Chance/Match me for Most LAC's - semi competitive junior from NC [3.9, public health, enviro health, data science, or urban studies, "need full financial aid"]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • First Generation African American
  • State/Location of residency: North Carolina
  • Type of high school: Public with nearing 3000+ students
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Female/African
  • Other special factors: Recruitable for D3 (looking at and talked to Bates and Macalester Colleges)

Intended Major(s): Public Health/ Environmental Health and Design/ Data Science and urban studies. It depends on the school.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.9/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.3/5.0
  • Class Rank: 63/461
  • ACT/SAT Scores: taking ACT again in June and aiming for 31-33 based on practice tests

Coursework

  • IB Diploma Candidate
  • IB courses: english SL/HL, math SL, history HL, philosophy SL/HL, environmental science HL, french SL
  • AP courses: World History and Human Geo (got fours on both), US History (awaiting score), Computer science (taking next year)
  • rest of my courses are honors for the exception of PE

Awards
My team second place in a hackathon freshman year, it had something to do with coming up with solutions to food scarcity in our city, and had our plan proposed to local organizations. I have no idea if it was used or not.

Extracurriculars

  • Varsity track- 3 years

  • Ran a fan page on instagram for about 5 years, gained over 10000 followers cumulative, over 100k outreach and had the offical artist account follow as well. I also used the account to talk about international situations and promoted gofundmes etc… I was also mentioned in some small international magazines and in a students research paper. I closed the page last summer due to school conflicts.

  • Attended TASS-AOS last summer, not sure how this fits in but it has peaked my interest in public health. Supposedly its prestigious but I havent heard much about it other than word of mouth.

  • Tutored kids in math since freshman year. First two years was online on discord (I left the server and forgot to ask for volunteering hours confirmation), and last year was in person at my school.

  • Secretary of our Environmental club freshman year, secretary of our Quiz Bowl club beginning next year, secretary of our Students Demand Action Club

  • Involvement in my dad’s small non-profit (about voting access and involvement in the community, health issues, etc…) that he created with his friends for around 3 years and helped support events and attended meetings. I will possibly gain a leadership position this summer in the youth section.

  • I currently have 2 jobs

Essays/LORs/Other
I will be spending a lot of time on my essays and have help from Matriculate.

I asked my economics teacher for a LOC last year and wrote a strong one that helped me get into TASS, so I’m going to assume this one is going to be as strong. 9/10

My math teacher: I had her for two years and she has acknowledged my participation in class and outside of her class. I would say 7/10

Will ask one of my factotums from TASS for a rec, maybe 8/10

Major Concern: I took a french high school course in 8th grade and failed it horribly. Its also the first class that shows up on my transcript.

Cost Constraints / Budget
I will definitely need full financial aid

Schools
Top schools: Deep Springs, Bates, Brown and Cornell
I aim to attend a college in a rural or quiet suburban area, with less than 5000 students (other than my in-state safeties ofc) and diverse. I am also an outdoorsy person so access to the outdoors would be nice

  • Safety: Appalachian State Uni, some UNC schools, Virginia Tech
  • Likely: ???
  • Match: Bryn Mawr, Scripps, Macalester, UNC Chapel Hill, Denison
  • Reach: Vassar, Cornell, Amherst, Pomona, Smith, Haverford, Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, Williams, Bates, Deep Springs

Are there any schools that I should consider, that I need to place in targets or schools that dont seem to match?

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Have you and your parents checked the net price calculator for each school on your list?

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It is not super diverse, but it has the same level of diversity as Bates, btw: Washington and Lee University. They have the Johnson Scholarship, which is a complete full ride (tuition, room, board, books etc) plus a substantial stipend (I believe it’s $7,000). So, worth taking a look.

My son who is there is an environmental science major and as a sophomore he will be studying coral reefs in Belize and analyzing the data in a paid research position with a prof. So, lots of great opportunities.

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Not for all, but for most my cost of attendance would be really low like <3k. For Fafsa, my estimated contribution is also $0 but I’ll definitely check right now all the ones left on the list.

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From this I will speculate that your family is somewhat low income. Perhaps you are Questbridge eligible?

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I am eligible for Questbridge, but I am a bit iffy on the idea of committing to a school before knowing your options. Do you have any advice about the schools on my list?

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If you like Scripps and Pomona, and are interested in an environmentally-oriented major, I’d consider Pitzer also. Athletics-wise, Pitzer and Pomona would be the same team, whereas Scripps shares teams with CMC and Mudd. If you’re recruited, the coach may designate which school they’re willing to support you for. Occidental could be worth a look also, if you’re considering LAC’s in LA - it’s quite diverse and strong academically, and meets need, although it might be a little more urban than you want. (Same is true of Macalester, but it’s a great school as well.)

Since you like women’s colleges and are looking for diversity, consider Agnes Scott in the Atlanta burbs. It’s particularly excellent for public health, as the major was developed in collaboration with Emory and allows undergrads to get a head start on their MPH through Emory’s School of Public Health. The presence of the CDC in Atlanta is also a plus. You might also consider Emory itself. You might like their Oxford campus, where students spend their first two years in a smaller and more rural setting before transitioning to the main campus for the last two years.

