Chance Me! (UNC, UT, UVA, T20)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I’m a rising senior at a private school in Texas.
I’m really struggling to get a good grip of where I can potentially get into. Below, I’ll list my stats/EC’s

GPA:
class rank: N/A (not offered due to ~125 class size). Would assume T25 Quartile, but not 100% sure as to if my school does that.
GPA UW: 3.75
AP’s: 11th grade (AP Calc AB, AP Stat, AP US History); 12th grade (AP Econ, AP Psych, AP Calc BC, AP Physics E)
Honor classes: N/A, school doesn’t offer them, but I’ve taken a relatively strong course load considering the rigor of my college-prep high school.

Test Scores:
No test scores, but scoring consistently around 32-24 ACT; not sure if I’ll even have the opportunity to take it though.

Honors/Awards: (Worst part of the application!):
High Honor Roll (9-11)
Duke TIP (9-11)
ABRSM Piano/Theory Certificates Grades 1-4
Basic Charity Awards for a private organization, with one award for having most hours in group

ECs:

  1. Founder/Vice President of (school) Investment Club

Founded club (11); Elected Vice President(11,12); Led/organized meetings/activities; organized guest-speakers/school-events/meeting presentations

  1. Piano Player

ABRSM Grade 1-4 Piano (Passed x1, w/ distinction x2, w/ merit x1); ABRSM Grade 1-4 Theory (Passed x2, w/ distinction x2); bi-annual recitals

  1. Varsity Football Team

Varsity Letter (10,11,12); Defensive Starter (11,12); Conference Runner-Ups (10,11); Lifted/Conditioned in off-season; Mentored underclassmen DB’s

  1. (charity organization) Member

Elected Pres. Communication (10); Order of _____ (Most Volunteer Hours in Grade) x1; Service Award x4; Volunteered w/ local philanthropies

  1. Track and Field Runner

School Record Holder (4x100m relay); League championship qualifier/competitor (9,10,11) in 200m, 400m, relays; Summer/Off-Season training

  1. Lifeguard

600+ combined hours ('18, '19); Elected for Divisional skills competition x2; Star Guard of the Week(x3), Month(x1); first aid/customer service skills

  1. ‘ACT Now’ Founding Member & Tutor

Co-founded organization that tutors underprivileged high-schoolers with ACT/SAT (Summer '20)

I have 3 more EC’s, but they are still in the works. (I pulled this data from CommonApp, and I just haven’t completed the rest)
8) 3-5 Online Courses on Excel, Financial Modeling, Financial Analysist
9) Internship w/ Local Morgan Stanley manager (Finance)
10) Internship w/ Local Edward Jones manager (Finance)

As you can tell, my ‘spike’ is my demonstrated interest/passion in Finance. My essay also highlights my passion in a very creative way. Hopefully, I don’t come across as conceited, but my essay is EXTREMELY strong and unique, so when considering my application be mindful of that.

Also, if you have any suggestions as to how I should re-arrange my common-app EC’s, please let me know. I’m not sure whether to prioritize my recent internships or my long-term/piano.

2

What can your parents afford?

Here is the thing - you have an excellent set of ECs, but your GPA is in that awkward place which puts it way above average, but below average for the most selective colleges. There are few colleges for which I would say that you have no chance, but your chances are pretty low for most colleges with very low acceptance rates, though your ECs could give you aboost in some places…

On the other hand, you are very competitive for a wide range of colleges, but we would need to know a bit more about what you are looking for in a college, and, as I wrote, how much your parents can pay.

If you were in-state for UVA or UNC, you would be more competitive, but as an OOS student, it would be more of a reach. I’m not sure about UTs, since so many in state places are reserved for students in the top 6% of their class.

3

@MWolf :
Money isn’t a particular issue, but I wouldn’t attend a college over $55k Tuition + R&B (rules out pretty much any college in California haha). I’ve been focusing on east coast schools (UNC/UVA), as they seem to be relatively cheap, good state schools.

As for type of college, I wouldn’t want to go to any school that doesn’t have a good social life and decent sports teams. I want the full college experience. So, as a general rule, I’ve cut out all schools w/ under 5-10k (ish) undergrads and I’d only attend a D1 (athletics) school or D3 Top30 school. I would sacrifice that social life and sports life if I were to be applying to (ex.) Carnegie Mellon, UPenn, or a Cornell (although these are all unlikely that I’d be accepted.

I’ll list the colleges that I’ve done research on and I’m considering applying to.
Unlikely: UPenn, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon
Reach: UT Austin, UNC, UVA, Tulane, Boston College, UMichigan, Georgia Tech
Safety: Purdue, Wake Forest, Boston University, UPitt, Syracuse

My goal is to get into at least one of my ‘Reach’ schools.

