Hey, I’ll be a senior next year and I want to know what my chances are for these schools.
I’m an international student, who has been studying in the States for five years.
TARGET COLLEGES:
-UMass Amherst
-UMass Lowell
-UMass Boston
-UMass Dartmouth
-University of Oregon
-University of Washington – Seattle
MY MAJOR LIST:
-First choice: Biology
-Second choice: Political Science
-Third choice: History
ACADEMIC PROFILE:
-HS GPA: 4.0 of 4.0 (unweighted; my school does not have any honor/AP courses)
-SAT: 1370 (EBRW: 600, Math: 770) - Essay 6/3/4
Academic honors:
-Freshmen: Bible I, Physical Science, World History, Spanish I, English I
-Sophomore: Spanish II
-Junior: Zoology, Home Repair
ECs:
-Freshman & Sophomore: class representative of the student council.
-Junior & Senior: actual board member of the student council (treasurer)
-Sophomore to Senior: member of the National Honor Society (I was president during junior year)
-Freshmen: English teaching assistant
-Junior (maybe to Senior): voluntary assistant for providing the homeless dinner.
-Junior (maybe to Senior): percussion player during chapel (my school is a Christian, private school)
Community service hours: 96 hrs
-How does it look and what should I improve on for colleges?
-BTW: Would college admission office understand that my school does not have any honor/AP classes? Would there be any disadvantage for me?
You are a strong candidate for all of your listed schools.
I think if you could boost your test scores, it would help with UWashington.
U.Washington is the only one that I am unsure of. However, from what I see on collegedata it appears that your unweighted GPA and SAT should both be fine for U.Washington. I don’t think that it is any worse than a match or a low match.
Personally I would pick UMass Lowell over UMass Boston or UMass Dartmouth, and since I would consider UMass Lowell a safety for you (assuming that you can afford to be full pay) I am not sure whether you need to apply to Boston or Dartmouth. However, I have not looked at the specific programs for your major at each school, and this might depend upon your finances. I think that there are merit scholarships available at UMass Lowell although I don’t know the typical magnitude.
I think that your chances at UMass Amherst and U.of Oregon are very good. I know someone with very slightly lower unweighted GPA and very slightly higher SAT who got into the honors college at UMass Amherst.
“Would college admission office understand that my school does not have any honor/AP classes?”
Yes. Many very small high schools do not have AP classes, but turn out very well prepared students who do well at university. As such, university admissions will not expect you to take any. Your GPA of 4.0 unweighted will help you a lot for admissions to the level of very good universities that you are considering.