What are some prestigious or good schools I have a chance of getting into?

I’m a junior, second gen immigrant, middle income

Desired major: Public Policy, Philosophy, or political science

My high school is ranked pretty high in the nation and we test-in. But we are public and underfunded lol so you can imagine how competitive it is

Stats are not the best: 3.8-3.9 UW GPA, around 4.3 weighted, 11 APs, half 5s half 4s.

SAT: low 1500, will probably take again and see if I can super score

Awards are ok: Mock trial competition: third in county one year, quarter finalist another year, recognition by California congresswoman and many city awards Piano national/international awards, 1st place, honors, etc. Two presidential service awards, gold and silver, I currently have around 400 service hours

Extracurriculars:

  1. Student council, governmental affairs and policy, lobbied at the state board of education, awaiting for proposal to to be passed Organized 30+ students at a student advocacy conference, developed research packets to aid students on their proposal and gathered support from local district board members to serve as panelists and speakers at said conference +I applied for a higher position this year so hopefully I get in and can make more impact!
  2. District student advisory council, overseeing diversity, analyzes statistics on students in marginalized and suggest courses of action that need to be taken to improve student performance, votes in decisions, etc.
  3. Local amnesty cohort, external affairs officer, social media posts on current events, meetings, emailing other organizations for collaboration, publicity on campaigns and more
  4. Nonprofit founder, still in development, mainly for public awareness but we also work one on one with undocumented immigrants and we’ve done plenty of interviews and published articles with other organizations with similar goals. However, we do have a member issue, but im not sure if this is just my personal passion project or like a nonprofit anymore…I am working really hard to get people to join and help out.
  5. Mock trial cabinet, spring trainer, helped 50+ younger students learn about mock trial, hopefully president next year idk :broken_heart:
  6. I was newspaper editor one year but the club was really unproductive and the presidents were not great so I just didn’t want to proceed
  7. Moot court competition, preliminary honors but never moved on to next rounds before
  8. Piano, as I’ve said I play competitively, I’ve passed the highest merit test for piano in my state’s program and I also use it for volunteering where I play at my church every Sunday
  9. Interned at the superior court of my county
  10. Local after school, I’ve tutored youth and helped teachers build English curriculum to help them get into my high school
  11. This was only up to freshman year if it’s with mentioning. I co-founded an environmental sustainability nonprofit with a junior, but he graduated and the entire nonprofit died because I wasn’t passionate about it and he didn’t appoint anyone to be the next president or whatever.

But I’d say the accomplishments were pretty nice, we had 100+ members all throughout California. I took care of the Southern California part. We did cleanups, and helped a local elementary school develop their garden that provided food to the students. We also developed a water irrigation system that allowed the garden to function and have the elementary students learn about sustainability.

That’s really anything I think is worth mentioning so far so. I don’t knowwwww im just scared im cooked. Again please don’t be brutal

1 Like

You seem a bit harsh on yourself.

Your GPA is great, rigor is off the charts, as is your SAT. You could take again but if you didn’t it’d be ok too.

As for awards - I’ll argue they matter little. What matters is what you did to get them. You got 400 service hours - that matters. Not the award. If you had a part time job, there’s likely no award for that, but it’s great, etc.

You asked about prestigious schools - that’s in the eye of the beholder. You ask about good schools - hmmmm - most, if not all are good, and some “less” prestigous are better than prestigious.

What is your budget? What can your family afford to spend?

What does middle income mean?

Are you from CA?

Have your family fill this out - and tell us what it says - so we can see if you have need.

The first thing you need to look at before picking colleges is affordability. First second, and third.

Clear Cost

1 Like

I thought this was a joke post for a minute. Why do you think you are cooked? You seem like a superstar! :star2:

First of all, nothing to be scared of. You are already a great candidate and any school would be lucky to have you.

Second, think less about prestige and more about what will work for YOU. Seems like you are a CA resident, the good news is you have public options that are among the best in the world.

Third, talk to your parents about what they can afford. There is absolutely no sense thinking about schools that won’t fit your budget. How would you feel if you got in to one of your big name schools, and couldn’t afford to attend? Devastated!! Happens every year. You don’t want that for yourself, and neither do we!

