Chance Trans Male for Top 20s!

Chance me for Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, etc. !!

recommend schools

Demographics: White Trans Male living in WV, in a very low income and rural community. We rank super low in everything and I think I want to tie that in based on how it affected me growing up. low income (>16k a year) I want to major in government or political science and minor in either sociology or journalism.

ACT: 33 (may take again because my math was a 29. 35 in English and reading and 34 in science)

SAT (not sending) 1350

gpa- currently a 4.14, will be a 4.3 or so whenever I graduate.

Our valedictorian system is really weird and isn’t based off GPA, But I’ll be top 5% at the very least.

CLASSES- my freshman and sophomore years I wasn’t taking very hard classes just because I had a different career part at the time and I wanted to go into digital design and marketing, so I won’t include my classes for those years but I’ll mention I’ve always been one math class ahead of the majority of my grade.

JUNIOR YEAR- Spanish 2 APUSH APGOPO APLIT Intro To Criminal Justice (Dual Enrollment, 5.0) TRIGONOMETRY Anatomy

Planned Senior Year APBIO AP HUMAN GEO AP GOPO COMPARATIVE AP LANG AP WORLD There will be more online ones that will be taken during my second semester, our school just recently changed our system so we aren’t sure what ones will be offered. -this is all the ap’s our school has plus ap world is online, we used to have psych tho.

———ESSAYS——— Writing is 100% my strong suite, and I’ve had a lot happen to me in my life that that I could 100% tie into my passions. I have my personal statement done as well and it’s been through like 4 people.

——LORS—— (Planned)

APLIT Teacher- We’re super close and I’ve had her write multiple letters for me before for summer programs, QuestBridge, etc. I’ve also excelled in her class because I’m pretty good at Literature and writing, and she’s told me she thinks super highly of me. She knows me well enough that I think the letter would be a 9/10. She’s also the advisor of the newspaper I created.

Gopo teacher- he loves me and also calls me patient all the time bc he struggles with my pronouns. Told me he wants me to do it again and has always praised me as being one of the best students in there. I’m also a strong lead for our teams in that class and have always excelled in competition -7/10

Teacher from GHA - obv can’t be too revealing abt this one but he taught my intensive class at my 3 week program, and I spent well over 3 hrs w him everyday. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met and the impact we had on one another was huge. He’s also a journalism teacher at his Uni and has a way w words. 9/10

Science Teacher- had her last year for anatomy and this year for AP bio. I also stay w her during my virtual periods. We talk all the time and genuinely just have a rlly rlly great dynamic. 8/10?

Counselor- she doesn’t really like anyone but I will say we are semi-close. I’ve done a few projects w her. I’ve had to keep my bridges mended w her recently bc of incidents at school lol.

——————————— EXTRACURRICULARS/HOBBIES -We The People Competition- super passionate about this one. Goes hand in hand with our GOPO class, and I’ve spent a ton of time and effort on it. Also combines a lot of my interests such as politics and writing.

-Newspaper Team- Created a school newspaper, head of it. Put my own money forth to create a website in an effort to save paper. Hand picked the team after talking w teachers to see who the strongest writers, editors, etc were. (V important to note that our school doesn’t allow clubs so getting it approved was a pain)

-Creative Writing- I’ve wrote like 50k words of creative writing at this point lol, it’s just something I do on my free time but it’s a huge interest.

CERT- digital design/social media worked for our community emergency response team. Recently got promoted to manager of my own division

Student council, 11th grade. President this year.

National Honor Society

WVGHA- Governors academy for top like 100 students in the state. My classes have an emphasis on politics and government with some literature on the side. I loved this sm and tied it into my story a lot, I came out the day I got home from GHA. Genuinely life changing.

I’m a QuestBridge prep scholar and won a scholarship for the Stanford Envision Law program.

Yearbook for 4 years. We are technically only allowed to take the class twice, and I only done it once. The summer after my freshman the teacher came to me and asked me to help him finish the yearbook since his last class ditched him as soon as Covid began. I’ve been an advisor/editor ever since.

I want to add that we don’t have clubs and I’ve never been able to do sports or anything that required travel due to how low income we are, like we literally didn’t get a car until like two years ago. A Lot of my opportunities have been self created because of this. Sometimes this sub makes me feel like I have no chance, but I do think that my circumstances and opportunities will play a part in admissions.

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If your screen name is your real name, please read this link, and change it.

[quote
post:1, topic:3619925"]
my freshman and sophomore years I wasn’t taking very hard classes just because I had a different career part at the time and I wanted to go into digital design and marketing, so I won’t include my classes for those years but I’ll mention I’ve always been one math class ahead of the majority of my grade.
[/quote]

I don’t think you have the choice of just excluding courses you took in high school when you apply to college. They will all be on your high school transcript which will be a required submission everywhere you apply. So be honest right up front. List everything you have taken in HS on the common application. Don’t leave anything off. If taken at a community college, you will be required to submit the transcripts.

