Both match up very well actually. I do not have any unusual financial circumstances. My parents can afford to pay $35,000 a year for sure.
I think JHU meets full need. But not all universities will fill the gap between your EFC and cost of attendance. So your parents may need to take out loans to fill the gap. Financial aid includes grants, scholarships and loans.
From what I have heard, these T30s are fairly uniform with their disbursement of need-based aid. I am not too worried on that front. My parents will not need to take any loans out; I will work 40 hours a week if need be. Worst case scenario, my base of AP and dual enrollment credits will allow me to graduate in 2.5-3 years, saving thousands of dollars (or more).
It will be impossible to work full time if you are a full time student, and maintain the GPA you need to land a job or go to grad school.
Using AP credits to graduate early is also not something you should count on. Each school has different policies for utilizing AP credit and course sequencing.
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Is there any college on my list that merits caution/attention? I am pretty sure I can manage the finances. No matter what, I can always afford my in-state schools. If financial aid becomes such an issue, I can always reject ED. So far, I have received every indication that Northwestern is affordable with need-based aid. I can also get a general NMF scholarship, local school-based scholarships, and have some cash flow from my job(s).
Other than UMich and JHU, my D didnât overlap with any of your schools (and she is an engineering student).
I believe JHU requires 100 credit hours to be completed at the university regardless of how many credits you come in with. Many other schools have similar requirements. Hopefully others will chime in with specifics but you should be able to google the information for each other schools on your list.
I think I will exclude JHU from my list now as their EDII rate is not high enough for me to have a good shot. The other schools on my list give me enough credits to graduate at least 1 year early.
Freshmen can work 6-8 hours without impact.
UM is only a match because youâre instate and your school has a good relationship with them, despite all your achievements.
From OOS, UM is an automatic reach.
When estimating chances, for any university that has a below 25% admission rate, you must consider itâs âreach for everyoneâ. With your stats& achievements you might add that criterion for 20% or less acceptance rate rather than 25% but even that is risky. For these universities (including UM for OOS applicants), high stats are just a way to get past first cut, and the selection process becomes unpredictable because it rests on institutional priorities. Every year high achievers are shut out from all their reaches and matches.
I donât think thatâd be your case (due to UM being instate) and that being said, with UM as a good backup, identify 1-2 more matches and you should be OK.
Consider Tufts.
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I will not study abroad or anything. I will not have a social life (had 0 social life in HS too) or spend any time on entertainment. My major has less workload compared to engineering, chemistry etc. Therefore, I can work a solid amount of hours in a week and even overtime if necessary. Tufts has always been on my radar, so thanks.
Did your parents or siblings graduate from a 4-year college in the US?
Father got his masters yes.
A part-time job can, at best, give you some additional money for incidental expenses in college. Also, the number of hours you work will impact clubs you can join, or group projects you can be part of etc.
I am a little surprised that you want to major in IR but have no interest in studying abroad. The top universities will have a âWhy us essayâ and perhaps one where you have to articulate âwhy IRâ? Have you visited any other countries besides India? For the T20 schools, you may need to show an interest and passion outside the list of standard clubs you have listed. It would help if you whittled those down and focused on what really matters and interests you.
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Um⊠of course. I have visited like 15 or so countries on several continents. I do not think a study abroad experience is necessary for a complete IR degree. I am trying to cut costs wherever possible while getting a degree from a competitive institution (to get a good job after graduation before law school and/or if the legal market collapses). I can articulate why IR due to my excessive obsession with world happenings and passions. I have many essays planned on how why IR is the best choice for me. I believe my activities fit my major quite well, actually. I did not have the luxury of advanced guidance to further my passions outside of ââstandard clubsââ? I am really unsure on what else to do. Are my activities not unique enough? If so, I guess T20s are not for me.
I am a little worried about that statement, @geolawyer1903. Please donât neglect this important aspect of your life, even if it is just to develop the âsoft skillsâ you will need as an attorney someday.
I disagree with some on here about how many hours you can work. It is somewhat dependent on your major, and of course the university (you will find ironically that some of the highest ranked schools will be the âeasiestâ), but 20 hours should be easily doable with some modicum of efficiency and focus on your part. I wouldnât counsel more than about that number.
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Ok, this I can agree with. I can develop soft skills from doing internships and going to networking dinners etc. I understand the value in that. I am not deficient in that area, and am actively improving those skills. I think that the overhyping of college workload and the ominous warnings saying that you can only make a little money doing a job etc. are based on the assumption that weekly sports games, romantic dates, ââgoing out with friendsââ, etc. are essential.
IR typically requires proficiency in one language and study abroad (and/or internship) in an area where that language is spoken as well as basics in another language.
The recommendation to limit any part time job to 6-8 hours freshman year assumes a rigorous college (where getting by with just 1 hour of prep per class period is impossible) and needing time to adjust to the demands of college. In addition to class, youâll have office hours, study group, review sessions.
On top of this, because youâre aiming for law school, youâll be expected to rank very high in every class you take and do things that make you noticeable to your professors (attending office hours with good questions is a good first step).
It also assumes that as a freshman you cannot get a very interesting job, so that your time is better spent participating in groups of interests (honors college government, debate society, writing an opinion column in the college paper, etc.) as an investment in the future, so that the following year you have a good shot at a leadership position. At the activity fair, you collect ALL the info of interest then you attend the first meeting for a good dozen and decide which ones will be the best fit for your personality and interests. Itâs from showing leadership qualities and contributing to the college community in whatever form you wish that you develop the skills and resume that lead to internships - not just from good grades.
