Chance a Rising Senior (what schools should I be looking at for reach, target?)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics: middle class white female from midwest, EXTREMELY competitive public school (among top 30 in nation)

Intended Major(s): Psychology with a minor in biochem

ACT: 31(lol); it was my first try and I didn’t study, I’m pretty positive I can get at least a 33

GPA: UW 3.92/W 4.2 (we don’t rank but again, my school is insanely competitive)

Coursework: All AP and Honors Courses, will have taken about 10 APs when I apply, 5’s on all but one so far

I’m keeping this section very vague for privacy

Awards:

community service award (international)

youth service award (national)

national concert series (national)

all-state music ensemble (state)

my performing school’s concerto competition winner (local)

EC’s:

national youth board for international nonprofit

headed up international fundraiser raising over $150,000

founded my own music lesson program that received news coverage and helped ~75 kids

founding member/exec board for women’s leadership club at school

performing arts school music major

organize and serve at family nights for families experiencing homelessness

some other smaller stuff w some leadership roles

Essays: I haven’t gotten a finished draft of the essay, but I’m usually a strong writer so I’m hoping it will save my application.

LORs: One of my recommenders has written me recs in the past and basically claimed I walked on water. The other two should be strong, but I’m not expecting anything exceptional.

I’m from a pretty poor state and only one parent has a college degree, so I’m not super privileged here.

Absolute dream schools: Yale, Harvard, UChicago, Georgetown
Matches: Boston College, Boston U, GW, Amherst
Safeties: State schools

2

You appear to be a very competitive applicant if anything attempt to include more activities that correlate to your desired major. The consistent music theme throughout is a plus as is your international recognition. Have you perhaps considered Northwestern as well it seems to match your school selections.

3

The little Ivies like Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Smith, Wellesley, etc are very good about meeting 100% of financial need and doing it without loans. Rice has a new initiative (2018) called The Rice Investment designed to make Rice more accessible for students from low and middle income families (full tuition/room/board if below $65.000, 100% tuition if below $130,000, half tuition if below $200,000). They are also excellent for Music.

4

Are you from a rural part of your state? If so then UChicago tends to like rural kids from midwest. If not then you might be better off looking at schools outside the midwest.

5

I’m not but my state is largely rural

6

Oh I didn’t know that! That’s super helpful, thank you

7

Consider Amherst a reach for anyone. By the numbers, this year Amherst had a significantly lower acceptance rate (11.8%–source: Amherst Student 3/27/20) than Georgetown (15.0%–source: The Hoya 4/7/20).

8

You’re right, I put it in the wrong list lol sorry

9

I think that you are doing very well as long as your safeties are actually safeties. Given how well you are doing, it does seem very highly likely that your in-state public schools probably really are safeties at least in terms of admission.

If you have any financial constraints you might want to run the NPCs before you put in the effort to apply to these schools. I think that you have a good list.

10

First of all, congratulations on doing extremely well in high school. You are definitely competitive for any college out there.

I will also echo @flamingogirl’s proposal to add Northwestern instead of GTown as a reach.

I would also recommend UMN to you as a safety, since it has one of the best Psych undergrads in the USA (better than GTown, that’s for sure). It also has decent merit support. UIUC’s psych department is up there as well, and it would be a safety for you, but they are stingy with financial support.

Based on your profile, I think that you should look at more LACs as matches/reaches, including some of the very good woman’s only colleges (like Mt Holyoak and Smith).