If you do Questbridge, you don’t have to rank any schools that you aren’t sure about committing to. You can still apply to additional QB schools through QB Regular Decision if you don’t match to one of your top choices. Being a QB applicant strengthens your application across the board; and if you do match, the financial aid package is even better than what low-income non-QB students get.

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Have you considered public policy as a potential major?

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I think you should absolutely look at Davidson College.

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Washington college in Maryland. Diverse in thought, fashion, music. Very active BSU and Cleopatra Sisters. Gives good merit (not sure about full ride though). Super cute small downtown you can walk to (High Street) but also a ton of nature. Next to a river (kayaking, biology and environmental science class on the river ) and they have a field campus (bird banding, planting trees) and active camous garden club. A coding club just created a person app for the college’s bike share. Lots of short hikes around the town or a short drive away.

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Look up the Batten Honors College at Virginia Wesleyan University. It it a full tuition (and maybe even more dollars). The program seems to hit on everything you are interested in. With the honors college scholarship and your pell grant it might get you to full ride. It looks like a really good program

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Thanks! Do you think it would be worth to just apply to all the claremont schools if I had a chance of being on the team at either of them? I’ll def look into Emory now that I know about their Oxford campus.

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No I havent, do you think it would be a good fit for me based on the majors I am interested in?

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With over 20 schools already on your list, you have a lot of research to do. Unfortunately, I am going to suggest an addition to your list: Occidental College in Los Angeles (President Obama did his first year or two at Oxy before transferring).

Scroll to bottom of page and click on Urban and Environmental Policy major.

Keep clicking through to see courses, professors, and placement of students.

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Potentially, because of its breadth, a major in public policy would allow you to transition across your multiple interests. For this practical, interdisciplinary major to be attractive, however, it would be best if you had an interest in its foundational disciplines, principally political science, economics and philosophy. For suggestions for colleges that offer programs in public policy, this site may be helpful:

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For closer to “likely” in rural/quiet area with outdoors opportunities, consider St Lawrence in upstate NY, has a very relaxed vibe in a gorgeous setting with hiking, biking, snow sports. Downsides are, transportation can be challenging from NC, and it may not meet full need. College of Wooster, with 56% acceptance rate, is also more of a likely, in central Ohio several hours from both Cleveland and Columbus airports, a friendly campus vibe. Dickinson in PA, just west of Harrisburg, edges closer to a match, with about 34% acceptance rate. Since you are open to women’s colleges, how about Mt. Holyoke, with a 40% acceptance rate?

I agree that Denison, Haverford and Bryn Mawr are good fits with your goals, though be mindful of current admission rates – Denison 17%, Haverford 16%, Bryn Mawr 30%, Vassar 18% (I couldn’t find BMC and Vassar published rates so calculated those from the most recent Common Data sets). Personally, I wouldn’t recommend adding Occidental as it doesn’t seem to fit the rural/quiet location preference, though I admit I’ve never been there, just have friends’ kids who went there.

IB Diploma candidates are well-regarded by schools, schools appreciate the breadth and intensity of the program so that, plus strong gpa, is a great academic profile to have. Working a paid job is also an important indicator of maturity, responsibility, reliability, so make sure to include that in your activities. Double check your letter of recommendations, as many schools request “core” subject recommenders and Econ may not be considered a core academic subject. Has your Econ teacher taught you in other subjects as well? How is your relationship with your IB English or History teachers, is that something worth pursuing?

Broadly, I would start with financial parameters and build the list from “sure things” up to “reaches.” So, start by identifying which schools meet full need (keeping in mind, the school defines the need, not the family), so running specific NPC for individual schools is important. Then, build out the list from the “bottom” up – it’s easy to fall in love with a school like Brown or Williams, but the most important schools on the list are the “sure things” and “likely” schools because it is possible those are the schools the student will be deciding among in the spring of senior year.

Good luck with your process, and take advantage of the wisdom and experience here at CC!

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Dear God No ! You will be VERY uncomfortable at a school like St. Lawrence University.

Look into Occidental College. You will be well received & well educated there.

P.S. You are on the right track with your preferred schools of Bates College & Macalester College.

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Seconding Davidson and Washington and Lee for financial reasons - they meet full financial need without loans factored in. W&L figured our contribution even lower than some other schools.

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Thank you for the depth of your answer! I am debating on asking my ASL teacher for a rec letter since we have a closer relationship than my other core teachers due to our small class size (and I was one of her first students). Some colleges consider language classes a core class, so I hope that asking her would work. I’ll look into Mt Holyoke since it does fit in some of my parameters. Also do you think that my failed class would hinder my ability into getting into some reach/ hard target colleges?

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I will definitely be looking into washington and lee, but I’ve heard its a fairly conservative school. As a POC that is a bit concerning :confused: