UC Berkeley is very, very close to home, and I don’t love the environment (also my friends attending say that housing and class registration are currently in chaos) but I probably will add it to my UC application at my parents’ request. In terms of the poetry curriculum, I worked with the head of the 4th grade teaching department at my former elementary school – she was my former 4th and 5th grade teacher, and reviewed my curriculum, then reached out to the department heads of the other two elementary schools in our district. I also emailed and met with them, and they approved my curriculum for use in the 4th and 5th grade classes at their schools.
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I have considered Georgetown! My only concern is the entirely separate application – I’m already going to be using both Common App and the UC Application, so I worry that it may be hard to add a third portal to the mix.
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I researched UPenn, but it didn’t really appeal to me. I know Huntsman is amazing and their programs are really great, but I just couldn’t see myself going there. How do you suggest refining my LACs?
I know for some schools I would need aid, but I do have Brandeis on my list (may have forgotten to add it in post though). I plan on running the Tufts NPC soon with my parents though. I mainly am focusing on schools on the West and East coast, so I’ll definitely check out Hamilton.
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I’d look at Hopkins for your academic interests, it has a top 5 international studies program.
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For unhooked applicants, 25% ED acceptance rate at Williams can be quite misleading.
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Would you say it’s significantly lower factoring in legacies and athletes? I don’t know if I’m strong enough for Princeton even with legacy, especially since my awards aren’t great and only a few of my ECs are on a national level. I really like the Williams tutorial system, small class sizes, the gorgeous campus, and felt like I could see myself there after attending multiple student webinars, so I was really hoping I might have a shot there.
Not just athletes and legacies, but also URM applicants and first generation. At elite schools like Williams, the true ED acceptance rate for unhooked applicants is always substantially lower than the published ED acceptance rate. Also, although it can vary by school, generally, unless your parent is a prominent alumni (big donor, famous etc …), legacy status generally does not rise to the level of a hook at elite schools.
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Thank you so much for this comprehensive list! Happy to see that Williams, Princeton, Brandeis and Middlebury are on there (will likely apply to Cal and UCLA as well, they aren’t schools I personally fit with but my parents want me to put them on my UC app). I will likely be applying to many schools with different majors in the same general areas of political science/international relations with a middle eastern studies double major or concentration where applicable – here’s my current major/school list:
Hollins (comparative literature), the New School (politics/global studies double major)
Occidental (diplomacy and world affairs major, arabic studies minor), UCSC (politics), UC Riverside (middle eastern studies/international and foreign policy double major)
UC Davis (middle east & south asia studies/international relations double major), UCSD (BA/MA program for international affairs, or international relations major if not accepted for BA/MA), UCI (global middle eastern studies/political science double major), American University (intl studies w/ middle eastern studies concentration), Brandeis (middle eastern studies/political science double major), Boston University (middle eastern studies/political science double major)
Boston College (islamic civilization/political science double major), Colby (global studies, either middle east or intl relations concentration), Yale (modern middle east studies/global affairs double major), Williams (arabic studies/political science double major), Dartmouth (middle eastern studies/public policy double major), Cornell (Brooks School, public policy), Barnard (middle eastern & asian cultures/political science double major), Tufts (middle eastern studies/intl relations double major), Middlebury (intl politcs & econ major/arabic studies minor)
For Princeton I’d have to choose between a major at SPIA or Middle Eastern Studies. At all of these schools, Middle Eastern Studies is uncommon, as you’ve said. I’m not sure if applying for MES would make me stand out more, but it will be a less competitive applicant pool than SPIA. However, not all of my extracurriculars line up with it completely, and I know that they seem more in line with public policy as a whole. Would you suggest putting Middle Eastern Studies down first, or SPIA? Do I have a shot in either applicant pool?
Not Hamiton but Hamilton Lugar at Indiana U.
You are my daughter. She has two major interests. 1) Helping settle refugees. At her school, she helped facilitate a cross functional group of profs and students. And she started a club called The Cougar Refugee Alliance.
Her 2nd interest is ending the practice of female genital mutilation which she’s done a lot of research on in AP seminar and is passionate about.
I worry about two things:
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If your HS has a 3.7 avg UW, it’s likely an extreme grade inflator so that won’t help and
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Money - you’re aiming very high so some might come through. But what if they don’t?
So I think you need some safeties - academically and financially.
A school like Hamilton Lugar (at Indiana U - big Jewish population) is first rate in IR. In fact, IU for grad school (with Syracuse) is #1, ahead of Harvard in Public Policy, etc.
A school like my daughter goes to - 16th of 17th rank wise she got into - yet she started this amazing group and has met several diplomats (who she’s networking with) through the Mroz Institute. She goes College of Charleston and she’s in three programs that not only pay tuition, but we buy her a meal plan and get money back. Her scholarship is more than tuition.
When you talk about law school and what you want to do:
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This isn’t a 4 year thing - this is a 7 year thing - and law school will likely be full pay. You can go to Chico State and go to Harvard Law…you don’t need to go to Princeton. Am I saying not to go to a top school if you get in? No - but given your income, I do worry about how much you’ll have to pay and I’m suggesting an alternative plan just in case.
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In the field you are headed, where you go won’t matter - and it won’t impact your pay - which will likely be not great unfortunately for all the goodness you want to do.
So i’m suggesting safeties - both academically and financially - that have awesome programs, many Jewish students and would not set you back if you don’t get into any of your reach heavy list or given your income, if you get in but they would be unaffordable. Other schools would be great too - but these two I know well - and my daughter has the 3 awards below - which will help me pay for law school if she goes that route (she’ll more likely do an MPA or MSW).
Charleston Fellows Program - College of Charleston (cofc.edu)
Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship Fund - Cougar Scholarship Award System (academicworks.com)
Interesting, good to know. I guess this means Williams ED probably wouldn’t be very likely for me. At Princeton, this also means that legacies like me with a parent who consistently donates but not above $1,000 wouldn’t benefit from the legacy boost, right?
What do you mean by extreme grade inflator? Rounding of grades isn’t very frequent, and we use the same GPA scale as public high schools nearby, where A- to A+ is a 4.0, B- to B+ is a 3.0, etc. The only classes with a grade bump are those in the accelerated math program, which only has about 20-30 students per grade, and in that program 85+ is an A, 70+ is a B, etc. The highest weighted GPA of last’s year’s graduating class was a 4.3 if that helps at all, not sure if it does.
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Colleges that consider legacy generally tend to be opaque about how much difference it makes – they want legacies to believe that there is a large advantage (in order to get them to apply), but they want non-legacies to believe that the advantage is small (so that they won’t decide that it is not worth applying).
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Grade inflation isn’t based on the percentage to letter grade, it’s based on how easy or hard it is to get a high grade. There is definitely some grade inflation at your/our school. It’s certain classes. You can do the minimum and get an A. But that’s definitely not true for all classes. However, sometimes perception is more important than reality. If AOs perceive grade inflation, it makes your grades less impressive, even if you did actually work really hard to earn them.
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Darn, that’s frustrating. I doubt I’m strong enough for Princeton without legacy then. The kids of our family friends (my dad’s former roommates) have both gotten in with achievements like newspaper editor/student body president, but they attended a Title 1 school with few Ivy matriculations. I probably fall in to the too many resources/not enough achievement category though, so I’m trying to not get my hopes up and stay realistic that there are likely thousands of students far more qualified to attend.
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The girl has a 3.97 GPA and not 3.7. Seems the 3.7 was a typo
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If I do attend the same school as your daughter, it’s ranked as one of the 150 best schools in the state according to my/our counseling department – would that affect its perception
my GPA is a 3.97 UW, but the school’s average GPA is a 3.7 UW
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I believe the 3.7 was the average for the school. But I may be mistaken.
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Yes, her GPA is 3.97, but she states that “average UW GPA is a 3.7.” So a 3.9 when the average is 3.7 isn’t as impressive as a 3.9 when the average is a 3.2.
I am curious where you got this number, however - was it from a counselor? I haven’t heard that stat anywhere. Although I have never asked…
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