I put this on Reddit, but haven’t had any responses there. Hope this works! Sorry if this isn’t how it’s done on College Confidential; I don’t have much experience with this site…
Hi!
I am a senior in high school who will be applying EA to the University of Richmond this fall. My family can’t get need-based aid, but my parents can’t cover the full cost, so I really need a scholarship. The Presidential Scholarship (one-third tuition) would probably cut it, but if there’s any chance, I would love the Richmond Scholar award (full tuition), even though I know it’s extremely competitive and highly unlikely. Anyway, here are my stats…
Major: Undecided (I talk in my essay about my interest in an interdisciplinary degree involving computer science, philosophy, and writing; this also aligns with my current senior capstone project)
SAT: 1540 - math 780, language 760 (retaking it on 9/23, and it should go up based on practice scores)
GPA: UW 4.28 (has to do with taking more than the max. courseload, I think, as I’ve taken multiple extra online/self-guided courses, particularly in Computer Science); W 4.47 (highest ever at my school, I believe)
Rank: 1 out of 49
Awards: some for Model UN, a regional tennis award as a freshman, multiple music honors (selected into all-county and area all-state every audition period)
ECs: I’ve been in a ton of clubs, but these are the ones I’d probably mention:
- Model UN (member 4 years, VP 2 years)
- A book club (probably most active club at school; very unique focus around a specific lecture series; I run it, and even though there's no technical president position, my counselor says I'm good to include it as a leadership role because it's a ton of work)
- Community Service Board (elected member for 2 years)
- Pitch (leader) of my school's a cappella group; this involves musical arranging, in addition to management
- Many saxophone groups, some of which would be listed separately; I'm in my school's ensemble (our band/orchestra together, since we're too small to have separate groups) and a youth jazz orchestra outside of school, where I play first alto saxophone; I've been in all-county and area all-state bands since 5th grade and have scored perfect or near-perfect Level 6 (highest level) scores on all my classical/jazz solos since 8th grade
- I'm in my school's glee club (our version of chorus, for some reason)
- I've recently begun volunteering on a weekly basis at a local food pantry, though I don't have a ton of CS hours from that (or just in general, to be honest)
- Idk if this counts for everything, but I spend hours every day working on personal projects (500 words of written fiction/day and about 1.5 hours of Spanish practice so I can become fluent as I hope to minor in Spanish in college)
APs and Honors:
- Many honors classes, mostly math and science, for years; my school is small enough that we don't have as many honors for English and History outside of APs, though
- AP US History (sophomore year; 5)
- AP Computer Science A (junior year; 5)
- AP English Language & Composition (junior year; 5)
- AP Spanish Language & Culture (junior year; 5) --> this one's also cool because it was only my third year of Spanish; I didn't take it in middle school and actually skipped my school's Advanced Spanish course to get to this one early
- AP Human Geography (junior year; 5)
- I also challenged the AP English Literature & Composition exam, though I didn't take the class (junior year; 5)
Essay: I think it’s a pretty unique take, and it emphasizes my interest in justice and interdisciplinary study without hitting you over the head with it
Demographics: white female from Buffalo, NY (out-of-state); I go to a private, secular girls’ school in the city, though I live in the suburbs
There’s probably something I’m forgetting. We’ll see…
Any help/advice/response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!