I attend the public high school of my town which is a middle to upper-middle class suburb of Boston.
Our school releases the colleges people got into, listed by GPA.
I looked at the profile of last year’s graduating class and was shocked to see the amount of people who got into exceptional colleges which were all super-selective (<25% acceptance rate). 27 out of the 391 students had weighted GPA’s which fell between 4.75 and 5.0. The average SAT score in this GPA range was 2224.
23/27 of these people got into extremely competitive colleges (8 of them got into IVY’s). 2 of the 4 that didn’t get into super-competitive colleges went to colleges with a 30% acceptance rates and 2 of them got full rides.
I have a perfect unweighted GPA and a 4.9/5.0 weighted GPA right now. A lot of people on this site say that grades alone aren’t enough to get into top universities. However, almost all of the people with top grades did.
So first of all, does this mean I have a good chance of getting accepted into one of these universities even with average EC’s?
Another thing I noticed was that the colleges people got into were very diverse. With the exception of Harvard, which 3 people chose to attend, every college listed only had 1 or sometimes 2 acceptees. Do the best colleges avoid accepting multiple people from the same HS? Should I take this into consideration when applying?
Lastly, will being Indian (Asian) change my chances at all? I go to a majority white school. In my class of 500 there are 4 Indian kids and I am the only Indian boy. I am definitely a URM here, but I wouldn’t be at a top school. Do colleges look at if you were a URM at your high school or do they not care about that?
@ben69420 How do I not look stereotypically Indian? I am a computer nerd :(. I guess I could explore other fields but both my parents are programmers and my friends are programmers and my relatives are programmers! I love programming and have been doing it since the Third Grade.
@shaash If you are interested in computers then try excelling the field. Try making IOI or USACO. Do science fair projects in computer science and win awards. STEM is a tough sell for an Asian male, but if you excel in the field you can still set yourself apart.
@ben69420 is business a better field? I am also interested in that but don’t have that many connections. I feel like though I like CS, it doesn’t come as naturally to me as it does to my friends with similar backgrounds, which is why I explore different careers. Excelling at a field is hard, man
Are you interested at all in liberal arts colleges? For many, it’s easier for guys to gain admissions since more girls apply. And many are mostly white and may be looking for URM applicants. Although they may not have the breadth of resources for CS majors that you are looking for, it might be worth it to look into some.
Do you know all of them personally? How do you know they didn’t have extracurricular activities they were passionate about. They may have had interesting stories that you just weren’t aware of.
It’s clear that your school has good relationships with top schools, so yes senior profiles (especially through naviance if your school has it) can be a good indicator of the types of schools you can get into.
I think you have a solid chance. From your other posts, you’re clearly very involved and have a good academic record so far. Keep doing what you enjoy and it will come through in your supplemental essays. Don’t give up your passion just to try to get into a particular school. It isn’t worth it to stress about things that are out of your control. Don’t focus too much on gaining “leadership positions” and instead focus on doing concrete things like volunteering, community service projects, etc. Make sure you find good match and safety schools you would be happy at as well.
Sure they want geographic diversity, but that’s more in terms of states and regions. In terms of the same HS, I don’t think that’s a factor. And don’t take this into account when applying. How would you do this anyway? Ask everyone where they’re applying? How do you know you wouldn’t be “the one” to get in from you HS anyway?
I don’t think that’s a factor they consider, unless you specifically write about your culture and how it made your feel left out in your personal statement or something like that.
@sophie9999 thanks! And yes, I do know some of the seniors personally, and they seem to not focus on ECs and Community Service as much as getting As and doing good on the SATs.
I am interested in everything right now, including LACs. I don’t want to waste money, but if LACs can get me on track for a very good graduate school in technology, I’m willing to apply.
Can u tell me, in your opinions, the benefits of going to a LAC.
Remember that matriculation lists that only include GPAs can leave out important information that you need when assessing your own chances. Go over the list from your HS with your college counselor and ask about how you stack up compared to the last few classes. The counselor will know, for example, whether some of those admits to highly selective colleges were athletic recruits, faculty children or legacies in addition to their strong grades.
@siliconvalleymom Well, that’s true, but it still seems weird that over 85% of the high achievers got into terrific schools. Not all 23 of them could be athletes, legacies, etc. I looked back at more senior profiles and the trend is clear, high GPA = high SAT = good college. I’ll ask though. Maybe my school just prepares kids very well or has good relations.
