I’m a high school junior right now and I’m supposed to start looking for colleges that fit me. The problem is I have absolutely no idea where to start. My parents and sister didn’t go to college in the US so I’m kind of on my own for this.
Here are my stats:
SAT: 2340 (Critical Reading 770, Math 750, Writing 650)
PSAT: 226 (sophomore year)
ACT: 35 (English 35, Essay 8, Math 35, Reading 34, Science 36)
APs: AP Human Geography (5), AP Physics 1 (5), AP Physics 2 (5), AP World History (5), will take AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, and AP US History this year
GPA unweighted: 3.97
Extracurriculars: Academic Decathlon (9, honors alternate as a freshman)
Academic Octathlon (9, team captain, won a few awards at competition)
Science Club (9)
HOSA (10, 11, probably 12)
Project X (10, 11, probably 12)
Art Club (11, probably 12)
Best Buddies (11, probably 12)
French Club (11, probably 12)
Classes: taken/taking the most rigorous classes available to me all years of high school
Volunteering: will have about 400 hours by the end of this year
Miscellaneous: might try applying to a few research internships for the upcoming summer, not sure I’ll get it
not URM (Indian) - won’t put race on application
I’m kind of all over the place because my family has moved around a lot, and a lot of times the things available to me at one school simply aren’t available to me at another school, so I generally have to make do with whatever I can find.
Anyways, I would be SO grateful for any helpful advice you could give me. It would mean a lot to me
I’ve been an American citizen for approx 5 years (not sure if that matters) and my parents earn very low six figures. I don’t have a college fund so I’m hoping that between a combination of financial aid, scholarships, and my parents’ support (they’ve told me they’ll try their best), we can make it work.
Oops, sorry about that. I took the SAT two separate times so I must’ve copied and pasted the wrong parentheses. The correct score is 2340 with Critical Reading 780, Math 800, Writing 760.
Those are the members of the Association of American Universities. Per their website: “The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an association of 62 leading public and private research universities in the United States and Canada. Membership in AAU is by invitation and is based on the high quality of programs of academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education in a number of fields, as well as general recognition that a university is outstanding by reason of the excellence of its research and education programs.”
It includes the Ivies and nearly all of the Big Ten universities, and some others both public and private. You would have great research opportunities and top resources available to you at any of these universities. They’re all also very highly regarded. Many of them have academic scholarships that you could qualify for with your stats, and some will provide need-based grants.
You are in the range for any top schools but they don’t have decent chance for anyone. So just find the schools you like to apply and make sure you have some matching schools and at least a safety (which is easy to find for you). Go visit some campus, identify your career goal (majors), talk to your parent about the budget, then you should be able to come up with a list of schools. You should be able to get merit aids at some schools if cost is a concern. Do consider that when you put schools on the list.
