I’ve read so much on here, can’t believe I’m actually posting. I just finished completing all my college applications, and I’d really appreciate any feedback.
I applied to Duke, MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, UPenn and University of Chicago. I do realize conventional wisdom is to apply to some reach, some fit and some safety. It is a gamble, but I opted instead to only apply to the 7 colleges that really interest me, and that I would actually want to attend. If I get no acceptance letters, I would rather wait a year and apply again than accept an invitation from a school I’m not that excited about.
Having said that, here are my pros and cons.
Pros:
I’m homeschooled. I’m opting to add that to the pros instead of cons because I think I took away an excellent and very diverse home education that afforded me a lot of plusses to who I am as a person now.
I scored top 1% on the SAT (2230, with 800 in CR)
GPA weighted is 4.14
I have college classes I've taken at the community college to add to my transcripts
Reasonably good EC's
Really good essays
Out of the park letters of recommendation from 3 different teachers and 1 optional
A couple notable honors - top 1% in national computer hacking competition, won statewide spelling championship
A few unique things - learned Hindi and German, play a lot of different instruments and have deep roots with music.
First generation college student
Cons:
Though overall my SAT score was good, the breakdown was 800 CR, 780 in Writing and 650 in Math. So Math is low.
Though my transcripts look great, I am homeschooled so neither my GPA nor my coursework will carry as much weight.
Still need to take the subject tests in Physics and Math II this month and don’t feel super confident that I will ace those.
Though I have some college classes on my transcript, no AP, no honors, etc.
Other than the few things mentioned in the pros, not a spectacular list of EC’s. Some volunteer, some travel, some classes, but nothing extraordinary.
Will be applying for financial aid because we don’t have a lot of money. How much does this truthfully matter to admissions?
Not sure how I did with the MIT interview. Met for 2.5 hours but the first half hour I was super nervous and wasn’t able to think well or answer questions, which I told him honestly. He seemed super understanding, and I think I did warm up after awhile. Don’t feel like I did super great, though. Some questions I answered intelligently, I think. Is it a good sign that he prolonged the interview to 2.5 hours? Feeling more optimistic about my Princeton interview this week.
So that’s it - I welcome feedback of any kind. Anyone here get accepted to any of these 7 colleges with a similar mixed bag of a profile?
Your odds seem very low (lower than the stated acceptance rates) because of your low math score and no SAT Subject Tests at this time. Home school students need to shine on those subject tests. And you have chosen subject tests in an area where apparently you couldn’t get a strong SAT I. My guess is that you will be shut out, honestly. Even if you take a gap year, you only bring up your odds a little by getting better test scores during that year. Your ECs also seem okay, but I don’t see the “pop”'that might get you over the academic questions.
Everybody wants to just go to their reach schools, but it is a foolish strategy to not apply anyplace else. Burning one (or more if you pursue this strategy again next year) years of your life for admission to one of these few schools really isn’t worth it. There are tons of other great schools – and I don’t see your list as especially carefully chosen based on anything but prestige. A student who would be happy at UChicago doesn’t seem like a good fit at Duke, for example. Seems to me that you should have made your first post a lot earlier, or taken more of the advice typically given here if you are a regular reader.
Regarding FA, all these schools are need-blind in admissions. They don’t consider whether you need aid when making acceptance decisions.
Hi there! I was accepted EA to the University of Chicago last month and will be attending. Academically, you seem to be okay. I can speak specifically about UChicago. They only look at the Reading and Math sections, so you really might want to consider retaking the January SAT to raise your math score. And @intparent is right, a person at UChicago is not going to like being at Duke (just speaking from how I feel). Chicago is really a school where we pursue hardcore academics full time with the “life of the mind” and we socialize a lot with a tight-knit community often through academic discussion. I think you should open up your horizons a bit. Remember, if you ultimately want to go to college, you’re going to need some fall backs. You could apply to these 7 schools every year and never get in. Really sit down and think about what your priorities are.
Financial aid is need-blind at all of those places, and UChicago has a special aid program you can research.
