Chance an anxious junior for T20s

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey all I’ve been creeping around these forums for the past few months but hesitated to make an account/post something like this butttt here goes

Statsss:
SAT: 1510 790 M 720 R&W (should i take again? this was first time)
GPA UW: 3.95/4
GPA W: 4.1
Class Rank: Top 15% in very competitive hs
AP’s: AP Physics I (most likely getting a 4, maybe a 5), AP Psych (projected 5) (both this year haven’t taken ap exams yet)
AP’s for senior year: AP Macro, Ap Econ, Ap bio, Ap chem, Ap euro history, AP calc bc
GPA slightly lower b/c school offers “gifted” classes that are much harder than regular classes but don’t count as honors (took gifted biology, gifted chemistry, and accel math pathway like accel pre-calc and did good in them)
A little worried ab # of ap classes b/c didn’t start until junior year w them

Extracurriculars:
Raised $10k+ with a friend for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Started sneaker reselling business (llc) that made ~$10k in a year
4 years hs soccer
8+ years club soccer (national premier league & southern regional premier league team ranked top 15 in state)
State cup semifinalist (soccer)
~5 years old alto sax private lessons
3 years made district honor band
Co-founder and vice pres “find your talent club” at school (sounds kinda pointless but we help struggling kids try new things and also donate canned foods and volunteer)
3 years in HOSA
Many honor societies (nhs, spanish honor society, english honor society, science honor society)
gold honor roll 4x (93+ uw average)
Work at mom’s restaurant

This summer:
Working on finding internship @ local hospital
Raising more money for LLS
Pre-college program @ NYU? (maybe)

Letters of Rec:
haven’t really looked into too much, definitely getting one from AP Physics I teacher, not sure about two others

Boring stuff:
Income: ~$100k
Ethnicity: Chinese (can speak Chinese)
Sex: Male
Financial Aid: maybe
From a small suburb outside Atlanta, GA

Hooks: parents divorced around 4th grade and dunno where mom is (she was suicidal) is that even a hook?!??

My safeties are UGA and UF (are these too hard for safeties?) Might also apply to easier schools to get into too like Clemson and Auburn. My most desired schools are NYU, Michigan, Chapel Hill, UVA, USC. Anything better than that is out of reach or just due to luck lmao, probably trying to ED to NYU and EA to rest

Looking to major in either biology or chemistry for a pre-med type pathway not really sure ab my stats because they seem subpar for the schools i’m aiming for but thanks for the help!!

2

Hmm top 15% is the only real issue I see. I guess that’s because you didn’t take any APs until this year? And unless you’re at Westminster, I don’t think being at a “competitive” HS will carry much weight. UNC pretty much only takes top 10% even in state. You should get in Clemson, but apply early since they have rolling admissions. You should also get in UGA. Auburn is definitely a safety. Are you applying to U South Carolina? That would be a safety. I don’t know about the rest. Check Naviance as well as their common data sets.

3

Nooo not U South Carolina, U of Southern Cali and no I’m not at Westminster so I guess that won’t carry much weight, but most likely going to ed to NYU since that is my top choice. and yes, it is because of my lack of ap’s freshman and sophomore year

4

I assumed you meant Cal, so that was why I spelled out S Carolina. It would be a safety for you. Not so sure about USC but check your Naviance and their common data set. That should give you a good idea. Do the same for NYU and any others you’re interested in.

5

Emory? And maybe take one more SAT to get that verbal score up.

With your grades you should be eligible for Zell Miller.

6

Yes! Emory is definitely one of my top options and I am eligible for Zell Miller. Just concerned about costs because it is a private school and I heard that they don’t give money for Zell but not too sure

7

Unique profile for sure. Single parent home with great ECs. I think you definitely have a shot! Make sure to use that ED and EA wisely, plus check your estimated contribution with the NPC.

8

And Case Western and Rochester should be considered as well. Both excellent schools and your grades/scores are within reach. Plus they have top rated medical schools.

Case is generous with merit aid. Your grades/scores are the same as an Eagle Scout I worked with from a pressure cooker school in the San Francisco Bay Area and he got 20,000 a year in merit.

If you are going for aid, take NYU off the list as it’s expensive/stingy with financial/merit aid.

9

For out of the box, you seem to be a good candidate for BU and Brandeis. Both schools are strong in Biology.

Since my son goes to the school, I highly recommend WashU, although they like
applicants to show ‘demonstrated interest.’ I think you are a good candidate for admissions and you should have it as a target since it’s a peer of Emory.

10

Having divorced parents is not a hook, and may be a hurtle as you’ll need the CSS as some of those schools and have to apply for a waiver.

11

Ahh I forgot to clarify my dad got remarried and when I talk about my moms restaurant I mean stepmother but my parents have means of paying for school just would rather have some aid/scholarships (I mean wouldn’t everyone?)

12

And demominstrated interest means something like visiting the campus, right? I’ve been to washu info meeting and wrote my name and I am planning to visit some schools this summer and St. Louis May be on the list!

13

@Sixant789 correct-you went to an info meeting and registered so that is the start of demonstrated interest.

And if you have questions about WashU, PM me.

14

With an absent parent—NCP, going to have to address for PROFILE. You will be looking for financial aid and scholarships, right? You might want to get ready as to how to approach the absent parent.

You have good stats and will likely get into a number of your schools. You need to discuss the financial aspect with your parents. You’ll need that NCP waiver and there may be issues if your step mom owns a restaurant or other business. It’s difficult to estimate what aid you will be getting.

15

What is NCP? I’m sorry I don’t know much about this financial aid stuff, I should get to researching about it

16

@Sixant789

NPC is net price calculator. It tells you about how much you will be paying.

17

Divorced parents can be an anti-hook for financial aid purposes at colleges that want both parents’ finances.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html

18

While NPC means net price calculator, NCP means non-custodial parent (when parents are divorced).

Using the college’s NPC when parents are divorced and the college wants NCP information can be error prone, since the student often does not have accurate financial information for the NCP, and/or colleges may have different ways of handling it in the NPC, and/or the college’s NPC may not work well for divorced parent situations. See the link in reply #16 for more information.

19

The meaning of NPC is Notional Principal Contract and other meanings are located at the bottom which takes place within Financial terminology and NPC has 1 different meaning. All meanings which belong to NPC abbreviation are taken part only within Financial terminology and other meanings are not found.

20

If your family income is $100K, does your father have massive savings? b/c I think you are going to run into money challenges, and with a business (restaurant) the NPCs might not be as accurate. NYU costs nearly your entire family income per year, and they are not good for financial aid.