Chance Me: Lower GPA, above average ECs, straight Asian male for T20s/Ivies [VA resident, 3.76 GPA,32.5 ACT, Poli Sci/History] [parents require "T20" or live at home and commute to college]

Chance Me / Match Me!
21

Stop worrying about your spike, your ethnicity, and tying your activities together in some way.

Start asking yourself “how can I be the best version of myself”.

None of the colleges you are interested in are going to value an EC over academic achievement- they are institutions of higher learning, not overpriced summer camps.

Make sure you and your GC have had “the talk”, i.e. look at the last few years of data on who with your profile gets in where, and make sure the rigor of your classes and your academics are inline with the schools you are looking at. Your EC’s make you who you are- and in a coin toss, are going to make the difference about getting in vs. getting wait listed. But your core academics- what you took and how you did- is the main event, not a side bar.

You sound like a terrific person and there are - quite literally- dozens of fantastic colleges which would be thrilled to have you on their campus.

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22

So my extracurriculars aren’t enough to compensate for a 33 act and 4.2 gpa?

23

Unless you cured cancer, no.

You’re a fine student - take your shots. No one here can truly advise you but you’re getting the same result no matter how many ways you ask it.

Make sure you have targets and safeties - these are far more important than reaches.

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24

No, they won’t.

My advice is to find some likely and target schools that you like. Once you have those schools narrowed down you can apply wherever you want.

If you only focus on schools with very low acceptance rates and you fail to apply to safety and target schools, you may find yourself without a college acceptance.

You are a good student, but only focusing on schools that reject most applicants is not a good strategy.

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25

You have a lot stacked against you related to demographics. I just wanted to let you know I like your unique essay topic. The applicants I have seen who took some risks in their essays are the ones who succeeded. One anecdote, I have a family member who was disappointed in his results applying as a high school senior. He got into 2 schools in the 25-30 range writing very safe essays. After 2 years in college, he applied as a transfer to a handful of top schools. He had a great profile, and this time, took a ‘risk’ and wrote a more unique essay. He will be attending an insanely selective T10 school in the fall.

26

I would focus on targeting an ED school in the T25-50 range. Considering you are in VA and looking to study History, William and Mary seems like the obvious choice. But if money is no object schools like BC, or Wake. Could also think about some LACs (Bowdoin and Davidson have solid history dpeartments).

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27

You have three great in-state schools. I’m assuming you’ll apply to all three? Even if you aren’t sure you still should apply. You can always turn down an acceptance. You can’t get a do-over.

Maybe look at schools where community service is part of the program? I see some Jesuit schools on your list. Maybe add a few more? Fordham or Holy Cross? Maybe Google to find schools that emphasize community service? I seem to recall Tulane being on a list.

These are very good schools. Maybe not T20 but still excellent and more likely admission.

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28

You don’t want your extracurriculars to compensate for your scores and grades- you want them to amplify and round out the picture of who you are and what you’d contribute to campus.

Find a list of colleges where this will happen. You don’t need to spend senior year worried about hating math. Find a college where being a B math student is perfectly fine because you are an A student in English, Spanish and History. See the difference? It’s a mindset.

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29

Do you know of any such good schools that are ok with lower STEM grades?

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30

Well, the best version of myself is the one that gets good grades and does extracurriculars right?

31

Are there any more need aware schools? Gtown and ND are very much on my list, but not Tufts.

32

Is my GPA low enough to get me auto-rejected from many of these schools?

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33

Wake Forest, I believe is need aware, as is Case Western.

What’s a low STEM grade. You have a 3.76? You are majoring in History/Poli Sci.

You are going about this all wrong.

You need to develop a list that fits you - your personality, your desires (weather, size, environment - urban, suburban, rural…sports, etc. - not rank) and where you can have a great experience.

It might be Christopher Newport - you think it’s not respected? Tell that to the person who dished on Trump in the January 6th investigations who was Chief of Staff for Mark Meadows.

It might be College of Charleston and the Mroz Institute - and all the diplomats and ambassadors they bring in.

It might be AU - right in DC.

It might be Ole Miss and the Kroft School or the very fine International Affairs department at UGA.

You are missing the big picture.

Again - take your shots - if you have interest in Gtown and UND - then go for it. Note the Gtown app is duplicative to Common so it requires a lot of effort.

Will you be auto rejected? If you believe the schools, no one anywhere is auto rejected - so no, you’ll have your chance.

But are you likely to be rejected - yes.

But so what - you have 20 Common App spots - use them.

Again, find those schools that will fit you and are likely but maybe not a slam dunk- a Dickinson or Delaware or Syracuse, etc.

Find those that are a slam dunk so you’re not shut out - a Charleston, Christopher Newport, Elon, Denver, Indiana - all great names

Then take your shots at the Emory, Wake, Richmond, Tufts - whoever you want.

You are trying to create a scenario that no one here can truly answer - we are not AOs but collectively it seems the guidance is very similar.

If you focus too much on the “name”, you’ll miss the big picture. There are hundreds and even more - fantastic colleges out there - putting out great students - and sending them to great grad schools. Harvard Law, for example, has graduates from 174 schools in their class - Fairleigh Dickinson, Bloomsburg of PA, Calstate Northridge.

It’s not a death sentence that you maybe don’t get into a top 20, etc. Nor is it a golden ticket if you do.

It is a death sentence if you choose a school for the wrong reason and have a miserable four years.

Figure out what you want out of a college - and go from there.

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34

You are still looking at the problem backwards by trying to determine what is your “lowest” reach of prestigious schools. Start with finding your safeties and targets that are affordable for your family, where your stat’s put you well above the median of admitted students. Your stats are really good, and there are plenty of wonderful schools that would be target and safeties. Then shoot your shot at whatever reaches fit your interests the best without regard to their admissions rates. No AO is going to question your ability to do the work at their school based on your stats. IMO if you are really passionate about Harvard and are able to write essays and short answers that resonate that passion specific to Harvard, you will have a better chance there than say at Tufts if all you can muster are cut and paste generic essays and answers.

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35

If you get rejected from these schools, you will never know why.

Build your list from the bottom up. Find some affordable sure things for admission that you would be happy to attend. Then go from there

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36

No, the best version of yourself might be someone who gets the grades that are already on the transcript and moves forward with a plan to double down on his interests in history- US history? Colonial America? America in the post WW2 global hierarchy? and explores which colleges will help him do a deep dive in his area of interest.

Or poli sci- the best college might be American or GW where many kids balance internships on the Hill or at a federal agency with classes and lectures. Or a college in a state capitol – ditto. Or a college near neither DC or a state capitol but which has a track record helping kids with their political interests (Dickinson?) or studying strategic languages (the state department publishes a list) which is hugely advantageous for the CIA, the diplomatic corps, the UN, World Bank, etc.

You aren’t a grade/extra-curricular machine! There are U’s like Rutgers- with more poli sci affiliated institutes and professors working on cool studies than you could ever absorb in four years. Or places like Carlton or Macalester which are off the beaten track for people in Virginia but which have excellent reputations in the rest of the country.

So many cool things to explore! I don’t know much about banknotes but I think there are professors who are coin experts- ancient, historical and modern- at Lawrence. Bet you’d have fun dinners with them!

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37

Deep dives are for grad school, especially with the history major. Most undergrad history majors will require breadth. Sure, students might develop more specific interests in particular areas, either through a cluster of courses or a thesis, and some (like William and Mary) have noted specialties, but history majors generally don’t encourage much specialization. Which is good! We can’t really expect most liberal arts students to enter college with a clear idea of their major, much less specialization within a major.

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38

Agree 100%-- but you misinterpreted my comments.

The OP won’t need to obsess about hating math once he’s in a college where he can explore what he loves, i.e. history. But focusing on the two handfuls of colleges which expect stellar performance above the board seems less productive than focusing on the dozens of colleges where he can do a deep dive- in history, in literature? in foreign languages? art/architectural history? on the things he loves.

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39

Most public schools are typically NOT need aware and just about every PRIVATE school is need aware with the exception of say 10-20 schools, maybe even less. Generally speaking, the way to look this up is to see how many full pay kids are attending using common dataset or IPEDs.
Beyond the ones already mentioned on here, Tulane, SMU, Northeastern come to mind. Being full pay is the biggest hook for about 95% private schools.
Why are you not considering West Point if you are ROTC?

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40

I think OP should take a look at LACs, unless he really does not want to be at a small school.

  • LACs tend to have fewer Asian applicants, so his race won’t hurt him like it’s been shown to do at top holistic universities.

  • His academic interests are available at LACs – History and Poli Sci. I imagine small-class discussions on such topics could be really awesome for a kid who is into them.

OP, can you get your GPA up over 3.8? Work to do so – the higher you can get it, the better your chances anywhere.

Maybe consider schools like –

Bowdoin
Middlebury
Wesleyan
Vassar
Hamilton
Colby
Colgate
Bates
Trinity College
Connecticut College
Dickinson
Denison
Gettysburg

A LAC could serve you really well in History and Poli Sci.

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