One more thing, essays make or break admission at UChicago. I can tell you that with a lot of confidence because I was deferred ED from Penn with legacy, and got into UChicago EA unhooked. The only difference in my app were my essays. They want to see if you love pursuing knowledge for the sake of knowledge. A lot of students claim to have really good essays, but they don’t recognize that while they may have good essays, colleges are looking at them to see if you would be a good fit for their university culture.
Whatever happens in the end, though, you seem pretty prepared (at least this year), and hey, I hope I see you next year on campus. Good luck!
Did you check the RD deadlines for those SAT2’s? Duke eg, states Jan 3. Even if a college allows a Jan date, you have to realize they have already started to review. Your scores can be added later, but depending on your area, they may have already looked at your app twice by the time they arrived and get loaded to your file. (Yes, they will see them, assuming you make past first cut.)
My advice, if we were chatting, would be to understand that, after you decide where to apply, these colleges choose you, not the other way around. Top homeschool kids are super, no doubt. But there is little “school” knowledge to go on, since the h/s experience can be individualized. They have to rest even more on your academic and other choices- including how you went out and found active and committed opportunities to engage. And then on the “you” that comes through in your writing and answers.
If you want STEM, the math score could be an issue. Depends. But you say your ECs are reasonably good, then not spectacular. It can matter what these are. If you do want STEM, how did you pursue that, beyond academics? Travel isn’t really an EC for that level of colleges, not as a leisure pursuit. And nor is just taking classes. Again it depends. All this has to add up to something, to form a picture of how you think, what you take on and your impact around you.
If the whole point is to just try for these colleges, if you’re ok with a Plan B, that’s your decision. But if this doesn’t work out, next round really explore each college’s “what we look for,” try to understand their values, and see whether there are gaps in your experiences that you can fill.
Thanks everyone for the feedback so far, I really appreciate it.
As I said, I do know conventional wisdom is to have some safety options. There are two main reasons I don’t. The first is finances. We basically don’t have much at all to pay for college, so I am more interested, if I can get in, in the private colleges that have a lot of financial aid available to alleviate that barrier. The second is that, while of course colleges choose you, it’s also a choice on the student’s end where they would like to go. It is, afterall, 4 years of your life and a significant investment. So between going to a college that I’m not really excited about vs not going to one I would rather not. I’m excited about college, but it’s also not the only way to get an education or marketable skills. Worst case scenario I’m really excellent with programming and I live in Silicon Valley where I could easily get Java certification and go to work.
As far as my 7 college choices, I actually wasn’t just going for prestige. In fact I passed on most of the Ivies. I went back east to visit several, thinking I would especially like Dartmouth, but found after visiting that it just didn’t seem like I was a good fit with it. Same with Yale and Brown. Whereas, after careful research, there are things about these particular 7 colleges that I am very excited about. The one thing they all have in common (and is missing from some of the Ivies) is a forward thinking and outside the box feel. They do not seem turned inward on themselves, elitist, preppy or stagnant. One gets a very genuine sense of love of learning and engagement with the world with these 7.
So I’m hoping that the 2230 SAT, 4.14 GPA, great essays and stellar LOR’s will make me at least a consideration, despite the lack of honors classes and comparatively low math score. If not, I will flex with plan B.
EC’s - to answer I would describe them as “thin but quality.” I taught elementary aged children how to make bamboo flutes during Education Days at our local county fair for several years in high school. Volunteered as assistant teacher in children’s music choir. Traveled to India for several weeks to help with children’s clubs there, teaching games, playing music, etc. Played the tablas in a world choir performance and had a great solo. Just about all my EC’s have to do with music or programming. Attended summer SPLASH classes and an ID Tech camp at Stanford because I live nearby.
Regarding financial aid, I know most of these colleges advertise need blind, and that this is functionally the case of how they operate. But is it considered a disadvantage to need so much aid?
Not a disadvantage. And even need aware schools can get excited about a great candidate. When a kid has high need, the wisdom is to find schools that “meet full need.” Not colleges that “gap” you. Or, look at some of the schools that offer generous merit aid.
Thank you, lookingfoward. That is what I was hoping to hear is the case. I prefer to take what “full demonstrated need” colleges say at face value on their websites about their process being need blind. But I have read a few things on these forums to the effect that if there are two equal candidates the admissions board is considering and only one spot they will go for the one that does not need as much financial aid.