Your current list is very top heavy. Will you be applying to WVU? IIRC they do have some initiatives financially for low income and especially high achieving students.

Self creating your opportunities is a very good thing…and you have good reasons for doing so.

You can’t get accepted if you don’t apply, but please please, have a variety of colleges, not just THE most competitive for admissions.

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Yeah ofc!! I don’t mean excluding them from my transcript, just from listing them here as I don’t believe they have much substance, plus some are very school specific and I would at least like to keep some anonymity. I have about 5 in state colleges as well as some 50=70% acceptance ones. WV’s entire transcript system is messed up at the moment, so I haven’t been able to apply to WVU yet but I do plan to and have toured.

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What is your affordable safety school/schools?

Did you apply to The Questbridge National College Match?

You must send all your scores to Georgetown.

Prepping for and taking another ACT is not necessary, nor a good way to spend your time right now.

No chance - well there’s always a chance I suppose but I don’t see it happening. Way over reach.

Ithaca, Umass, Vermont and Oregon rate high for trans in several articles but won’t be affordable. See the Ithaca NPC as they are private and maybe you get lucky.

I’d look to Questbridge and schools like Oberlin, Wesleyan and Dennison plus WVU for cost.

Good luck.

Just to clarify, are you a junior?

If OP is a senior and hasn’t already applied to QB, it’s too late as the deadline has passed.

I second the recs of oberlin, Wesleyan and Denison, but OP should run the net price calculators at each.

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Sounds like he is a junior since his senior year is “planned” not happening.

U r correct on qb date passing but I assumed the student is a junior since it’s late and he was a qb scholar - those are qb schools that meet need even outside although the qualifications may be higher.

WVU has a 4.5 campus pride index. You rarely see that so it’s very high which is great. Harvard isn’t rated at all and Gtown is a 4. Stanford is a 5.

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In the OP they mention their personal statement is done, hopefully they clarify.

The poster is a senior. He mentions using his AP bio teacher, who he has now. He says “planned,” because his school will offer some other opportunities in the spring.

He also mentions that he has applied for Questbridge and stated where he got in the process.

This was in the initial post.

Check out Warren Wilson College.

QB Prep scholar is for juniors. I asked OP if they applied for the QB National College Match which is for seniors applying to college. That’s the deadline that has passed.

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This!

I hope he applied for the college match too. Perhaps he will clarify this.

Here is information about how WV residents can apply for in state tuition at Ohio University (main campus is Athens, OH) and their merit awards.

https://www.ohio.edu/news/2021/07/west-virginia-residents-qualify-state-tuition-all-ohio-university-campuses

https://www.ohio.edu/admissions/tuition/ohio-excellence-awards

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The fact you are a high achieving student in the context of student averages in West Virginia, I would definitely aim for the sky. You will be judged against other students from your area. You are in an excellent position for Top 20.

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Since your test scores are so much higher than your school’s, and you’re from West Virginia which is a geographically valuable state to be from (it’s one of the 50 states that colleges have a hard time getting graduates from) means that those things are going to probably help your application. I agree with @sllemon that the sky is the limit, but for your REACHES only. You want to make sure you have a balanced list of schools to apply to.

Although you shared a great deal of information about your background, you didn’t share much about what you’re looking for in a college. Thus, this is a fairly random list of suggestions in a range of selectivity. These are schools that you mentioned (Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown), or that meet some combination of the following factors: need-blind, meeting 100% (or close to it) of financial need, strength in your areas of interest, scoring well on the Campus Pride index or noted as a top school for trans students, and/or a location near a government capital. Obviously, if you share more information about what you’re looking for, we can provide more targeted suggestions. But here are some possibilities:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Earlham (IN)
  • Ithaca (NY)
  • Lawrence (WI)
  • West Virginia University

Likely (60-79%)

  • Syracuse (NY)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Connecticut College
  • Dickinson (PA )
  • Lafayette (PA )

Low Probability (20-39%)

  • Oberlin (OH)
  • Macalester (MN)
  • U. of Richmond (VA)

Lower Probability (less than 20%)

  • Amherst (MA)
  • Emory (GA)
  • Harvard (MA)
  • Stanford (CA)
  • Georgetown (D.C.)
  • Northwestern (IL)
  • Tufts (MA)
  • UNC – Chapel Hill
  • Williams (MA)

Here are frosh admission requirements for WVU:
https://policies.wvu.edu/finalized-bog-rules/bog-academics-rule-2-3-undergraduate-admissions

The following lists additional requirements for specific majors, as well as how GPA is determined: