No hooks, although being queer was a big part of my common app essay but I doubt that made any impact on admissions
Intended Major(s)
Applied to reaches with cognitive science or psychology and also declared computer science double major if there were “Why school” essays or any option to mention multiple interests, applied to safeties with CS
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.97 (screw you AP Physics)
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.61/4, UC/CSU is 4.81/4
Class Rank: N/A
ACT/SAT Scores: 1600 SAT (one sitting)
Coursework
Senior year courseload: Engineering Honors, Physics 2, Statistics, Comp Lit, one biomed elective (non-weighted), Gov, Macro
Other APs: Calc AB (5), Calc BC (4), Chinese (5), Bio (5), Chem (4), APUSH (4)
also might take CSA and Psych this year
Like 7-8 honors courses idk how many exactly, we weren’t allowed to take weighted classes freshman year btw
4 dual enrollment courses, two of them were supplementary calculus classes over the summer, the other two were research courses
Awards
Winner of division at World Champs for robotics competition
Two more prestigious robotics awards
Semifinalist, National Merit
Extracurriculars
Captain and programmer for robotics team that’s top 5 in the world, 9-12th
Prestigious summer research program (did neuro/code stuff), 12th
Research Internship at T40 university, food safety stuff (like most research internships, this was obtained through borderline nepotism), published in one paper, 11-12th
Vice president of women in CS club at high school, 10-12th
Co-prez of STEM tutoring club, 11-12
Director for statewide politics organization, 10-12
Student government elected officer, 10-12
Intern for national activist organization, 10-11
Student Rep for my school distrct, helped develop new diversified curriculums and got to help make decisions on where my school’s money went lol, 10-12
Community service for several local youth STEM programs, was lead of a few of them, 9-12
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: 8/10 - I’d say I’m generally a solid good writer, I did procrastinate a ton due to ADHD and a desire to seemingly self sabotage, so definitely could’ve been better
LORs: English teacher (10/10) - she sent it to me and it made me cry it was the nicest thing I’ve ever read, really big on intellectual vitality
Robotics coach (7/10) - she knows me really well so tbh I was expecting more, there were a lot of nice things in there but 3/4 of it was just regurgitating my ECs
Counselor (8/10) - I talk to her a lot and also got her a lot of presents (we have great bookstores here with hilarious therapy pencils and stuff), she’s def seen my growth throughout high school and likes me a lot
Cost Constraints / Budget
I need money yes it would be neat I would prefer not to bankrupt my parents
Schools
Safeties
UC Santa Cruz
ASU (accepted)
Targets
UC Santa Barbara
UC Davis
UC Irvine
San Jose State (accepted for CS, only a target bc I’m in-state)
Reaches
Barnard
Brown
Cornell
Emory
Johns Hopkins
Harvard
Northeastern
Northwestern
Stanford
UC Berkeley (got in early with Regents invite!)
UCLA
Wellesley
Williams
Yale (rejected REA, my essays were not fantastic)
So if you know me, no you don’t! I’m posting on here at 5am bc I suddenly felt not cool about waiting another month for decisions even though it’s completely out of my control. Anyway Brown please accept me
First was… I am very familiar with someone in almost an identical situation… race, sex, CA, great GPA, great scores… the only difference is a prestigious private high school. She applied to very similar schools as you. She was waitlisted as several of the east coast schools, and eventually ended up at Berkeley (which in her case is the university closest to her home). She loves it. A little over a semester in, and she’s not sure why she ever thought about heading East.
You have an amazing opportunity already in the bag…so relax and look at any other acceptances as gravy.
The second was your comment about money. It’s not really a question of desire, it’s a question of perceived need by the schools. If the math says your parents can afford it, then the support you’re going to get from most of the reach schools on your list will be based solely on the math.
So… my advice to you would be to consider the following: What would you do if you get into Brown without much support? You may very well bump into this situation, and with arguably one of the best values in higher education in your pocket already, what is it worth to you to attend another school? Do you see yourself in grad school? If so, that should factor into the value/money math as well.
Congrats on everything so far…and try to enjoy the process (which is easier to do with sleep). It’ll all work out.
…or maybe just some old-fashioned anxiety & aversion about doing something that is hard work and high-stakes. Not everything that we do less than perfectly is pathological!
another old-fashioned thing that you can deal with more constructively than re-analyzing every aspect of your application time & time again! Next time get up and go do something productive: bake something. Write a postal letter to an older relative who lives far away and would appreciate something in the mail. Clean out the hall closet (quietly). Put on headphones and dance to whatever makes your heart pump. IOW, choose to put that anxiety energy into something positive.
Finally, doubling down on @EyeVeee’s comment about $$. If Brown accepts you, can your parents afford it? Full pay at Brown will be something over $360,000 for your degree, v. UC-B at something around $160,000. If your parents can afford the extra $200,000 without any trouble, happy days. But if you end up having to turn down Brown b/c you can’t afford it, you may well end up resenting UC-B unfairly, just b/c it’s the boy/girl next door that you can afford, instead of being delighted at the opportunity that the 115,000 or so students who are being rejected right now wish they had.
