Hey Everyone,
Brand new account, never done this before. Here goes-
Age: 16 (17 in August)
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: Asian
School: Very very very prestigious (not my word) prep school in California. We carry some pretty serious weight (think top ten private schools nationally).
GPA: 3.6 unweighted, 4.0 weighted
SAT: 1510 (plus a perfect score on the essay, whatever little that’s worth)
ACT: 35
SAT Subject Test Above 730: Latin, US History, Lit
AP Test above 3: Latin, Physics, US History
Interests: Journalism, Sports, Music, Politics, Legal Studies
Potential Majors: Comms, Journalism (where applicable), PoliSci
Extracurricular Activities: Journalism (editor; I’m attending a month-long program at a top university in the field in July), Sports Broadcasting (play-by-play and color commentary), played 2 years of baseball but never made varsity and quit because my team is ranked high nationally and I would never play (I was competing with D1 commits), I’m a film student (pretty good at directing and editing; I’m working on a documentary we hope to submit to film festivals this August), I play guitar (I love alternative music, hate me if you will), I occasionally volunteer at the food pantry down the street (mostly to fulfill my school mandated obligations), I attended a legal study program hosted at (but not affiliated with) Stanford University last summer.
Preferences (in case any of you can suggest other places for me): Greater than 6000 undergraduates at the least, strong programs in PoliSci and/or Comms, decent school newspaper (preferably daily or weekly), good study abroad and internship programs, in the mid-atlantic or south, D1 sports that people actually go to, vibrant social scene and greek life.
I think that about sums it up, thanks for the help! I’m getting pretty stressed about this. In addition to my chances at the four schools listed above, could any of you also recommend reach, 50/50, and safety schools?
-Grayson Allen
Statistically your in a great spot. The 3.6 is low, but as you mentioned, your school is highly ranked so it probably doesn’t toss out A’s left and right, and admissions officers know that. You seem passionate so your EC’s round out your app. As long as you write a great essay and demonstrate your worth, your just about in.
You do have negatives as does everyone, but these aren’t enough to kill you, you should just be aware of them:
- Asian Male, the most dreaded demographic
- GPA slightly lower than average for Ivy's, if you are thinking of them
- From CA, should have moved to North Dakota! :)
- 3 AP's, could be more, but if that is all your school offers, you should be fine
- Be sure of your major, undecided hurts. (Unless your major is nursing or psychology, then maybe undecided might look more favorable!)
In any case, none of your “negatives” will lower your chances drastically, they are so so very minor.
SO…for rankings!
UVA - Great test scores & GPA, I would mark you as a comfortable reach
DUKE - Same as above, but maybe slightly less comfortable
VANDERBILT - Likely/Reach
Northwestern - Likely
I would think about Columbia, their school for journalism is amazing, and you have a shot
UC’s are an option for you, unless you want to leave CA
You should consider what school type you want. If you want a small school, there are some in urban setting that still have a solid campus and are not completely integrated into the city (Harvard). If you don’t know what you want, visit local schools to get a feel for the types of enviroments of each size school. If you don’t care, find out what you do care about and go for it. Applying to big names school might seem like peer pressure, but schools will influence will get you in the door of great opportunities, like study abroad. For PolySci, you should check out Georgetown!
Best of Luck
I really wouldn’t put Northwestern as a likely. I would consider it a low reach for you. Especially because journalism is a hard major to get into for them.
Thanks, I really appreciate it. My first choice is definitely Northwestern, so that definitely put me in a good mood. Yeah, being asian can suck sometimes for these, especially when I don’t really identify with Asian-American culture and populations.