Hello everyone, I am a mexican american female student who is a junior in high school and plans to apply to schools like Stanford, Princeton, UC Berkeley, and University of Chicago. Recently, I have been trying to calculate my possibilities of getting into these amazing schools; however, my issue is that as much as I try to compare myself to other students my situation is quite different.
For the first two years of high school, I lived in Mexico and attended bilingual schools.Freshman year I was in an international English competition that took place in London (we won first place), as well as on the basketball team, and in a spelling bee (where I was a finalist). Sophomore year I attended another school, Tec de Monterrey, and I was in theatre as well as on the volleyball team. That year, I staged managed my school’s participants in our national monologue competition, and was able to travel to Queretaro, as well as Mexico city for the competition. During my two years in Mexico I had excellent averages ( we did not use GPAs). Freshman year my average was 98% first semester and 99% second semester. Sophomore year my average was 98% first semester, and second semester it was 96%. The summer after sophomore year my dad got a new job and we were relocated to the United States. My journey during junior year has sincerely been a tad bit rough because I had to adapt to a new education system that was very different from what I lived before. However, I truly made a tremendous effort to adapt and maintain the level of prestige I had before. I joined Drama club, Model UN, French Club, and Junior State of America, which is a political activism and debate club. For Drama club, I had a minor role in the fall play, and then a lead in the winter play, and I helped with costumes for the musical. In Model UN, I participated in all the conventions available to me, and next year I will be chairing my very own committee at my school’s conference (its a committee that I have proposed and am developing). For French club, I have attended every meeting available, which is approximately the third Thursday of every month. And finally, my club with most involvement is JSA. For JSA, I held a minor position on the executive board at this year, and next year I will be our club’s vice-president! I attended all major conferences, including one in Washington DC. I have received a total of 5 best speaker awards, 4 of them being gavels. I am known to be a very vocal person, which is why I love both theatre and acting. I am someone who passionately advocates for the Mexican-American community, and I have attended multiple Latino based events for those who love to debate and be active members within their community. I will be attending a program this summer at Princeton, based on leadership and politics, as well as a government simulation camp that is sponsored by the Illinois State Government. I tutor kids about 4 hours a week, and I recently started working at Chick Fil A. During the summer I will be taking precalculus because I love math and want to take Calculus AB my senior year.
During my time in Mexico, we were not allowed to choose our own courses; however I was attending prestigious schools that are known for academic quality. This year, I am taking honors physics, honors algebra 2 & trig, AP Eng 3, AP US history, French 1 (I took French freshman year but it was different), and a semester of Theatre Arts 1 as well as Child Development. My GPA was a 4.42, unfortunately my grades lowered slightly because it was such an immense transition, and I ended up with one B, which was an 88 in AP English. This semester I believe my GPA may possibly remain the same, and I estimate once again getting the same grade in English. (it has been an incredibly difficult class for me; I had to basically relearn everything I was taught about writing essays in Mexico). I also struggled with the ACT and SAT because I had no idea what they were, or how important they were for college admissions. I have only studied a bit for these tests, due to the fact that I have been postponing it because I am so busy with other clubs. My current ACT score is a 29, and I am confident that I will be able to improve it (and once I take the AP US history I will be able to study hard for it). Next year I will be taking AP Eng 4, Calc AB, AP Govt & Politics, AP Macro/Micro, dual credit anatomy and physiology, a semester of child development 2 (where I will work with children) and a semester of theatre arts 2.
I really, REALLY want to get into a phenomenal school such as Stanford, which is my top choice as of right now. I want to major in Economics and become involved in their debate team, theatre program, and Latin American student association, as well as so many more clubs because I truly love learning and have an interest in absolutely everything! I am an incredibly hard worker, however this transition from Mexico to the United States has been hard for me, and my parents do not understand much about American schools because they studied in Mexico. I plan on submitting an acting arts portfolio with all the schools that allow to do so, and I have already spoken to my theatre director who will write my letter of recommendation, as well as help me with my monologues (I sincerely believe that it will be a strong portfolio).
I am mainly sharing my story on here because I want to see what the rest of the world thinks; I want a sincere opinion on my story, and any possible recommendations/tips for getting into good schools. I always watch videos and read forums on getting into prestigious schools, however I’ve never encountered anyone with a story like mine.
Any tips/opinions/recommendations are welcome! I want to know as much as possible about the college admissions process, as well as what I can do in order to increase my chances of getting. If you guys don’t feel that Stanford may be the fit for me, please recommend any other schools to look into. Although I would absolutely die for attending a school with such phenomenal academics and opportunities, I know that it is very difficult to be admitted unless you are absolutely perfect. Thanks for reading!