Gender/Race/Ethnicity: east/southeast asian (chinese + viet), non binary
Other special factors: first gen, urm (is viet urm?), writing spike, lgbt
Intended Major(s): history (of med science and pub health track where offered) and english (creative writing - poetry track)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.8 uw
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.02 w
Class Rank: top 25%???
ACT/SAT Scores: 1420 (720 r 700 m) - retaking in a week but if that isn’t going well I plan to go TO
Coursework (AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s)): APES, APUSH, AP euro, AP calc AB, AP Lang, AP Art, and some. I did not and DO NOT intend to take physics btw…
language wise I’m going into latin V but its not AP.
Awards
sorry I’m being vague— pm for details
writing contest semifinalist
another writing contest honorable mention
yet another writing contest finalist
yet another writing contest (are you noticing a pattern here)
school writing contest runner up
scholastics regional winner
state grant winner for writing initiatives
russian language grant winner (think nsliy)
intl business grant contest winner
national latin test gold
awards at school for being a hot relatable academic (english, language, and history department award)
scholarship from school #1 - pays for tuition
scholarship/fellowship from school #2 - paid for this europe trip I wanted to go to
various debate awards
will update in replies if I somehow win more things
Extracurriculars sorry I have bad memory and I’m typing this on my phone so it’s not the most complete
gender sexuality alliance - 4 yrs, president (3 yrs), raised over $3k, planned events etc.
asian student alliance - 4 yrs, leadership committee (2 yrs), similar to GSA
debate - 4 yrs, vars captain (3 yrs), won awards and mentor new debaters.
DEI work - 4 yrs. worked in the dei office + went to a bunch of natl and regional conferences, etc.
tour guide - 3 yrs. worked in admissions and helped tour families. probably 30+ tours?? and wrote cards etc. represented dei and writing panels on revisit days.
writing tutor - I tutor kids in writing and editing with the school writing center. new england’s #1 grammarly enthusiast. has a reputation now and I lowk get paid (in food) to help edit essays
volunteering - 2 yrs, group leader for my initiative on alzheimer seniors and music.
out of school
independent writing: 3 yrs. decent amount of publications + writing awards, adroit kenyon ellipsis mentee, editor for some journals, eic of another lit mag. has a book out with a press.
history internship: 1 yr. work as an archival intern (glorified photo scanning and editing) 10-15 hrs a week. but I got to help with educational resources and research which is SICK. i love
natl history council: 2 yrs. associated with above internship. monthly meetings and helped with outreach.
discord server: 4 yrs, created and ran a discord server since 8th grade. had 600+ members at some point but rn around 300+ members. taught workshops and hosted movie nights and events.
adttl info
some other small things I can’t rlly remember atp. or goes under a bigger category (eg. writing) or like stuff I did in school for one year that might go into addtl info or be in a rec but nothing further.
this summer I am: going to europe w my school (60% off the lowk egregious price tag ), yygs ($5500 in scholarship), adroit and ellipsis (I paid like nothing for the two god bless peter laberge). other than that I might just get a job and learn how to drive at home or something. nothing too crazy
I also have a writing portfolio and an art portfolio. currently trying to get writing recruited but its a long and confusing road. if you or anyone you know have gone thru the process pls drop tips
Essays/LORs/Other
teacher rec : english teacher, he likes me and I love him. also works in the writing center and I tutor there. we are also planning to write a new course curriculum together next yr
personal rec : haven’t figured it out yet but I am deciding between teachers I’m incredibly close with. also maybe one of my writing mentors depending on how my summer goes.
counselor rec : pretty decent. she likes me and I started working with her a while back.
essays: FINGERS CROSSED THEY WILL BE GOOD! please note I am rawdawgging my essays AKA I do not have a private counselor BUT I am self aware and I realize I am incredibly privileged to have a good school counselor! and good friends who will help me edit!
Cost Constraints / Budget (High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
me personally I can loan out $40k total for college all 4 yrs which comes out to $10k max per yr. my family makes around $120k right now. we made half of that 3 years ago though so there is room for explaining. I also have an SAT fee waiver and on average for NPCs I got around anywhere from $15-$32k efc. I’m lucky to have parents support me and help cover the rest if it comes out to around $20-35k per yr but def hoping to not have to do FP. applying for writing scholarships wherever I see them.
Schools
barnard brown columbia drexel harvard haverford jhu middlebury pomona princeton rice stanford swarthmore uchicago upenn usc vassar wellesley wesleyan yale
top choices rn r yale and stanford stanford bc their medical humanities is insane and also their creative writing department is unironically so stacked esp recently and yale bc I found so many things I love about it and its a very humanities based school and has the most stuff to do with my interests ngl (i am a yale review MUNCH). I’m applying to harvard for a laugh at this point
**before anyone comments why I am not applying to kenyon, I am not a fan of the mid west sorry. also for schools like williams and amherst I haven’t decided if I will apply yet since I want to see their campus first (possibly thru fly in??) and see if I like it.
I have a good feeling about you- like your humor. Your “story” is very cohesive. But you need a few “safer” schools on your list. Harvard has a history of science major Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
If you want another pair of eyes on your essay, I do that here on CC (for free of course) via PM. I have a feeling your essays are going to be good. Be yourself. Don’t let any adults change your essay too much
hi tysm for your comment! I wanted to follow up esp on the statement for safer schools. vassar drexel and wesleyan are all schools I would be more than happy to go to and most of them have pretty good acceptance rates in relation to my school. but I do agree that I should add/drop a few more schools. I will def take you up on that essay offer in the fall though!! really appreciate the offer I’ll also look into the reqs for the harvard dept but I just skimmed the page and it seems super interesting!
I forgot to mention I also like boiling maple syrup with my school but I can’t edit the thread now so CC will forever be stuck w not knowing how incredibly awesome I am at sap collecting I guess
Based on your interest in creative writing and the attributes of your current choices, you may want to consider Sarah Lawrence, which appears in this article:
I think this list is very top heavy. There seems to be one sure thing…Drexel…but I’m not clear if that will be affordable.
Adding Yale and Stanford just makes it more top heavy.
If anything, I think you need to add some additional sure things (at least one more…it’s nice to have choices). And some match schools.
Having a list completely of reaches has the potential for zero acceptances.
You go to a boarding school someplace in the northeast. Surely the guidance folks there have a sense of where you might consider applying where you have some schools with more likely acceptances.
What is FP? How will your family spend 1/4 of their income to pay for your college? Is that $120K income their salary…or take home amount. If salary, subtract a bunch from that to get what they actually bring home.
Explain what? The college financial aid offices are not going to care what your income was several years ago. That’s not what they will be using in their calculation.
Re: URM status…I’m thinking not…but someone else can answer that.
yes I understand. like I said earlier above there are some schools which are reaches but are more matches for me due to the school I go to. nevertheless I do see your point
$120k is take home. and at a lot of the places I am looking into they have rlly nice finaid initiatives for families $120k/$150k or less and also what I meant was my parents total will pay up to around $25k per yr after I contribute like $10k but after that I’m just grinding it out. If I am lucky enough to have multiple options though I am def going with the cheapest. this was something my parents and I have already talked about extensively in private and they are prepared to support me etc.
Will you have 4 years of classes in each of the core subject areas (Eng, math, SS, Sci, and foreign language)?
Do know that highly rejective schools really want to see bio, chem and physics, even from students who aren’t going to be stem majors.
You definitely need an affordable safety that your would be happy to attend…could that possibly be your state flagship?
I can’t imagine Drexel is affordable. Did you run their NPC? Note that NPCs aren’t all that accurate right now in some cases due to coming fafsa changes. They also may not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home, or own a business…are any of those the case for you?
