Help out a stressed junior from a small island?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • international student (with US citizenship)
  • Type of high school: private
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: East-Asian, female

Intended Major(s)
English or political science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: Our school doesn’t release this, but I would say above a 3.95?
  • Weighted HS GPA: Currently a 4.55/4.8
  • Class Rank: Our school doesn’t do rank (not that I know of), but definitely top 10-20 out of ~250
  • ACT/SAT Scores: Did not take ACT & not planning to. SAT 1570 (superscore; Math 780, Reading 790)

Coursework
G9
AP World History (5)
Hnrs. Eng/Physics/Advanced Alg 2/Spanish 3,
Theater, Public Speaking

G10
AP Euro (5)
AP Stats (5)
Hnrs. Eng/Chem/Pre-calc/Spanish 4/Writing Seminar

G11
APUSH
AP Eng. Lang
AP Calc AB
AP Span. Lang
AP Seminar
AP US Gov
Hnrs. Bio/Writing Sem.

G12 (Expected)
AP Lit
AP Research
AP Psych
AP Econ (Macro AND Micro)/Comp-Sci (I haven’t decided)
AP Calc BC
Hnrs. Intro to American Law
Japanese 1 (maybe)

Awards

  • Semifinalist at Pro Con Challenge at NSDA Nationals 2021
  • Octafinalist in Impromptu Speaking at NSDA Nationals 2022
  • U. of Kentucky Season Opener PF Semifinalist 2022
  • Apple Valley Debate Tournament Octafinalist 2022
  • District Qualifier (for Nationals) Best Speaker in Public Forum 2021
  • District Qualifier (for Nationals) Finalist in Public Forum 2022
  • John Locke Essay Contest High Commendation in Law
  • Runner-Up for the 3rd NYT Personal Narrative Contest
  • WIMUN Most Diplomatic Delegate 2020, 2021

Extracurriculars

  • Public Forum Debate Member (G9-): Currently captain (G11); attended ~12 tournaments in two and a half years & consistent in my participation
  • Writers’ House (G10-): Cofounder/Co-President, a club that promotes writing within our school. We do volunteer work with G5 classes and support our students to submit work to large competitions. We also host an annual, school-wide writing competition.
  • Online Tutor (G10-): I tutor AP history + public speaking on an online tutoring platform and I am doing pretty well - my series are popular and I have nearly 300 great ratings and tens of good reviews by learners. Currently Top 20 on the ranking for approval.
    *NHS (G10-): Applied & joined the NHS, we don’t really do much but I log community service hours and attend meetings about hosting events at school
    *Spanish Honor Society (G9-): You have to be excellent student + above a certain level of Spanish to join, and we host meetings to learn about different areas of the spanish-speaking world, we connect with children from Ecuador (we donate all our funding to), and we host activities & raffles etc. to raise money. Next year, they are planning on providing Spanish tutoring services which I will be a part of.
  • WIMUN Mentor (G9, G10): WFUNA MUN conference is a very large, international MUN conference held by a previous UN official, and I have attended it as a delegate and as a mentor to the middle school delegation team.
  • Student Government Member (G9-): One of roughly 30 members of the entire high school that plans and hosts school-wide events, including our yearly dance and other class-bonding activities.

Essays/LORs/Other
Have not started yet but expected:
Essays: 8.5-9.5/10?
LOR: I am not sure which teachers yet

Cost Constraints / Budget
I’m taking student loans anyways, so budget is not the biggest concern for me. (Scholarships would be great tho)

Schools
I really adore UChicago, Yale and Northwestern. But I know those are basically dream schools for a lot of people, and I guess I want to know my chances for them but also learn some of my “matches”?

2

Do you mean that you are a US citizen living outside the US? If so, you would be a domestic student for US colleges and universities, but without state residency for state universities.

You can take only $5,500 in student loans the first year. Anything more would have to be parent loans or cosigned loans, which are typically not a good idea.

Have you tried the net price calculator on the web sites of colleges of interest?

3

yeah I am I didn’t know there was that distinction. Thanks!

I have not. My family’s plan is that I have a small college fund that will cover part of tuition and the rest will either be in loans/scholarships. My parents really want me to focus on going to the school that I like instead of the cost and I’m really grateful for that!

4

They are setting you up for unrealistic expectations and big let-downs if you get admitted to colleges you like that are too expensive (i.e. more than $5,500 + 1/4 of the small college fund).

2 Likes
5

Oh I just realized. When I mean student loans I don’t think we are talking about the same thing? I don’t think I qualify for federal student loans anyways. Here we kind of just refer to taking any loans for schools as “student loans.” So yeah.

6

US citizens qualify for federal direct loans (the $5,500 loans).

Other loans for undergraduate study would generally be parent loans or cosigned (usually by parents) loans, which usually are not a good idea.

7

Thanks for the concern, but it kinda all depends if I even have a chance of getting accepted to these schools in the first place. Any thoughts?

8

Low chance of admission, and, unless your parents’ “small college fund” is on the order of $300,000, you would not be able to afford them anyway. So they are out of reach.

1 Like
9

The OP is no longer interested in responses, so I’m closing the thread.