Let an anxious junior know if she's aiming too high!

Chance Me / Match Me!
,
1

I have no idea where I stand in the hyper-competitive applicant pools of today. My family isn’t really strict about where I go to college, so I was never really given advice or told about what it takes to get in to top schools these days. I’d appreciate any honest reviews of my profile, chances at my college list, and/or suggestions on how I can improve. Thank you so much!

Demographics

  • Current Junior
  • US citizen
  • CA
  • Type of high school: Semi-competitive East Bay public school [think Oakland/Berkeley area, not ultracompetitive South Bay], average UW GPA is a 3.7, about 250 students in graduating class, only HS in a small city
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Female, mixed-race (Indian/Jewish)
  • Income: 200-220k in a HCOL area
  • Other factors: Legacy at Princeton, dad donates yearly but not enough to be significant, Yale Law Legacy (does it count? regular but modest donations as well), LGBTQ+

Intended Major(s): Planning to pursue a double major in Middle Eastern Studies/Political Science (with an international relations concentration), my dream is to go to law school and then do diplomatic or humanitarian work focusing on expanding literacy and women’s rights in the Middle East

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.97 UW (one B+ in accelerated math), earned all A’s this semester by school standards (A- = A = A+ = 4.0). However, I earned an A- in AP Spanish this semester (solely in that class, anything from 90 to 95 is an A- and I got a 93.5) so I’ll have two A minuses on my transcripts as well, one from this semester and one from a previous year. Since colleges recalculate GPA, I’m worried the A-'s will bring mine down more.

  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): Exact number unknown since this has been my first semester taking APs and transcripts aren’t out [school only allows students to start taking APs as juniors, with a 3 AP limit that year]

  • Class Rank: N/A, school doesn’t rank, but my counselor has said I’m “one of the most advanced students in my class” if that matters?

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1450 PSAT, currently scoring 1550+ on SAT practice tests, taking test in March and studying with SAT Black Book, CollegePanda, and Erica Meltzer

Coursework:
Taking: AP Spanish (skipped a level), AP ES, AP Comp Gov, English Honors (highest level possible in 11th), US History (no AP offered), Journalism, and DE Calculus I and II (the accelerated math program became very exclusionary and toxic, both I and the only other non-white girl left this year)

Next year – AP Art History, AP Physics, AP Lit, Advanced Journalism, Gov/Econ (1 class, mandatory), and then DE Calc and another DE class on the Middle East during the 17th century

Awards (likely my weakest section, concerned it will make my ECs seem worse as well since I haven’t received any huge acknowledgement for them):

  • Girls State delegate (1st ever from my school to attend, alr confirmed by district lead)

  • Social Justice fellow at a nationwide teen social justice org (not super selective/prestigious but super fun, seems like there’s over 50 of us. I did have to fill out an application, do an interview, and attend regular meetings with other fellows nearby)

  • 3rd place JV at an online national parli invitational, fairly small though

  • Honorable Delegate at a statewide MUN conference

  • Merit Scholarship Awardee + selected as 1 of 80 Global Ambassadors + chosen as 1 of 4 Ambassadors to be a National Conference Panelist, all for this study abroad program (it was pay-to-play so not that selective)

  • submitting poetry and short stories to a few teen lit mags, that’s up in the air though

  • may become a teen fellow for a national jewish social justice organization as well

Extracurriculars (note: [will be] is because I’m the only junior in leadership or one of two juniors in a co-led club):

Leadership member for 3 years in a local anti-racism student group focused on education. Co-wrote a presentation shown to 7th grade health classes annually and reaching 600 students in the next two years, will continue to reach 300/year after I graduate. Planned weekly meetings on social issues, organized student forums, coordinated with teachers and organized students to continue annual anti-racism presentations in 5th grade classrooms, reaching over 1800 students (9th-12th)

Organized a city-wide walkathon raising over $3200 to help fund a NGO’s app that protected Iranian women from government phone hacking. Still working/interning with the same Amnesty Intl-affiliated global nonprofit to create a mini-documentary interviewing students about why they are in solidarity with Iran, will be distributed to some small international Iranian and Middle Eastern progressive news programs (11th, 12th)

