Chance Me for scary schools and I'll be your friend? (I'll chance back)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey-o friends! I’m finishing up submitting apps, and after being rejected from my #1 reach, I’d love some input as to what my chances are with the other reaches and potential matches.

The schools in question are:

UCLA, UC Berkeley, Georgetown, UNC, and Cornell.

I’m primarily focused on Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where I hope to concentrate in International Politics.
As for UNC, I’d like to major in Peace, War, and Defense, and at Cornell, I hope to major in Government with a minor in Law and Society.

About Me
I’m a first generation Indian-American female that is OOS for all of those schools. My first language is Punjabi, and then English (2) and Hindi (3).

Academics
• UW GPA: 3.98
• W GPA: 4.3
• UC GPA: (UW) 4.00, (W) 4.31, (W+Cap) 4.25)
• 9 APs (including WH, USH, and Gov) by graduation
• 3 Honors
• 2 years of University of Washington’s Spanish courses (taught at high school for credits)
• Our school used to rank, but we switched to a Latin Honors system, so I’m graduating with ‘summa cum laude’
• Top 3% of 320 students

Scores
• SAT (Single highest): 740M, 780R, 770W (2290)
• SAT (Superscore): 740M, 790R, 770W (2300)
• AP Scores: WH - 4, Lang - 4, Environmental - 5, Stats - 5, USH - 5
— Taking Psych, Lit, Gov, and Calc AB this year
• SAT II: Lit - 740, Math 2 - 730, WH - 700 (I know, it’s bad)

Clubs:
• KEY Club (2013-Present) - Became President of this service club as a junior, organized multiple volunteer events, helped raise $1210 for Relay for Life, increased member attendance rates by over 50%, raised $400 for UNICEF, currently partnering with Kiwanis to help raise money for research fellows to find an alternative for chemo for children.
• JSA (2014-Present) - Became President of this debate/political activism club as a junior, helped coordinate a convention, led an anti-apathy campaign at school, and volunteered for first voter registration drive (organized and led the second one) (registered 57 voters so far!). Attended multiple local conventions and one state convention. Awarded “Best Speaker” gavel at last local convention.
• School Newspaper - News and Politics Editor for school newspaper. Spend 4-5 hours a week working on my section and training staff writers.
• Math Club (2013-Present) - Been Vice President since sophomore year, helped club get to state competitions

Volunteering
• Case Management at Healthcare Agency - Research volunteer (50 hours so far); I survey clients and collect data on the effects of increased healthcare accessibility for certain groups (minorities, Medicaid patients, and the underinsured).
• Cultural School - Spend 5 hr/week, 40wk/year; peer tutor younger children in the Punjabi language, I plan religious celebrations, and I’m the ethnic activities event coordinator for our church as well

Employment
I don’t know if this counts as employment, considering that I’m not officially on the payroll.
• My parents own a small business, and I call clients, schedule projects, place bids, and make invoices. I file affadavits and intents, go to estimate appointments, and travel with my dad to projects. I’m the unpaid /clerk, basically. I work 10 hours a week during the school year, about 25-30 hours a week in the summer.

Awards
• 1st place Historical Paper for National History Day Regionals (2 years running, fingers crossed for year 3)
• Rotary Student of the Month (Social Studies)
• AP Scholar with Distinction
• National Merit Commended

Rec. Letters
AP Stats teacher: 7.5/10 – I was one of the 5 students that year that got the 5 on the exam, and I stayed afterschool to peer tutor and came in on weekends to do mock exams.
APUSH teacher: 9/10 – I was in his class of 15 APUSH students last year, got a 5, and worked with him on my historical paper for the state competition. I currently interview him monthly for the school newspaper, I’m taking an extra civics class with him this year, and I basically participate the most and have a good connection with him.

I appreciate any and all comments/suggestions/pointers/anything. You all have other things to do, so I’m happy with whatever advice you give. I’m open to, and in fact I welcome, any additional suggestions of schools to add to my list.

2

Are you applying to University of Washington?

3

@pacepea I have applied, yes.

4

Might I ask which reach school you were rejected at? I only want to know because you look qualified to apply to all the schools on this list so you could’ve been rejected because of your essays. Do you feel your essays are strong? And how are your senior year grades?

5

@doorrealthe lmao it was Stanford. We had to write our CommonApp Essays as an assignment for our AP Lit. class, and I got a 100% on it, and the teacher pulled me aside to tell me he was “blown away,” apparently. Our senior year grades don’t get sent to colleges unless we request mid-year grades, which get sent in February (but I’m expecting all A’s, or perhaps one A- because calculus is hard, lol).

6

Bump.

7

If you are OOS for the UCs and UNC, can you afford OOS tuition? You’re unlikely to get merit aid.