I’m not as familiar with LACs, I just know a lot of people on this forum talk about there being an advantage for men/URMs. You may want to do some research of your own and/or post on the College Search & Selection board for better suggestions of schools that fit your needs. They can also help you determine what would be a reach/match/safety. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/
Out of curiosity, how do you have a perfect unweighted GPA but not a perfect weighted one? I’m just curious how you school does it since every school is different. Also, the fact that you can get 5.0 suggest they are weighting every single class and not just special classes? So you can get a 5.0 in gym, band, and other electives? I wonder what the point of a weighted GPA is if they do it for every single class?
For what it’s worth, those stats are not shocking. My S’s public school also publishes who goes where. Of ~375 students. On a quick count (I may have missed a couple), at least 33 got into ivy’s and I would say an equivalent amount got into equivalents or near ivys (Stanford, MIT, Cat Tech, Berkeley, Duke, U of Chicago, Northwestern, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, etc.).
Usually, unless you are a recruited athlete or have a major hook, awesome grades are required but not a guarantee. Most of the kids with great grades also have a ton of EC’s.
I replied on your other thread and I do think your interest in cooking is a good EC and you should capitalize on that. It is a good foil for being a stereotypical computer geek. Regarding your being Asian, and LACs. Our school Val is an Asian with a profile like yours in terms of grades and test scores. This year, kids from our HS got into super selective schools in record numbers, inc. Harvard, MIT, etc… The Val didn’t get into a single Ivy, or Tufts. But she did get into Amherst, which is one ot the top three LACs in the nation. And she also got into Vassar and Wesleyan, other top LACs. She is going to Amherst and always wanted to go to an LAC to start with. She wants to study medicine ultimately. If you want to get to know your fellow students and professors well, and be able to get involved in research easily, and want a top notch education, and don’t mind not being at a huge footbal game with 10,000 other kids, then an LAC might be best for you. Anyone who matters, ie., employers, will be delighted to hire a grad from an excellent LAC.
Wow! I never realized that a public school could send so many kids to such good colleges! You must belong to a very good district. I assumed my school wouldn’t have that many people going to wonderful schools because the average sat grade is like 500 per section.
Also, the reason I have a perfect unweighted gpa is because I got all A’s (btw only core courses count towards my GPA) but I took standard spanish (I’m taking honors next year). An A in a standard class equals a B+ in an honors class. Therefore I got a 4.5/5 in that class making my weighted GPA a 4.9.
“Can you tell me . . . the benefits of going to a LAC?” (#7)
LACs may, quite literally, make you smarter:
“How the instructional and learning environments of liberal arts colleges [vs. research and regional universities] enhance cognitive development,” Pascarella, Wong, Trolian and Blaich.
Some of our country’s best LACs may be open to you, @shaash. It would be a shame if you were to not look into them.
I have nothing against liberal arts colleges. My dad does though. He is under the impression that they take your money and teach you things you will never use again. It is expensive and inapplicable. I guess his argument makes sense too.
Lol he’s very cynical and doesn’t change his views on something until he sees evidence that a LAC degree is worth anything. Y’all have evidence?
Calvin Coolidge went to Amherst, James Garfield went to Williams, Woodrow Wilson went to Davidson. These are all former presidents that attended top liberal arts colleges and it got them places. They don’t simply teach you the things you will need to know, they also teach you how to think and speak and write effectively to figure out the things you will need to know but don’t know you’ll need to know yet, if that makes any sense.
Shaaash, your dad doesn’t know what he is talking about and he does not have a point. Universities also have core requirements that students have to meet. Even MIT students have to meet general Ed requirements, including humanities and gym. A BA degree from Harvey Mudd, a tiny LAC, is going to give you a better return of investment than a BA from Harvard. Harvey Mudd is ranked number 1 in the country for ROI. Anyone in this country who matters knows these things. Sorry, your dad is completely wrong.
Rutherford Hayes, another US president,went to Kenyon. James Buchanan, another president, went to Dickinson. Tons of Nobel prize winning scientists, actors, entrepreneurs, etc…went to LACs. The inventor or birth control pills went to Kenyon, and changed the world. Heck, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, went to Macalester. Now you’ve got me all riled up, sorry about that. But it irks me no end when people like your dad say things like that, because they don’t have a clue. More proof needed? Hillary Clinton, hopefully our next US President, went to Wellesley.
Large universities themselves often teach from a liberal arts curriculum. Harvard, for example, does not offer undergraduate degrees in purely professional fields such as business, education or nursing.
The sciences, of course, are liberal arts disciplines whether they are taught at universities or liberal arts colleges. Oberlin, Hamilton, Haverford, Amherst and Swarthmore are examples of LACs that have produced Nobel Prize recipients in a science field.
