Chance me/Recommendations?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Can you chance me for these schools/recommend any other schools you think would be a good fit?
Vanderbilt
Tulane
Duke
USC
UCLA
Cal
UNC
UVa
Penn State
Virginia Tech
Maryland
Texas
South Carolina
Georgia
Pittsburgh

Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 32 (I’ve taken once without studying and plan to take again to bring my math up since it was a little low)
I’m not taking the SATs since I did so well on the ACTs
I’m taking the SAT IIs in Chemistry and Math II this May
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 5.50/5.60
AP: European History-3 (my dog died the day before so I wasn’t in the right mindset to take the test, probably won’t submit the score); I’m taking the AP Chemistry and AP English Language exam this year
Course load This Year: AP Chemistry, AP English Language, Honors Precalculus, Honors Physics, Honors French 4, American Cultures
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature, Honors French 5, AP Government and Politics (possibly)
Awards: National Honor Society, French Honor Society, National French Award Winner, Distinguished Scholar, National Merit Qualifier

Extracurriculars:

  • Varsity Water Polo (9th and 10th) - not enough members for a team after sophomore year
  • Varsity Lacrosse (9th, 10th, 11th)
  • Varsity Swimming (9th, 10th, 11th)
  • National Honor Society
  • French Honor Society
  • French Club
  • Outdoors Club
    Note: Captain and leadership positions in all clubs and sports are for seniors only at my school
    Job/Work Experience:
  • Lifeguard during the summer
  • I’m working retail this year, probably 30 hours a week at a surf shop
  • Bible Camp Volunteer (15 hours a summer)
  • Lacrosse Camp Counselor (teaching K-4 girls how to play lacrosse, 60 hours)

I plan on asking my swim coach and AP Chemistry teacher for recommendation letters. I know my swim coach will write a great rec, I’ve been a leader on the team since freshman year and made it to our district championship (hardest district in our state). Only 20 Juniors take AP Chemistry so I think she’ll also write a good rec

Other:
I want to major in biochemistry, I am a white female from Pennsylvania and come from a small public school with not many AP courses or ambition to go to college
Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

2

Can you and your family afford UCLA/ Cal at around $55K/year with no financial aid for OOS? You have a lot of OOS schools on your list so make sure they are affordable before applying and have your patents run the NPC’s. Many applicants that were accepted to UC’s this year were shocked at the costs. Beyond the financials, you look like a competitive applicicant.

3

@Gumbymom I would apply for aid, but I most likely wouldn’t receive it because my household income is ~$160K. If I get into Vanderbilt, that’s my number one and I know they give quite a bit of aid.

4

Hey I’m a freshman at Duke, been trawling for nostalgia’s sake (basically lived on here this time last year).

I can’t really speak too well for Tulane, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Pittsburgh, but I would guess you have a pretty good shot at those schools.

For USC, UCLA, UNC, UVA, I think you have a good shot as well, I know plenty of people who got into those schools with less than you have, but also know people who got rejected from those schools with more. Especially out of state it may be a bit rough.

Vanderbilt, Duke, Cal might all be a stretch, especially Duke. On paper, you seem pretty average for those schools, so you’ll want to look for something extra to give yourself and edge. That being said, you have plenty of time to improve your resume. My advice for that would be to try and get involved with something that only you could do, something unique and kinda weird but still interesting (Example: my roommate is from Alaska and he’s a commercial salmon fisher).

Thoughts: I think my essays are what got me into Duke, and I think a good essay can turn your somewhat average (from top-tier perspective) application into a really compelling one. Look to tell a story that isn’t represented in the rest of the application. Another piece of advice I would give on the essays is to try to show the way you think and the way you view the world, but also try to challenge conventions and cliches. You still have a whole year to have a life-changing experience that you can write about so don’t worry too too much about essays yet. Personally, my common app essay was about how I lost at a music competition I had won the previous year, and my optional Duke essay (I don’t know how they’re doing it this year/next year) was about how, even though I fit the mold of an Asian-American stereotype (playing piano, tennis, good grades, etc.) I can still break it with my mindset and worldview.

Your letters of rec will be important also. I would advise against a letter that says “This student was perfect, best I ever had, genius, leader, etc.” I feel like it’s rather cheap, and may actually work against you, especially at top-tier schools. Instead, personally I looked for recommenders that could talk not just about my strengths, but also about my weaknesses and how I worked on them, and what I still needed to work on. I just feel like it adds an element of humanity that will be refreshing to adcoms who spend all day sifting through “perfect” applicants who are more robot than human.

As for school recommendations, I would definitely look at Washington University in St. Louis, Michigan, and Case Western. All have good science programs and are, I think, in your range.

Good luck!

5

@waitwhaat Thank you so much for your opinion! I agree 100% with your view on Vanderbilt, Cal and Duke, and to hear about what got into Duke for you really helped! I think I might write my essays on how my major fits into my personal life due to a family history of cancer that runs genetically and how my degree will allow me to pursue cancer research. My swim coach wrote a letter for an internship I recently applied for and I assume he’ll write something similar for college, but it was about how I worked to be the best I could despite injuries setting me back and how it showed perseverance. I plan on retaking the ACTs and aiming for a 34, which will (hopefully) make me much more competitive. Thank you for your recommendations on schools too! Best of luck at Duke!

6

I put USC(the one in California) in the same rank as UCLA/Cal.

