So hiii! Quick rundown on me basically
I’m Black Muslim Ethiopian American (specifically Oromo if you know it)
I go to a public school in the suburbs (idk if that matters :/)
I got a 27 on my act but my highest for each sections are
english 29 Reading 31 math 27 Science 25
I have a 3.8 unweighted gpa (i think)
im 48/374 students~top 13%
Im not an amazing writer but ill work super hard on my college essays
I got 4’s on AP world and AP lang
I took honors math and im taking pre calc this year
im also taking spanish 3 this year instead of ap physics
My grades have been steadily improving
basically of course i want to go to an ivy or somewhere with a brand name but i dont really have the grades to do so. Honestly my dream school is U of Chicago but maybe i can try transferring there or something. But for right now what schools do i actually have a chance of getting into because im really struggling to find a “brand name” school that i actually have a chance of being admitted.
What is your budget? What is your home state? What do you want to study?
What level of selectivity?
i come from a low income family so not alot/ Minnesota/ undecided but intrested in pre med or poly sci or finance lol not specific at all but…
honestly the more selective the school the happier i would be but i also want to be realistic so im not sure
your tests scores do not fit with a very selective school.
Choosing a university to attend based on its being “selective” is not a good plan. You should be trying to figure out what you want in a university.
As one example, you mentioned U.Chicago in the original post. One of my daughter’s good friends went there. He is an exceptionally smart and exceptionally hard working student, with well over 1500 on the SAT. I don’t know if he every had any B in his life prior to going to university. He used to come back during breaks (he has graduated now) looking exhausted and complaining about how much work it is. He repeats the saying “U.Chicago is where fun goes to die”. Chicago is a great university. He learned a lot there and got a degree which is well respected. I think that it was a good university for him. However, it is not for everyone.
Another example: I was a math major at a university that has a very strong math program. However, I also wanted to take a few music courses. I took one. It was so bad that the next time I took a music course I did so on exchange to a different university. The math (and CS and ME) courses were very good.
Some students are more comfortable at large schools. Some are more comfortable at smaller schools.
Go where you want to be, not where some news magazine put a high rank.
Rising senior or junior? What ECs? For poli sci or premed you need related activities, in and out of the hs.
The stats are not at the level a highly selective can want and you will have competiton from other MN kids a bit stronger.
You can find alternatives to the top selectives, schools you can be excited about, even brag about. So many of them in the midwest or upper midwest. We call that turning lemons into lemonade. If you get excited enough about the schools that do love you back, that’s what friends and family will hear. And you want to do well, in college, make yourself and all proud with your college grades. Get a Fiske Guide, run the Net Price Calculators/NPC on the colleges’ web sites, see who offers what financial aid.
For UChicago, they don’t require test scores anymore. During my meetings with their admissions counselors they were very adamant about their holistic review process. They really do focus on the essays (and on the round of admission) so for a better chance really try to have your personality shine through.