17, HS junior
- US citizen applying to Cambridge (probably Christ’s or Corpus)
- Normal public school
- 2nd gen immigrant, single-parent household (have to take care of a lot of adult stuff)
- extenuating circumstances: had a head injury around exam time and mental health is spotty, probably ADHD
Intended course: HSPS
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted: ~3.95/4.00
No class rank
ACT: Composite 32 single-sitting, English and Reading 35, Math 32, Science 27
Coursework
APs: World (5), Psych (predict 5), USH (predict 5), Lang (predict 5), Bio (predict 4). Next year: Gov, Spanish, Lit, Physics, Calc AB
Awards/achievements:
Presidents award for volunteering, received a grant to work on social issues in my community
Extracurriculars
Harvard Summer Course, ALA Girls State, Debate and MUN officer, volunteering w/ local language schools, worked in a lab, varsity sport, worked in fast food for a summer
Personal statement should be p strong, LORs from counselor and teacher should be good
Also applying to Exeter, Durham, UCL, York, and some US schools.
PLEASE HELP IF U CAN! TKS!
I will respond to give this a bump, but here are a few questions/comments given my limited UK university understanding:
Are you able to apply to both Exeter and Cambridge? I thought could only apply to Oxford OR Cambridge, and Exeter College is part of Oxford.
Your scores and rigor do not seem to be at the level of what would be needed for Cambridge, but I will defer to more knowledgeable CC members for more insight.
What do you mean by second generation immigrant? Did one parent immigrate to the US and the other didn’t?
What is your budget and what is your EFC? Are UK schools affordable?
University of Exeter is not to be confused with Oxford’s Exeter College
Thank you for clarifying! I was guessing that it was my own ignorance.
You won’t get financial aid at UK schools.
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Hi, thanks for the reply!
- Yes, I am applying to the Uni of Exeter, not Oxford, as I am not interested in Human Sciences (Oxf “equivalent”).
- Thanks for the bit re: rigor: I am going to redo the ACT as my humanities subjects are good but not the STEM ones; additionally I am doing pretty much every humanities subject allowed at my school so I will make sure to mention that.
- Second-gen means that your parents immigrated, but you didn’t.
- UK unis are more affordable for the most part thanks to the 3-year bachelor’s, plus I’ll be getting substantial help. I haven’t yet been able to find out my EFC unfortunately
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All of the schools I’m applying to accept federal student aid. Unless I’m mistaken, this does mean that I would get aid?
Also bc of my relationship with an institution, they would fund nearly all of the tuition fees.
You may use your 529 funds towards many British universities. You will not get aid from the universities themselves. You should expect to be full pay there.
This means that you can use a 529 and take federal loans to pay for these colleges. It doesn’t mean you’ll get aid from the colleges.
You’ll get into Exeter and York, probably Durham. UCL will be more difficult (note also London is very expensive for living expenses compared to the others) and Cambridge is unlikely.
What does this mean? What can/will your family pay for college each year?
thanks for reply, appreciate it!
Yes, that’s what I meant for “aid” whoops.
Shame, as I really really want to go to Cam: no harm in trying, methinks. I have read about people with very similar stats as me applying to Cam and doing quite well in the interview stage so I am clinging on to some hope.
We don’t entirely know yet, plus FAFSA keeps crashing every time I open it
Fafsa isn’t open yet for 2024-2025, will open sometime after December 1.
Meanwhile, run the NPCs at the schools on your list. NPCs are not yet updated for coming Fafsa changes. They may also not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home, or own a small business/farm. Are any of those the case for you?
More important than that is for you to know what your family can/will pay for college each year. What is that number?
also, is there anything i can do to increase my chances? i know it’s a little late but would love any advice if you have it.
Your ACT score is pretty low, and ACT is thought of as easier than SAT. It would perhaps help marginally if you could get ~1560 or higher on the SAT. And I would think about whether there is a course at Oxford that appeals, since Cambridge isn’t keen on admitting Americans for undergrad (according to the admissions tutor at my college).
I’ll definitely keep the ACT bit in mind.
I thought I was defo committed to applying at Cambridge but I may reconsider.
Also, I am not sure if this would qualify as “extenuating circumstance” but I had two back-to-back head injuries during exam season and because of that my GPA is going to be slightly lower than I had hoped. Would they factor this in?
They don’t worry much about GPA. 5s on the APs are far more important. Hopefully those exams weren’t affected.
The 4 in bio would be a problem for Cambridge.
What subject are you planning to apply for at the other unis?
thank you, I don’t think of actual APs would be affected too much.
Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to mention: I’m doing sociology and politics courses via online Open University, would these help? Plus I emailed the admissions tutor at the college I’m applying to.
Oh, really? I’m applying for HSPS so would bio actually have that much impact?
Okay other courses:
Durham: Anthropology and Sociology
Exeter: Philosophy and Sociology
UCL: Sociology and Politics of Science
York: History/Philosophy