Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Female, Asian American (Korean)
second gen college
Intended Major(s)
Not sure yet but mathematics/computer science (maybe medical?)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.89
Weighted HS GPA: 4.72
Class Rank: 5 (top 1%)
ACT/SAT Scores: haven’t taken yet, goal 1550+ (800 on math)
Coursework
4 Honors + 19 APs + 5 College Courses by graduation
Accelerated math track, plan to take BC junior year and linear algebra/multivariable sr year @ community college
Up to AP Spanish (4 years)
APs taken so far: Bio (4), APHG (4), CSP (4), Chem (current), APWH (current), CSA (current)
APs planning to take in the future: Calc BC, APUSH, Psych, Physics 1, Lang, Stats, Gov/Econ, Spanish, Physics C, Lit, and Music Theory
Awards
Not many as of now
1st place in violin competition
1st place relay team at league meet last season
ap scholar as of now
unsure of which other awards to aim for/look out for can i get some recommendations? Looking for more academic ones, also aiming for presidents service award right now
Extracurriculars
Competitively swimming for 9 years
Playing violin for 7 years
Concertmaster of an orchestra I play at out of school
High school swim team 2 years
UCSB SRA
UCLA Math Circle
Math tutor for community service, currently at 35 hours
USC Data Science Summer Program
National Honor Society
Coding Olympiad Team treasurer
speech and debate at school
in the process of applying to work at Kumon
honestly not sure about my chances im still working on building my awards/ecs part of my resume but brown (love love their open curriculum) and columbia are the dream, ive grown up only really hearing about ivies/ucs so im not really familiar w other colleges. just looking for honest feedback and info bcuz none of my parents have experienced the college admission process in america. anyways any feedback to build my resume until apps come is appreciated thank you <3
A data science major may be especially suitable for this combination of interests. You may want to consider this as you establish your college choices.
For similarly flexible curricula, also consider schools such as Hamilton, the University of Rochester and Wesleyan University.
You live in California which has a large number of very very fine public universities. Please take the time to look at these. The Ivies and T20 schools aren’t the only places where you can get a top CS education.
One is to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, the point is to do what is right for you, and do it very well. Do not try to guess what will impress university admissions, do what is right for you.
While this describes what I did to get into MIT, it also describes what other people I know did to get into other very good universities. If you do what is right for you, it is likely to help you with whatever school would be a good fit for you.
Of course what was right for me and what was right for someone else are entirely different things. As perhaps the most extreme example I can think of right now, what was right for one daughter included reaching inside a cow several different ways. She is currently getting her DVM and will probably be a large animal veterinarian. There is no way that I would want to reach inside a cow even once in one way (but I majored in math).
Another thing that comes to mind is that you need to understand that there are a LOT of very good universities in the US. You do not need to attend a “top 20” university to do very well in life. Also, you do not need to attend a “top 20” or even “top 100” university for your bachelor’s degree in order to get into a well ranked program for graduate school.
Mathematics / computer science describes my path pretty well. “Medical” is of course a different path. It is fine and very normal to be unsure at this point. One daughter when she was a sophomore in high school told me that she was concerned that she had no idea what she wanted to major in, while most of her friends did know. I pointed out that yes her friends know, but in six months they will want to major in something different, and two years from now they will have changed their mind again. It is normal for it to take a while to figure out what we each want to do in life. At the point that I graduated from university with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life (and what I ended up doing did not even exist at that point). Fortunately math can be used in a lot of different ways and I eventually figured it out. Similarly you will too.
Looking at your extracurriculars I see quite a bit that I might expect for a math or computer science major (as one example, there is a pretty large overlap between interest in math and interest in music). I do not see anything that jumps out as “medical”. There is a lot that you can do with a major in mathematics, and having some computer science knowledge can help with many of them.
I also agree with @thumper1 that there are many very good public universities in California. MIT graduates and Stanford graduates are working alongside many graduates from various UC’s and CSU’s and no one cares where anyone got their degree.
How are you defining T20? If you are looking at USNWR and expand your search to the T40, you will find that six of the UCs are on that list.
I encourage you to spend some time (and you have time) looking at what you want to major in. Computer Science is EXTREMELY competitive. Students with 4.0 unweighted GPAs and a slew of extracurricular activities/awards are being turned away from CS at the UCs. Math, Data Science, Cognitive Science are other options to look at.
Your first step is to sit down with your parents and have a conversation about what they can afford and what they are willing to pay. Do you have siblings? Students are only allowed to borrow $25,000 over the entire four years. Anything above that would need to come from your parents.
In addition to the UCs, the California State University (CSU) system has 23 schools. Each of them gives priority to students living in their service area. You might look up which service area you live in and see if you would like to attend that college. Finding a likely college (one that is affordable, one that you would like to attend and one that you have a high chance of admission) is your second step.
To be honest: if you love Brown for their open curriculum, I’m not sure how you also love Columbia and their strict core curriculum.
I didn’t see any mention of cost constraints/budget. You should ask your parents how much they are able and willing to pay for your college. If you have no financial need, the private colleges you’re aiming for will probably cost around $340k over 4 years by the time you start college in 2025.
I’ll go a step further and say that most Ivies aren’t in the list of “top 20 CS schools”. Many of the best CS schools are public flagships - which not only have more predictable admissions (for the most part) but may also provide merit scholarships, lowering the cost of colleges for you.
My free advice. Please please first find two sure things for admission and affordability that you would be happy to attend. Start there. It’s easy to find high reaches and elite schools. Finding great sure things (and yes, they are out there) takes time.
You are a sophomore. For the privates, you likely want to take the SAT or ACT. For the CA publics, that doesn’t matter one bit because they are permanently test blind.
So…continue to get top grades taking a challenging courseload. Do some ECs that you really enjoy. Find time to volunteer or get a job. All of these are worthwhile.
Think of the characteristics you want in a college…not the brand name. Look for colleges that have the characteristics you want.
In a year, middle of your junior year…you will know better exactly where you stand.
Try not to live high school years with college admission constantly in mind. Ironically you will do better with admissions if you just do what you are authentically interested in.
I hope you can learn about other colleges. Google “little Ivies” and also check out the Colleges that Change LIves website, for starters.
If you are a talented/accomplished violinist, you can submit a music supplement at schools that accept them: with recording/video, music resume and letters of recommendation related to music. Your swimming may help too.
By all means slow down, as someone else said, make friends, take classes you are interested in, and pursue interests. You should be able to choose colleges that fit you without spending these high school years trying to fit a set of schools. And get some sleep:)
Do you like swimming? Do you have interest in swimming in college? Being a recruited athlete is an incredible hook for colleges, and especially highly selective ones. Talk to your coach about your potential. Check out the times for your events for the swim teams of colleges that interest you. I played soccer starting as a little kid and all through high school, but I had no chance of getting recruited for it because I was not very good at it. I did get recruited for track and field though, which was great because I loved it and I was good enough for D3. If you think you want to swim in college, definitely start the recruiting process now. You can talk to D3 coaches now and D1/2 starting this summer.
Decent list, though I would replace CMU with, oh, Grinnell. CMU is generally thought to be a grind, where (today) fun goes to die… and that isn’t Brown at all.
