weighted 3.75 (school doesn’t rank, but attend top public school in CA)
act 25
sat 1230
varsity soccer and tennis
mock trial for 3 years, placed at the state level all 3 years
summer program at brown (medicine related)
uc early academic outreach program
club tennis team captain
continental math league 3 years, school won regionals all 3 years
hospital volunteer hours ~ 200 hours
work at dental office 10hrs/week during summer after jr year
founder and president of homeless feeding club
member of club that had concentrations within the ap classes (medicine concentration)
slam poem finalist
county history day runner up
black/hispanic, income ~$175,000
southern california
jewish, lesbian, black, hispanic
USC is my #1, emailed admissions counselor for my school as well as toured and emailed the counselor that gave the presentation. Also writing very personalized supplementals as i’ve done tons of research. Also, my counselor is a USC alum and she LOVES me so maybe she’ll write a strong personalized rec for USC.
Brown is my second choice, participated in Summer@Brown and visiting in the fall (as well as GWU)
USC, Brown, Tulane, UCLA, UCB, UCSD, GWU, UCR, UCI, and SDSU. Chance away and I’ll chance you back!!
Sorry this was super long, but I’ve been working hard on apps and would love to hear what you guys think!
You need some more realistic options. You are a good student, but your test scores and grades are pretty low for nearly every school on your list. I am half wondering if this post is real, but I will give you some suggestions anyway.
First, here is how it works: you need to apply to schools where your grades and test scores are on par with at least the middle 50 percent of applicants. These schools might be matches for you. For safeties, your stats ideally need to be in the 75th percentile, and the accpetance rate needs to be over 50% for someone with your stats. Being a Jewish, black, Hispanic lesbian is not going to get you in. Colleges do not admit kids because of religion or sexual orientation. Yes, being URM is helpful, but it won’t make up for grades and test scores below what they are looking for. Maybe your counselor loves you, but it’s going to be hard to get a USC admissions committee to give you a thumbs up, to be honest.
Colleges will use your unweighted GPA. This year, the average at SDSU was 3.85, and the average ACT score was 27. I suggest you look at less selective CSUs and find one where you are almost assured admission. UCR is a possibility, and you should also consider UC Merced. The other colleges on your list are probably not going to happen, unless maybe you are a recruited athlete? You should apply to a college with rolling admissions, such as CSU DH, or SB. If you get in to one of those, at least you have a college to go to. Prep scholar has a list of colleges with rolling admissions and their acceptance rates.
Meanwhile, do a lot of practice and see if you can get your ACT up to 27. That will help you a lot. Bust your chops and get great grades in your first semester too. Good luck.
UC’s and CSU’s do not consider race/ethnicity in their admission decisions so no help there. I agree with the above poster that your test scores and even GPA are on the low side for the majority of the schools on your list.
SDSU and UCR look like Match- High Match schools depending upon major but bumping your test scores will make you even more competitive.
For the rest of the UC’s, they are very GPA focused along with wanting strong test scores so they will be tough admits. I would add UCSC, CSULB and CSU Fullerton or San Jose State to your list and drop UCLA and UCB.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:
UCB: 2%
UCLA: 3%
UCSD: 6%
UCD: 15%
UCSB: 14%
UCI: 13%
UCSC: 59%
UCR: 78%
UCM: 92%
You might want to consider more LAC’s whom will appreciate your URM status and diversity.
Best of luck.
In June you posted that you had a 1370 SAT and a totally different set of EC’s. Can you explain?
i had the same EC’s, i added a few more that i was in in order to get a better idea of where i stand. my aim was a 1370, because i took a practice test but i fell short on the actual sat.
Try the ACT. You may do better.
i was thinking UCR would be a match school, because they do a lot of work directly with my school as i live really close to them
i was also invited to attend GWU and Tulane diversity fly-in programs, if I attend how much will that help my chances?
Well, that is a good sign, as I have heard that they often won’t fly you out if they aren’t very interested in you. Even so, both those schools have become very competitive in the last few years. You should work hard to improve your ACT score. You can’t assume anything these days. Attend the flyins if you are interested.
you guys have convinced me to take the sat again. the first time was without prep, ordering prep books now and hope to raise it to 1400+. i also signed up for a USC interview. should i take a subject test as well, I was thinking math? I’m also taking 6 ap courses this year, including two sciences and two maths (i would have taken all the ap science and math courses at my school) and will have a total of 11 AP classes when I graduate. Also applied to UofA and waiting to hear back.
@ihopeigetintbh You do seem to be in the Tulane range, and please attend the program. Also retake… a 1300 seems reasonable.
yeah I thought Tulane was a pretty match school based on the freshman profile. A 1300 seems reasonable for where? @VANDEMORY1342
For Tulane, you should still get your SAT up to 1400, just to offset your relatively low GPA. Brown, UCB, and UCLA is relatively unrealistic at this point.
My advice would be to go to the fly-in schools since they are interested in you.
Besides UCR, all of the schools you’ve listed are high reaches based on your stats.
My major concern is how you would be paying for your school.
Since your family is at $175K, you won’t be getting any need-based aid. Your current stats and grades show that you won’t be getting merit aid, so how will you pay for your education? Being URM at a private school helps, but it only goes so far.
USC is $72K per year, does your family have a 529 account for you?
@“aunt bea” mostly scholarships. i’ve had scholarship money since sophomore year, as the hospital I volunteer at gives scholarships and literally only two people apply. I have around 10,000 in scholarships so far, and many more i’m applying for in the coming months. i’m not sure about a 529 account, my parents have never discussed the affordability of college with me. a close family friend is an admissions counselor at USC and says they have tons of unused money for minorities every year, so there’s that. in terms of everything else, i’m an only child and my parents are done paying their loans for school, if that helps anything.
I signed up for the SAT II Math 2 and Literature in October, as well as the SAT in November. Gathered that my weakness was in the essay portion on the SAT, I’m assuming I’ll do stronger on the Literature test. I’m studying for the Math 2, which I hope will help me improve the math section on the SAT as well
A lot of scholarships are for one year only. The best scholarships come from the schools themselves. A lot of scholarships have a need based component. If your parents are at $175K, you are not considered “needy”. The reason they have unused scholarships is because no one qualifies based on income or stats (merit).
“my parents have never discussed the affordability of college with me.”
This is a big red flag. In order to craft a list for college applications, you must have the conversation with your parents about how much they will agree to pay for you each year. There is no sense in “chancing” for schools that you could not afford to attend. Find this information out ASAP, and then people can better help you.
I meant it in the sense that they know the schools I’m interested in and have no problem affording them