Is there a general consensus on whether or not being a white male is a disadvantage?
There are quite a few other colleges that also meet need, and some others that come very close where you would have had better chances. You will probably be back asking about them once results are in.
You are incorrect about the need based aid and preferential treatment in admission. Some schools (even those that meet need) tell you they are not need blind. And then you know they do look at it, at least in borderline admission cases. But the schools that say they are don’t look at your need.
Intparent, while I appreciate you taking the time to post a response, I didn’t ask what you thought about my decision to apply to the colleges I did at the exclusion of any others. I pretty much explained my reasoning on that, and am aware that it is not the norm of approved wisdom. I’m prepared to accept none of the 7 accepting my application. I will work with a plan B and am not overly worried about it. My identity is not dependent upon which college I go to, or whether I go to one at all.
I also wouldn’t have applied to these 7 unless I thought I had a chance. Hence the thread. In reviewing objective data out there I know I’m not outside the pale of what these colleges are looking for. However, being that they are ‘reach’ for anyone just based on their admit rate alone, I’m looking for feedback on the overall picture of my profile to them.
I’m aware of the difference between need aware and need blind, and which colleges say what they are on their websites. My FA question had more to do with whether or not some other posts on CC were correct in saying even the colleges that declare themselves need blind do actually look to that as a deciding factor if all else is equal. Glad to hear another vote in favor of saying they really mean it.
Either way, I’m definitely in the situation lookingfoward references of needing to only look at colleges that are able to meet full need, not gap.
A mixed bag is seen as weaker than an application with strong focus in several EC’s. The chances you receive 7 rejections/waitlists are high, but best of luck on your admissions!!
No, a mixed bag is not weaker. Sheesh. It depends on what the activities are. And OP isn’t looking to transfer.
OP. I’m confused what potential major. The activities nearly all involve children. I thought something stem because you included MIT. If so, do you have math-science ECs?
…
Ok, programming. You included that, right?
You should really apply to some other colleges too. Taking a gap year isn’t going to help you get into these colleges if they don’t accept you first time around. You haven’t missed all the deadlines. There are some good schools with January 15 deadlines. You can see the list here http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/application-deadlines/
Not every college, especially those on your list, like the homeschool idea unless there is a very good reason for it.
Your SAT score of 2230 is excellent and I don’t think you will be denied because of the lower math score. You are unfortunately lacking the subject tests and AP, both which are even more important for homeschooled applicants. These are very difficult colleges for even the best students who graduated from rigorous high schools.
lookingforward, I’m not 100% sure what I want to do for a career (or major.) But I’ve gone ahead and put down neuroscience as my field of interest because this is what’s strongest right now. I want to study the brain, especially during development. Autism. Responses to various stimuli. Music. I can easily fall back on computer science. One of my honors on the apps is top 1% in the national Carnegie Mellon hacking competition for high schoolers. I’ve taken lots of programming courses at our community college and done a lot of my own projects, some for paid work. But yeah, right now the brain.
Amy, I’m home educated because we live in a fantastic area to do it - tons of resources, classes and opportunities - and because if done right it’s a great alternative to public education. Affording private was never a possibility. All of the schools I’m applying to have expressed welcome to homeschooled students, and I am scheduled to take the subject tests this month, which all 7 colleges said they would accept if sent directly to them. So I’m studying up and hoping to do well. The literature one I know I will ace. Physics and Math I hope to do well on; we’ll see. I have my interview with Princeton day after tomorrow.
For the sake of other readers especially, home schooled students need to find external validation-as much external validation as possible, to demonstrate mastery. Since you don’t usually have teachers who are objective, you need to show that you have a high level of mastery of material. I’ve seen students do this in all kinds of creative and less creative ways. A string of AP 5’s in STEM classes would do it. A string of SAT2’s in the high 700s or 800s will do it. A combination will do it.
To OP, where are your SAT2’s listed? Which did you end up taking? How did you do on them?
Also, I’ve never seen any evidence that certain very competitive schools don’t like home schoolers. But it is reasonable to expect them to look for external validation of mastery right? Also, who wrote your letters of rec?