As a sophomore you can probably have a more interesting job than busboy at the cafeteria or library attendant (although the latter is much sought after since itâs a âpaid to studyâ position!) But if your abilities lead to your being offered an unpaid research position for instance, itâs a good investment to take it and adjust work hours accordingly, if you can.
Finally, part of the advantage of being at a top institution is that youâre surrounded by brilliant peers. You want to get to know them, bounce ideas off off them, practice networking. It takes time. But that time is an investment.
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Your list of clubs and activities are similar to many other students in your demographic who are also applying to the T20 schools . You need to cull your list of activities - you can only fit 10 in the Common App . And rank them in order of significance. You will have limited space to describe them, so you need to think about how to best to summarize. If you were able to bring a new dimension to some of your activities, add that in the description. For example, did you bring in a new perspective to the Tamil curriculum that youâre helping out in?
Regarding my âominous warningsâ about getting a job, MYOS1634 has addressed that in much more detail than I could have. Itâs excellent advice to someone who hopes to attend a T20 university and then maybe go on to law school or pursue something else.
We are an ORM family and are very much aware of the fact that the Asian American applicant pool is very competitive. The list of ECâs are strikingly similar for this pool - language school, math contest/science olympiad/ geography bee etc., creating a non-profit,âŠ
Thatâs why you need to pay attention to how youâre going to package the activities you have and not just come across âjust another Asian kid who won some contestâ. (I think this is the tenth time Iâm writing this - will probably get a CC badge just for thatâŠ)
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First of all, you have an extremely impressive academic record. I think that you were actually on your way to an impressive set of ECs, too, had it not been for Covid basically killing most ECs for the last quarter of your sophomore year and all of your junior year. But rest assured, everyone else is in the same boat.
I want to scream when hard-working, high-achieving students are called âtry-hardsâ. Youâre supposed to try hard! That being said, try to cultivate a friendly relationship with your counselor. That cover letter is important; in fact, the counselor can often say things for you in her letter that you cannot say about yourself without it sounding like bragging, or if their were challenges that you faced, as if you were looking for sympathy or pity.
My friendâs daughter is in the Altman program at Tulane and LOVES it. She is a very hard-working, very high achieving person - the type of woman who will probably be a leader in her generation. I think it would probably be an excellent place for you, for many reasons, plus they offer significant merit money. It does, however, include study abroad in your target region as a component of the program. The reason that I think it would be great for you is that I think that you need the social training that the program would effectively offer you, because it seems to be a group cohort type of program, that would offer you some goal-oriented social interaction.
Your statement about having had zero social life in high school and planning to have no social life in college worries me. In fact, you sound as if you scorn having friends, as if social life in college were only about cheering like sheep at sports events and having premarital âromanticâ relationships that may not be part of your culture. Itâs far more than that. Itâs about hanging out talking with people. Itâs about going to the dining hall together and talking, sharing ideas.
Itâs about working out together, talking, joking. Itâs about studying together because you can help each other to achieve more than any of you could achieve alone. Itâs about becoming comfortable doing all these things with people of the opposite sex, of different races, of different sexual orientation, because you are going to have to work with different types of people throughout your life, not to mention the fact that it will enrich your life tremendously. You will not develop âsoft skillsâ by doing internships or going to networking dinners - itâs way too late by then. People develop these skills through a lifetime of social interaction - if you do not have these skills, it will be evident, even in college interviews, and most definitely in job interviews and in internships. Even if you get the internships, you wonât be asked to return for a job if you make people uncomfortable, and if you donât have social skills, you are very likely to make people uncomfortable.
The most important IQ is social IQ, for success in life. Of course, the pandemic killed everyoneâs social life, but things are getting back to normal. I would urge you to invest time in social time during senior year in high school. This doesnât necessarily mean attending school games together, or getting a girlfriend, or going to wild high school parties. It means making friends who share your interests, and spending time with them doing things that you like, together.
If youâre planning to apply to Tufts, be forewarned that Tufts has a habit of rejecting highly qualified applicants whom they fear will wind up enrolling elsewhere. So if youâre going to apply there, make sure that you show a LOT of âdemonstrated interestâ by attending remote events, visiting campus if possible, reaching out to the admissions office often with eager questions. In fact, it doesnât hurt to give every admissions office the impression that they are your absolute first choice school.
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Thank you for the support. I cannot really do anything to my social life now. I am solely focused on taking all the AP exams I can to cut costs down for my family. Same thing with PSAT and NMF scholarships. I could not maintain my current academic performance with any social life. I am a very average student; all of the success I have achieved so far is due to my hard work. In college, I have to maintain the highest possible GPA and a great LSAT score. I must also attend a lot of events for networking and work extreme hours. For my family, working a ton of hours during college is a necessity. Having them pay for my college makes me financially and emotionally indebted for the rest of my life. In my extremely limited social interactions, I generally make a good impression and have fun. However, I do not extend these experiences because other priorities take precedence.
Admission to law school is based heavily upon GPA and LSAT. It sounds as if paying for college is a financial burden for your family. You can probably get a full ride at a decent school (think flagship state Uâs in the south and southwest), thus saving your parents the 140K that you think they would otherwise need to contribute to your college education, and still get into a prestigious law school with the GPA and LSAT that your past achievement predicts.
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