Self:
Asian male in Southern California who wants to major in English
GPA: UW: 3.77/4.0 (ugh, all my B’s come from math or science classes… 3.86 Freshman, 3.57 Sophomore year, 4.00 so far Jr year)
RANKING: top 40% at pretty large, extremely competitive public school known for math and science(ranking is one of the things that worries me the most)
SAT: 2320 (800 CR, 800 M, 720 W)
SAT II: Math II 770
APs taken/will take Senior year: US History, Chemistry, Biology, Calculus AB, Literature, Government, Economics, Spanish, Statistics
ECs:
VP of Art Volunteering Club
Staff Writer for Literary Magazine and Science Magazine (hope to get leadership positions / promoted to a section editor)
Debate (Parliamentary - no notable results)
National English Honors Society - hope to get leadership position
Outside School ECs:
Teen Library Council member at local library
Volunteering at autism center, retirement home
Unpaid English tutor
Writing poetry (hope to get published in some online magazines – though not prestigious ones)
Summers:
Some writing conferences/workshops for poetry
Dog walker (paid)
English tutor (unpaid)
History research paper (at summer program)
By different standards, many schools could be considered safeties, matches or reaches for you. You could start with a list such as the following, then trim it or add to it based on further guidance and your own research, judgment and preferences:
It is a little hard to address whether schools are matches or reaches given your rank situation. In general, I’d make sure you have a couple of safeties. Also, what can you afford? Are you applying for need based aid, or do you need merit aid? You do have the advantage of being male, it gives you a bit of an edge in the LAC world.
I think CMC, Amherst, and Pomona are pretty big reaches for you because of your rank. Not saying you shouldn’t apply to 1 or 2 of them, but know that they are reaches.
@merc81 Thanks I know you were in my previous thread, too! I made this thread to see what people would think without telling them which schools I wanted to apply to, so as not to possibly bias people
@intparent Yeah, the rank thing has really made me unsure if I can consider most schools even matches, especially when you read things like 90% of the incoming class were in the top 10% in high school.
And yes, those are definitely three huge reaches. I’m not totally sure I would want to apply to them, either.
Wouldn’t Carleton be quite a reach? I may visit over the summer, so I guess I’ll know then if I think I’ll like the school or not.
Do you have any more suggestions for matches/reaches on the east coast?
Carleton is not as much of a reach as CMC, Amherst, or Pomona in my opinion. You do seem to have excellent qualifications except for your rank. I would like to know your financial situation. Every school on your list is not need blind, and it makes a difference in determining reach vs match vs safety.
@GrandBudapest: Just so you know, the schools in post 1 are some that I would have suggested to you for English without having read your previous thread, though I think four schools do overlap.
@intparent I don’t think my financial situation will really constrain me in terms of my options.
What do you think of my ECs? There’s a new school paper that’s been established at my school, and I could possibly join senior year. It looks interesting, but I don’t know if it’s worth just doing it just senior year.
I also feel like I need more leadership positions. Hopefully my officer position applications go okay.
Okay. I interpret that to mean that you will not be applying for need based aid, your parents are willing to pay over $60,000 per year, and they will not be pushing you to find merit aid.
I think your ECs look fine for the schools we have been talking about. Don’t sweat leadership too much, one of my kids got in everyplace she applied with no leadership “titles”, including some really good schools. If the new paper interests you, get involved. Maybe you could be a page or section editor. You can explain on your app that it was just started your senior year.
@intparent Sorry to bombard you with so many questions, I appreciate your time But how hard do you think it would be to get into Middlebury, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, or Vassar? Those are my top 4 reach schools.
I’d say Vassar is your best shot of those (being male is a good boost in the Vassar admissions process). The admit rate for men in 2014/15 was 33.7%, and only 19% for women. I would call it a match for you, in fact.
If you want to do more research on your own, Google the Common Data Set for each college, and look at the most recent one (that is where I just got those Vassar stats).
Meaning that you have talked to your parents, and they have assured you that they are willing to spend $60,000+ per year for your college costs ($240,000+ total)?
Note that junior/senior level English courses, even at big research universities, tend to be small. You can check on-line class schedules at various schools to see if they list class sizes.
Your SAT scores are amazing. Look for schools that care more about them than class rank. I know there is somewhere where you see what is cosidered, “most important”, “important” or “considered”. That can help guide you. It’s my understanding that many high schools stopped ranking these days, so I can’t imagine that rank is the most important factor. I guess it’s a college by college basis. As an aside, look for schools such as Vassar who have far more females than males. That will give you an edge and also schools that dont have an overwhelming amount of Californians and schools that have a smaller percentage of Asians. GL
@citymama9 Yeah, the Common data sets My high school doesn’t rank but we have deciles in the school profile. What’s frustrating is that my school does these deciles by UW GPA, not Weighted GPA. I’ve taken one of the most rigorous courseloads at my school, so I’m sure I’d be ranked in the top 20% or 30% for sure if it were WGPA.
My low ranking has just made me really intimidated by all these schools saying that most people were in the top 10% of their class.
I actually think living in California is sort of a detriment. I mean, it is the most populous state so basically every college is flooded with Californians, with it usually being one of the top 3 most represented states at these schools.
The only thing I’m hoping gives me a slight edge, or rather makes up for my super low rank, is being an Asian male interested in the humanities.
I know you were in my previous thread, too! I made this thread to see what people would think without telling them which schools I wanted to apply to, so as not to possibly bias people 