Please help narrow down my list/give suggestions on my college list

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen)
  • State/Location of residency: California, USA
  • Type of high school: Private all-girls
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Female/Asian
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): N/A

Intended Major(s)
Neuroscience &/or Child Studies-related

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.97
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.299 / 5.0
  • Class Rank: top 10%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1520 SAT

Coursework

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(all As grade 11 Sem2)

Grade 12: AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP Calc AB, Global Studies, Research in Science, Yearbook – Inlook, JV Soccer, JV Tennis

Awards
Cum Laude Society (2021), JV Tennis MVP (2020), Pasadena Educational Foundation Volunteer Award of Distinction (2019), Piano Certificate of Merit with Branch Honors Level 10 (2019), Presidents’ Volunteer Service Award Gold (multiple years).

Extracurriculars
*note: years participated is only counting freshman to junior year/up to now & not counting middle school (so since I’m a rising senior the max # of years in HS would be 3)

  • School Yearbook Staff, Section Leader (sophomore year) & Junior Editor (junior year) & Editor-in-Chief (senior year), 3 years

  • JV Tennis, Captain (junior & senior year), MVP, 3 years

  • JV Soccer, Captain (senior year), 3 years

  • Babysitter, 3 years

  • School Future Lifesavers Club, Founder & Co-head, educating students on the healthcare field, 2 years

  • Grade-Level Class Cabinet Member: Secretary/ Communications and Events Chair, 2 years

  • School Service Representative, 2 years

  • Hospital Volunteer, running errands and working in neurology unit, 2 years

  • Young Artists’ Orchestra of Los Angeles charity group, clarinetist, President’s Volunteer Gold, 2 years

  • Stem Without Boundaries Chapter President, hosted virtual STEM night for local kids, 1 year

  • Mentor & Camp DELTA Teacher, mentored & taught science/science experiments to elementary schoolers for 3 months during pandemic, 1 year (mentor + science classes)

  • Science Research & science summer programs with various organizations over this summer & last summer, 1 year

  • Galileo Learning Summer Operations Intern (job), (camp counselor-type), 3 months this year

  • Pasadena Educational Foundation Summer Enrichment Program Summer Youth Leader, assisted in Mandarin intro to K classroom, Volunteer Award of Distinction, 3 months

  • Chinese tutor, 3 months

  • piano, Certificate of Merit with Branch Honors Level 10, 0.5 year
    (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Essays/LORs/Other
1 from Honors English 3 teacher

  • has seen me grow more confident in my writing skills (also see the B+ in English sophomore year)

1 from AP Bio teacher

  • always talked to him about my interests in things besides the ap bio curriculum, like talking to him about random science topics and my interest in the brain, he is also my teacher for my Research in Science class senior year where I will be working in a neuroscience lab. also my JV Soccer coach.

Cost Constraints / Budget
No limit. (parents willing to pay for full costs of everything)

Schools

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability): Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, UC Riverside, Pepperdine, University of Miami, Case Western Reserve University
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable): UC Irvine
  • Match: UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, University of Southern California
  • Reach: UC Berkeley, UCLA, Emory, Rice, Vanderbilt, WashU, Claremont Mckenna, Stanford

I NEED HELP NARROWING DOWN MY LIST! (I have too many schools. note I also cannot visit in-person most of these school right now). THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!

2

Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis are not safeties, they would be in the Match category along with UCI.

I would limit my safeties to 2-3 schools at the most and you should be willing to attend your safety schools no matter what.

3 Likes
3

I wouldn’t consider Case a safety. I think they consider demonstrated interest.

1 Like
4

Yes, they consider it strongly in my experience.

Also, I suggest that you cut your list of reaches in half. Doing so will force you to ask questions of yourself about why each school is a place that you would (or wouldn’t) really want to attend; and so perhaps distill the important essence, to you, of each place.

2 Likes
5

Test blind UCs are really hard to predict, even with a 4.2+ GPA, I wouldn’t consider any of them a safety until we see a few more admission cycles.

SDSU and CSUB could play that role.

if you were my kid, I counsel you to apply to 2-3- CSUs, 3 or so UCs and a handful of wish list privates/OOS like Stanford and UW. 8-10 at most. Managing the portals and deadlines is a real pain as you go through Sr year.

as far as narrowing your list - if you can’t give a one simple one paragraph statement about why you want to attend - cross it off. I don’t care what your answer is but, why is Rice or Case Western on your list?

6

Have you looked at cognitive science as a major?

7

Only UCR is a safety, the others are matches.

You need to show interest (fill out Request info form) starting now.

Look into St Olaf for a high quality safety (as long as you show interest).

8

This is just for privates right? Because for the UCs, the answer’s kinda obvious cuz im in state and i wanna save money, and i think id prefer staying in cali

9

honestly part of the reason for case is because they dont require supplemental essays, so like i thought why not? (since app fees aren’t an issue for my family), and i might end up liking it if i get in and when i visit

10

I just did a quick Google search which indicated that both of those schools do have supplemental essay(s) and they appear quite extensive. What source are you using?

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