I am a new user to College Confidential. (I heard about it from peers).
I am a high school junior in Southern California.
My family moved, forcing me to switch high schools after my sophomore year.
Here is a little about me:
GPA: roughly 3.9 UW, ranked in top 2 percent at my new high school. (Was ranked first at previous high school)
SAT:
1540 first try (760 math, 780 English)
1590 second try (800 Math, 790 English)
Undecided: interested in Science and Humanities, especially history, poli sci, and English. Applied to TASP this year. Fingers crossed!
Extracurriculars:
Captain of Speech and Debate (hopefully I will qualify for Nationals in Congressional Debate this year)
FBLA President
Varsity Tennis
Variety of volunteering activities both here and in India.
Ethnicity: Asian (specifically Indian)
Please chance me and / or suggest ways I can improve my chances at:
Columbia (first choice)
UCB (in-state)
UCLA
UT Austin
Cal Poly SLO
Stanford
Duke
MIT
Pomona
Claremont Mckenna
(please suggest similar schools that might be a good fit for me)
I’m not living my entire high school life in a pursuit for college admissions but I definitely want to put my best foot forward.
Thanks for the help!! Also if I made any mistakes, please tell me (I am brand new to CC).
You will be competitive at any one of those schools, You have to remember to apply to some safeties, however. You will get into to Cal Poly for sure and you have a chance at any one of the other schools yo have listed, but they are all lottery schools.
Look at Northwestern, Rice, NYU, Boston University, Michigan, Cal., UCLA, Arizona State, UT, UNC and Duke. Best of luck!
You will probably be admitted to almost all the UC schools and UT. The others universities admissions will depend on other factors in your application which no one can really know.
Thanks for the suggestions @glido and @CU123 !! Also, I was wondering if there is any way I can make myself a more competitive applicant. How important are subject tests for the above schools? Would SAT Math 2 and SAT USH work or is that not recommended because they are opposing academic disciplines? Thanks again!
hey there! typically, lots of applicants will be submitting sat subject test scores to some of the schools you listed (duke, stanford, brown, mit). they’re usually not required, but they sometimes are recommended; however, you’ll be a competitive applicant regardless if you choose to submit subject test scores. if you do submit scores, math ii and u.s. history are perfectly fine since they’ll be able to show your knowledge in both stem and humanities. good luck, friend!
You have very good chances. The extra curricular definitely help. I’m also a junior is southern California, so we both know that it gets pretty competitive. However, the combination of your high gpa, high SAT score, and even your international volunteering experience will definitely help you when applying. Good luck
@Sydney159 Thanks for the appraisal! Good luck to you as well!
Also, is it really that bad from an admission’s perspective to be from Southern California? I always thought that students from the East Coast, specifically NYC and Boston had the hardest time getting into top schools. Being a Californian will help with UCLA and UCB right?
Also, if I decide that Columbia is truly my single top choice, would it make sense for me to apply ED? Finances are not a concern. Is there really an advantage to applying ED to Columbia with regards to my status as an unhooked candidate?
Hey, Optimism. Your chances are very good, but colleges also look for talents/skills. Maybe play an instrument? Anyways how many languages do you speak? Colleges want multilingual people. I am still in 9th Grade with a total of 4 languages (Making it 5). You still have time, so try and add as much as you can. BTW, I’m doing debate too. Let’s hope we qualify for Florida
@IvyLeagueHunter and anyone else willing to help:
I speak 2 languages fluently (Gujurati and English). In the process of learning Spanish, but I am by no means fluent. However, English is my second language. I don’t know how this will affect admissions, though. Some say that English as a second language would hurt because Colleges might assume I have an accent. Others tell me that it will help, especially considering my Verbal SAT Score. Will this help or hurt?
I think many people are going to be in the same place as you because many Asian minorities learn their own language before English. I honestly think it will have no significant impact on your chances because of how common it is.
Definitely apply ED, most (if not all) of the Asians that got into Columbia in the bay area got in early, the acceptance rate for unhooked RD is probably 5%, basically lottery-esque odds. You should get into one of UCB or UCLA (if not both), but I would add another UC as a match or safety. SLO is a good safety but it’s more a stem school than humanities and social sciences. You really need to draw out what’s unique about you, it doesn’t come out here. You have to assume that Asians will have 1550 and 800s across the board or very close to it and a 4.0 uw. And varsity tennis and fbla president are not differentiators unless you’ve won something at the state or national level. Debate is your best bet but again assume your competition will have a national award in debate or be an olympiad winner. Maybe being captain can show some leadership.
@WolfHaley
That’s what I thought originally! Basically every asian-american speaks at least one language besides English - especially if their parents are immigrants.
@theloniusmonk and anyone else
Just to clarify, I am not actually from the Bay Area; I am from Southern California. I’m guessing the odds are just as bad though.
The other UC I was considering besides LA and Berkeley is Santa Barbara. I know I can’t technically consider it a safety, but I think I have relatively good chances of getting in. Correct me if I am wrong.
I am going to be honest. I am pretty disappointed that the odds for students with 1550s and 800s across the board would be around 5%. People told me that, although the acceptance rate itself is roughly 5%, the odds for a student with such statistics would be much higher. If after these statistics, the odds are truly still roughly 5%, I am afraid I don’t stand a good chance at all.
I have a few other Extracurricular activities I plan on highlighting on my apps, but I did not include them here they are not quite as established / well known as the ones above so they might not have been as easy to appraise.
JPL & UCR Internship in Data Science (unpaid)
DECA Southern California Hotel & Lodging Management Champion (just won this at District a few weeks ago!)
Riverside Entrepreneurship BootCamp Innovation Challenge Chamption (Team CEO)
I will definitely write the best essays and craft the best application I possibly can. However, I doubt I will be able to compete in a applicant pool of ISEF Winners and Olympic Medalists (anyone watching the PyeongChang Games? :)) if the odds of admission based on what I have listed here is still just 5 percent.
Also, is ED Columbia truly an advantage? Or are the odds still roughly 1 in 20.
