Chance a Native American

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello Everyone,

I am a Navajo (southwestern Native American tribe) born in Mesa, Arizona but raised in a middle-class suburb of Columbus, Ohio. I’ve never been able to truly gauge what schools would be a possibility, as I have never really understood the weight that is held on race and how they are linked to college admissions. This is mainly so I can know what is truly the caliber of school that fits me. What I’m looking to find out of this post is what schools are a match to my intellect, and what schools I can get into beyond my intellect based on my URM status.

Male
Native American
Hilliard, Ohio
Senior
Family is very wealthy, so financial aid is not a possibility
Second gen college student (Dad was first gen, Mom did not attend)

UWGPA: 3.77
WGPA: 4.56
Class Rank: 6 of about 387, top male in the class
Most rigorous courses available except for senior year, there were AP options for government and literature, but i decided to forgo them because I both do not enjoy them, and I plan to pursue a STEM career

ACT (took in beginning of junior year and was satisfied): 32 (32 R, 29 E, 30 M, 35 S, 26 W)
SAT subject tests: Chemistry 700, Math II 700

*I do not do well with Math while on a strict time constraint

AP Scores:
Lang 5
Calc AB 5
Psych 4
US History 4
Biology 4
Chemistry 3

Will be taking Physics Mechanics and E&M, Calc BC, and Computer Science A this year.

Extracurriculars/Honors/Awards

  • Academic Top Ten in Class 9th 10th 11th grade, most likely 12th
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • NAICCO volunteer since summer of 2016 (NAICCO is a native american center in Columbus)
  • Special Needs Prom volunteer/organizer 3 years, most likely a 4th
  • co-founded Chess Club in 9th grade, still running today
  • Key Club member 3 years in a row, most likely a 4th
  • Anime Club member 9th and 10th grade
  • JV Boys Volleyball 9th grade
  • JV Boys Tennis 10th and 11th grade
  • Math Club member 11th and 12th grade
  • Future Medical Careers Club 9th and 10th grade
  • Chemistry Club 11th grade
  • M3 Challenge participant 11th grade

Planned major: Computer Science or Biology (Human Biology if available)

Schools I have looked at:
University of Southern California
UCLA
University of Washington
Ohio State

As you can see, I really want to go to school on the west coast.

I have just recently started looking at Stanford and Duke out of curiosity.

PLEASE give suggestions!

Essays
Exclaimed by my AP Lang teacher as the best writer he has taught in 3 years, I didn’t know I was that good.

Letters of Rec
My AP Lang and AP Physics teacher have agreed to writing my letters. If I need more I will probably use my AP Calculus AB teacher.

2

You can definitely apply to Stanford and Duke and they will probably be just as much of a reach for you as for anyone else. Your rank is great, and while your ACT is a little bit low for these 2 schools, the fact that you’re NA will give you quite a large boost. One thing that’s a bit concerning is your intended majors coupled with your subsection scores. A 30 Math section is very low for a CS major at some of these schools. Then again, the fact that you’re Native American may be enough to move you into the accept pile at some of them. I would say apply broadly and see what happens. There just isn’t enough information out there about how elite NA students perform in admissions to give you an accurate prediction on reach schools, but I wouldn’t say there are any schools that you definitely shouldn’t apply to because they’re just out of your league.

Being in the top 2% of your class, and having a 32 ACT, there probably isn’t a school that is above you intellectually; you’re qualified for pretty much any university, but schools like Stanford that are reaches for everyone have to reject thousands of qualified applicants every year.

3

Thanks for the input! It was greatly appreciated.

4

Make sure your paperwork/registration is in order from your tribe.

Definitely apply to USC.

5

If you are interested in schools on the West Coast/Pacific time zone, here are some additional selective schools that offer CS and Biology majors (just FYI):

Caltech
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Cal-Berkeley
UCSD
UCSB
UC-Davis
UC-Irvine
Cal Poly

Several top-notch LACs – like Reed, Occidental, Claremont McKenna, Whitman and Pitzer – do not offer a CS major.

Still, there are plenty of high-quality options out west, in addition to Stanford/UCLA/Washington/USC.

6

Thanks for the suggestions bucky.
And yep, my tribal registration is in order

7

Remember that the California state public universities will be full fee to OOS students.
The UCs will be $55k per year. The Cal States will be close to $40k per year. Make sure your parents are willing to pay those costs per year.

8

I have opened up my mind to schools on the east coast, is there anything else that anyone can talk me through on my initial post or suggestions for east coast schools to apply to?

9

Since the NA status will give you a considerate boost, and based off of the size and caliber of your west coast/ other schools, here’s a list of east cost schools that would be good for you:

Reach: Cornell, Brown, Harvard (?), Tufts, JHU

Target: NEU, BC, BU, NYU

Sadety: Rutgers, UMass Amherst, Syracuse