Occidental College Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I am a senior and wanting to know my chances for Occidental College
3.449 UW GPA, 4.327 W GPA, (Good upward trend)
Class Rank (Top 10%)
ACT: 32 (retaking soon to try and get higher)

Courseload: I talked to my counselor and she said she will check most rigorous on the CommonApp ( I am an IB Diploma Candidate and also took the hardest schedule possible freshman and sophomore year)

EC’s:
Job - work 25-30 hours/week, 52 weeks/year (Sophomore -Senior Year) In the summer I also babysit 40 hours/week while keeping up with my other job’s same hours (Babysit Freshman-Junior Year)
Student Council member (Officer position Junior Year/Senior Year)
Tutor for foreign exchange student(s) 2 hours/week during school year (Junior Year)
NHS (Don’t really do anything, might not include on my application) (Junior/Senior Year)
Middle School Tutor/Event Coordinator (and got the chance to provide this middle school with their very first spelling bee to send a candidate to the city wide spelling bee) - 2 hours/week during school year (What I have been doing this year)

Recommendations: Should be good… the two teachers I asked enjoy me and I am close with them. I have known one of them for 3 years and the other one for 4 years. My counselor recommendation should be pretty good. I am close with her as well.

Essay: I think it is alright… not for sure though but I did have my English teacher and counselor look at it and they both said it was good.

Overall I definitely know my GPA is what is killing me in this and I guess my EC’s are pretty average but my Job takes up a lot of my time and limits what I can do.

Would really appreciate if I could get some thoughts on whether or not I have a chance? I am considering applying ED or EDII… would this increase my chances? Thanks! :slight_smile:

ETC.
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): Kansas
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 60,000-65,000 (Depends on the year)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

2

Pretty sure you’re good. Occidental is a very good school but it’s not that hard to get in, if you have the grades and scores then you’re probably in. Their average test scores are similar to UCLA but their acceptance rate is much higher (18% vs 45%). Your GPA isn’t that far below average and I believe your ACT score more than makes up for it. Your ECs aren’t too bad either. Seems like a fit.

3

^ “Their average test scores are similar to UCLA”

UCs do not superscore SAT.

4

Oxy is a bit easier to get into because of who they compete with. Here is the profile for the Class of 2021: https://www.oxy.edu/admission-aid/apply/admission-facts/class-profile . Our daughter just graduated from there and loved it. I would highlight how you can contribute to the community there. The IB piece will be helpful because of the rigor. Good luck.