I am currently a Junior and my dream school is Stanford
the school I go (international school bellevue) to ranks 2nd in the state of washington and 41st in the entire country
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/washington/districts/bellevue-school-district/international-school-20739
GPA (UW): 3.9
GPA (W): 4.3
There is no ranking system at our school
Extra curricular:
Hospital volunteer for 1 year (started junior year, plan on doing senior year as well) 10 hours a week, almost every week
intern for a highly commendable dentist (president of Washington Dental association) during the summer and still am
volunteered at a dental clinic starting 10th grade summer and am still a volunteer (im a junior) 4 hours a week every week
I tutored underprivileged children in my community
I volunteer at the YMCA
I also volunteer at a Blood Bank
I am in a robotics team and am mechanical head and ended up getting a varsity letter
I help mentor a middle school robotics team
I did WANIC (a medical summer program) 9th grade summer
I did a dental program at UW during 10th grade summer
I am going to attend the summer medical program at uc Berkeley
I helped coordinate malaria vaccines to India.
I also adopted a family in India and will continue to financially support them through fundraising
I organize an event every 2-3 months in which we make food for the homeless and deliver it to them personally
I am an accountant for my dad’s businesses
I am currently in the process of building a homeless shelter in seattle
The dentist I interned for gave free dental cleaning to the public (only for a day)
I am in Relay for Life
A Key Club member
I am in national honor society, french honor society, and science honor society
I currently have around 300 hours of community service and plan to acquire more
AP classes:
AP World History, AP Lang, AP French Lang, AP Chemistry, AP Cal, AP US Politcal History
I plan on taking AP computer science, AP GOV, AP BIO, and AP LIT next year as senior year.
Exams
ACT: 35
Personal Circumstances:
I am the first one out of my family to go to college and am a Sikh Indian who as been racially targeted/persecuted my whole life.
Do you know of any scholarships I qualify for or should apply for?
Thanks!
I think that you have a chance. However, these are all reach schools, and unlikely for everyone. Definitely you need to have a “plan B” (ie, safety schools).
My safety school is uw. Do you have anything else you would suggest? Thanks for the reply!
What are you trying to major in? Depending on what it is (i.e CompSci) UW may not be a safety or even a match, it could be a reach. As said before, you have a chance at all of these schools but they are all tossups due to their selectivity.
i want to major in biology but ultimately want to become a dentist
I think you are qualified and have a chance but that being said there are less spots than qualified students so give it your best shot but find some matches and safeties that you will be happy with. Good Luck! You will be successful no matter where you go.
When you say you’re the first one in your family going to college, your parents didn’t go to any college of any kind, not even in India? That would be a hook for sure, what’s your family situation, if your parents make less than 60K, that’s another hook. Colleges like family struggle. Based on this you could have a decent chance at Stanford and a great shot at USC, though the UCs look at scores and ECs, and you’re fine there.
My parents are immigrants from India but our average household income is 400,000+
did they go to college in India? if they did then you are not first gen. If they didn’t go to college, then that salary is impressive for no degree.
They both didn’t go to college, my dad is a full time entrepreneur. Can I talk about how before I was born my dad was homeless in my essay? Or is that not relevant
ok so you don’t want to talk about your dad in the essay, you have to write about how his being homeless impacted you, and then just write about you. Your parents not going to college is a huge hook these days, and if you can write about your persecution and how you overcame it, that will be unique, especially for an Asian. Colleges will love reading about those kinds of things. If you were targeted because of your skin color and/or your turban, you want to convey all of that. I rarely say this esp for Stanford, but you’re in reasonable shape, better than most Asians, which is who you’ll be competing with by and large.
@theloniusmonk THANK YOU SOO MUCH for that much needed confidence boost and advice!
just write #indianlivesmatter a couple times and Id say a lock for stanford.
well it’s not a total joke, position yourself as the MLK for Sikhs, and you’re in!
actually know that you talk about it, I was actually involved in spreading sikh awareness across the US and had a hand in making a commerical that aired on live tv. should i include that in my app? im currently still a junior fyi
be careful on things like videos, if it’s well made and you’re in it and you were a big part in producing it, yes, include it. will be one way to stand out.
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Your parents not going to college is a huge hook these days
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Lol…no, it’s not a huge hook. It’s not even a hook.
There’s no real point of talking about your dad’s homelessness before you were born.