@psycholing Thank you!! I’ll add it to my list
You’re an excellent applicant, I would narrow your ECs a little to show more focus. Did your parents go to college at all? If not, then you’d be a first gen and along with URM have two hooks. Right now you have the URM hook and your work with the lgbtq community could be another. If Stanford is your first choice, apply there SCEA and EA to a public university (you mentioned UT and UNC, maybe UVA, UM). The CMU suggestion was an excellenet one, so if you get deferred by Stanford, I’d
If you get into Stanford, you take it and don’t look back, if the FA is good. There’s no other school on the list close to it for computer science, cognitive science, english, history. The only others close are Harvard, Chicago, Berkeley, Michigan. MIT and CMU are as strong in CS and cognitive, but not on the humanities side. I’d swap Yale with Harvard, any of the other ivies on your list with CMU, consider dropping Duke, Emory, NYU, Auburn for starters. Pick two of NYU/USC/Rice/Vanderbilt. As for the Ivies, I’d drop two of Brown/Penn/Columbia and in addition to the one you pick, add Princeton. So your ivies would be Harvard, Princeton (superb CS programs along with humanities) and one of BPC.
No berkley and Michigan because of OOS you can not afford those schools, unless tbey offer merit aid
No NYU as their aid offers sucks
Cornell Btown Columbia great schhol for CS too, do not pick up all 3
If cost is not a concern, you are in may be one, two or all HYPS as there are very few AA kids with those grades and scores and ECs, write good essay and improve SAT
I’ll give my stock advice.
- Figure out the money with your family 1st. Check the on-line financial aid calculators. You may find that you fall into a very difficult financial aid slot, depending on how much your family has saved for college, if you plan on grad school etc…
If your folks warn you that paying the out of pocket at some of the need-only schools you’ve listed is going to be challenging, you may want to think about expanding your list to include a few more that might kick in more merit aid (You have USC, Duke, UChicago, Vanderbilt. May want to explore UWashSTL are a few other names.)
And if you don’t get much, if any, need-based aid, I’d suggest you agressively chase scholarship while in school. Since you write well, you can probably get some - only worth it if it doesn’t reduce need aid, but over 4 years a few good scholarships can add up - and help you meet interesting people standout when it comes to work/grad school.
You are a very strong and interesting applicant. Congratulations on your accomplishments. Your record shows a lot of dedication and commitment going back to middle school. You also have a number of potential hooks (AA, LBGT, possible 1st gen).
I think you should do very well with the application process, but I see 2 major issues:
- Presenting a coherent picture of who you are as a person given all your diverse interests. What matters to you? What do you stand for?
- As @CaliDad2020 notes, your financial situation could be tricky. Your family's income is in a difficult range, where college can be hard to afford but where you may not qualify for a lot of financial aid, even with a near-full pay sister already in college. I would look hard at the merit aid schools mentioned above (especially Duke, which has some terrific full pay merit scholarships for which someone with your background would be competitive, and which is a fabulous school with strong programs in several of your areas of interest). I'd look into the Robertson Scholarship at Duke and UNC, and the Morehead Scholars Program at UNC. I'd also take a look at Rice, which is a terrific school and which has some good merit aid programs, and be cautious about OOS public schools which will be expensive and which will offer little financial aid. It would be a shame if you ended up getting in to some really elite schools, but had issues with affordability.
A few thoughts:
- You have a lot of schools on your list, but given your financial situation it may not hurt to spread a fairly wide net. Your interests are pretty interdisciplinary. Stanford, Duke and Penn are all great fits for you. I strongly disagree with @theloniusmonk about dropping Duke and Emory, because of the merit aid issue (I also think Duke is one of the better fits for you, and they have taken a strong interest in people championing LGBT issues in the past; I'd also stick with Yale. Penn and Brown as good Ivy fits for you; I'm a bit dubious about Princeton and Harvard, especially as they weren't originally on your list). I'd take a look at MIT given your combination of cognitive science/computer science interest and your humanities background. MIT actually has fabulous humanities, including a great writing program, and I think your combination of interests would fit in quite well.
- You have tons of compelling essay material - about being an AA LGBT in the south, about having a severely autistic brother, about working with underserved populations, your creative writing, etc. Think about how you want to package yourself. Take a look at this, from a recent Stanford grad:
https://mix.office.com/watch/13gekrg9zecnz
I get the strong sense that you are a voice for those who are underrepresented - from women’s rights to LGBT to autistic children to low income inner-city students. This could be a major theme of your application, and your creative writing and graphic design background fits in with this theme if viewed as a tool for self-expression and empowerment that ties in to your social entrepreneurship interest.
- I would try to group your ECs into 5-6 major areas: (1) Creative Writing; (2) Graphic Design; some of your STEM activities in #3 on your list of ECs could fit under here, especially the ones related to web design; (3) LGBT and Feminism (I'd group #4 and #10 on your list); (4) education for underserved populations (I'd group #6, 7 and #11 on your list); (5) music (seems like something you have put a lot of years into, and have accomplishments in two instruments); and (6) autism volunteering (relates to a personal interest that could be part of your essays; this overlaps to some extent with working with underserved populations). You can use the "additional information" section on the Common App to expand on these in more detail. I would probably leave #5 and #10 off your list, or put them way at the bottom. They are more common, and seem like they are less central to who you are as a person and as an applicant.
Good luck!
@renaissancedad Thank you so much for your advice! I agree with Harvard and Princeton not being the best fits for me personally. I can’t even explain how much you’ve inspired me - I’ve been struggling to construct a cohesive application narrative without seeming too scattered. I’m definitely going to regroup my interests. I hadn’t considered using the additional information section, but I think that’s a great idea to further pull everything together. Again, thank you so much!
@CaliDad2020 I had no idea that UChicago offered merit aid! I’m going to have to take another swing at their abstract essay prompts. At this point, I agree that it’s imperative that I establish an upper affordability limit with my parents on the need only schools. You also make a very good point about finding scholarships while enrolled, I’ve noticed that a few schools offer scholarships for sophomores and up. It’s nice knowing that even if I don’t get a scholarship for my school of choice right now, there’s still a possibility for financial aid down the line.
@nynycasino1234 Thank you! Even though NYU has really bad aid, they offer a competitive full tuition scholarship that fits my profile pretty well. I feel like their application won’t take too much extra effort given the possible reward. I appreciate your advice on the other schools as well!
@theloniusmonk Pulling a thread between all of my ECs is going to be a challenge, but I think I’ve figured out a way to spin it. My mother joined the armed forces after moving here to fund her education at a 4 year university, so I’m not 1st gen. I wish I could cut my list down, but because my family is upper middle class we don’t qualify for much need based aid so I have to apply to Duke, Emory, and Vandy for the possible merit aid. I’m torn between Yale and Stanford for SCEA, but I’ll definitely apply to a public alongside whichever one I end up choosing (probably Stanford because their aid is much more generous). Thank you so much for your advice!
@zahata, you should definitely consider applying for the Coca Cola Scholars program this fall. Applications open in August and are due by October 31. This is a merit scholarship which awards $20K to 150 scholars annually, which can be used anytime in a 10 year timeframe. They look for applicants with a strong service focus.
http://www.coca-colascholarsfoundation.org
I’m not sure if it is still available, but you should also look in to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which provides full college support for outstanding ethnic minority students (I’m not sure if there is a specific income qualification). I believe the program met their goal of funding 20,000 students (since 1999) last year, so I’m not sure what the status is, but it’s worth checking out and contacting them.
Your ultimate goal should be to get acceptance to one or more of your top choice schools with a financial aid package that is feasible for you. I think that if you package yourself competitively you will be a very desirable applicant, and I could see you potentially getting multiple acceptances. If that happens and you get a strong financial offer from one school, then you will be in a position to possibly leverage that with other schools, but that is for down the road.
I wouldn’t personally spend much time re-taking the SAT. I wouldn’t bother at all - I don’t think that schools will care much about a 1500 vs. a 1440 in your case - except that your math score is a bit low. I would also consider taking a math/science SAT II.
Finally, make sure you line up recommendations early. They are very important, and you want ones from teachers who know you well and who are aware of your outside interests, and of who you are as a person.
@renaissancedad Although the Gates Millennium Scholars program was discontinued, I am going to apply for the Coke SchOlars program. I am planning on retaking the SAT, mainly because I believe it’s important to at least be around the 75th percentile for the schools I’m applying to (just to be safe). Thanks for the reminder about my recommendations! I’ll make sure to contact them as soon as possible.
What do you mean on your bio that you founded Girls Who Code? The founder of that organization is 41 years old. You have nice ECs, but I would be careful of not fluffing too much, there are a couple on your list that come off a bit suspect. If integrity comes into question, the entire application does.
@scotlandcalling Not the entire organization, just a chapter at my high school. Sorry for not being clear.
@scotlandcalling To further clarify: while I definitely didn’t found the entire organization (and it wasn’t my intention to appear as though I was claiming that I did), MIT’s Girls Who Code offers a wonderful outreach program for high school girls and encourages the formation of high school chapters: https://girlswhocode.com/clubs/. This miscommunication was entirely my fault, seeing that I drafted my initial post within the context of my high school, a context that you and other commenters lack. Thank you for pointing that out! I definitely needed to watch my phrasing (:
“Your interests are pretty interdisciplinary. Stanford, Duke and Penn are all great fits for you. I strongly disagree with @theloniusmonk about dropping Duke and Emory, because of the merit aid issue (I also think Duke is one of the better fits for you, and they have taken a strong interest in people championing LGBT issues in the past; I’d also stick with Yale. Penn and Brown as good Ivy fits for you; I’m a bit dubious about Princeton and Harvard, especially as they weren’t originally on your list). I’d take a look at MIT given your combination of cognitive science/computer science interest and your humanities background. MIT actually has fabulous humanities, including a great writing program, and I think your combination of interests would fit in quite well.”
Duke may have taken a strong interest, but North Carolina is one of the worst for LGBTQ - such that events and companies pulled out due to their bathroom law. I think they addressed it but only because they were forced to because of money, not because they thought it was right. NC, Georgia, Tenn, are not progressive states, however the OP should visit the campuses there to get a feel for that. That’s why I’d eliminate Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt.
As for MIT, the issue there is if you decide to switch majors and say hey I want to now major in English (or political science, or history) and minor in CS, then MIT is not as strong, that’s why Stanford is the clear number one here.