[will be] Co-president of Speech and Debate club, first elected as debate captain as a freshman. School could not afford a debate class/coach, so the leadership team balances both jobs. Usually debated novice to work with freshmen who didn’t have partners. (9th-12th)

Co-president/founding member of school chapter for nonprofit feeding unhoused people, lead monthly bake-a-thons of 150 cookies (1350 total made/year) to go in food packages, organized student volunteers + clothing drives and fundraisers. Organizing a charity concert with local bands to raise money as well. (10th-12th)

Made a poetry curriculum focusing on expanding students’ knowledge of diverse poets and understanding of poetry as a whole, will be permanently implemented in all fourth and fifth-grade classrooms in the district reaching 600 students/year (11th)

Working with middle-school students and the local middle school librarian to create lists of book recommendations with mini-reviews for elementary students struggling with reading, will be an official District Literacy Project reaching 2200+ middle and elementary schoolers every year(10th-12th)

Interviewed and worked with first-gen students + counseling department, and wrote an “ultimate guide” to course selection, tests, available activities and other resources at my school for first-gen families. Earned a PTSA grant for it, soon to be permanently available in high school and middle school counseling dept. (10th-12th)

[will be] Co-president of Model United Nations, once again the club had no coach but an advisor and not-great funding, organized meetings, applied for PTA grants, organized fundraisers/club fairs (will have done 10-12th)

Managing Editor on the school newspaper, Editor in Chief next year, oversee a staff of 50+ students (11th-12th)

Worked with students at a T40 school on the East Coast to create an online tool for marginalized women to access reproductive care, used by a national women’s health campaign and another national reproductive justice nonprofit, both of which are highly reputable and have been featured in lots of news coverage (10th-12th)

Research this summer with a T20 professor on depictions of women Iranian literature over the 20th century and how their depictions changed alongside the political regime’s policing of women, may write a paper but probably won’t be published before admissions. (11th Summer, 12th Fall)

Ran a letter-writing campaign to my congresswoman at my school that collected 500+ student letters asking her to raise awareness about imprisoned Iranian journalists, invited to meet with her office (11th)

Internship with a national advocacy organization for Uyghur Muslims, working to help write requests for advocacy in the Middle East as well as press releases and grants, edit speeches and articles, and may be invited to join the organization to meet with Senators and Congresspeople (11th Spring + Summer, 12th fall)

Second research project this summer w/same professor on how China’s Silk Road policy conflicts the solidarity policies that many Middle Eastern countries have with Islamic diaspora groups, and how it’s harmed the Uyghur people, again, unlikely to publish a full paper but may write an article about my findings for either project and send it out (11th Summer)

Babysitter/dogwalker/petsitter, have worked part-time since sixth grade, expanded to 4-5 regular babysitting and 2 regular dogwalking clients, have cared for everything from elderly cats to tortoises and snakes, became CPR/First Aid certified, earned enough this fall to pay my parents back in full for a summer abroad program (9th-12th grade)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
I’m a fairly strong writer and am working with a counselor on my essays. I’ve had a few of my favorite teachers already offer to write me letters of recommendation, which I really appreciated, so I’ll likely take them up on that! One is my AP Spanish teacher, one is my AP Comp Gov teacher, the other is my English teacher from sophomore year who I still talk to frequently. I talk with them after class frequently, and think they know me quite well.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Lucky enough to have parents and grandparents who could afford to put money in a college fund since I was born. According to them, we can comfortably afford in-state tuition at UCs and tuition after some aid at Williams, Yale, and Princeton, but those are the only NPCs I’ve run with my dad.
I also don’t think law school tuition will factor too much into my undergrad choice. I don’t want to attend law school directly after college, but instead would like to get a few years of work experience in human rights advocacy or literacy expansion programs. I also know that alumni of programs like the Peace Corps can apply to certain scholarships that cover law and grad school tuition, and that’s appealing as well.

Schools

  • Safety: Hollins, the New School

  • Likely: Occidental, UCSC, UC Riverside

  • Match: UC Davis, UCSD, UC Irvine, American University, Brandeis, Colby, Boston College, Boston University

  • Reach: Princeton (REA but would switch to Williams ED if Princeton seems too much of a reach for me), Yale, Williams, Dartmouth, Cornell, Barnard, Tufts, Middlebury, potentially Brown

2 Likes
2

As a general comment based on your goals, it seems you might be well suited to a public policy major, which relies on fields such as political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation and which emphasizes practical approaches to seemingly complex societal issues. Nonetheless, this major would allow you to maintain an international emphasis. Princeton, for example, offers a notable program in this area.

