Demographics Asian
Korean citizen living in US(Immigrant)
Maryland
Type of high school (current college for transfers): Public
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Male, Asian
Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): low income
Intended Major(s)
Biology GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.75 UW
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.38
College GPA (for transfers): NA
Class Rank: NA
ACT/SAT Scores: 1410
Coursework
AP: Bio, Environmental, BC Calc, Stat, World, US history, Comp Sci, Lang
Awards
State level Korean Speech award (3rd place x 2) Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Summer Internship at a biotech company
Summer job at dog training center
Youth apprentice volunteer at animal shelter
Science Olympiad states x2(3 years)
Science NHS
President+Founder of Asian Heritage Club(2 years)
Korean school student for 2 years + 1 year volunteer
Varsity tennis
Played drums for 4 years at church
Babysitting for 3 years
Essays/LORs/Other (Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Essay:Good
LOR:
Honors Precalc teacher: Good essay
Science Olympiad sponsor/AP Bio teacher: Good essay
Asian Heritage Club sponsor: Decent
Cost Constraints / Budget (High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Schools (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
Safety (certain admission and affordability): University of Maryland Baltimore County(In state EA, Scholarship) American University (RD scholarship)
Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable): George Washington University(RD scholarship), Virginia Tech(EA)
Match: UM college park(In state EA), Lehigh University(EA), William and Mary(EA)
Reach: Johns Hopkins University(ED), Georgetown University(EA), University of Virginia(EA)
What can/will your parents pay for college per year? It’s important to understand your budget.
Are UMBD and UMD in-state affordable/within your budget parameters?
I would also run each school’s net price calculator to get COA estimate, although they won’t be accurate for you as an international (you will have to increase the COA for any Pell grant, loans, or federal work study that the NPC includes in its estimates, as you are not eligible for federal financial aid as an international student). 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?
American, Va Tech, and GWU are probably matches, best case.
At all of these schools except for Georgetown you will have to decide whether or not to send your test score, use prior year ranges to help with that. Georgetown is not test optional and requires you to send all scores from all sittings of the ACT and/or SAT. Do you have any AP test scores yet?
I am not sure I would recommend applying to JHU ED, until we know about affordability, this year’s AP test scores, and your relative class standing. What classes will you have senior year? Do you have at least 4 years of each of the 5 core areas (Eng, Math, Sci, SS, FL)?
Just a few things - you will not be able to apply Gtown REA if you are applying ED to JHU. I don’t think it will make a difference as you would likely be deferred to RD anyway. W&M does not offer EA either and might be more of a reach for OOS.
You might want to think about your ED strategy after visiting a few schools. If you can identify a “high target school” that has ED2 you may want to consider. Schools like BC, Villanova, W&M, Wake Forest are taking half their class via ED1 and 2. The difference in acceptance rates vs RD for those schools has grown considerably.
If you’re in the DMV area near DC, I would say your chances are low for all schools. This area has had a lot of grade inflation in publics schools as well as mountains of students scoring 1500+ at the TJ magnet. As a standard academic candidate you’re not competitive for DMV.
I would focus on a narrative of an outstanding extracurricular that you bring to the school. Not winning contests, but something you create, manage and have built. That is your way in to the top schools.
Finally, if you’re a Korean National you’re in the international pool of candidates which is super tough.
Hi, I am an asian immigrant living in the US too, so I understand your situation with tuition! If you are low income, out of state tuition might be really expensive as they usually don’t look to aid international students. UMD is a great school and you would be eligible for in state tuition!!