Type of high school: Public, pretty competitive (couple kids go to ivies/top 20s every year)
Gender/race: White female
Special Factors: None
Intended Major(s)
Currently debating between visual arts, asian studies, and international studies. I’m also heavily considering doing a double major in order to combine my passion for art and international business/ foreign language. I think international business and art could combine nicely for some sort of international marketing career. My decision mainly depends on price, I don’t really want to pay 30K/year for an art degree.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.5
Class Rank: Top 5% (out of 580 kids)
ACT/SAT Scores: 35 composite (33m/34r/36e/36s), 9 on the writing section though (is it worth retaking to get my writing score up?)
PSAT: 1450 (NM semifinalist likely).
Coursework
All honors and APs for core classes
APs: Bio (5), World History (5), Lang (TBD), Psych (TBD), Macro/Micro Economics (TBD), US History (TBD), Drawing (TBD)
Senior year APs: AP 2D Art, AP Lit, AP Stat
Senior year dual enrollment classes: Korean 1, Korean 2, US government, Asian politics
Took Spanish classes and very art heavy electives
Awards
NSLI-Y Korean Summer Scholarship: Full merit scholarship to study abroad in South Korea and study Korean at a Korean university. The program is sponsored by the State Department, is nationwide, and has a 10-15% acceptance rate.
Scholastic Art and Writing National Gold Medal: A national gold medal in the mixed media category, all of the pieces I entered also won gold keys at the state level.
National Merit Scholar Semi-finalist (expected): My selection Index score was a 220 (cutoff was 211 for Oklahoma last year).
OAI Quartz acceptance and scholarship: OAI Quartz is an Oklahoma summer arts intensive program, everyone accepted gets a full scholarship to attend (about a 20% acceptance rate). I didn’t attend due to NSLI-Y study abroad.
Other small recognitions: Honor roll, NHS acceptance, art published in school magazine, yearbook feature for art and academics
Extracurriculars
NSLI-Y Study Abroad Program: Studied Korean intensively in South Korea, stayed with host family, did cultural activities, full scholarship to attend
Art: I have a very strong art portfolio and spend a lot of time on art. I know I can include hobbies on Common App, but I don’t just want to say “Art”, so I am still figuring out how to word this.
Korean language self study: I have self studied Korean consistently since 8th grade through internet courses and online tutors. I will get an official OPI soon to prove my language proficiency (expect at least intermediate level). I have also self studied Swedish, but will not be taking a proficiency test or anything, so I probably won’t mention it on my application unless it’s in an essay.
Art club leader: Member of art club and art club leader committee. About 100 students in art club, I help to plan and initiate events. We also do a big mural project for our schools fund raising week.
Coffee Shop worker: I have worked at the same coffee shop for about a year now and will continue to work there until I graduate. I could get a really good LOR from my manager.
Study Abroad program mentor: When the next NSLI-Y applications open, I will help applicants with essays and reach out to the language teachers at my school in order to find more people who might be interested and a good fit for the program. I already have a couple people interested in applying and I will apply to be an official alumni rep in December.
Tennis team: Very competitive high school team, team places at state every year. Played from Freshman to Junior year, was a part of the Freshmen team, JV team (sophomore), and the varsity team (junior). I won’t be playing next year.
Worked at a local pizza place 8th grade and freshman year, but switched to coffee shop during sophomore year.
NHS: I mainly help with Art club projects for the schools fundraising week and NHS creative projects for volunteer points. I’m considering not doing NHS for next year, but haven’t decided for sure yet.
Question: I’m slightly worried that I don’t have enough community involvement and leadership, should I focus more on these two aspects compared to art/Korean?
Essays/LORs/Other
I am a strong writer as I have written essays for various programs and organizations before and have been accepted, and I used to be a big creative writer (essays might be a 8-9/10 if I had to guess).
LORs: I know a few teachers really well (particularly my art teacher because I’ve known him since freshman year) and an english teacher who wrote my LOR for NSLI-Y. I also know some adults outside of school (work manager, language teacher) who could write strong LORs as well.
Cost Constraints / Budget
I am paying for 100% of my college, and my limit would probably be around 30k a year (for my top choices). But, the lower, the better. People at school with similar stats to me have gotten full rides from pretty much any in-state school, so that is an option for me if I don’t want to take out loans.
Schools (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
I will apply EA when possible, considering ED for Rice, but not sure for financial reasons.
If you have any school suggestions, that would be awesome!
Things I’m looking for in a college: big city environment preferred, good scholarships/financial aid, wide variety of study abroad programs, warm weather (but willing to make exceptions), a very collaborative student body (I have heard some schools have an environment that heavily promotes competition among students rather than community, I’m not a huge fan of that), schools that are good with double majors.
Things that don’t matter to me: Greek life, sports, school size, public/private
Safety: Mainly in-state schools (OU, OSU, Tulsa University), would likely get a near full ride to attend.
Likely: SMU (high tuition, but good merit scholarships), University of Washington (very good Korean program but not too sure about financial aid), UT Dallas (probably good scholarship).
Match: UT Austin (likely not a whole lot of scholarship help), researching more match schools at the moment.
Reach: Rice (my top choice, considering ED), Vanderbilt, Yonsei UIC (Korean international college, 15% acceptance rate), WASHU
I mainly want to know how I stand among other people that would be applying to my reach schools. I have a hard time knowing where I stand since most people seem to be doing STEM stuff, and I learn more into the humanities side. Also, I was curious if there were any gaps in my application (ex: not enough leadership) or anything I could do to make my application stronger. Don’t be afraid to be honest, I really appreciate any constructive criticism. Any school suggestions would also be nice! Thank you so much!!
It depends, my family makes around 140k, and I have three younger siblings (closest one is two years younger, and all will most likely attend college). So, I do at some schools (mainly private schools like Rice), but not as much at big state schools.
If you are paying - check U of Tulsa - you would go for free with NMSF. See if one of their majors would work for you. They’re already on your list.
Also schools like Alabama and Fordham.
Not sure your need level (as colleges determine, not you) but there are many schools that reward Natl Merit.
If you see a school, check their website to make sure they are offering this.
When you say you are paying, I take that as you, not your family. So where will $120k come from ?
The NMSF and if you become NMF, are a huge golden ticket. As you run the net price calculators on your top choices, it will give you clarity as to whether you’ll be able to afford them.
Good luck.
Ps not sure y it’s showing a paper service. When u click on it it’s the scholarships
How are you doing this? Do you already have this money saved in the bank?
You have a very good list of accomplishments. As you know, there are some generous colleges that will likely come in at your $30,000 net cost using need based aid…but they are highly competitive for admissions.
And as noted, there are a number of colleges where your stats alone will qualify you for significant merit aid.
I think you have a nice varied list. And lucky you that you are in Oklahoma where your costs will likely be VERY favorable!!
I did tour Tulsa and it was nice, I will definitely apply. If I were to pay 30k a year, I would go for a degree that would get me a job that pays enough for me to pay off 120k in student loans (international law or something on that route for the degree, definitely not art). I’m really hoping for national merit finalist, so I’ll see if that works out. Thank you so much for your response!
The money would come from student loans. I would only take out that much if I was going for a high-paying degree (like international law) at a school I loved. If I decided to go the art route, I would be staying in-state and not taking out any loans. I am lucky to be in Oklahoma cost wise! Thanks for your reply!!
Also, $30,000 a year in loans translates to $120,000 over four years. That’s a LOT of loans.
Have you run the net price calculators for all of these schools…for a rough estimate. I say that, because the NPCs are currently set for the 2023-2024 academic year…and that’s not you.
I’m hoping for some great merit awards for you…or need based aid at one if the more generous colleges.
Hmmm. Yeah. That’s not a good idea nor is that going to happen. You can only get $27k.
How do you define international law and what makes you think it’s so lucrative ?
Ideally you have no loans. Worst case $27k.
Here’s the other thing - law schools don’t care where you go undergrad. They care what you do at school, your LSAT and work experience if you take a year or two in between.
Don’t believe me ? Look at the list of schools represented at Harvard Law. 174 in all including OU.
Save your money if it comes down to you funding your school.
Loans are a financial strangle.
If you get need aid, great. If not, take the low cost of an Alabama or no cost of Tulsa etc.
You’ll have the chance to stand out on any campus.
I honestly haven’t done too much research on student loans, so I will get to work on that, but my parents would probably co-sign it. Both of my parents had to take out a lot of student loans, and they want me to avoid doing the same. The only school I would really take out significant loans for would be Rice (NPC said 18K a year), so I am trying to avoid it if possible! Hoping for merit scholarships
My parents have also suggested the law route. I like the idea of low cost undergrad and then attending a different school for grad/law school, I will consider that further. Thank you!
Who is paying the $18k? If you (with parent co sign), and I love Rice but it’s not worth it….especially when you have such great No and low cost options.
Loans come with interest and fees so when you think you’re borrowing $18k, it’s really more in cost than that when you add in fees which can make up 4.2% of principal. (Edit for clarity thx @thumper1 )
That’s a good point about the fees. I would be paying it through loans, but I will be applying and just seeing what the cost turns out to be compared to the other schools I apply to. Financial aid could be more than I expect at Rice. But, I would likely pick free in state over Rice because the in state options are decent and would maybe even cover study abroad expenses!
I do think you have a nicely balanced list that will hopefully give you some really affordable options…given your fine academic record, and/or your family finances.
So…as long as you are prepared to walk away from anything that is TOO pricey…go for it. Your instate options really are excellent! And likely will be very affordable.
B4 applying make sure your parents fill out the NPCs of any school - not now but when the app year starts.
This way you only apply to schools you know are a possibility. That you’ll have an OU or Tulsa in backup will give you that flexibility. Sometimes the NPCs aren’t accurate.
Also UTD has a great Natl Merit and Alabama has more National Merit Scholars than anyone and draw nationally - so always worth looking at.
You’ll have lots of options - close by or in other parts.
In-state is definitely a good option, and I don’t like the idea of graduating with 100k in debt just for out-of-state . Thank you again for all of your help, I really appreciate it!
This could be a complicated year for when the NPCs are updated, largely due to changes in the FAFSA that are happening, and some that have some legislative challenges. @kelsmom might be able to elaborate. Or @Mwfan1921 . Those NPCs might be delayed in being updated. But you can use the current ones for a rough estimate.
You are a very strong candidate. You have a legitimate chance at any of these schools, including your reaches. That said, schools like Rice have very low acceptance rates even for highly qualified students like yourself, so you were right to make a balanced list. I don’t think there is anything you should be doing to try to make your application stronger. Keep following your true interests.
A bigger barrier is going to be cost. I would definitely continue to research the National Merit schools. I agree that Tulsa might be a terrific choice, especially as the new president is really trying to recruit National Merit Scholars (projected 15-20% of incoming freshman.) Fordham in NY is also a National Merit school. It doesn’t offer Korean, but does offer a number of majors with an international focus and a study abroad at Sogang University. OSU belongs to National Student Exchange, which would allow you to do up to a year of exchange at any other school in the program paying only what you would pay at OSU. There are some NSE schools that have good Korean programs. Alabama is also a National Merit school with a Korean program. It also belongs to NSE. National Student Exchange - Campuses / Location
but not too sure about financial aid), UT Dallas (probably good scholarship).
. Thank you again for all of your help, I really appreciate it!