Fourth, DEEP BREATHS! It’s WAAAY too early for you to be so worried, seriously, save that for this time next year. :grin: You’ve got a long way to go! Until then, keep your grades up, study for and try the SAT again if you are going to use it in applying, and finish junior year strong.

Spend your spring break really researching the colleges you are thinking about (including running NPC’s to see what they will cost your family) and then, if you can, make some visits this summer. If that’s unaffordable you can do virtual visits. But you need to really research and figure out what they have to offer, the differences among them, etc. You are super smart and I know you can do that. Ask questions here on CC about specific schools and programs, there are SO MANY knowledgeable folks here to help you.

Finally, guaranteed there is a college out there for you - so just be yourself when you are ready to apply. They don’t want to see that you marked all of the ‘must do’s’ off on a checklist, they want to see who YOU are, and you seem pretty great.

3 Likes

Hi, my parents, either way, can’t afford to pay my full college tuition obviously, they might chip in a little bit, maybe 10 percent depending on the school. They’ve always told me to put the school first. My dad is the only provide and earns more or less 100K in a family of 4.

Yes, I am from California. I think for my parents, it’s been incredibly ingrained in their mind that I have to have to get into a great school first and worry about costs later, which is why they encourage me to do scholarships and get student loans, etc.

When I say good, I just want the college to reflect the effort that I put into a highschool, like a “medal” that tells me that I did it. I don’t know, this really stresses me out. Unfortunately I doom scroll on Reddit and ask for chance me’s and people tell me my GPA is too low to even be considered an candidate without telling me about any other weaknesses.

Very kind of you! I think my self esteem is low because of the people around me. People with better GPAs and better extracurriculars and it’s hard because im constantly comparing myself to the “perfect.” Especially with my desired degree, unfortunately, the best programs also belong to the best schools in the nation, and it’s a bit discouraging because I feel that I won’t get in. I feel that I worked so hard in high school but I should’ve done this or should’ve done that, and I’m full of regret. However, I know that I still need to push.

My dream schools are top schools. I don’t really care about being an Ivy League or about it even being a top 20 (but I do care that it has some kind of positive reputation) but the programs that pique my interest the most just happen to be from these schools, and I fear I may not be good enough because that’s what I’ve been told, especially with my GPA.

But thank you for your kind words, and I will do my best with everything suggested !

Is this a prediction? Because a junior wouldn’t have any AP scores except from sophomore year. What is your actual number of APs by year?

Ah ok, I’ve taken 1 in freshman year, 3 sophomore year, and so far, im taking 4 this year, and I’ll be taking 3 next year. So if I do well this year hopefully I get more 5s than 4s…next year as well. But I really have gotten 2 fives and 2 4s so far.

So - have them fill out the NPC i put above for Vanderbilt.

Saying he can chip in 10% doesn’t mean the college will agree.

Vanderbilt will be near $400,000 if you don’t get aid. The NPC will say what you’ll pay.

If it’s $40,000, obviously you cannot afford.

Many put efforts into high school. You are not alone there.

Many choose safety schools. You know why - certain schools buy top kids in. So that’s the reward. As an example, 25% of U of Tulsa are National Merit Scholars and no one has more than U of Alabama - again, top kids who choose solid but not the top schools, on the basis of cost (or other things - like special enrichment).

My son got into a top 10 engineering program but went to a low ranked one - not for money, but they threw money at him.

My daughter goes to #16 of #17 rank wise she got into. We don’t pay tuition. I pay maybe $20K for room and board. She got into a top LAC over $80K.

So you have to be realistic - and sometimes, you don’t get to go to the level you’d like. Sometimes you’d do.

That’s what the net price calculator will tell you. Your parents are wrong - because you can only borrow $27K over four years - and you wouldn’t want to borrow any more anyway. It’s hard for parents to understand this - but you don’t want to bankrupt them.

So again, have your dad fill that out. I put again and I’m adding another from a little bit less selective school that meets need - that you should do as well. Ultimately, they’ll need to do one for every school - so again, while you may have desires, you have to live within budget so let’s start there. Ultimately, you can choose what you’re willing to spend. But the colleges will decide if that’s enough or if you need to pay more. it may be that the colleges will meet your desired budget.

Getting Started | Net Price Calculator

Clear Cost

2 Likes

You have a very good profile and will be a strong candidate at many schools. Before you decide where to apply, you need to talk to your parents about a budget. As a student you can only borrow $27k across 4 years (so roughly $6500 per year) - anything above that will require a parental co-signer. To find out what level of need-based aid your family might receive, you should run the NPC for any school you are interested in. That will give you a sense of whether or not that school could possibly meet your budget. What type of schools are you interested in - urban, rural, big, small, greek life or not? For public policy/political science you might look at Georgetown, GW and American and see what the cost estimate is for those. Also, will the UCs/CSUs be affordable for your family? There are many great choices there.

1 Like

Since cost is an issue, I assume that you are planning to stay close to home because you don’t need the additional burden of travel costs. In that case, I’m thinking that your list would begin with the University of California system. There is only one application for all 9 campuses, so go for it and see which ones you get into. The UC system is test blind and will not consider test scores, so they are irrelevant for this application.

With regard to other colleges, I will quote a former University of Chicago president, “If we eliminated our currently selected freshman class and took the next group of applicants behind them, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” That’s the problem with the most selective colleges like Stanford, Pomona, USC, Claremont McKenna, etc. they turn away applicants who look just like the ones they accepted, so there’s really no way to predict what your chances are for those schools.

To find schools with good reputations where you have a good chance of acceptance, I’d also look for schools which meet demonstrated financial need. A school like this would be Occidental in L.A., the school which President Obama attended for his first 2 years of college.

Another school with an excellent reputation where you’d have a good chance of acceptance and which meets full financial need is Reed College in Portland.

There are 5 colleges in Claremont, which are collectively known as the Claremont Colleges. They are all highly selective. You might have a shot at Pitzer and they meet full financial need, so give them a look.

6 Likes

Here are the Occidental and Pitzer Net Price Calculators - your parents can fill out and you will see if they are affordable.

See - there’s great kids everywhere and you are great.

But like when you eat out or stay in a hotel, you still have to be able to pay.

At schools like these, you might get significant help.

That’s what the NPCs will show you.

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

1 Like

Ok, so first of all, about that ‘medal’ - there is no medal. What tells you that ‘you did it!’ is YOU! You worked super hard and everything you did and learned will continue to serve you well all throughout your entire life, no matter which college you attend. Look how much you hustled! Do you think everyone is like that? You should be proud!

And the whole self esteem and being down on yourself? You have to let that one go, or else you will spend your whole life comparing yourself to your co-worker, your neighbor, your cousin etc and you’ll never figure out how to just be happy with who you are.

Next, please get off Reddit - seriously, it’s not healthy for you. There is NO way it is representative of the vast majority of students who are applying to college. And do not listen to anyone who tells you that you ‘cannot’ get into any school based on your GPA. I know you must have poked around Reddit enough to see that’s totally untrue.

Ok, lecture over. But seriously, please stay off Reddit and learn to love yourself! Like I said, you seem pretty awesome! :heart:

p.s. also run your NPC’s

9 Likes

What do you intend to do with a degree in public policy, philosophy, or political science. Is law school a possibility?

My understanding is that law school is three years, is expensive, and is usually full pay. If “law school” is the intention then you should budget for a full 7 years of university.

There is the dream, then there is the reality. One reality is that there are a LOT of very good colleges and universities in the US, hundreds of them. You do not need to attend a “top 10” or “top 20” university do to well in life. A second reality is that university in the US can be very expensive, but the cost also can vary a LOT depending upon where you go. The third reality is the California has many very, very good in-state public universities, and in some cases these may be way more affordable compared to other highly ranked universities.

Another point is that most of the highest ranked universities in the US have very good need based financial aid, for those students who qualify. However, most of them have either no or very little merit aid. Also, some private schools currently cost over $90,000 per year, and are likely to be over $100,000 per year by the time that you get there. Even something like a $20,000 per year scholarship does not actually go all that far when university is that expensive. Students and their families need to take costs into account, and the costs will vary widely depending upon the college or university.

You might want to run a few Net Price Calculators to see what a few universities might cost you. Most likely you will either need a lot of information from your parents or you will just need to have your parents run it for you. You also should find out what your parents can afford to pay without taking on any debt.

I do understand that some immigrant parents feel this way. I am an immigrant myself, and did attend famous schools (MIT for a bachelor’s degree, Stanford for a master’s degree) but have learned to take a different view. As one example, when I was getting my master’s, the other students in the same program had come from a huge range of different undergraduate universities. With one exception it was hard to find two students who had attended the same undergraduate university. The one exception was probably a coincidence and was not ranked in the top 50 in the US. For graduate school admissions, how well you do as an undergraduate will matter a lot more than where you attend. Also, with degrees from MIT and Stanford I have spent my career working alongside people who graduated from a very wide range of universities (including San Jose State, UNH, and many other schools that are very good but not “top 20” schools) and in most cases no one cares where any of us got our degree.

I have heard that there are two types of people in the world: People who at an old age regret something, and people who weren’t paying attention. The point is that no one is perfect. The students who are graduating from MIT or Harvard or Stanford aren’t perfect either. I used to know someone who graduated from Harvard Law (after getting a bachelor’s degree at MIT) and went to work for a prestigious New York law firm. He lasted one week. He realized that he couldn’t stand working at a prestigious NY law firm, and switched to a different career. Does he have regrets? He shouldn’t because he ended up doing what was right for him (after first exploring a different option).

You can’t compare yourself with others. There is (presumably) only one person who is the smartest person in the world, and he or she is probably lonely. The rest of us just need to do the best that we can. You just be the best version of you that you can be. Do the ECs that are right for you. Look for a university that is a good fit for you and that you can afford.

The most important thing that comes from working hard in high school is not which university you get into. Instead it is that you have gotten yourself very well prepared to do well in university. Wherever you attend, doing well in university will matter (and will be important for admissions to whatever graduate programs you apply to, or to set yourself up for good internships or a good job, or all of the above). If your excellent results in high school results in a merit based scholarship, then the money that you save from the financial aid might also help you to be able to afford to attend an appropriate graduate program.

9 Likes

As with other academically accomplished students, the quality of your acceptances will depend on the quality of your application list. With respect to your interest in the study of public policy in particular, this site may offer you ideas for colleges to research further:

1 Like

This comment is going to be piling on a bit, but I do feel this is important.

It is perfectly fine to want the work you have done in HS to pay off in college. But it is thinking way too small and short term to want that pay off to be some sort of brag you can make to family or friends about where you got admitted.

I am not saying you are necessarily thinking that way, but that is really behind a lot of the mindset you will see on Reddit and other such social media, in certain high schools, parental social circles, and so on. The anticipation is about being able to say, “I [or my kid] got admitted to X, isn’t that impressive?” And to be very blunt, that is petty thinking, and doesn’t really last. Indeed, soon enough you find yourself at X, all your new peers there obviously also got admitted to X, so there is really no one to brag to.

OK, so what does REAL ambition look like?

Well, first it involves not just getting admitted to a good school, but then doing very well there. And I think a lot of kids who have done really well in HS just assume with enough effort they can do it all again in college, but they are not really thinking clearly about what happens when a bunch of kids who mostly all did really well in HS then collect at the same college. They CAN’T all do as well again. And in particular, many kids who were basically used to outworking most of their HS peers will find that impossible to repeat in a very selective college, or not at the same level of success. So to truly play this the smart way, you have to think very carefully about where you will be very well-prepared to succeed, and where has the sorts of programs and curriculum structure that make sense for you, and where has the types of faculty and student cultures that will energize and support you. Real ambition means finding an affordable college that will work for you in that sense, and it won’t necessarily be the one that gives you the most bragging rights at the time of admission. But if you play this right, and it works out as hoped, you will have plenty of opportunities to see how that benefited you long into the future.

