I’ve just finished my Junior year in high school, and I’ve been narrowing down my college list. I welcome and appreciate any advice!
Demographics:
White
Male
Middle class
California resident
GPA:
UW 9 - 11: 3.83
UW 10 - 11: 3.88
UC GPA (weighted and capped): 4.21
Rank: top 10%
Tests:
SAT first attempt: 1390 with essay score: 7 6 6
SAT second attempt: 1470 with essay score: 6 5 6
I’m taking it again in August
Subject tests:
Math level 1: 730
Math level 2: 640 (yeah I know it’s bad, I’m studying over the summer to retake in October)
US History: 800
Taking an Astronomy class at the local community college this summer
EC’s:
-Cub Scouts / Boyscouts for 10 years
-held various leadership positions
-Eagle Scout
-Probably around 80 volunteer hours
-been playing guitar for about 6 years
-I work as a tutor part time
-Varsity Track and Field 10 - 12
-Club Track and Field
-Football 9 - 10
-Founder / President of the Entrepreneur Club.
-Within the club, myself and some of the members started a custom sticker printing business
-Volunteer as summer camp counselor
-Probably 100+ hours total by the time I put it on my apps
Schools I’m looking at (with my intended major)
UCB - Econ or possibly Business
UCLA - Econ
UCI - Business
UCSD - Econ
UCSB - Econ
UCD - Econ
SDSU - Business
USC - Business
Stanford - Econ
Boston College - Business
Georgetown - Business
Cornell - Econ
Other than UCB/UCLA which are always tough admits, you look solid for all the UC’s, USC and your safety SDSU. Stanford is always a Reach for everyone and I cannot comment on the rest. Best of luck.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above:
UCB: 42%
UCLA: 54%
UCSD: 87%
UCSB: 85%
UCD: 91%
UCI: 94%
Berkeley and LA: decent chances, always a toss up for CA residents though.
Irvine, SB, SD, Davis: you’ll get into at least one of these; they’re getting progressively harder to get into.
SDSU : Guaranteed admission
Boston College: Decent shot
USC, Stanford, Georgetown, Cornell: very slim; USC is probably the most likely one. All 4 are hard colleges to get into, but your chances for the UC’s mean you’ll have a great chance of going to a cool school that’s good for business/Econ.
I would take out Cornell from your list and add BU. You are within their range with your current GPA and test scores. BU has been becoming more competitive in the last few years though. It was 25% acceptance rate this year and I anticipate it will be even lower in the coming years.
Georgetown recommends 3 SAT Subject tests. I’m not sure that Math 1 would be a good test to submit as most competitive would not consider that test extremely rigorous.
Would you consider Santa Clara? It has a good business school and the Economics major is good as well. It may not have the name recognition outside of California but it’s a quality school and highly ranked among regional schools in US News and World Reports.
@Hamurtle Thanks for the advice, I honestly hadn’t considered Santa Clara, I’ll look into it though.
I’ve considered BU but my only problem with them is their notorious lack of financial aid. Do you think I could get much merit aid from them?
@ian1235, run a net price calculator after you submit your FAFSA to see if you can afford BU. It doesn’t hurt to apply and see what happens.
The other private schools are going to be just as expensive. How much are your parents willing to pay?
@Hamurtle I’m not completely sure but I know that we would be able to afford almost any school with a combination of parent contribution, scholarships, loans, and myself working during college. However, I would like to reduce the amount my parents would need to contribute and I would need to borrow.