Chance me for Brown, Vassar, NYU, UPenn, Advice?? (HS Junior)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I’m a junior in high school, and I’m interested in studying something in the humanities/ liberal arts- maybe History, English (with the hopes of going to law school), Psychology, Government, etc.!

I’m aiming for a Top 10, Top 20 school- I’ve particularly fallen in love with Vassar, Brown, UPenn, NYU, etc. I’ve seen a bunch of people do these “Chance Me” threads, and I just want to see if I’m headed in the right direction for these reach schools…

In terms of numbers:

-I’m in the top 10% of my school (we don’t get specific #s)
-Have a 3.86 unweighted GPA (we aren’t given weighted, but I’d estimate over 4.0).
-Taken all honors classes, and 3 AP classes so far (APUSH, AP Bio, AP English), and plan to take 4-5 APsnext year (My school offers about 10, give or take).
-1480 SAT first try (780 English, 710 Math) and will probably take it again to hopefully reach the 1500s. Also got a 17 on the essay if that means anything lol

Extracurriculars:

-Colorguard (Flag dancers in Marching Band) for 6 years, my team has won Best Colorguard in a tri-state area competition, and I personally have reached the level of Captain
-Heavily involved in school theatre productions (6 years)
-Heavily involved in school choir (6 years)
-Choir Council Secretary, likely Vice President next year
-Inducted into International Thespian Society & will likely be put on Executive Board
-Original script has been awarded & honored by a countywide competition
-Volunteer to help direct youth theatre productions since Freshman year, about 10-20 hours per year
-Head of Art at my school’s Literary Art magazine
-And a few other clubs here and there (National Honor Society, Future Problem Solvers, Art Honor Society, Gay Straight Alliance, etc.)

Am I headed in the right direction? Does anyone have any advice? How can I improve my shot either academically or in extracurriculars, while still doing things that I love/ align with my ECs?

Sidenote- Anyone have any good, free summer program recs that align with my extracurriculars?

Thanks! :slight_smile:

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I think you are absolutely on the right path!

Two suggestions, which have probably already occurred to you:

  1. Enter national contests as opportunities present themselves such as Scholastic Art & Writing and YoungArts.
  2. Make sure that for every reach school you have (which we will define for the purpose of this exercise as schools that admit 25% or fewer of applicants) that you have at least one school with at least a somewhat higher admit rate.

So in other words, since you like Vassar, do you think you might also like Skidmore, Oberlin, Sarah Lawrence, Bard?

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3.8 UW is typically 4.0 Weighted, and you have a pretty good score for SAT, but it would always be safer to aim for 1500+.

I suggest getting more activities this year/summer that relate to your interest/major/heritage/etc. because Drama, colorgaurd, and choir are pretty common in applicants; and I’m pretty sure drama would be pretty normal for your major.
I recommend that you…
2. Create projects that combine your unique interests with your major, and better yet, use that to help you community.
3. Initiate some sort of group either on campus, in your community, or online (easy to do) that relates to your passions. Maybe mock-trial related or join your mock-trial/speech and debate if you intend to do law one day?
4. If you do want to go into law, there are tons of governmental/official leadership opportunities for High school seniors/juniors. Look some up online and see what you can commit to.
5. Apply to at least one safety.

Most of the schools you listed want worldy people (especially NYU), so try to branch out and try new things that would make you a stronger individual/leader/teamwork. Those schools want collaboration, diversity, and global awareness (I’m applying to most of them this year, that’s why I know), so think about how you can prove that.

There is not a lot to go off of, but it looks like you need more unique experiences/stores as schools will ask you why you would be a perfect fit for the school, and you will need to have solid proof/examples to back up your claims. Any applicant can claim they are curious, determined, passionate etc. but the differences comes in their stories on how they learned to be that/how they know they are that/how they exemplified and grow off of that and how it helps others.

Hope this helps.

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Hi @BookLvr ! Thank you so much for the advice- After you posted your comment, I looked around, and found some great writing competitions! I definitely will be submitting some works, so thanks for the suggestion!

& as for schools, I definitely have some safety schools in mind, I’m just really focused on the reaches lol

I’ve been thinking about Skidmore, and Bard sounds nice (though I’m unsure about an all-women’s school), but the others are either too far away from me or don’t fit my wants (I would really prefer to be in/ near a city)

Thank you so much!

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Hi @CindyLeuWho ! Thanks for the advice! I’m not exactly sure how to go about starting an organization/ project, but I’ll certainly start thinking about it and generating some ideas.

What do you mean by “worldly”? Like culturally aware? Or just generally intellectual and unique individuals?

Thanks! :slight_smile:

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Both culturally aware and wanting to do something to affect other people. How will you use what you learn at The college after graduation? Are you planning on creating a new style? Bring light to a group of people never shown? Bring justice to cases that affect you personally?

Don’t force it or make it preachy, but in general how will the college help you with your goals in life? What are your goals and how will it affect others?

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@flower9389 --Just another quick little note: none of the schools I listed are currently women’s colleges. (Like Vassar, both Skidmore and Sarah Lawrence were women’s colleges back when they were founded, but have not been so for a very long time.) And Sarah Lawrence is only 30 minutes outside of NYC, an easy train ride!

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@Bookluvr Oops, I misread Bard as the women’s college Barnard!

& In that case, that’s great! I’ll definitely look into those schools :slight_smile: thanks so much!

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Be careful to differentiate between what a school puts forward as it’s goals and values, and what it expects or wants from its applicants. I know a recent Vassar grad who had none of the above pieces- no leadership, no teamwork, no diversity, no global awareness, and only 1 real EC (piano).

And, at this stage, doing something new is usually less helpful than deepening something you are already involved in.

Both of those are just two faces of the same point: you have to run your own race. Stick to what is truest about you and push yourself to keep going forward to see where it takes you.

One last point: work out your finances. Several of those places meet need- that is, what they think your need is. Others don’t- NYU is famously stingy with aid. Of course, if you have an unlimited budget, then no worries.

ps, one thing about Vassar: of all the places on your list it is the most academically intense. If that’s you- super! just be sure of it.

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Agree on this, plus, it’s something we heard from a number of info sessions, including some schools on OP’s list. One that wasn’t (Georgetown) went further and said they specifically don’t like when students suddenly have a burst of ECs appearing on their resumes in junior year. Narrow but deep is almost always preferable to broad but shallow.

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There’s quite a bit more to choosing a college than rankings. Despite how US News wants you to think, they’re not reliable, and it’s the fastest way to end-up in a college mismatch with 4 years of misery ahead of you.

First, prestige is completely overrated. Your first criteria is cost above anything else. And I never believe a teenager when they say, "We’re wealthy and my parents can afford it. Even for the well-off, out of state and private schools are a financial stretch. REALLY talk to your parents about what you can actually afford and use that as a precondition before you even apply. Your in-state university is almost always the best value.

Second, look at scholarships. Someone is literally handing you $200,000! Graduating debt free is worth its weight in gold, especially if you plan to go to graduate school.

Third, college cultures are VERY different. Some are a good match, others can be toxic to you. Public universities tend to be a lot more diverse. Private universities tend to be more homogeneous to certain groups of people, which tends to be more “love it or hate it.” Touring is helpful.

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For context for your current choices and ideas for potential additions, you may want to consider these articles, which discuss the literature programs at a range of colleges:

https://www.flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america

https://contently.net/2014/11/06/resources/tools/training/10-best-colleges-creative-writers/