MY TEST SCORES ARE SUPER LOW! This is my first post on here, sorry for formatting issues.
I am a latina, native-cuban immigrant. I will be first gen high school grad and first to ever go to college. I am also very low income (<30k). Other “hooks” would be I was homeless for two years throughout my childhood and my father is disabled and unemployed. I go to a Title 1 public school (very poor school with little funding and in bad neighborhood).
Intended Major: Biochemistry and possibly double major in Education
GPA: uw 3.95 and w 8.34.
ACT: 29, 31 SS (average ACT at my school is an 18)
Rank: Number 1 in my class of 400.
I have 16 AP courses (my school offers 18) and take dual enrollment classes, I will be graduating with my associates degree as well (4.0 college GPA)
I am in the Early Childhood Education program and will be getting my certification this year.
ECs:
984 Community Service hours. As a freshman I created a free program to teach English to Spanish speakers and give them U.S. Citizenship classes. I was able to help 7 of my students pass their citizenship exam.
Senior Council President c/o 2020
Student Environmental Action League board member for the Florida Aquarium
GSA vice president (sophomore) and president (junior, youngest president ever)
Spanish National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and NHS president (12th).
Member of AMSA at my community college
Founder of a Hispanic Aide Community Center
Student Representative for non-profit
2 jobs, manager at one of them. Needed to pay bills.
Lead teacher and preschool manager for the early childhood program
Awards:
Questbridge CPS
Scholastic Writing Award Silver Key
Anne Frank Humanitarian Award
Young Woman of Promise
West Point Society Seminar Leader
NHI full scholarship recipient, graduated program with distinction and two honors cords
“Be the Change” school-based award for leadership
Volunteer of the Year (3x)
AP Scholar
Latina with the highest GPA in my county’s history (my county was established in the 1800s)
** I’m not interested in LAC’s, my dream school is Brown, but I’m looking for other options. Do I have good chances of getting into any college partners? Thanks.
I can’t chance you for QB but wouldn’t call your ACT test scores super low. Last year’s QB finalists had an ACT mid 50% range of 28-32 (I don’t know whether that reflects superscored composites or not). https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/finalist-profile Some QB partner schools do superscore, so that will be to your advantage with a 31 SS.
Good luck, just a couple of weeks before you find out if are a QB finalist!
Thanks for your response. I appreciate your kindness. I hope that my scores will not hold me back since they are below the 25th percentile for most colleges.
Your scores will be taken in context of your background along with the rest of your achievements, which are incredibly impressive. The fact that you have achieved so much in the face of some highly challenging circumstances speaks to your abilities, perseverance, grit, and potential. I am rooting for you and believe that you will have good success this admissions season. Please keep us updated!
I would start by sorting the schools based on what you want in a college: major, geographic location, size, etc.
Should you become a finalist, it typically makes sense to have a mix of LACs and universities in your top 12. You should also take a look to see at which schools latinas are most underrepresented—you can check this at each school’s common data set.
Are you a US citizen/permanent resident, or will you be applying as an international?
I am a US citizen. I am really striving to find the most diverse schools, that why I am definitely ranking Columbia and Rice. Brown is my top choice because of their culture and open curriculum. Other than that, I am looking at schools in New England or in the West Coast, I could not see myself living anywhere in between. I would love a mid-sized campus and a university that offers a lot of research opportunities since I will be majoring in science. Additionally, since I have struggled with mental health before, I would prefer a school that is not notorious for stress the way UChicago is.
Those parameters are a good starting place. I do see Columbia as having similar intensity to UChicago…and both have intensive core curriculum requirements too, basically as different from Brown as you can get.
For LACs both Amherst and Hamilton have open curriculums, but are obviously smaller LACs. Their diversity is increasing, for example 12.8% of Amherst students in 2018-19 were Hispanic/Latino, see more details in the enrollment section here: https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/facts/common_data_sets/2018.
Take a closer look at Dartmouth, the rest of the Ivies, Stanford, Wesleyan, and Tufts and see what you think. I am also paging @MYOS1634 to get her insights.
Rice should be high on your list. It ranks number one for race/class interaction and tries to recruit high achieving Latinx students like you. Last year it had 55 QB matches. As another poster said, if you like Brown’s open curriculum, Columbia and U Chicago with their core curriculum are on the opposite side of the spectrum. John Hopkins with its intense culture might be too stressful for you. Look for QB schools with a collaborative rather than a cut throat vibe. Don’t rule out LACs without investigating them. Many have excellent premed programs and research opportunities. USC, Emory, and Vanderbilt might be good fits for you. Don’t overlook the women’s colleges such as Wellesley and Scripps as you might have a leg up there as not as many QB applicants will be ranking them.
You will be denied no matter what just for the fact of having 984 community service hours. After 200, colleges question what you did with your time, and credibility becomes a serious issue. You realize 984 hours are almost 6 full weeks of community service. If this is real, you’re going to get denied.
. Spending about 25 hours a week volunteering and 40 hours over the summer. This is 100% not fake, it’s just the time commitment that comes with starting a program and founding a non-profit. Its not easy but it’s what i have dedicated myself to for YEARS. Since 2016. It is possible. This, along with everything else i have going on, is the reason I could never do well on the ACT.
For future reference, I talked to multiple advisors and counselors about your statement and they all said it is incorrect. I will not be rejected from any schools for having “too many” hours because they are looking for students that make an impact on their community. I would appreciate it if you could take this into consideration when you chance others, and to refrain from telling students that are looking for helpful advice and guidance that “they will be rejected from every college.” I don’t think it is helpful nor kind.
@kamylam The good news is that it is better to have a stellar GPA and SAT/ACT scores on the lower side than vice versa. The bad news is that the percent of QB applicants who receive the full scholarship is pretty low, and most finalists are within your range. So while you are really great, you are competing against kids who are also really great.
That being said, you are competitive for many selective colleges which are very generous with FA, so you may able to afford some of them even without need of a QB scholarship. You have stellar grades, are URM on two counts, and, along with your ECs, you have pretty strong profile overall. There are also a number of these highly selective colleges which are test-optional.
Good luck!!
@TheStrongMan The OP is a Senior, so she has been engaging in this activity for at least three years. That’s 328 hours a year. Over the 36 weeks of school, that comes out about 9 hours a week. If she was doing it during the summer for a few weeks, it would be more like 6 hours a week.
Personally, I think that she put too many hours and it could have had a negative impact on her academics, but it does not look like it did.
Thanks for your response! Since I am first gen, I really don’t know much at all about the college admissions process. I know the match scholarship offers some money to cover living expenses or books, but I don’t know if other financial aid packages will cover this as well? I really don’t have many people to talk to that are knowledgeable on this particular subject so any help would be greatly appreciated!
