Hey everyone.
I’m a current high school junior and I was just curious as to where I am standing in comparison to everyone else who are trying to apply to “elite” colleges such as the Ivies and other top private universities. I am nowhere as prodigious as everyone else who apply there, but I’m trying my hardest to meet the Ivies’ expectations.
I am aiming for an Economics Major. From my research and understanding, this major is often one of the most taken so I won’t really have to go to a specific university that is “the best” for a certain major (e.g. Hopkins for the medical sciences). I currently live in California, but for personal reasons it is best for me to leave the state and attend a university somewhere in the East Coast.
As of right now, my target schools are Columbia, Harvard, UChicago, USC (the only Californian school I’m considering), John Hopkins, Yale, and Northwestern. I’m aware that most of these schools are reach schools, so I need some feedback as to where I could match/safety with with my current stats:
- Ethnicity: Asian (Filipino)
- Income: Around $40k. Hoping for a QuestBridge match for the schools mentioned above.
- GPA (Unweighted): 4.0
- GPA (Weighted): 4.7
- Class rank: 1 out of ~800 (public school)
- SAT: Haven't taken yet, but my most recent PSAT score in early sophomore year was 1310. Had some personal circumstance that happened the day/week before so I wouldn't say that I was fully prepared for it. I will be taking Math and US History for my Subject Tests.
*I’m not sure if I should take my SAT this upcoming December or if I should just wait until March. Advice?
- APs: AP Human Geography (5), AP European History (5).
- This year I am taking AP United States History, AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, and AP English Language and Composition. It's early, but I am trying (and expecting) to get 5s on all of these with the exception of Chemistry, which seems to be the hardest class offered in our school. ** Next year I plan on taking AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Bio, AP Econ/Govt, and AP Literature. *** I am currently taking Italian at a nearby college to fulfill my foreign language requirement.
EC:
My ECs aren’t as strong as I would had hoped. I wanted to join several academic clubs that participated in competitions (AcaDeca, Knowledge Bowl, MESA), but I played for the school’s volleyball team for two years, pretty much sucking up all my free time from 2 PM to 8 PM everyday, including Saturdays. I quit playing this year because I realized that it will eventually not be worth it as my course load is too heavy, while my potential to reach play for varsity is slim. I wanted to dedicate the rest of my high school years to clubs, and I fear that I did it too late.
- Key Club - Member (9, 10, 11)
- Division News Editor of Key Club - Responsible for creating a newsletter and sending in articles/visuals for 7 schools (11)
- California Scholastic Federation - Member (9, 10, 11)
- National Honors Society - Member (10), Treasurer (11)
- Film Club - Co-Founder/Treasurer (10, 11)
- Yearbook - Member (11)
- Model United Nations - Founder (11)
- Future Business Leaders of America - Co-Founder (11)
- Filipino Club - Member (9, 10, 11)
Volunteering:
- 3 of the clubs that I'm in are geared towards volunteering, so I'm hoping that those help out in the volunteering aspect.
- Co-founded a non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless kids. As of right now, we're at our building blocks and are currently securing sponsors + other financial elements in order to purchase/rent an office to work from. (11)
- Volunteering at School on Wheels, where I am matched with a homeless student and where I get to tutor them weekly for a couple of hours (11)
- Volunteering at an animal shelter weekly (11)
- Tutoring after school for two hours every MWF
Misc:
- Currently working as a private tutor and as a sales associate in a retail clothing store.
- Attended Yale Young Global Scholars during the summer at Yale University.
- Teacher/Counselor Recs should be strong.
- For the QB Scholarship prompt asking for an "extenuating circumstance", I believe that immigrating from a third-world country at the age of 11, being mostly alone for the past seven years and not really having parental figures, and ending up having to work to support the family and having to babysit a newborn baby brother a year after mom finally immigrating might help.
I know that my upcoming SAT scores will play a big role as to where I stand in terms of chances for the universities I’m aiming for, but right now this is all I have. Does anyone have any suggestions/feedback? Any holes that I need to cover?
I know I wrote a lot, so if you stuck to the end, I appreciate you for reading all of these.