Chance me please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Concerns: Lack of leadership positions and SAT / ACT

Colleges (If anyone wants to suggest any, pls feel free:), I am looking for a school in a big city w a very good campus life and school spirit, solid study abroad programs and a strong pre med track + a public health major or concentration and psychology major)

ED: Barnard! ( I am in LOVE with this school and do not really want to go anywhere else,)

RD-
Reach
-Columbia University
Target (I think, these have like 20% acceptance rates so idk)
-University of Michigan,
-Boston University,
-NYU,
Safeties
-University of San Francisco
-Wayne State

State: Michigan

Demographics: Female, Asian(specifically Bangladesh), First generation student, considered independent because of family issues(explained later), Semi-Large Public Magnet school(~2000 total kids) , send a decent amount of kids to ivies every year

Intended Major(s):Psychology with a concentration in public heath, Pre-Med track

SAT/ACT: I have not had the chance to take these because of corona but I am aiming for atlest a 1470 and a 33

GPA: 3.94 UW and 4.1W

Coursework: I am a international baccalaureate candidate so all of my junior and senior year classes are IB classes, My school doesn’t offer honors and I did not take AP’s freshman and sophomore year but I did take an extra class online

Awards: 1st place in my debate league for best presiding officer, 3 time HOSA state qualifier

Extracurricular:
Part time Building attendant at local city hall,
-Internship for an Educational Foundation,
-Volunteer at my local library and at a kindergarten class,
-Debate Club,
-Interact Club,
-Garden Club/Buddies to Buddies,
-Boys wrestling team manager,
-National Honor Society,
-HOSA,
-Spanish Club,
-Psychology Club,
-150 hours of various volunteering

LORs: I am super close with the teachers I asked so I think they should be really good! 8/10

Hardships: My mom passed away and my dad has been sick for the last 4 years and has dementia, is half paralyzed and lives in a nursing home, I live with guardians (Thats why I am considered independent) but I have never been close with them, I go visit my dad every summer, I also have generalized anxiety and persistent depressive disorder, My guardians have 2 young sons and I sometimes have to take care of them

Essay I am going to write about how my family history changed me as a person and made me really want to help people and give back to my community and how that impacted my mental health, How I was limited to only doing things in areas I could walk to because of my guardians

Other: I can speak fluent Bengali and I can understand Japanese because my guardians are Japanese, I also can juggle and I am Muslim!

If you need more info, pls let me know but I really just want to know my chances of getting into barnard:)

2

Hi @confusedhighschooler,

If I were you, I would not be confused about either of the things you mention at the top of your post, and here’s why:

During the 2020-21 admissions cycle, most schools have gone test optional, so I would not give the ACT or SAT a second of thought. Further, your extracurriculars are impressive, and it seems that you are committed to your debate team (which is looked on very favorably by colleges).

Your GPA is well in the range that would be competitive for ANY school. A few quick questions – what were your IB HLs and what is your predicted IB score? This may make an impact on how colleges view your application.

3

BU and NYU are reaches, unless they are accepting 50% or more of the students in your high school with similar stats (check your high school’s Naviance). U Michigan accepts about 41% of in-state applicants, so with your GPA and ECs, it would be a solid match.

Do not mention your depression on your application! Colleges are risk averse, especially in regards to student health. telling them that you have a tendency towards depression may cause them to decide that they don’t want to deal with the potential issues that could arise from this, including issues of liability.

Your essay is about showing the colleges something about you which is interesting, and which they will not find in your application or in your letters of recommendation. Essays on the topic of “how I overcame my life of hardship and now I want to give back” rarely do so. Moreover, the rule of “show, don’t tell” is especially true for college essays, and the Life Of Hardship topics almost always tells the story. Have your GC talk about your background. your essay should be about

Barnard is a reach for anybody, but with your GPA as an IB student is very good, and it makes you a competitive applicant. Your ECs are solid, and you are first-gen, which is also an added bump. Applying ED also provides a bump.

So Barnard ED is likely a solid reach or a low reach. Definitely apply if it is your dream school.

However, what can you afford? Barnard is full need met, but BU and NYU are not, nor is USF. Can you afford in-state costs for UMichigan and Wayne State?

With your profile, there are a number of full need met colleges which would be matches and some which would even be safeties or close to safeties.

4

I found your family history very interesting and I think your essay idea is fantastic shows true strength of character, I agree it is defiantly something worth mentioning. Yours achievements are amazing and I think you have an excellent chance.

5

Rice in Houston…Washington University in St. Louis…Emory in Atlanta…University of Pittsburgh…SMU in Dallas…TCU in Fort Worth…University of Southern California in Los Angeles…University of Chicago…Northwestern (right outside Chicago)…Vanderbilt in Nashville

If by “school spirit” you mean Division 1 Athletics, Rice, SMU, TCU, Pitt, USC, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt fall into that category.

I wish you the best of luck; you sound like you would make a wonderful addition to any school you choose!

6

My school’s doesn’t tell us predicted scores but For HL I take Business Management, Sports Exercise Health Science, Biology, and Literature and for SL I take Math and Span! How would this impact my chances?

7

I think BU just announced they are full need but yes cost is BIG issue because I have to pay for college myself, What are some colleges that you can think of?

8

@confusedhighschooler …I almost forgot…University of Tulsa. I do not know how much school spirit is there, but they do play Division 1 sports. More importantly, the school LOVES IB students!!

9

Thank you so much! I definitely will look into these schools!