What are my chances...?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Junior, attends school in New Jersey

Demographics:

  • Asian female
  • immigrant
  • single parent household
  • low-income
  • my parents went to school in Korea and my brother was the first one in my family to go to school in America

Class Size/School Profile:

  • about 450 kids in my graduating class (approx. 1700 in the school)
  • my school doesn’t report rank
  • a competitive school
  • very white, very rich

Weighted GPA: 96.0952
Unweighted GPA: 93.2381

Course Load:
9 Honors, 3 APs (Calc, Lang, Studio) – I am expecting 4/5 on all of my exams
Throughout high school, I’ve had 3 B’s (88, 85, 85)

Senior year, I plan on taking 4 more APs (Econ, Stat, Spanish, Bio) and 1 Honors (English)

ACT:
First time: 32
Second time: 34 **Should I retake it??
(Superscored: 35)

Extracurriculars:
Student Government (Class Officer) for 3 years
Fencing (JV, Varsity, Captain)
National Honor Society
National Art Honor Society (board member for 2 years)
Youth and Government

I participate in two other clubs that are specific to my school. For one of them, I am serving as president. We make short films to raise awareness for social issues that air on the school tv channel. For my other club, I’ve been a board member for two years (VP next year). We raise money to provide scholarships to underprivileged students in my school, which consists of a majority of more affluent students.

I volunteer a lot through my church (well over 1,000 hours) and have several leadership positions including praise team leader, youth group leader, and a teacher’s assistant for the children’s ministry and Korean school. I also help out at the community center by coaching the fencing program for kids there.

This summer, I will be working at a dentistry office and volunteering at a local hospital.

Awards: Honor Student, 2 fencing awards (conference tournament)

Schools:

  • Brown (I don’t think I have a shot… Is it worth applying ED??)
  • Hopkins
  • WashU St. Louis
  • Emory
  • Northeastern
  • Tufts
  • UNC Chapel Hill
  • Barnard
  • Wellesley
  • UVA

I am aware that my grades aren’t really up to par with my top schools but I’m hoping that maybe my background status and extracurricular/leadership positions can pull me up?

In my essay, I’m hoping to talk more about the club in which I raise money for less privileged students within my community, developing on the idea that my personal circumstances drive me to help others like myself. Another idea: my mom moved me and my brother to the US so that we can get a better education (Korea is so cutthroat and toxic…) and how that drives me to learn and take advantage of presented opportunities.

Other schools I could look at? My chances? What should I improve?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

2

You have done very well, but IMO every school on your list should be considered a reach for any unhooked/OOS applicant. Have you run the net price calculators to see if each school on your list appears to be affordable?

Like many HS students your sole focus seems to be on reach schools. IMO it is even more important that you spend time seeking out match and safety schools that both appear affordable (again, run net price calculator) and that you would be excited to attend. Trust me – they are out there if you look for them.

I’d suggest you get your hands on some good college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review to name a couple) which you can probably find at your guidance office or library and start reading. Think about what you like in these schools and look for some less selective colleges with similar characteristics. (ex. if you like urban schools look at Fordham and Pitt if you like southern schools look at Tulane and College of Charleston to name just a few). Again, you should then run the net price calculators and come up with some affordable, less selective options. Being your are from NJ I would should apply to TCNJ and Rutgers (possibly other NJ state schools such as Rowan) as well.

3

Thank you! I am specifically choosing from need-met and need-blind schools.

Also, I definitely do have a list of safeties/targets (Bryn Mawr, Skidmore, UWash Seattle) but I just wanted to know what my chances were for my reaches.

As for my preferences, I am definitely looking for smaller schools! I would prefer schools in towns near cities but not in large cities (oddly specific…) but this isn’t a huge factor in my decision.

Thanks again!

4

You have a good application portfolio. I wouldn’t waste time retaking the ACT - 34 is very good. If Brown is your absolute #1 choice, then yes, ED is worth it. You already have about as good of a shot as any other applicant, but ED does give you a boost.

As far as the other schools go, I would think you would get into at least one, probably more of them. They are reaches/high matches though, and you never know. As reply #1 said, match/safety schools are important.

Your common app essay ideas are good and either could work, but remember that at the end of the day your best idea will be the one that you know you can use to show the most about you. There will be other places to talk about extracurricular activities where you could use your ideas of the first essay, and maybe use the second idea for your actual common app essay. It’s your call though, you can’t really go wrong with either.

Best of luck! (And try not to stress. The college application process is annoying and difficult but it will all work out)

5

I would not consider Bryn Mawr, Skidmore, or UWash-Seattle (out of state) as safety schools at all. I think (you should check) that Bryn Mawr and Skimore are not need blind and that your need for significant aid may impact your admissions decision. Not sure about aid for OOS students at UWash.