Chance Me - Current Sophomore & How to Improve Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Chance me for these schools: Cornell, UC Berkeley, NYU (probably my reach/targets?) What colleges should I look into? Any tips on improving my chances? Thanks so much for your help!!

Intended Major: Business Management/Economics/Computer Science
HS Graduation: June 2023

Academics:
SAT - N/A (what should I aim for?)
Grade: 95 average by the end of high school? I currently have a 94 but my grades are upward trends
Race: Asian, Women
Likely applying for a full scholarship
Income: ~17K, 4 family members, no real estate/investments

Extracurriculars:
The Global Youth Economics Forum (September 2020-Present)

  • Founder/President
    Arrange weekly events to connect students with professionals/undergraduates in business, finance, economics, marketing, and college admissions
    Use Instagram and Email to promote the Global Youth Economics Forum, primarily aiming to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds who don’t have access to these opportunities
    Boosted this year’s enrollment from 80 to 225 students representing 6 continents, 100+ schools
    Partnered with 20 different firms and 20 different colleges to connect high schoolers and hone student’s networking and interview skills
    Manage the recruitment of speakers for all events, with most coming from top firms and universities in the USA
    Manage and oversee all projects being undertaken such as a podcast, college mentorship program, and ambassador program

K-8 Tutoring (August 2020-Present)

  • Mentor/Tutor
    Developed English/Math curricula that have raised students’ grades – as much as two letter grades - boosted student’s confidence and participation in class!
    So thrilled to spark intellectual curiosity in my students that I have increased my commitment to them every year!

MHSHS Key Club (October 2020-Present)

  • Founder/President
    Facilitate various community service opportunities, and incentives for members to stay engaged!
    Recruited 70+ members this year, mainly underclassmen who could participate for multiple years and members have currently completed ~1500 hours so far!
    Organize friendly competitions to maintain a sense of community despite COVID
    Organize webinars with undergraduates from top universities to share their tips and experiences for college admissions

AP World History Study Sessions (January 2021-Present)

  • Teaching Assistant
    Help students gain a better understanding of course content and testing standards by creating supplemental resources, quizzes, and study guides
    Explain unit 1-5 material thoroughly in study sessions with key points and alignment with AP testing skills and standards in which the teacher will not discuss in class

Summer 2021: planning to do 2 research internships, one about CS with NYU professor & one about economics with Hunter professor

Also: planning to intern at an education-related startup & marketing officer for a CS/Econ organization

Awards: None really

Coursework: My school doesn’t really offer much APs. Planning to take 3 out of 4 APs offered. No scores yet

Outside Coursework:

  • Financial Empowerment (elective, for seniors in my school but I managed to take it, only sophomore/underclassmen taking this)
  • ECON1401 (spring 2021 course - community college, microeconomics)
  • CSN100 (summer 2020 course - community college, introduction to cybersecurity)
2

Home state? Assuming New York?

If you are an Out of state applicant for UC Berkeley, just be aware that UCB offers little to no financial aid for OOS students. You will be expected to pay around $65K/year to attend and do not expect any merit scholarships to help bring costs down.

As a Sophomore, you have plenty of time to work on your college list. Since you are in need of a significant amount of financial aid, you should first run the Net Price calculator’s on any of school of interest to determine if they are affordable.

Then you will need to zero in on schools that will give you need-based plus merit aid since full scholarships are rare.

Hopefully CC posters can help you find schools that will work with you. NYU happens to be very stingy with Financial aid also so run the numbers first.

3

Is your family income really only $17k? That puts you well below the US poverty level for a family of 4. If you are anywhere near this number, you should be pursuing QuestBridge QuestBridge | National College Match

As to the colleges listed, or any college, go to their common data set pages to get an idea of test scores/gpa/class rank ranges for matriculated students. Continue to do as well as you can at your school, choosing the most rigorous classes. Start looking at testing resources, such as Khan Academy. It is still unclear where testing policies will be, but even in a TO world, having a high score can only help.

@Gumbymom sorry, didn’t mean to reply to you.

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