Side note: although my GPA isn’t great, I do attend a pretty ‘well-known’ college prep school that is known for its rigor, so the 3.75 GPA holds more weight than if I were to have that at a random public school. But I agree, it will definitely hold me back. Also, like aforementioned, my essays are going to make me stand out. I know it’s hard to say, but just assume that my essays are well above average (not trying to sound conceited).

I most likely won’t apply for the Unlikely schools if I’m unable to submit a test score (either from coronavirus cancelations or if I just bomb the test) above a 33ACT/1500SAT.

So, please recommend any other schools to add to my list, and/or delete. Preferably with excellent Business/Finance school.

4

Wake forest and Boston U are not safeties for you. I would put Wake Forest as a reach, since your GPA is below their average, and their acceptance rates are below 30%, and Boston U as a low reach, since your stats are in the middle of their accepted, but their acceptance rates are below 20%.

UPitt would likely be a low match, as would be Syracuse and Purdue.

Have you looked at your high school’s Naviance to see how many other students with similar stats were accepted and rejected to each of those schools?

If you are looking at business schools, I would look at U Indiana and Ohio State as other matches.

TAMU would likely be a safety for you, and maybe VTech.

While AOs do consider the high school, they have to be familiar with it. That is why Naviance is so helpful

5

You really need to look at your school’s Naviance to see how students from your school do.

IMO, UNC-CH is a reach, b/c of their OOS cap of 18% and their meets-need policy for all students: the calibre of accepted OOS students is disproportionately strong. Ditto UT-A- unless you have some connection with the school already. I agree with @MWolf re: WF and BU, and while imo UPitt and Syracuse are more likely than not, I wouldn’t call them true safeties- unless your school’s Naviance shows that kids with your stats always get offer.

You might look at Bucknell.

6

None of the schools you listed are safeties and many of the schools on your list have a COA well over 55K. Run the NPC for the schools on your list.

Many of the the flagships on your list have much lower acceptance rates for out of state applicants.

7

Well, with no class rank and a 3.75 GPA, you might get into UT, but you’ll have a difficult time getting into the business school. Whenever you can, take your SAT/ACT. If you can ace that, they your chances of getting into McCombs business school go up dramatically. Also, there’s Texas A&M, which is no slouch either.

8

Unfortunately, UNC is a tough admit. Even for in state unhooked, most are in the top 10%; Wake will be a reach as well. What about Uof SC, UA or Auburn?

9

Any non-automatic admit student applying to UT Austin or Texas A&M who puts either one of these schools into the “safety” category does so at their own peril. Without the benefit of automatic admission, these schools should always be considered at least a “match” or even a “reach” (depending on one’s stats). Neither of these schools factor in how “well known” one’s high school is. They are interested in the applicant’s accomplishments rather than how impressive his/her classmates are. Further complicating matters is the fact that admission to either one of these schools’ business colleges is even more competitive than just admission to the university itself.

@jkovin …You certainly have a chance to gain admission to any of your reach schools, but it might help to expand your safeties. The following schools (not an exhaustive list nor in any particular order) have good business schools, offer the “full college experience”, and will most likely, not only offer you admission but award merit:

Florida State
LSU
Ole Miss
Auburn
Alabama
South Carolina
Tennessee
Kentucky
Nebraska
Kansas
Missouri

10

Hello all! Thank you so much for your insight. I feel like a lot of you focused on my GPA a lot. As aforementioned, I took an ‘above average’ course load at a college-prep rigorous institution. I say this not to brag, but to clarify that a 3.75/4.00 GPA is relatively strong for my school, as it’s not a ‘generic’ public highschool.

That being said, ALL of the safeties that I listed were schools that, in comparison to my school’s Naviance, I have a 100% chance of getting in, as literally everyone with similar stats has been accepted.

My reach schools are also REACH! But, kids with similar stats to mine have gotten into these institutions. I was really hoping that some of you all would focus on the EC’s rather than the numbers, as I know that my numbers ‘check the box’ for each of the institutions.

11

@MWolf Hello! I would really appreciate it if you read my comment above. Like I said, the schools that I listed as ‘safeties’ have literally a 100% chance that I get admitted, based on Naviance. Not a single applicant above or even relatively below me got denied from the schools that I listed as my Safeties (i.e Boston U, Wake Forest)

Do you think you could re-evaluate, considering that my ‘number stats’ check the box for my reach schools, and are above the average(for my school) for my safeties?

If you’d like, you could PM me and I can send you my essay. I think it’s an important part of my application that will make me stand out. Totally up to you though!!

12

Don’t overly rely on Naviance, especially for determining your safety schools. There are too many variables that aren’t taken into consideration - ED, intended major, financial aid, etc…