OP, even with a half tuition scholarship to USC, the cost will be at least $40K/year, and that does not take into account books, travel to and from, etc. Is that affordable? Also, are your in-state (MI) schools affordable?
@suzy100 My in-state schools are decently affordable. Running NPCs has my family paying around 10k per year at MSU/UM. NPC at USC has “estimated remaining costs” at 15-20k, without the half tuition scholarship. I’m not sure how all the numbers will run, but seeing these numbers is why I think it will be a good idea to apply.
@Flurite awesome! It’s encouraging to hear that I’ve got a chance without hooks, even being an ORM.
What instrument do you play? Is it possible to pick up proficiency in a less common instrument?
Are those the only 3 courses you plan to take senior year? That’s a pretty light load. There should be an English and a math.
I play cello, so not super common but not rare. I have done A LOT of community service playing my instrument. In a year, it really isn’t possible I believe. For math, I could dual enroll or throw in AP Stats, but undecided. I am leaning towards not dual enrolling unless it’s super impressive. For English, I have no more APs obviously but could take some regular English courses geared towards college apps or some of the other lighter ones like “journalism,” “mythology,” etc.
Unfortunately, cello is very common with Asians - I have two Asian children who play cello and 1/3 of my Asian nephews and nieces do as well. One of those did get into an ivy, but they also played bass. Tennis is another common “Asian EC”.
I would throw in AP stats and an English.
With tippy top standardized test scores, matches don’t really exist - you’re mostly looking at reaches and safeties.
If you can narrow down your “probably STEM” interest, it would be easier to suggest more schools. You’ve still got time to do this though.
@bouders Ahh I always thought it was the violin that was super common. Tennis, yeah I know haha. I wonder why there are “Asian ECs”? It’s not like I knew Asians did these things but I just ended up liking and doing them… Anyway, I will figure out my senior courses soon and same for major. Could I just change this to something else when admitted and use a rarer major to get an admissions advantage? Also, might be worth noting, but my last name isn’t the typical Asian, last name could be mistaken as Spanish or Italian. Should I not list my ethnicity, if possible (obviously I won’t lie about it)?
@dihydrogen99 Yes, definitely don’t list it if it’s not obvious that you’re Asian. Sucks that it has to be this way tho…
@dihydrogen99 Your choice of classes in your junior year, especially taking AP calc BC in junior year, already tell admissions committees that you’re excellent at STEM. There’s no point in pretending you’re interested in foreign languages or anthropology. Besides, it can be difficult to transfer to STEM, especially engineering, from non-STEM majors in some schools. As well, within STEM, different schools have different focuses and strengths e.g. engineering vs computer science vs biology so it’s easier to give suggestions for schools if you can narrow it down. It’s OK if you can’t though. Univ Michigan should be great for all STEM. If you want to do engineering though, you should have a good idea about that when you’re applying.
First, what do you want to study? that would help with suggestions. And do you prefer a particular area of the country?
As far as that idea that “you need a super unusual extracurricular that stands out” - honestly, that guideline really only applies to a handful of schools. Probably Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, MIT, Columbia… that’s about it. Even there, there will be some students with no special hook.
At the other top schools, probably including the other half of the Ivy League, Duke, Amherst, Williams, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and so many more great places, there will be many students with no hook other than top grades, tests and good essays. It’s not like you have bad ECs - class president, music and community service is a powerful combination, better than most students have.
With UMichigan as a strong match, you are in a great situation.
Because you’re a strong cellist I’d recommend applying to St Olaf by November 1 and complete the music audition pieces. With your stats and a strong audition it’s likely be a safety. Run the NPC but they meet full need.
Sounds like you’re lower income - how much do your parents make, do you have a financial unusual situation like non custodial parent unwilling to pay, small business owner with irregular income ?
@dihydrogen99 Based on your comment about costs before scholarship, do you understand how merit and need-based aid work? Typically merit reduces need. That means it does not reduce your expected contribution, it replaces institutional aid. Where you will see reduction in expected contribution is if merit exceeds need. Some schools will reduce student contribution and work study before reducing institutional aid.
@MYOS1634 about 60k a year. Running Olaf NPC has us at about $1,500 cost of attendance per year!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I had suspicion that that was the case but was hopeful that it didn’t reduce need. I will keep that in mind especially for USC.
Agreed, but those schools fill almost half (if not more) of their freshmen class in the ED round from a mere 10% of their applicant pool, leaving 90% of their applicant pool competing in a scrum for the remaining spots. And in the scrum will be most of the 90+/- % of highly qualified applicants who were rejected/deferred from SCEA schools like Stanford and Yale. It helps if you stand out in that ED scrum.
For example, my kid’s prep school does pretty well with Ivy admits. A few years ago, we had 5 Yale admits out of class of 140. Not bad. But, historically we do horrible applying to Duke. I asked our GC why, and she said our qualified kids (top 10%) rarely apply ED to Duke, and Duke rarely admits our RD applicants. We actually have higher RD admission rates from Harvard than we have for Duke.
Many highly qualified applicants like the OP will be lured in to SCEA at a school like Stanford, because, understandably, they’ll think - hey, I need that early edge to even have any sort of shot at Stanford, and if I get in, I’ll have the flexibility to shop financial add and apply to other great schools like Harvard or Yale. Unfortunately, they’ll forgo MUCH better odds (for the highly qualified) for early admission at schools like the ones @ThankYouforHelp listed above, which do offer good FA to early admits and have ED outs, if full need is not met.
@arwarw I had that thought as well… is SCEA worth forgoing higher odds of acceptance at other highly ranked, generous FA schools? I have been thinking twice about applying SCEA to one of HYPS
SCEA doesn’t “lock” anything. Sure, you can’t apply ED to any other school, but you can apply to honors colleges at public universities, any rolling admission and EA university, plus even if admitted to any RD.
Only apply ED to a 100% need college after running the NPC if you’re lower-income.
(If you need merit or need to compare aid, you can’t really apply ED).
@MYOS1634 I am not planning on applying ED anywhere. I meant choosing between applying to one of the HYPS (SCEA) and forgoing applying EA to any other school, or applying EA to several good schools (UM, UChicago)
I’m pretty sure you could still apply to University of Michigan EA if you went with a SCEA program, because it is a public.
@yonceonhismouth I am still confused. It seems that what you are saying conflicts with this article: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/000219/