Chance a stressed rising senior

Chance Me / Match Me!
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1

I’m a prospective business/econ/polisci major and my list includes NYU Liberal Studies(ED1), Emory Oxford(ED2), Boston College Business, Claremont Mckenna, Wake Forest, UNC in state, and William and Mary. Could you suggest other schools that I should add to my list- I’m currently also considering IU Kelley and UIUC.
Here is my profile
I am an Indian-American male Junior. 400k parental income. I live in North Carolina.
Stats
UW GPA-3.7
W GPA-4.2
SAT-1480 (M-770, CRW-710)
Will take 7 AP classes throughout high school . 13 Honors classes
SAT Subject tests- Math 2- 780

Extracurriculars
Student Government,
Officer in MUN club ,
Mock Trial team(we won a competition),
We the people(state champions) ,
Leader of a poverty awareness group at my school ,
Leader of investment club ,
Ethics Bowl,
National Honors Society ,
Have advocated for certain bills and have talked to local politicians about them,
Summer school at NYU,
Volunteered with a local city council ,
Student Legislative Assembly,
Quiz bowl-1 year,
My grandfather runs one of the largest volunteering organizations within India and I have worked with that for a long time. That organization has won awards from the Government of India and UNICEF. I have many inspiring stories from there.
Internship in the summer with a lawyer

Hooks/Additional information
I moved to America in 9th grade( I was born in America so I am a US citizen) and I got really sick when I came here and that deeply affected my freshman and sophomore year. I have an upward grade trend since then.
I go to a top 65 ranked high school nationally/top 5 in the state of North Carolina(I don’t want to reveal which one) and our school is known to be very competitive.
I also have a very good raport with my teachers and some have already said that they would write excellent recommendations.

2

You might wish to add University of Washington (Foster) to your list, although direct admission to the program is difficult, and later admission is also very challenging. Good luck!

3

NYU as ED1 looks like you have a decent chance. I assume your parents are okay with paying in full? Note that NYU is stingy with financial aid.

Are you okay with shelling out almost $80k per year for a private college experience, even though online instruction may continue well into 2021?

4

You are competitive for all of your choices, but many are reaches, NYU especially - their number of applicants has shot up in the past few years, and acceptance rates have dropped from 30% in 2015 to 15% now. The average GPA is 3.7, but that include the admits to Tisch, many of who are being accepted on the basis of portfolio. I think that Liberal Studies works on a different system, but from what I have read here, you are likely competitive, and applying ED will put you in a good position.

Emory is a reach, but with the ED application, possibly a low one, Your GPA is slightly into their bottom 25% by GPA and inside their mid 50% by SAT.

BC is also a reach, perhaps a high reach, because of your GPA.

CMC is an extremely high reach. Try, but highly unlikely

Wake Forest is a reach

UNC Chapel hill is either a high match/low reach. Your SAT is good, but your GPA is on the low side. Acceptance rate for in-state applicants is 42% or so.

William and Mary is a reach (OOS acceptance rate 29%)

You cannot be accepted directly to IU Kelly, since they require an unweighted HSGPA of 3.8

UIUC Gies is a match. Acceptance rate is 42%, you are in the mid 50% by GPA, and in the top 25% by SAT.

You do not have any safeties on your list, and it is very top-heavy.

Because you have a rising trend, there is a good chance that your application with more competitive than that of an applicant with a stead 3.7 GPA. That is why it is worthwhile to apply to most of your reaches (though I would not recommend CMC except as a lottery ticket application)

However, you do need a safety, to which you are almost certain to be accepted with your stats as they are. I also recommend that you start looking at some matches as well.

Does your school use Naviance? That should help you. Students with your stats from your high school may be accepted at higher or lower rates that other schools. If your high school is a top NC school, that can either mean that UNC will accept students with your stats from your school at a higher rate (since they know that a 3.7 there is more difficult than a 3.8 elsewhere), or at a lower rate (since many students from your school are likely applying).

It is not that different at other schools, so check your Naviance, and again, your chances may be somewhat higher than what can be guessed based on your raw GPA, because of the upwards trend, but do not depend on it.

Good luck!

PS. if you want recommendations for other schools - what are you looking for in a school?

5

I ended up getting into Emory and UNC!

2 Likes
6

Congratulations! Both are great schools.