HELPPP what r my chancessss?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! I’m going to be a senior at high school next year in California. I’m an Asian Indian. I’m looking to apply at UC Berk, UCLA, UCSD, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Georgetown and some other safety’s. I’m looking to major in Political Science, Public Health, or Public Policy. I’m not sure if the major I choose affects my chances. What are my chances?

Stats:
Unweighted GPA: 3.93
Weighted GPA: 4.25
SAT Score: 1520 (790 Math 710 Reading)
*Top Decile of School

10 APs
AP US history - 5
AP World history - 5
AP Calc AB - 5
AP Calc BC - 5
AP Bio - 4 ://
AP Stats - taking it next year
AP Gov - taking it next year
AP Econ - taking it next year
AP Environmental Science - taking it next year
AP Psychology - taking it next year

College Classes
Sociology
General Chemistry (first semester)

Activities

  1. President of Speech and Debate
  • in charge of organizing all the tournaments people go to
  • personally ranked in the top 10 in north america in Parliamentary Debate and will probably go up to top 5 in senior yr
    - top 8 in many tourneys and stuff
  • communicate with all other officers and normal logistical stuff
  • helped make a website to be utilized by all schools near me to keep financial record for debate
  1. Officer of HOSA -hosa = a medical conference type of thing and i just help them organize trips to their conferences and communicate with school admins -participate for fun to gain more insight on health
  2. Breathe California Intern
  3. = a public health place that advocates for clean lungs and fighting toxics in the community that prevents clean lungs
  4. initially joined cause my dad smokes
  5. have volunteered at Breathe CA since 7th grade and because i’ve been volunteering for so long, they offered me an internship when they usually only give it to college students
  6. have done a lot of health fairs
  7. participated in CLASP program where you go out and teach little kids to not smoke
  8. redesigned a tobacco cessation program that the county uses for addicts in juvenile hall. I added marijuana and vapes to that curriculum
  9. went to a lot of local council meetings and advocated for regulations (which I helped push through the docket) such as regulations on outdoor smoking and tobacco licensing
  10. gained a lot of insight on public health and the community
  11. CYAN Youth Board of Directors
  12. only 6-8 students from CA get this position and get to take part in conferences
  13. specifically relates to tobacco products and some other products
  14. work with the entire state government (in sacramento) to push for reform and policy
  15. Dental Intern - interned at the local dentist office to see how a med office works. I got to see some dental procedures as well as learn some (can’t perform them, but its nice to know) as well as had to work in the front desk and file things (so i know how the administrative aspect of running a clinic is) gained exposure to more health aspects
  16. NYLF Med Camp
  17. gained insight to more health stuff
  18. Head Debate Coach at a Speech and Debate Academy
  19. started the program and curriculum at a local center
  20. get paid, but it gave me a lot of insight on how to do a business and how one runs
  21. Badminton - 9th Grade participated and enjoyed it, but had other time commitments, so I couldn’t continue the following years
  22. Math Club - competed in some tournaments (not as extensive as speech and debate though)
  23. Chess Club - occasionally go to meetings and participate (nothing too serious)

sorry its long lol i just wanted to write my experience down so that you guys get a better gauge of who i am lmaoo

2

UCSD/UCLA and UCB all look within reach but definitely not a guarantee. You are a competitive and qualified applicant.

Best of luck.

3

Bad news if you are not poor or if your parents have college degrees.

If your parents aren’t educated or you are poor then your chances are way better.

I would say try to boost the SAT and get a great ACT and write killer essays and then your chances are the best possible.

4

Don’t just apply to reaches and safeties. Apply to match schools that you have a realistic shot of getting into. That means looking at schools with acceptance rates in the 25-40% acceptance range. I expect you will get into UCSD, and the others are reaches so all bets are off. Find a couple of other match schools if you want to be sure you have choices you will be happy with.

5

Yeah! of course, imma apply to GWU, SCU, all UCS, UT Austin, University of Illionois, etc but i guess i should rephrase, what are my chances in getting into a competitive college i listed with these stats/activities?

6

You’re competitive anywhere. Honestly, I think people are being conservative with predicting where you’ll get in, I’d be surprised if you didn’t end up getting into Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and all of your safeties. I’m sure this sounds like a broken record, but schools like Darty, Gtown, Columbia, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, and Brown are reaches for even the best kids like you. If you apply to all 6 of them though you’ll probably end up getting into one or more. I did just that- applied everywhere- and actually ended up getting into a few of the schools you have listed as well as one other Ivy ( (Wharton) and am going to Georgetown next year. So it worked out for me and our stats are comparable.

Remember that with selective colleges like those most of the decision comes down the soft factors once they’ve determined you’re qualified, which you clearly are (just remember to kill the subject tests, keep that GPA in the sky, and if you have time retaking the SAT to bump that reading score wouldn’t hurt- not essential, but for a poli sci kid a great reading score is never bad. I don’t think 710 will serve to your detriment, it’s just kind of “meh” at the top schools). Then make sure recs, essays, and interview are on point, as those determine which of the qualified kids end up getting admitted.

Best of luck!