2 Likes
3

yes, for Princeton I’m really interested in their undergraduate major at SPIA, the School of Public and Intl Affairs (assuming this is the public policy program you mentioned) with an eventual focus on the Middle East, since juniors in that major pick an area to study in full depth.

I know I have a whole year to make this choice, but I’m already struggling to decide whether to put SPIA or Middle Eastern Studies as my first choice of major for Princeton… I’m really invested in a career in the Middle East, and MES is significantly less competitive than SPIA, but I worry that my extracurriculars might not tie together and demonstrate my interest in the subject as well as they might for SPIA, even though I would be happy to study either.

4

side note – just realized the title to my extracurricular section leaves out a key detail, the parenthese are supposed to say that [will do] is because I’m the only junior in club leadership or one of two juniors in leadership for a co-led club. I hate seeing my grammar mistakes and wanted to clear this one up really quick :blush:

1 Like
5

Sending you a private message - look for the green circle in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

6

Yes.

As one suggestion for an additional choice, perhaps consider UPenn. It seems it would match the theme of the schools you have on your current list.

You might benefit from refinement of you LAC choices as well.

1 Like
7

Have you considered Georgetown? They have an excellent Arab Studies program (depending on the nature of your interest in the middle east), as well as the school of foreign service which is fantastic (I myself got my first MA from the graduate school of foreign service, but the undergrad program is equally great).

By the way, from your description, I’m about 80% sure you go to the same high school as my daughter :wink:

1 Like
8

Look at Tufts maybe. BA in International Relations | International Relations Program (tufts.edu)

UC Berkeley isn’t on your list?

Legacy will help at Princeton (you can easily google how much) but if a parent went to Yale Law School, you are not a legacy.

I liked your honesty in descriptions of awards. Once I read your whole list, I wondered how you get any sleep :slight_smile: Your EC’s are impressive (overwhelming?). Make sure there is depth to the ones you focus on.

Don’t worry about awards and don’t stress about A- grades! You are fine.

Specific question: how exactly did it happen, for instance, that the school system adopted your poetry curriculum?

Have you checked affordability, considering that you say you need some aid? BEFORE I APPLY, CAN I GET A SENSE OF WHETHER I MIGHT QUALIFY FOR AID?

Yes. Just enter your financial information into the Princeton financial aid estimator to get an estimate of how much aid you may be qualified to receive. The Princeton financial aid estimator is completely confidential and in no way affects your application for admission or financial aid.

2 Likes
9

I find this notable as well.

10

UC Berkeley might be close to home? Maybe too close?

1 Like
11

Speaking of UCs…If you are in fact towards the top of your class, you will likely be in the 9% ELC which give you guaranteed UC admission, although currently that will apply to UC Merced. If you’re open to that, though, you could put that on your safety list.

1 Like
12

Applicant should also look at U Penn, Georgetown, and Michigan. But despite her high achievement, they’re all going to be high reaches, as they are for anyone.

2 Likes
13

I would second looking at Georgetown and and maybe GW. For American, showing interest is critical even with stats like yours - if you aren’t going to visit in-person, you should attend any on-line events they have and show interest insofar as you can. In terms of your categories, I’d put Colby and BC into the low reach category instead of match. As long as you’d be satisfied with (and can afford) them you look like you are good with safeties/likelies. And make sure you run the NPC for any of the schools you apply to - at your parent’s income level some schools will not offer much (if any) need based aid. Unfortunately, schools don’t take into account whether or not you are living in a high cost of living area when they calculate need which leaves a lot of family in the donut hole.

14

I think your classification of schools generally is correct although I think Boston College has moved into the reach for everyone category in the test optional era. My issue is that you have way too many schools, I would limit to 12-15 at most.

Are you considering REA/ED?

2 Likes
15

I’m in agreement with most of your classifications, with the exceptions of Colby and Boston College which I think would be in the reach categories. Also, UCs are not an area I feel comfortable chancing. @Gumbymom or @ucbalumnus might have additional insight for you.

As someone who is particularly interested in middle eastern studies, a number of the schools on your lists had 0 majors in the most recent graduating class. Since you still have time before the application process begins, these are some schools that had some of the highest numbers I saw. Also, realize that some of the smaller schools on the list have a very high proportion of majors. 5 Near/Middle Eastern majors at McDaniel, Scripps, or Williams is a lot different than 7 at NYU or 5 at UCLA as those schools are 10-20+ times larger than the smaller schools. Also, I noted that none of the schools on your list had religious affiliations, so I kept to those same parameters with these schools.

  • McDaniel (MD): 5…this might be a good safety to consider.

  • Scripps (CA): 5, women’s college

  • Brandeis (MA): 10

  • Colgate (NY): 5

  • NYU: 7, 6 Master’s, 3 PhDs

  • Middlebury (VT): 5

  • UCLA: 5

  • Johns Hopkins (MD): 0, but had 3 Master’s and 2 PhDs.

  • U. of Pennsylvania: 4

  • Williams (MA): 5

  • Princeton (NJ): 10, 5 Master’s, 3 PhDs

  • Harvard (MA): 2, 15 Master’s, 11 PhDs

And yes, there are some schools that repeats from your own list, and I included them as a reference point. Some of the schools on your list, for instance, did not seem to have many (or any) majors in this field in their most recent graduating class. All data is from College Navigator (the feds).

And in case you are giving any additional thought to which UCs you want to apply to:

UCs

  • Berkeley: 1, 3 Master’s, 1 PhD

  • Davis: 3

  • Irvine: 2

  • Los Angeles: 5

  • Riverside: 1

  • Santa Barbara: 4

4 Likes
16

@AustenNut I just want to say that you are amazing! You put so much research into every one of your posts. I am so in awe of you and CC is very lucky to have you!!

10 Likes
17

You may want to check the NPCs on other colleges, since these are probably three of the private colleges with the best financial aid. Other private colleges may cost more.

For UCs, see below:

Recalculate your HS GPA with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub . Use the weighted capped version for the table below.

Fall 2021 admission rates by campus and HS GPA range from Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California :

Campus 4.20+ 3.80-4.19 3.40-3.79 3.00-3.39
Berkeley 30% 11% 2% 1%
Davis 85% 55% 23% 10%
Irvine 60% 31% 14% 1%
Los Angeles 29% 6% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 98% 96% 89%
Riverside 97% 92% 62% 23%
San Diego 75% 35% 5% 1%
Santa Barbara 73% 28% 4% 1%
Santa Cruz 91% 81% 46% 9%

These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).

2 Likes
18

Yep, I literally can walk to the campus from my house and I have four cousins at UCLA. I’m debating whether or not to put them down on my UC applications – they are amazing schools, but after spending extensive amounts of time on both campuses, I don’t think I would do quite as well there. My parents will probably want me to include them regardless of personal preference though.

19

If your hs has an unweighted 3.7 on average, I worry and you don’t have rank.

I’m guessing your list is ok - except BU may be a reach if not ED. May be.

You might look at full ride programs - the Johnson at W&L and the Presidential at SMU - in addition to some others out there.

You should look at the net price calculators (maybe that’s been covered by other posters) but you say for the top tier you’ll need aid but your family income is in the 200s. If some of these schools show $85K a year - are you going to keep them in or would you then swap out to schools that offer merit aid? Example a Brandeis instead of a Tufts, etc.

I’d run them all for each school as they all factor differently - some include home equity, for example. You can find a like school with merit for any school that doesn’t work. Or you can find wonderful schools like U Denver, Indiana (big in Jewish studies and Hamilton Lugar is a great international program) and UGA - that are much lower cost with great International/poli sci programs (if your goal is to get out of California)

Good luck to you.

20

Yep, I want to REA to Princeton but if it seems highly unlikely that I would stand a chance, I also would love to apply ED to Williams (I think they had an over 25% ED acceptance rate). Also, all of the UCs use the same application, so counting them as one school I would be applying to 16 with supplements (Colby doesn’t require any, Williams requires a graded paper like Princeton’s) and 15 with written supplements.

1 Like