I am a recent highschool graduate and I need some suggestions for the types of schools I should apply to this fall. I think I want to study sustainability or a type of social science related to anthropology. I have not visited a lot of colleges and I am not able to as I am currently living in China. I know there are thousands of colleges out there that could meet my criteria but I really messed up in not looking at colleges more before I left the US and so some suggestions would be really amazing!
I am a white male from PA. My family is low income.
Stats:
GPA: 3.9(ish) weighted
Class rank: 30(ish)/180(ish)
ECs:
Model U.N.: 4 yrs
Chorus, Band, jazz band: 4 yrs
Musical: 3 yrs
Scholarship for an international institute scholar program workshop (1 day).
Student Gov E-Board Secretary: 12th grade
Scholarship for 3 day workshop on social justice and change through a human centered design program.
Part time job at pet store: 12th grade
Started environmental club
Finalist for Youth Ambassadors Program to south america for 3 weeks in 2015(10th grade) 1 of 10 finalists. Full scholarship focusing on social entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability.
Finalist for NSLI-Y academic year in China. Full U.S. dept scholarships to spend 10 months in china this year. 15% ish acceptance rate. (this is where I am now)
I haven’t been the most studious kid or busiest kid and it’s been hard getting to my activities that I did. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is what my list looks like right now:
Yale
Bowdoin
Reed
Middlebury
Emory
U Pitt
Penn State honors (or main campus if i don’t get into honors which I probably won’t)
As you can see most are reaches and my non-reaches I’m not super keen on attending so any help would be amazing! Thanks!
I’d recommend you ignore the numerical ranking, which appears to be based on average cost, and look through for good matches, whether academic, personal, or financial.
Regarding your current list, I don’t think your reaches would serve you well, in that your class rank in combination with your current standardized scoring would be outside of their typical ranges.
Okay, thank you for your honesty. For a school like Bowdoin which is test optional, would it be better to not send my ACT scores? Do you think it’s even worth applying to the others?
The decision as to whether to submit scores to test optional schools can be complex, and bears a complex relationship to the average scores for those schools. Based on your academic record, Bowdoin (without submission) might assume your composite score to be ~27-28, which falls below your actual score. Therefore it would appear that you would be better off submitting your ACT. However, you would then let them know with certitude that your score falls below their typical range, which would not enhance your application either.
In general, you probably should both trim and add schools. In terms of my opinion, those colleges that indicate they enroll at least 75% of their students from the top 10% of their HS classes may be tough – bordering on unrealistic – admits for you. Those with sub-25% acceptance rates should be regarded similarly (and are often reaches for even the statistically strongest applicants).
Wishing you luck with all of your applications of course!