Just a heads up regarding Vassar. While you identify as non binary you are applying to Barnard and Wellesley so you will likely suffer the much lower acceptance rate that female applicants experience at Vassar. I would adjust your list accordingly.
Without a cosigner, you can take federal direct loans of $5.5k, $6.5k, $7.5k, $7.5k for the frosh through senior years (total $27k).
Do you mean to say that your parents will contribute up to $35k per year without financial difficulty (including saving for their retirement and college for any younger siblings)? If so, then your budget limits are:
< $35k for a “safe” budget
$35-40k for a somewhat stretch budget adding federal direct loans or your work earnings during the summer and part time in the school year
$40-45k for a stretch budget adding federal direct loans and your work earnings during the summer and part time in the school year
An easy way to trim your college list is to remove any colleges where the NPC indicates a cost above your budget.
So congrats. You’ve accomplished a lot but like others have said budget matters. And schools that have an income table also have an asterisk - based on a certain level of assets. So for example my daughter got into a school where based on the income table, we would have gotten aid but based on assets we didn’t.
As for recs, look at each school’s app closely. Yale, for example, requires two recommendations from teachers in core subjects - English, math, science, language, social science. They don’t want a personal one. Many students will send in a comp sci or art etc and these are not core. That’s asking to be eliminated for not following instructions.
I see you said no Midwest - I may have missed but didn’t see this about the South and you have Rice.
I’d look strongly at Sewanee as a likely and Emory as another reach but it has its Oxford campus. Elon is also known for writing and would be a safety. Bucknell is likely a target.
Can these be afforded with merit/need?
I don’t understand Drexel at all. Just doesn’t fit the rest of the list. Iowa (yes Midwest sorry) is one of the best English/writing colleges in the nation and would be a much better fit than Drexel…likely cost wise too. Pitt also would work here vs Drexel.
As far as your majors are concerned, you can find outstanding English and History majors pretty much anywhere that isn’t cutting humanities. That’s because the academic job market is so saturated in those disciplines that even schools you would consider second- or third-tier have their pick of applicants. So in checking out departments, you want to consider a few things. First, are there a lot of visiting or adjunct faculty in those departments? That’s not a great sign. Second, do the courses and faculty areas of interest more or less match yours? In LACs with small departments, that’s not always a guarantee. also, you can see if there are either study abroad or applied work/internship opportunities that would enhance your work in the majors.
You might also consider looking for schools that have American Studies or other area studies majors (Asian, Africana, gender, or whatever). These departments will integrate history, literature, and other disciplines in ways that could satisfy your interests while leaving room for, say, a creative writing major.
Check out Oberlin, Kenyon, and Mount Holyoke (if applicable) – these might be just up your alley, with easier admit rates than the reaches on your list.
“where based on the income table, we would have gotten aid but based on assets we didn’t.”
Income contributes far more toward the family contribution than assets…unless the assets are VERY high.
There are colleges which clearly have an income threshold for awarding need based aid “with typical assets”. If one’s assets are considered high…then need based aid would not be awarded…as should be the case.
This student needs to make sure they have an affordable college…one where the bills can be paid for all four years. The list they have now is some very expensive and competitive for admissions colleges. Even IF they give great aid…it does you no good unless you get accepted.
My free advice to the OP.
Build a better list…starting at the sure things. Find two colleges where your admission is very likely, cost affordable, and you would be happy to attend. Then build up from there.
You have too many reach schools on your current list. So start vetting these…in terms of what you really want in a college…and in terms of affordability.
ty for your response. being so nice and respectful rn but can you clarify why enviro is not a core? IIRC it’s a science and it’s the science course I’ve been taking this year and I’m doing funded research in next year. I understand where you may be coming from but I don’t see why I just absolutely cannot do envi sci given that its a science. l do recognize that history is a good option as well though!
), yygs ($5500 in scholarship), adroit and ellipsis (I paid like nothing for the two god bless peter laberge). other than that I might just get a job and learn how to drive at home or something. nothing too crazy
