I’m super stressed out now. I have a feeling I’ll get rejected to every single college, I’ll apply to. Also, the colleges I’m qualified for, my parents will never let me go there. As an Asian child, I’m expected to go to brand name school or at least schools that will earn me 60k&up income when I graduate. I don’t know where to apply though? I plan to major in Computer Science or Business Accounting/ Finances/Management. However I’m afraid, I won’t get into anywhere. Help? ):
Here are my stats:
-SAT: highest is 1690, superscored 1710 (I know, it’s horrendous. I cried lol, I took about 10-15 practice tests with average scores of 1800-2100 but can never do well on actual tests.)
-AP scores: 3 on APUSH, the rest is very ugly
-GPA: Culmative GPA- 3.8W, 3.5 UW; freshmen year (I went to an out of country school&had no access to ADD/ADHD medication) 3.0, sophomore year- 4.0UW, 4.3W; junior year- 3.6UW, 4.1 (upward trend?, I went from normal --> honors --> honors/AP/IB classes)
-Senior Course: full IB diploma (IB Math HL, IB Lit HL, IB Bio HL, IB History HL, IB Chinese SL, IB TOK, Journalism)
-Class rank: 50/495 (top 10%)
-Extracurricular Activities:
Treasurer of Key Club (10-12)
Editor of school newspaper (11-12)
Student tutor (12)
Track n’ Field (9-12)
Cross country (11-12)
Asian Student Union club (10)
Volleyball (9)
Basketball (9)
-Work Experience: part-time job (11-12)
-Race: Asian (female)
-Income: very low-income (we went from riches to rags… not trying to be pitiful lol) < 20k (divorced parents)
-Resident: CA, I go to a ghetto high school where the average sat score is about 1490. It’s an IB school but only about 30% percent or so are in IB. My IB diploma classmates is around 30-40students out 495 students. I think I’m the stupidest IB diploma candidate among my peers too.
-Hooks: none? (a stupid Asian, maybe lol?) low income? Does learning disability count, like Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)?
Should I apply to UC’s? My UC GPA is a 3.9, but then again my sat score is absolutely terrible… I’m sorry if I sound like I’m ranting/complaining a lot; I’m just stressed out ):
Other than your test scores your stats are very competitive. If you’re dead set on attending UCs, I would recommend going to a CC for the first year or two, kill it, then transfer to a top UC. Your excellent class rank tells us you’ll be able to do that easily. Good luck!
@CalvinCoolidge thank you for responding! I know you’re only trying to help but I can’t help but feel like I wasted my whole high school career if I go down the CC route…
You might want to look at a list of test optional schools and then narrow down your choices based off of other preferences (size, location, etc.) A quick google search should help.
Since you’re low income, you’ll have to go where you will get the aid to go. period. Your parents can’t call all the shots when you don’t have the stats for “big names” and they can’t pay for other choices.
Apply to all the UCs, and see who gives you the best deal.
The UC schools can deliver both of these, depending on what you study, and how hard you work. That’s assuming that you share your parents’ values, which I do not.
Apply to UCSC and UCR, plus Cal Poly SLO (Orfalea), SDSU, CPP Honors, Chico Honors.
Add: Lewis&Clark, Pitzer (test optional!)
Do you know you’re actually URM in some parts of the country?
I’d suggest you apply to St Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Lawrence, Beloit, Hendrix, St Michael’s, Wake Forest, Colby, Agnes Scott…
Apply “test optional” wherever you can. http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Optional-Schools-in-U.S.News-Top-Tiers.pdf
Don’t stress out about getting into a good school if that is your goal. The CC route is not as bad as you believe…If you are capable of getting good grades in HS, you should be able to continue them in CC; allowing you to transfer into some great schools as a junior (top UC’s, that you would have never gotten into because of SAT/ACT requirement). If you live at home, CC will be next to nothing. I know of several people going this route to save money and get into schools that rejected them as freshman. CC is now considered a “smart option,” even for some straight A students.
@Alfonsia Economics. I chickened out and will be taking the IB Bio SL exam; only the class is HL. And no, but so far basing off my current grades, maybe 28-39 depending on how I’ll turn myself around
Since you took the IB Bio HL, plan to take the AP Bio exam. You’re likely to score at least 3 (HL is higher level than AP) and the SL exam wouldn’t carry any credit. Same thing for AP Econ, since SL won’t carry credit.
Have you looked into the test optional schools listed above? Which ones are affordable?
but I can’t help but feel like I wasted my whole high school career if I go down the CC route…