Asian American Male from St. Louis, MO
GPA: 4.071 W, 3.78 UW
ACT: 34. Waiting on July ACT results. Superscore 35
APs: World 4, US Gov 4, Calc AB 5, Calc BC 4, Com Sci 4
Took 4 or 5 Honors/AP classes each year
SAT Subject Tests: Taking Chem and Math II in August
ECs: High School Swim team 10th-12th, Student Council Class President 10th and 11th, Student Council Student Body President 12th, National Honor Society 10th-12th, Cardinal Glennon Teen Board (volunteer opportunity based on fundraising for Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital), Camp Rainbow volunteer counselor 11th (camp for kids with cancer and blood related diseases), Southwest Stars Club Baseball 9th-11th, American Legion Boys’ State (senator), HOBY Youth Leadership Seminar, Chinese Gospel Church Teens for Christ Youth Group 9th-12th
Distinctions/Awards: National Merit Semifinalist hopefully (1470 PSAT w/ 219 selection index), St. Louis County Outstanding Leader, HOBY Award, Boys’ State award
I can’t talk about all of the schools, but those that claim to have holistic admissions processes what I see looks ok, not bad, not great. ACT looks good. GPA looks a little low for Penn, NW, UMich, Cal but still in range. I’d feel better with more 5s on the APs. Leadership looks good in the ECs. How is your school? What is your rank?
Your essays and recommendations will be important. Make sure you get personal recommendations that talk to your strengths and how they match the schools you are applying.
Lucky you, cutoff for Missouri last year was 211. My kid had a 221 in California last year and missed the cutoff (I think it was 222).
I can only speak for UC-Berkeley as far as chances goes, but they tend to be a little bit more grade focused, so you 3.78 UW puts you in contention but on the wrong side of a 50-50 chance. Maybe a 20-25% chance. The UCs use something called a UC GPA when they use stats to show their average GPAs… You can google “Rogerhub UC GPA” to find a tool to help you calculate your Capped weighted GPA. Median for Berkeley is usually in the 4.2-4.25 range and for Engineering it is higher. My guess is that your UC GPA will be somewhere around 4.1-ish, so UCB will be a reach. However don’t despair, my kid got in with a 4.05, with a 35 ACT so hope is not lost.
Just curious - are you aware that the UCs don’t give much need-based financial aid for OOS applicants? Not a problem if you are planning to be full-pay wherever, but if your family needs FA, don’t bother with the UCs.
You are a flip of a coin with all your picks. You need some safeties (schools you are in the 75%in) on your list. Michigan had 10,000 kids on the wait list this year. Ouch!
I am aware that the UCs are expensive. When I make my decision next spring, I will definitely be considering finances. @washugrad
@Knowsstuff I am also applying to Mizzou and Illinois. I figured Wisconsin would be somewhat safe due to the scattergram from my school.
@ProfessorPlum168 @BrianBoiler Thank you
I was going to tell you to add Illinois or the school that loves to take your full pay money… Err… Mean out of state kids… Ha… I would add Purdue and NC State just looking at your lists for safeties.
Is there any particular activity in your EC’s that you can really focus or emphasize on?
It seems like your activities are too scattered and the lack of direction is definitely concerning for applications.
Have you taken a look at WashU?
@TacticalPotato I think leadership is a pretty common theme throughout my ECs but I am not sure what you mean.
I have looked at WashU. It’s a great school but I don’t think I could handle staying in STL
@pchenners what is your intended major? If it is engineering and you are taking recommendations on other schools, Purdue is great for that. I know I’m biased, but I really like the direction Mitch Daniels is taking Purdue. It is one of the few universities that is innovating how they deliver their product. Plus, they have frozen tuition for 8 straight years.
When I was there, it was quoted that 1 of every 4 engineers in the United States is a Purdue grad. I suspect that it is probably attributable to the 75% of all statistics are made up on the spot phenomenon, but they do know how to do engineering as well as anyone in the country. The rest of STEM isn’t bad there because of that.
@BrianBoiler I am interested in business and engineering. I’ll definitely give Purdue a look.