Chance an Asian guy with average ECs for not so average schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m pretty set on applying to Duke ED, other top schools being Rice, Vanderbilt, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Northeastern. Considering my ECs I don’t know if I even have a chance but yeah

Hooks:
I’m half Chinese, half white, not really a hook at all to be honest other than some unique cultural experiences
I’m a transgender guy, reason I put it as a hook is because I can (and have) written a pretty good essay about it. Sent it to my English teacher and he said it is a top 10% essay, and I’m pretty sure I could make it even better.

Stats:
UW GPA: 3.93/4.0
W GPA: 4.38/5.0
ACT: 36 (36/36/36/36/8)
PSAT: 1460 (at least national merit commended, waiting for September to see if I am a semifinalist)
APs: Human Geography (5), World History (5), Physics 1 (3), Psychology, US History, Spanish, English Language, Calculus AB, US Gov, Statistics, English Literature
My school offers the IB diploma, I am not in the program but have a full IB schedule of classes (6 IB or AP classes out of 7)

ECs:
co-founder/president of mental health club
youth leadership program at children’s hospital, we plan workshops at conferences and speak on panels
trumpet player in jazz band, marching band, and wind ensemble
podcast with said youth leadership group (started during covid-19)
class officer during sophomore year (I had to quit due to a schedule conflict with jazz band)
I work 15-20 hours at Starbucks
summer before sophomore year I had 110 volunteer hours at science summer camps

I know a lot of the schools on my list are high reaches, I don’t even know if I have a chance at them, and obviously I am applying to matches and safeties (UCSD, UCSB, UPortland, UW, UT Austin, UNC Chapel Hill). Just trying to get a gist of what I should expect from this whole process/if there are other schools I should consider. Thanks in advance

2

Are you a resident of California?
UC’s cater to instate residents. If you are not instate, you would pay full fees of $65K per year. The UC’s should never be considered safeties.

Hooks: These are not something that you pick and choose that you decide is a hook.
Hooks are something that the university seeks and needs and are very specific but they generally include:

-Recruited athlete
-URM-Underrepresented minority student like African-American, Native American, Hispanic, etc.

-Legacy,
-Celebrity (think Malala, olympic athletes) or celebrity status-like a world renowned artist, world activist (Greta Thunberg)
and
-large donors (donating a building or a wing to a university).

As for your chances, all you can do is apply. If you are a California resident, you need some CSU’s for safeties.

3

I feel like you could get into UC Berkeley or UCLA from what google says.
https://www.google.com/search?q=berkeley+average+gpa&oq=berkeley+av&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l7.3256j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Not sure about your ECs though, I would have to be a college admissions expert to know but they sound pretty alright.
Personally I feel you would have at least average chance at any of these schools, and plenty of people have shotgunned and applied to 20+ schools and gotten into one of their reaches.

4

UNC takes 70% of its students from North Carolina. If you are a N.C. resident you are a match but UNC cannot be counted on as a match/safety for anyone outside of the state!

5

There’s two types of people applying to Duke and Rice
(1) People with no chance to get admitted, and
(2) People with a small chance to get admitted.

There is no third category of:
(3) People that are very likely to get admitted.

That said, I think you are in the 2nd group. Which is to say, you’ve got about as good a chance as anyone, even if no one’s chances are very good.

As for the rest of your group, you won’t get in all of them, but I think should get in at least one of them.

You’ve done good work, you should be rewarded.

6

@inthegarden
Yeah I agree, I meant to put it in the reach category as I know they take very few OOS students

7

@“aunt bea” I am not a CA resident. the UCs listed at the bottom are matches at best for me. I am a WA resident so UW would probably be a safety-match for me, UPortland is also a safety. Luckily, financial aid is not going to be a factor for me.
My race is not a hook, I say my gender is a hook because it is a very underrepresented group and I’ve seen many admissions officers say it is a group they look to represent.
But I know my chances are hard to predict and all I can really do is wait and see

8

Your intended major may be relevant, since many University of Washington majors are more competitive than general admission (and could be hard to get into if you enroll without direct admission to the major).