I am a middle class white female senior at a public magnet school. I’m part of the capstone research program, my school is ranked 27th in Maryland and is in Prince George’s county.
1st SAT: 1350 (700 M/650 ERW)
2nd SAT: 1350 ( 640 M, 710 ERW)
SAT Superscore: 1410 (700 M, 710 ERW)
Freshmen GPA: 3.2
Sophomore GPA: 3.6
Junior GPA: 3.8
1st quater Senior GPA: 4.3
Rank: High school does not rank
Sophomore APs : Human Geography (4) and US government (2) <- wont include on college apps
Junior APs: Language (4), Capstone Seminar (3), Chemistry (2) <- won’t include on college apps
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, , AP English Lit., AP Psychology, AP Capstone Research, Honors Pre-Calculus, Top Orchestra, Health, and Gym
Extracurriculars:
Cross Country - 4 years
Junior Civitan (school’s recycling club) - 3 years + publicist position
Swim Team - 3 years
Drama Tech - 3 years + costume head position
Thesbian Honor Society - 3 years + historian position
Tri-M Honors Music Society - 2 years
Prince George’s County Honors Orchestra - 4 years
HFH Summer Blitz Build (church youth group goes out for a week and helps build houses in west virginia) - 4 years
Students for Social Justice Club - 2 years
Students against Destructive Decisions Club (SADD) - 1 year
Yoga club - 1 year
Freshmen Class Council - 1 year
Job/Work Experience:
Checkers Drive Thru - June 2015 - July 2016
(crew member, worked 30 hours a week throughout school year)
Silver Diner - September 2016 - Current
(Server, work 25-30 hours a week)
Essays:
My biggest accomplishment - achieving a goal I made to buy a car less than 6 months after I got my first job with no financial help from anyone. Personal story about how I learned the value of hard work.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Capstone - really really likes me, knows how hard I’ve work in everything I do (I have not read his letter though)
Teacher Rec #2: AP Biology - Said that I do well in her class, but her letter sounds a bit generic, I might not send it because I only need one
Counselor Rec: I don’t know what he wrote but I know that he really likes me, he’s one of my dad’s old friends and since his daughter was also on the Cross Country team, he would often talk to me at meets and practices.
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Business Management
State (if domestic applicant): Maryland
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 100,000 - 150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My dad went to and works at UMD as a researcher, I’ve been told that helps. I have played the Cello for 12 years and would want to join an orchestra where ever I go (I could send them a recording if that would help ???). Is my upward trending GPA a hook? Counting first quarter senior year I’ve went from 3.2 to 4.3 which is something. None of my hooks are that great lol but I guess they’re better than nothing.
Schools I’m applying to:
UMD (parents really want me to go here because it would be almost free because of my dad’s job there, I’m hesitant because it is legit 10 minutes away from my house)
UMBC (safety school, I’m not that interested in it but my older sister goes there)
NYU (dream school!!! hellA expensive though, unless I got a lot of financial aid I couldn’t do that to my family)
UNC Chapel Hill (not sure about this one, but will if my chances are good)
I need another safety school that I am more interested in than UMBC and still has a good business program. Maybe Penn State? Im doing regular application everywhere because I’m dumb and tried to send off my apps 11:59 Nov 1st and they didn’t go through. This might hurt my chances some but I’m gonna really make sure everything is perfect before I send it in now. Do you guys think I’m reaching too hard with these schools? The most important one on the list is probably UMD because if I don’t get in I’ll disappoint my family soo much. Next to that is NYU and I don’t care as much about the other ones. Thank you for looking at this!!!