US Domestic (parents are both immigrants), WA, top 1% public HS
Asian + White female, upper-middle class
nationally ranked athlete (not looking for recruitment), dad attended UMD and mom was int’l, both did residency at UCSF and research at UWa
Intended Major(s)
Engineering, Political Science, Applied Math, Business (would only ever minor), (looking for suggestions based on ec’s!)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.95 GPA UW, school doesn’t weight
No Class rank
34 ACT (36 R, 35 E, 34 M, 32 S) will probably take again
Coursework
10 Honors/Advanced Courses, 10 APs
AP Calc AB (5), APUSH (5), AP Psych (5), AP Lang (4); planning on taking AP Calc BC, AP Phys C, AP Gov, AP Lit, AP Chem, AP CS, German 4 (spoken at home, took to learn how to write + will take AP test @ another school since mine doesn’t offer it)
Awards
AP Scholar w/ Honors
National Honor Society
-Best Performance 4yrs in a row for my Ski Team
Extracurriculars
Competitive Ski racer
Selected to Western US regional training group (competitive, based on performance, led by US Ski team)
VP (3yrs) of Fundraising and Communication for Humanitarian/STEM non-profit focused on providing scholarships for girls in Kenya to access higher education (haven’t done metrics but estimate 100+ scholarships and $20-30k+ raised)
Vice Chair of state-wide high school political org
co-author of Maternal Fetal Medicine research paper (will be submitted by time of application)
Volunteer (70hrs), worked w/ children w/ disabilities to experience outdoors
Select Soccer (10+yrs), won local championship and semi-finalist at state
Columbia Pre-College Program (Political and Economic Theories of the Modern World)
DECA state 2 yrs
Science National Honor Society president
Essays/LORs/Other
Essay will probably be 7-8/10, writing is not my greatest strength but hopefully convey a strong message
I have one from my Honors Chem teacher (will have him for AP Chem) guessing it will be a 9/10, told me I succeeded in his class and a very nice teacher. My APUSH teacher’s letter will either be a 7/10 or a 10/10, I did well and was generally well-involved big class projects, debates, etc. but not always engaged on a day-to-day basis. Last one will either be my non-prof advisor, very nice and complimentary or my ski coach (however, my coaches are foreign and english is not their first language).
Cost Constraints / Budget
enough money saved to cover tuition of basically any 4yr undergrad institution (not sure if possibly going to grad-school would interfere w/ this)
Schools
Not sure what major I want so research on schools has been limited/I don’t really know what I am looking for. I do want to be reasonably close to a city and would probably rather be somewhat near east/west coast. I will also EA to all schools that offer it.
Safety *: Not really sure what safeties I would be happy at
Likely *: U of Wa, Wisco, Fordham,
*Match: UCSD, Boston U, Boston College, UCI, Villanova
Reach: Columbia/Barnard (idk if barnard is smarter option or not, also should I ED?), Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, NYU, Northwestern, UCLA, Claremont McKenna (or another school in the consortium), UNC-Chapel Hill, Stanford, UMich, Tufts
Which schools could I reasonably get into (either ones I listed or suggestions for other schools to look at)? Where should I ED? Should I alter my application at all to make myself a better candidate (esp. since I don’t necessarily have a decision on which major)? Is there a major that you suggest, that I have listed or other, that makes sense for my ec’s?
Your ECs are a bit different. Do you want to ski ? I’d assume not based on your list.
You needn’t take the test again. But you are 1 super score ping from a 35. U Washington and the UCs won’t see your test.
Where you should ED? Where, if you’re willing to forgo merit scholarships from other schools because many on your lists don’t give, that is 100% I’d be stoked to spend four years here. That’s where you should but note many/most don’t ED anywhere.
You said you have enough for undergrad but not sure about grad. A UW solves that problem and provides you a great financial safety net. There’s others that do as well - so you have money left for grad school.
Your have too many reaches and not enough of the others. And that should be reversed. Only Villanova on your matches is somewhat realistic and not a likely.
Also you need to decide Engineering or not.
So if money may be a factor and assuming you are full pay you might eliminate some with no merit offered. Why spend $350k for a Poli sci degree when you don’t need to. Ok that’s basically your entire list. I’d cut that portion in half.
Or add Pitt, Arizona (dirt cheap for you), CU Boulder, Minnesota - these are schools strong in all your disciplines and you’d get in.
You can also look at some solid LACs in engineering that aren’t quite as competitive but still high level schools such as Lafayette, Union, or trinity.
enough money saved to cover tuition of basically any 4yr undergrad institution (not sure if possibly going to grad-school would interfere w/ this)
Ok - you write this in your first note.
Nonetheless you have waaaaaaay too many reaches.
It will help to know engineering or not. Gave you schools with flexibility for your entire list but if one knew it didn’t include engineering, other schools might be added.
U of Denver is a solid add and safety for your interests.
Great student but you do need a less reachy list - just in case.
Depending upon which Engineering majors you are interested, UCI could either be a Reach or a Target school. UCI Math major would be a Target while Political Science major would be a Low Reach/High Target.
All Engineering majors at UCSD are Capped (Impacted) so UCSD Engineering would also be a Reach. Applied Math and Political Science would be in the High Target/Low Reach Category at UCSD.
Both UCI and UCSD admit into the University first, then into the major. The both consider alternate majors and recommend that the alternate major not be an Impacted/Capped major.
Much easier to switch out of an Engineering major than to switch into so keep that in mind. UC’s tend not to be flexible if you are not sure about which interests to pursue.
UNC-Chapel Hill does not offer engineering, except for biomedical engineering – which it does jointly with NC State (NCSU is the state engineering flagship university in North Carolina).
Wazzou would probably be a safety for you; is there a reason that it is not on your list in that regard?
Generally, if you look at the Common Data Sets for the schools that you are interested in, Section C7 tells you how each school weighs different academic and non-academic admissions factors; and Sections C9-C11 give objective criteria for recently matriculating classes – so you can compare your stats to those of entering freshmen. Also, if your high school has Naviance, that can help you in estimating your admissions chances (along with talking to your guidance counselor).
Have you had the opportunity to visit any schools of interest while they are in session, to get a feel for the campus and the student body at each one? That might be a way to help you decide about options.
These are some schools that would probably be extremely likely admits for you.
Gonzaga (WA): About 5k undergrads
U. of New Mexico: About 16k undergrads and has an EMS program with a concentration in International Mountain Medicine that seems pretty awesome (undergrad program 1/a site with more picts) and complements your interest in medicine (fetal health), international issues (Kenya), and the outdoors (your volunteering experience in addition to your skiing).
U. of Pittsburgh (PA ): About 24k undergrads (apply early…like August…for an early acceptance and the best shot of merit aid…they do run out as the admissions season goes on)
U. of Utah: About 26k undergrads with a well-regarded honors program
U. of Vermont: About 12k undergrads
These are some other good schools where I think your chances are probably at least a toss-up (which I define as 40-59%).
Case Western (OH): About 5800 undergrads; if you are hoping for an admit, make sure you show lots of interest to them.
Easy answer: Fortunately, NOT an either/or choice. Both traditional undergraduate colleges of Columbia University (Barnard College and Columbia College), have completely separate admissions departments and distinct critieria for their classes - you would want to apply to both to “double” your odds for Columbia University.
If CU is your definite first choice, then, yes, applying ED to whichever of the two university colleges, will substantially improve the chance of admission to that college.
Engineering majors and/or business can be much harder for frosh admission at some colleges. At such colleges, changing into them after enrollment is likely to be difficult.