I hate myself for doing this but

College Search & Selection
1

yeah. I’m trying to figure out what colleges are reach, match, and safety schools so I know when I begin applying.

ACADEMICS

Summer before 9th grade:
Health - B+
College and Career Planning - B-

9th Grade:
Spanish 2 - A- (first semester), A (second semester)
Dance - A, A
Honors Biology - B, A-
Honors English 1 - A-, A
Honors World History - A, A+
Honors Algebra 2/Trig - A, A

Summer before 10th grade:

Science and Engineering Academy at UCSB
Art Ancient to Gothic - A (at a community college)

10th Grade:
Spanish 3 - A, A-
AP European History - A, A-, got a 5 on the AP test
Dance - A, A-
AP Biology - A, A-, got a 4 on the AP test
Honors Precalculus - A, A
Honors Chemistry - A, A-
Honors English 2 - A, A

Summer before 11th grade:
Brown Environmental Leadership Lab
Spanish Service Adventure in Costa Rica through GLA

11th grade:
AP American History - A
AP Language/Composition - B+
AP Physics C - A-
AP Calc BC - A-
AP Chemistry - A-

I don’t have second semester grades yet because second semester isn’t over yet.

GPA: 3.87 UW, 4.61 W

I’m taking these courses for senior year:
AP Econ
AP Stats
AP Lit
AP Psych
AP Comp Sci A

So that’s all my academic stuff, moving on to EC’s.

Online journalism club, in a leadership position.
Conservation Club - VP
Founded a science camp for kids at my local library
Team captain at a prominent science organization
Interning at a lab at UCI
Tutoring at my local library

So yeah thats basically it. I’m an asian girl in cali if that makes a difference. ill answer any questions in case what I wrote is a bit confusing

2

lmao forgot my sat score it’s 1540 with a 17 essay

3

oh yeah an I’m in the top 10% of my class

4

What’s your budget? Intended major? Looking to stay in-state only? Or how far do you want to go? Weather a factor? Big city schools only or does it matter?

5

Thankfully my parents have saved up for college all my life so budget is not an issue. I want to major in something science, though I’m not yet sure what. I don’t care if I stay in state or go out of state, though my parents philosophy is that only ivies are worth going out of state for, otherwise go to a uc school. (Which I am ok with). Weather isn’t a factor and I would like to be in a big city. Columbia is my dream school.

6

Looks like to me your match would be schools second tier of 10-25

7

Great essay score but AP English would be strongly recommended. At DS20’s school, no one got into an elite without taking it.

8

@onthewestfence OP is taking both AP Lit and AP Language. There is no AP English.

@Toughchoices1966 Schools ranked 10-25 are matches for no one.

@nomood I agree with your parents. California has excellent public schools at half the price of private schools or out of state public schools. Your ECs are weak for the highest level private schools. Go ahead and apply ED to Columbia or Barnard. Write a fabulous essay and you may get in. But focus your energies to your California applications.

9

Take a good long look at Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley. They are match/low reach range for you, and have especially strong track records for women in science.

Whichever colleges and universities you do look at, as your parents to help you run their Net Price Calculators. There are links right on the websites. Many private institutions are now pushing over 70k for full cost of attendance. If your parents don’t have nearly 300k in your college savings account, you might need to adjust your list for expected affordability.

10

Why do you hate yourself for asking for advice? Don’t hate yourself. Asking for advice is great and should be encouraged.

What life goals do you have or may have? Desires?

Among Ivies/equivalents/Near-Ivies (by my own definition: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1893105-ivy-equivalents-ranking-based-on-alumni-outcomes-take-2-1-p1.html), Harvard, Chicago, Rice, Columbia, Georgetown, Penn, Barnard, NYU, Macalester (maybe Brown and Reed) are all in big cities. Northwestern, Haverford, Caltech, Wellesley, Cal and Tufts are close to one.

All except Barnard, Macalester, Reed, maybe NYU and Wellesley (and Cal depending on UC GPA) would be reaches or huge reaches.

Would you be open to Canada or the UK?

11

It kind of makes sense to ask for advice given that you got your lowest grade in this course:

12

@PurpleTitan I would be open to Canada and the UK, but I haven’t taken any IB classes so I don’t think I would qualify. I used to be dead set on being a plastic surgeon, but recent events have made me realize that I can’t stand blood and becoming any kind of surgeon would be a bad idea for everyone involved.

@happymomof1 cost isn’t an issue, but I will definitely take a look at those links.

@bouders thanks for the advice - I’m pretty close to UCI and am even interning in a lab there (I don’t know if I’m allowed to say which one, but basically I’m studying malaria in subsaharan Africa). Do you think UCI is a match/safety?

@onthewestfence I always thought a 17 essay was a but low. I heard you need at least 18 to even think about applying to ivies.

13

@Mastadon haha yeah that was in the summer so I really didn’t try on that class.

14

Actually, for the UK, they care pretty much care only about subject tests like AP tests. 5’s in the subjects you will study is ideal.

For Canada, admission to unis is very numbers based. Look in to McGill, Toronto, and UBC.

So if not a surgeon, what might you want to be?

And is your PSAT score high enough for National Merit?

15

I agree with @PurpleTitan Canadian universities will only care about your SAT score and your GPA. AP scores will help too.

@nomood I’m not a UC expert so I can’t weigh in on specifics. I have relatives who live in CA and have visited UCB. I don’t know about you, but amongst my relatives who are planning for college admissions or have gone through college admissions, none of them went to or want to go to university in California. I think it’s a case of the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. The UCs and other California universities are some of the best in the US.

16

Just testing your sense of humor :slight_smile:

You might want to warn your parents that Hedera Helix (English Ivy) has recently been classified as an invasive species. Out here in the Northeast we’ve been trying to eradicate all instances of the English Ivies - before they take root in other parts of the country. Those of us of English descent kind of feel responsible for creating the problem…

Did they cover this issue at the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab?

https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3027

17

@bouders, the UC’s offer a lot but admissions is quite competitive these days, especially to the top (big-city) ones of Cal, UCLA, and UCSD.

I don’t think her UC GPA is high enough to be a shoo-in. Even UCI may not be guaranteed. She may drop to UCR (which is still sorta close to LA) or UC-Merced (not close to a big city).

18

@PurpleTitan I didn’t know that!! I will start looking into schools outside the us. My dad went to university of Waterloo in Canada so I’ll start researching that. And I got a 1470 on the psat so I didn’t qualify for national merit. Also is uc gpa different from regular gpa? Since I’m in california, is my school Gpa the same as a uc gpa?

@bouders I’m really open to a uc school so I can stay closer to home.

@Mastadon we covered invasive species and sustainable architecture, among other topics.

19

OMG I forgot to add this, I got an 800 on the math 2 subject test, and 760 on the biology m subject test.

20

@PurpleTitan so I just looked it up and my uc gpa is 4.74 w and 3.95 uw. What I said before was my total gpa.