Congratulations on your achievements and acceptances so far. I can’t chance you but would think you will get more acceptances.
Most importantly, as noted above, is can your family afford Brown and the other schools on your list that only provide need based aid? Will you receive need based aid? Have you and your parents run the net price calculators at each school on the list? Here’s Brown’s: Net Price Calculator
NPCs may not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home, or own a business…are any of those the case for you?
I hope that having UCB, SJSU, and ASU in the bag can help you relax and enjoy the next month or so until the rest of your decisions come out. Good luck.
What an amazing high school record! I think that you will get into some of your reaches (I predict Northeastern, Wellesley, Barnard, Cornell, Emory, Hopkins, Northwestern, Williams, UCLA). The rest are possible, but unlikely. Unless your family has low income, I don’t think you’ll get enough of a fin aid award from any of them to make it cheaper than Berkeley.
Congrats that you’re already into UCB. An amazing option, and a best value for you and your family. Even if you don’t get in, or don’t get enough fin aid to make any of your anticipated other acceptances worthwhile, don’t stress out - you’re already set with a great option.
Congratulations and I agree with all the posters that you have some wonderful options so far especially UCB with possible Regents. Any other acceptances will just be icing on the cake so relax and enjoy your time in HS.
Why are you nauseous ? You have a great record. I mean an unreal record. Nothing can ever take that away from you.
I don’t know your budget but assuming ASU is affordable, it’s a fine choice as will be SJSU. UCB too - not sure how generous the scholarship is - website says $2500 minimum.
If they are not affordable, have you looked at the schools that will give you a free ride or near free ride - Alabama, Tulsa and there’s more!!!
You already got into one reach (it’s now a safety) and may get into more. But the question becomes - do you qualify for need? If not, are your parents good paying upward of $340k or more when you can go for free OR near free (including living expenses), or the ASU/SJSU cost ?
Great record. Good luck. But it’s CS. No need to bankrupt your parents. My nephew was Poli Sci at Arizona and does CS in NYC. As he said they test you - he doesn’t know how but he passed.
Where you go will matter to your experience but not necessarily to your final outcome it may, but may not. So think about that when you look at the possibilities you have - and if you haven’t, look at th NMF possibilities which could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars. I listed two great ones - there’s more !!
UCB’s Regents offers need-based aid for eligible in-state applicants.
Scholars with financial need are awarded a scholarship up to their full need, as assessed by the Financial Aid & Scholarships Office. Scholars without financial need receive a $2,500 honorary award per year. Awards are renewable annually for a maximum of eight semesters for freshmen or four semesters for transfer students.
Yep. So we don’t know her need. Sue just said she wants money - who doesn’t :).
I have to admit - UCB even full pay would be hard to beat for CS unless Tully went for a home run NMF scholarship and OP didn’t even apply for those. !!
Is ASU affordable (see here if you have not gotten an official scholarship letter yet)? It is a safety if it is. If not, it is probably a reach or out-of-reach depending on if there are any competitive scholarships that could make it affordable.
Yale is out-of-reach with a rejection.
Have you used the net price calculator on each of the remaining college’s web sites?
UCB Regents’ scholarship is $2,500 for those without need. For in-state students with need, typically replaces the expected student loan and work with scholarship. The expected student loan and work can be up to about $8,950, according to Financial Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office ($8,950 is the net price it shows for dependent students with low income parents).
Yes - but we don’t know the student’s financial situation. We just know they want money. Everyone wants money!!
Her financial situation is important of course - because if she has no need, then even getting into some of the others (presuming she wants an LAC or Ivy type), are they realistic at $85K+ a year when her others will be a fraction of that (UCB, ASU, SJSU)? And did she know she can still go for free with her NMF - and even save on those?
For most in this case, I’m guessing they’d be at UCB no matter what. But everyone is different.
Hope everyone’s doing well! At the time of writing this post, I was quite evidently not in a fantastic headspace and was going through the classic “doubting myself because of the entire college admissions process” period of waiting for admissions. I very much appreciated the time you all took to respond very sensibly to my post, although I will say that at the time, I definitely didn’t find too much solace in them since I was just nervous more than anything else, which is why I couldn’t muster up the energy to respond to all your lovely comments. Also, I thought that “I need money” would communicate that I needed aid but apparently not, LOL! That’s on me
I wanted to give a quick update. Brown Class of '27!!! Honestly a dream come true! Because of aid, Brown’s cost of attendance turned out to be cheaper than Berkeley’s, which was my second choice. So, I guess everything worked out after all, and I wish I could tell myself from two months ago that I’d be fine. Thanks again y’all!
Hope you’re finding some time to enjoy the rest your senior year.
Honestly a dream come true! Because of aid, Brown’s cost of attendance turned out to be cheaper than Berkeley’s, which was my second choice. So, I guess everything worked out after all, and I wish I could tell myself from two months ago that I’d be fine. Thanks again y’all!