I’m a junior at a competitive CA public high school. Please let me know my chances for my current list of schools, as well as any recommendations for other schools I should look in to and consider. Mainly want to be introduced to some great schools that you think would be a good fit!
schools:
UCs: ucb, ucla, ucsd, ucsb, ucd
sdsu/sjsu as safeties
brown, yale, northwestern, boston college, usc, middlebury
major: econ or international relations probably!
some basic info:
state: CA
school: lg public
gpa: 3.9 uw
rigor: not the most difficult, but currently taking 4 aps
ap scores: ap euro (4) ap physics 1 (4)
sat: 1560 770 RW 790 M 21 essay
sat subj: 690 M2
act: 36 36 R 35 M 36 E 36 S 9 essay ):
ECs:
debate (very minor awards)
key club (pres, division position)
peer court advocate
girl scouts
mock trial (likely captain sr. year)
had an internship for a political campaign
Thank you all so much for the help! Any advice to make my app more competitive would be great as well.
Grades are awesome, test scores are phenomenal, subject test is poor and your ECs are bland. What’s your class rank and Capped/Weighted UC GPA? Use rogerhub’s UC GPA calculator and freshman admissions calculator to test your chances. I think you’re going to get into your safeties, UCSD, Davis, and SB. You will also probably get into either Cal or UCLA, but I don’t think you’ll get accepted to both (I’ve seen people who got into Ivies/equivalent get turned down by one and get into the other so ???). USC and BC should react well to your application as well. With a combination of less-than-the-most-rigorous course load, and (relatively) subpar ECs, the Ivies won’t react very well, but what do I know.
I can’t really offer you much advice regarding which schools to apply to though, sorry.
Don’t worry too much about the 9 on the ACT essay - that is still something like the 91st percentile and it’s not TOO important- colleges mainly just use it as a checkbox- did they get over “x” score (usually an 8).
The Math II subject test score is not a bright point on here, and while you should probably look into getting that up, for your intended major it may not be that big of a deal. Other than that the standardized test scores look excellent.
What’s your UC GPA?
UCB- WL
UCLA- Accept/WL
UCSD- Accept
UCSB- Accept
UCD- Accept
SDSU- Accept
SJSU- Accept
Brown- WL/ Reject
Yale- WL/Reject
Northwestern - WL/Reject
Boston College - Accept/WL
USC - WL/Accept
Middlebury- WL
Overall you look good for most of these schools. Idk much about your EC involvement but you’ve got “good” but not “great” ECs. Though that could change- what have you done with Girl Scouts- did you earn your gold award/are you close to doing so?
You have a good chance at all of your schools except for Yale and Brown, which are reaches for anybody. While your grades are good, you have some weak spots in your application.
For starters, you need to focus more on economics or international relations. You need to take more AP’s in those areas, or self study for the exam if the school doesn’t have them. Your ECs are also generic, so try doing more related clubs or activities that are special and related to your field. Lastly, take subjects tests in History and English.
Create your own. Take a MOOC (massive open online course) from EDX, MIT Open Course Ware, and Coursera. They are directed and taught by top notch universities such as MIT and Harvard.
Create your own clubs. I have seen people who started an Econ club or an investment club. Have no fear and go for it.