have now explored more options for other majors, but I will still probably choose somewhere with a strong music school that I can double major/transfer into over somewhere where I might have had a better chance of getting Matched but has fewer music opportunities.

There are definitely things I would change if I could do it again, but I hope my rationale going in makes at least some sense!

[tsbna44]

Right or wrong, you can’t take it back. UT Promise has income restrictions so you should know your status. Your need level may not be what you think - if you don’t qualify.

Surprised you didn’t apply to Bama, given their competitive scholarships are aggressive.

Even if UTK doesn’t work, you can always go to CC and transfer. Good luck.

[momsearcheng]

Why did you skip Rhodes? Looks like all deadlines passed now. They could give you good FA.

[yeehaw827]

Here are my results (here’s my comparing acceptances thread if you want to give input on my decision! Compare Duke [$10k], Northwestern [$7.8k], CMU [$3.8k], Boston U [$7.4k] for music & public policy [no parent contribution] ):

Accepted:

UTK, U of SC, U of North Texas (already knew I was accepted, least preferred options)

Tulane

Macalester

Carnegie Mellon

Northwestern

BU + Kilachand Honors College

Duke

Waitlisted (accepted spot on waitlist):

UVA

WashU

Vanderbilt

Rice

Columbia

Harvard

Waitlisted (decided not to remain on WL):

JHU

Peabody

Bowdoin

Emory

Oberlin

NYU

Some other LAC’s I didn’t care about much

Rejected:

Brown

Yale

Notre Dame

a few others I didn’t list in the original post

[tsbna44]

Congrats - I hope you find a school you can afford - even after your parents income goes up.

Wonderful admission season for you.

[Bill_Marsh]

You’ve asked for input on your decision, so here goes . . .

My choice would be Carnegie-Mellon.

At $3.8K, it is the cheapest. You could make that much money in a summer job.

But just as important is that it is a great academic fit. You have a wide range of interests, including public policy, urban studies, international studies, and music. Your best academic fit would be at a school where there are options for interdisciplinary study. CMU just happens to be one of the best for that. While not technically an open curriculum, what it dies do is maximize opportunities for and encourage students to study and collaborate across interests and academic departments. In fact, it has multiple interdisciplinary programs that allow students with multiple interests to pursue to pursue them simultaneously as opposed to choosing just one academic area to be isolated in. Their BXA InterCollege program is the ultimate expression of this.

The third thing that CMU has going for it in light of your interest in urban studies is that it is a big city with a fascinating history. In Pittsburgh you will not only find urban problems but you will also find urban solutions. After the decline of the steel mills had bottomed out 50 years ago, Pittsburgh consciously and intentionally reinvented itself so that by the turn of the century its economy had been revitalized and it had become one of the most attractive and desirable places to live. They are a case study in how to successfully turn things around.

Best of luck with your decision.