I’m in the middle of my junior year and I’ve started taking the college search a lot more seriously. I’ve been reading other discussions but I figured it wasn’t the tailored to me so there would be differences. I plan on majoring in finance, and am from a suburb of Chicago. I am looking at East Coast schools.
Stats! (which are not that great)
GPA unweighted: 3.58
GPA weighted: 4.3
ACT: 30
3 AP classes this year, but i plan on takin 6 next year.
I am an asian American female and am the first in my family to go to college if that makes a difference. I speak both Cantonese and English fluently and was born in California but now live in a Chicago suburb.
I am very involved in things other than school as well. I am on my school’s dance team (spirit & competitive) which is 2 seasons, lacrosse team, business club, service club, president of ecology club, president of foreign exchange club, I was the 1st chair/section leader in band before I quit, student council, president’s club, teen advisory board, world language honor society, national honor society, and I was in a peer mentoring group.
I know Notre Dame and Boston College would be a stretch but is it truly impossible? I was also looking at Lehigh, Villanova, Fordham, University of Richmond. It would be of great help if I could get some feedback. honest please! I know I am not the best student despite my efforts.
Nearly so. There are always one or two surprises every year, but you might as well consider those to be denials, even if you apply for the heck of it. Then you could only be euphorically surprised if I am wrong.
I think you have good chances at the others. You might not be a top 1% student as far as stats, but you are still very strong. Lots of other good schools you could look at like Miami (FL), Tulane, Boston U.
@SeekingPam you mentioned showing interest. Can you give me some examples on how I could do that? Unfortunately my parents were from Hong Kong and I agree it is over represented.
I think so. Here is how I see it. You weighted GPA compared to your UW shows a strong record of honors classes and you are taking a lot of AP’s next year, so your course rigor is good. Lehigh and Villanova both show a 25th percentile for the ACT of 29, so your 30 is probably around the 35-40th percentile. EC’s are solid to strong, with definite leadership on an school-wide basis. How could anyone say you don’t have a chance, or even that it is “tough”? That is a subjective term of course, but I wouldn’t have gone that far. I would say 50-50 for both schools. Not a slam dunk of course, few places are these days. But clearly there are many students already there with credentials that would seem to be not as strong as yours.
You should take the ACT again.
But with the current 30, you likely will get into Fordham and have a decent shot at Lehigh and Villanova and possibly Richmond.
Notre Dame is a big reach.
You should look at the acceptance threads from last year for all schools. Nothing is impossible and it is certainly worth applying to all unless application funds are really limited.
The only one I am familiar with is Lehigh as I know a number of people that applied last year and this. Most people with similar stats and higher (29-34 ACT, 3.6-3.9 unweighted) were wait listed last year. Including some people who not only expected to get in but expected merit money, it was a shock. However, most of them showed very little interest (did not interview and we are driving distance, in your case not as expected). I would try to visit all schools and schedule an interview when you are there. At a minimum meet the rep and go to open houses in your area. Build an email relationship with your regional rep.
@SeekingPam I just booked a flight in the area for March! The Lehigh website says that interviews can be used when considering an application, but it also says that “in terms of demonstrated interested, on-campus interviews are considered equivalent to the Group Informational Sessions. In fact, we highly recommend that the Group Informational Session be your first choice since it is more comprehensive”. Do you think the interview would benefit me more?
Richmond Notre Dame and Boston College are reaches but not impossible I applied to BC this year with a 3.6 unweighted as well (albeit with a higher ACT) but I know kids who have gotten in with similar GPAs and only slightly better ACTs (like one or two points better) so if you can get that up I’d say BC and Richmond could be more high match than reach. I think you will get into Fordham and Lehigh and Villanova are matches probably somewhere around 50 50 you get in. For villanova especially though your intended major will play a role as their business school and engineering school are more competitive than say the arts and sciences school. Best of luck!
Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19202715#Comment_19202715
I think the only way your visiting would look odd (and I am overthinking here) is if your future essay is going to be about how poor you are and how you are homeless or on public assistance (not saying you are), they will wonder how you can afford a trip. Otherwise I think that they will appreciate that you visited and still want to apply.
I think being female helps at Lehigh. Among the people D knew who applied last year, most did not get in. Mostly male. All wait listed. One friend at top of his small school with a 33, another with a 2100, a female with good but not stellar grades and not a lot of APs because she did a sport (but was not continuing) with a 1960. None showed a tremendous amount of interest. The friend with the 33 did not interview and ended up getting accepted to one his reaches.