Your GPA and SAT scores are above whatever “benchmarks” people say, so I do not think those will keep you out of your schools by any means. Even your SAT IIs are not that bad- they’re all at least a 700. Additionally, your ECs are good. I think you have as good a shot as any.

My one question is, do you have safeties you would be happy to attend? You listed very reachy schools and you don’t want to end up with nowhere to go come March.

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@yonceonhismouth The UCs are less expensive because I can stay with relatives, but UNC is definitely a cost-consideration school. I’m just waiting until April when I can see how each school stacks up, finances in mind.

And yes! Seattle University is my main safety, and I would love to attend there. I have scholarships that lower the cost to the $10k/yr benchmark, and I’ve applied to their Honors program as well. I appreciate your concern, haha.

Thanks so much for your input. (:

9

Your grades and test scores are more than enough for all of those schools (I wouldn’t worry about subject scores, it’s hard to imagine you getting rejected based on stats). The tough part for you is going to be standing out from the many applicants that have just as competitive stats at those top schools. You have some awesome ECs, although probably none that really make you standout on your own. That means you’re going to need some killer essays that put what you’ve done in the context of your identity, motivations, and passions to make them stand out. If you can do that, I’m confident you can get into at least 1-2 of those schools. Good luck!

10

My daughter applied to college two years ago with stats that were very, very similar to yours–3.97 uw GPA, 2300 SAT (superscored), approximately the same number of APs (but, unlike you, she didn’t take AP Calculus, which turned out to be a strategic error), and slightly higher SAT IIs (790 WH and 750 AH). Her ECs were adequate but not exceptional.

She was accepted RD at Cornell and UCLA, and accepted for deferred January admission at UCB.

It is, as you no doubt know, impossible to predict the vagaries of the college admissions process, but–based on my daughter’s experience–I’d say that you should be a solid, competitive candidate at each of the schools in question. Good luck!

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I am not sure staying with cousins qualifies you for in-state tuition; You have to prove long-term residence, if I recall correctly. @Gumbymom - you’re familiar with UC schools. What are the rules on staying with cousins for in-state tuition?

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@SingHar17: Living with cousins will not get you in-state tuition or residency. If you commute to a UC from your cousins’ place of residence, your costs will be around $45K/year for a UC since you are OOS and have to pay the OOS supplemental tuition of $26,862 on top of the regular tuition but no room/board.
If you are under 24, the only way to establish in-state residency for California is to have your parents move to California a minimum of 365 days prior to you attending a UC, show documentation they plan to make California their primary residence and relinquish all ties with current home state. If you wait until you are 24, then you be considered independent.

Either way, being OOS will cost your anywhere from $180K-240K for 4 years at a UC. Hope your parents have an unlimited budget.

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Yeah, UC schools are pretty impossible to afford unless you’re able to afford full tuition at private schools (around 65k per year, which does include room/board/fees) but UNC is slightly more manageable- i’m in-state, so it’ll be like 8000 a year for me (lmao) +scholarships but it’s still pretty hefty oos- i think around 35k?

Anyways, I think all of these schools range from high match to reach for you.

14

I agree with penumbra, with your stats these definitely could match but some of them are reaches (Cornell is getting harder these days)

15

Chance me back?

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@yonceonhismouth @Gumbymom Oh, of course. I just meant that the only help I’d be getting would be not paying room and board for the last three years. With scholarships and savings, we’d be able to cover about a year and half of tuition, so I totally agree, finances are a huge factor to be considering, but getting accepted is step one, lol.

@dc4235 Sure, link?

@CactusUsername Thanks so much! Polishing my essays right now, lol.

@MrSamford2014 Congrats to your daughter! And AP Calculus, whether or not you take it, is a strategic error in itself. Thank you for your input!! Might I ask where your daughter decided to attend?

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@SingHar17 “Might I ask where your daughter decided to attend?”

She was never really that interested in UC Berkeley, and the deferral to spring admission made it easy for her to rule that school out. Thus her final decision came down to four schools (the first two of which are on your list): UCLA, Cornell, WashU, and Rice. After a fair bit of wavering, she ended up at Rice.

“And AP Calculus, whether or not you take it, is a strategic error in itself.”

Very droll! In high school, she did a good bit of creative writing, cultivated an interest in history, and developed an aversion to quantitative analysis–hence the avoidance of AP Calculus. As things have turned out, she’s ended up taking calculus at Rice . . . because a particularly fine professor inspired her to shift her major to Economics. The fact that you might find yourself pursuing a quite unexpected course of study thanks to a serendipitous encounter is one of the things that makes college so exciting. Good luck on your own journey!

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@MrSamford2014 That’s so cool! I’m glad she had a great professor to help her figure things out. Thanks so much for your help. :slight_smile: