Chance me - Harvard, Princeton, T20s

[blossom_utonium]

Demographics
US Citizen, East coast
Public High School, slightly competitive

Intended major(s)
International relations/political science major, journalism at two schools (only schools that offered journalism, most colleges don’t offer it)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
UW GPA: 3.84
W GPA: 4.53 (for reference the valedictorian’s GPA is a 4.7)
Test optional

Coursework
APs:
APUSH- 5
AP Seminar- 4
AP Lang- 4
AP Research- 5
AP World- 3
AP Physics (not submitting)

Freshman year got 3 Bs but have had all As since.

Mid year report: all As except one possible B+ in calc (worried about this b/c it is also not AP/honors calc my only non-AP/honors)

Senior APs:
APHUG
AP Gov
AP Spanish
AP Lit

Awards
Published in major international newspaper, seal of biliteracy in spanish, National Spanish Exam gold (two years in a row), letter recognized by Library of Congress

Extracurriculars
Editor-in-Chief, Varsity Captain of debate, research done on state level (processed for publishing; not yet published), intern at accounting firm for two years, President of FBLA, Student Council Liaison, Islamic Relief volunteer for two years, Photography club officer,

Essays/LORs/Other
Strong essays, very strong LORs, valid reason for test optional

Cost Constraints / Budget
No constraint.

Schools

• Safety*: Rutgers, University of Maryland EA
• Likely*: American University RD
• Match: (kind of) Northeastern EA, Boston University RD
• Reach: Princeton RD (first choice), Brown RD, Johns Hopkins RD, Carnegie Mellon RD, Harvard RD, Yale RD, Columbia RD, Vanderbilt RD, Northwestern RD, NYU RD, Williams College RD

[Mwfan1921]

Isn’t this the same post as the one you made earlier today?

Chance Me - Princeton, Harvard, T20s

If you’re low income, the private schools will possibly give you an affordable financial aid package. The trick is to get in. Most or, potentially all of them will end up being rejections. And the one you get an acceptance at…might or might not turn out to be affordable. If you DON’T get into the private schools, you have the publics. Your in-state public would likely give enough financial aid to be affordable…but not always. The ones out of state won’t…not without a scholarship. At public universities, financial aid is for in-state residents only, and the tuition is triple for out of state. I see Rutgers and Maryland on the list. One of those are obviously out of state, so the out of state school should be scrapped from the list. The list isn’t too bad. And private schools are actually a good choice for low income. I would cast a wider net for private schools. Focus more on the “matches” than the super elite schools. Those are always a bit of a gamble, but they payoff if you get the…

[BKSquared]

Your GPA is going to make you a real longshot (unless you are still in the top 5% for your school) for most of your reaches without a counterbalancing super high test score/record since you are going TO.

[Mjkacmom]

I think your matches are reaches with TO.

[Mwfan1921]

My comments are same as I made on the earlier thread:

Congrats on your achievements.

First off, great to have the Rutgers acceptance…is it affordable?

What can your family pay for college, per year? Do you qualify for a Pell Grant? Have you run the net price calculators at each of these schools to get cost estimates?

I can’t chance you, but NEU, NYU, BU, Williams are reaches, not matches. All have sub 20% acceptance rates, so are a reach for all unhooked applicants.

Have you demonstrated interest at American? If not, you should engage as much as you can with them…do virtual admissions sessions/tours/panels, reach out to your AO with a question that can’t be answered online, open emails then send you and click on links.

Is this your full list of applications?

[tsbna44]

Well I wrote b4 as well on your other chat.

Are you a URM or any hooks? I wonder why you say you have no cost constraints but in the previous note you said you had limited income.

As I mentioned b4 and I don’t know your state - Rutgers (where you said on the other chat) you were in is a fine school.

I would move Maryland to target if out of state and likely if in state.

American will not meet need so I hope, if you are low income, you applied for the Frederick Douglas Scholarship. You must demonstrate interest to AU. They can reject a 35 ACT and accept a 25 You have no score but just to show you how all over the place they are.

Northeastern is tough but EA is good. It’s a low reach I’d say. BU will be tough. I’d lean no but we can call it a low reach.

The reaches are all nos to me - and if $ are an issue, it could be the case at CMU.

That you have Rutgers in the bag, if affordable, makes every other acceptance gravy. So it’s fine to take that chance.

Good luck to you and let us know how you finish up.

[sgopal2]

Whats your estimated class rank? If its outside of the top 5% then almost all of the schools on your list except BU will be very difficult in RD.

Are you asian or ORM?

What can your parents afford each year? Would they be willing to pay $250K for 4 years to attend a private when you could spend less than half by going instate?

[vdegzbkvcbgyfupttc]

Have you considered Georgetown if you’re going for international affairs?

[Publisher]

“intern at accounting firm for two years” = should be clarified in light of your current desire to major in international relations / political science, or journalism.

If unexplained, then your chances for admission to non-business schools might be below average.