7

Reaches:
Vanderbilt - Very Good
Duke - Moderate
UCLA - Good
Cal - Moderate
UNC - Very Good

Matches
Tulane - Extremely Good
USC - Good/Very Good
Texas - Very Good

Safety:
Penn State - Extremely Good
Maryland -

Recommended Adds:
Cornell - Moderate/Good
UMich - Good
Penn - Moderate
Johns Hopkins (ESP for neuroscience!) - Moderate/Good

Recommended Removals
Tulane - (you’re better off applying to LSU, lol)
Texas - (Overrated)
Penn State - (come on…why even bother? you’re a step above “average” my dear)

8

@HisTyNess I’m from PA, and my whole family goes to Penn State! Last year, a girl from my school with similar grades got rejected from almost every school she applied to but got a full scholarship to Penn State, so that’s pretty much why it’s there. A lot of my schools are really hard to tell if an OOS student is going to get in, so Penn State is a school that I’m 100% sure I’ll get into. Is Tulane really that bad? Also, do you know if visiting schools like Duke and Vanderbilt will give me a nudge if I’m neck and neck with someone? Thank you for your recommendations! I’ve been considering Penn for a while, so I might apply since it’s a Common App school like most of my schools.

9

Be careful and do your own thorough research. As you will find on this site, the whole safety/match/reach model is not nearly as reliable as it used to be because stats have declined in importance as a predictor of admission. Stats still count in terms of meeting minimum thresholds (eg, don’t apply to Cal Tech with a 25 ACT), but if above the 25%-75% range is where the predictive value of stats wanes. That is to say, even though places like Georgia Tech, Tulane, Michigan, Emory, NYU, Brandeis, etc. have 25%-75% in the 30-33 ACT range, having a score in or above that range in no way guarantees admission. There are people all over the site with 34s and 35s who were disappointed by such schools because their interests and background did not fit in with what the admissions committee was looking for, or they did not display enough interest in or knowledge of the school.

Also, be careful of advice about what is and is not good for you. Only you know your own reality and where you would thrive. Best of luck to you!

10

@NJDad68 Thank you for your advice, I’m on here just to see what my chances are and try to figure out what schools students with similar scores are getting into. Ultimately, it’s in the college’s hands, but it’s nice to get an opinion from someone. Just trying to get into all my schools and end up at the right one for me :slight_smile:

11

@uclaparent9 do you mean that USC is a reach or that UCLA and Cal are matches? Thank you for your opinion :slight_smile:

12

With the info provided, I consider USC/UCLA/UCB to be all reaches, unless you secure an ACT score of 34+ in the future (more so for USC as it puts more emphasis on scores), in which case I elevate your chances to high matches.
(With the assumption that you will score 2 SAT subject tests of 750+ and will maintain your currently good GPA. My only concern would be the rigior of your coursework which is rather light with the number of APs you are planning to take. But if you maintain your GPA above 3.9 you could make it through).

13

@uclaparent9 do you think the fact that my school does not offer many AP courses will help me? Thank you for your information though!

14

That helps as collages take that into consideration. However, you should take adventage of all available to you!

15

@uclaparent9
Isn’t 32 above average for UCLA?

16

@RoundGenius Sorry to disappoint you again (as we had this discussion before) but I honestly don’t believe 32 is good enough… unless you have a close to perfect GPA. But best of luck to you as I know it is a very challeging time for you guys (and hopefully you prove me wrong… as has happened in the past!).

17

@uclaparent9
I’m not angry, please understand. I just think its bizarre that you say you need a score higher than a 32 to stand a chance, when a 32 is above average for admittance. Plus the median 50% for admittances to UCLA is very wide; 28-34 I believe. This implies that even having above a 30 isn’t necessary to stand a chance.

Again, really not trying to be preachy, I hope you understand. And thanks for the well wishes!

18

@RoundGenius I know people with 32s who have gotten both accepted and rejected from OOS, it really just depends on the class and what you can bring to the table.
@uclaparent9 thank you for your advice!

19

Good chances.

20

Which USC – Southern Cal or South Carolina? (I am presuming the former.)

The following assessments are based on objective/statistical information, including data from this link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/03/31/a-college-admissions-edge-for-the-wealthy-early-decision/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_college-admissions-710am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Vanderbilt – low chance. 51% of Vanderbilt’s freshman class is from ED applicants, who have a 23% acceptance rate; the overall acceptance rate at Vanderbilt is 12%, which means that the acceptance rate of the remaining 49% of its freshman class is much less than 12%. Assuming that the Naviance scattergrams for our school are any guide, you will need a 34+ ACT – and I suspect that most of our applicants were ED.

Columbia --very low chance. Any Ivy League school is going to be a crap shoot, even with better test scores than yours. The mid-range ACT scores are 32-35; and the overall acceptance rate at Columbia is 6%.

Duke --low chance. 47% of Duke’s freshman class is from ED applicants, who have a 27% acceptance rate; the overall acceptance rate at Duke is 12%, which means that the acceptance rate of the remaining 53% of its freshman class is much less than 12%. As with Vanderbilt, the Naviance scattergrams from our high school’s students suggest that you will need a 34+ ACT – and most of our applicants were probably ED.

Northwestern – low chance. 50% of Northwestern’s freshman class is from ED applicants, who have a 38% acceptance rate; the overall acceptance rate at Northwestern is 13%, which means that the acceptance rate of the remaining 50% of its freshman class is much less than 13%. There is not a lot of Naviance scattergram information for our school; but you should improve your chances if you can boost your ACT to 34+.

USC (Southern Cal) – moderate chance. USC does not have ED applications; on our Naviance scattergram, most of our accepted students had a 34+ ACT, but some had lower; the mid-range ACT scores for Southern Cal are 30-33; and the acceptance rate at Southern Cal is 17%.

Of course, these estimates don’t (and, really, can’t) take into consideration your ECs, which are inherently subjective in nature with regards to the admissions process.