And speaking of affordability, real ambition can often mean finding a way to monetize your hard work in HS. Of course some families truly do not need to worry about educational costs. But most families are on a budget. And how to use that budget is not necessarily a simple task. Like, in many professional paths, there will be more education after college. Blowing your whole budget, maybe even borrowing an uncomfortable amount for college, can make it hard to then pay for that further education. And even if you can, too much debt can really limit your options. Like maybe the best first job for your career interests does not pay that much up front. Can you even afford to take that job with all that debt? Indeed, you might have to write off entire majors and careers that could be great for you in the long run, all because you have so much educational debt. So real ambition in this area means taking your hard work in HS and using it to make sure you are not paying too much for college, such that you can keep taking whatever further educational and career steps that actually make the most sense for you in the long run. And again, that may not be the college that gives you the most immediate bragging rights, but so what? In practice, this can be good in-state admissions, or admissions to a private with generous need, or a private with generous merit, or the rare public with good OOS aid, or so on. But you have to know this is possible and then go after it aggressively.

OK, so finding a college with the right academics for you and that you can comfortably afford is already plenty ambitious, but a lot of kids with credentials like yours that think about all this in a mature way end up realizing they can actually be even greedier than that. They can think about the non-academic experience, both in college and possibly in the surrounding community. They can think about location. They can think about whatever else they would prefer.

OK, so if you can take your hard work in HS and turn it into multiple choices of colleges that would actually be really good for you academically, and comfortably affordable (possibly after aid), and also a great experience all around? That’s a huge payoff for your hard work. And much more meaningful than transient bragging rights.

So again to be blunt, this is almost never true. Sure, some of the wealthiest private and public research universities use that wealth to have very good programs in a lot of areas, so you see those universities popping up over and over in “top for X” sort of lists.

But there are at least two other major ways in which other colleges also can stand out in any given area.

One is just to choose to devote extra resources to a specific program. Like, you mentioned Philosophy, and two of the top Philosophy departments in the world are at Rutgers and Pitt. Why? Well, those are generally very good research universities so it is not a huge surprise. But they happen to have really put some effort into developing those programs to those levels. Since you are interested in Policy and Political stuff, not surprisingly a lot of DC-area colleges have chosen to specialize in part in such programs. And so on.

And then the other major thing to understand is if you are looking for an undergraduate program, then the best undergraduate education you can get in that area may not be at a top research university. It might indeed be at a Liberal Arts College, meaning an institution that has little or no graduate programs and is primarily or exclusively undergraduate focused. That is in fact particularly likely to be true in your areas of interest. And again, maybe these are not going to be the top bragging rights schools among your family and peers, but in the long run you will get way more value out of education and faculty connections and so on available to you at such institutions.

OK, that’s a lot to think about, and it can be daunting. There are potentially 100s of colleges that could make sense for you, and you have to narrow it down to a reasonable application list. And once you get into the spirit of this, you realize you can’t just outsource that process to some online magazine, Reddit, your HS peers, or whatever. You actually have to do a lot of work to investigate, and indeed a lot of work to really understand what is actually important to you.

But with the right spirit it can be a very rewarding process. Indeed, don’t be a jerk about it, but at a certain point you can sort of privately reflect on how all the kids still caught in the mindset of trying to impress each other with where they get admitted are mostly incredibly anxious, whereas you with your real, substantial, long-term ambitions are beginning to realize that as long as you come up with a sensible list, you basically can’t lose. Instead, you will most likely end up with multiple great options, and it will be you telling most of these great colleges that would love to have you the bad news you are going somewhere else.

And that is my final thought for you. Realize that in the end, selective colleges want students who will thrive at their college and go on to successful lives as much as students want those colleges. This mindset that the colleges are handing out prizes to the hardest working and most deserving students is just wrong, because it is not even what the colleges themselves think they are doing. They are trying to put together enrolled classes that will satisfy their many different and sometimes conflicting interests, and you are trying to find a college that will do the same for you, and when it works out well no one is winning a prize, instead a good match, really a good partnership, has been formed.

So in my view, that’s your worthy goal, to get a bunch of partnership offers which really make sense for you. And I know you can do it.

9 Likes

Lots of great advice here @NiceUnparticularMan!

4 Likes

At one point at an orientation for incoming freshmen students at MIT the presenter asked for a show of hands: How many of you expect to graduate in the top half of the class? About 90% of the freshmen raised their hands. You don’t have to be an incoming student at MIT to understand that this was not going to happen.

5 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.