Out of ordinary high school experience mixed with quite ordinary stats - chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am currently a junior in high school and seriously considering applying at the following colleges/universities (listed reach schools only):

ED: Cornell
RD:
Barnard
Virginia Tech Honors
UC Berkeley
University of Wisconsin - Madison

I filled out the basic template and explained my situation in more detail below! Thank you.

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2110 (800CR- 720W- 590M) First time run through with no studying, but doubt I can get math score up by more than 50 points and am worried about reading going down; also now have to take new SAT
ACT (breakdown): have not taken yet - not an option for me until I get back to the U.S
SAT II: none yet, plan to take Bio (E), Lit, and maybe French
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.5-3.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Unlikely to be high, as my US HS is very competitive with an IB magnet school attached, but my junior year was spent at a lower quality school in Senegal where I was unable to take honors classes and able to take only 3 AP classes.
AP (place score in parenthesis):
World History (3, worked on timed essay writing more after this)
Environmental Science (estimated 4 or 5)
English Language (estimated 5)
French (estimated 3 - skipped from french 2 to AP French in one year as school in Senegal only offers AP French to seniors)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load:
AP Bio
AP English Lit
AP European History
AP US Government
AP Psychology
French 5 Honors
Physics (or German 1 if I can’t get into the physics class)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad (one of ~63 nationally to be selected)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
GSA (ambassador as a sophomore and founding member of club, absent but consulted frequently junior year, will likely be president senior year)
Applied Sciences Club (secretary, but member for junior year only as it’s in Senegal)
COP21 student club at Senegalese school (in charge of IT)
Cultural Competency Committee (handpicked group of students at US high school, member sophomore year and senior year)
French Club (US HS, 9th, 10th, & 12th grade participation)
Church Youth Group (6+ years)
Completed a capstone research project while in Senegal on how cultural impacts on Islam here reduce the likelihood of extremism forming roots here, which involved many interviews and translations in languages I do not speak natively
Forensic Speech & Debate (senior year only)

Job/Work Experience: No real paid work experience, but have a position secured for this summer when I return working at a Japanese restaurant.
Volunteer/Community service:
Community service repairing homes for low income, disabled, and elderly members of my city - 120 hours a summer for 3 years
Volunteering with church
Will have a certificate (probably) at end of year stating I completed 100 hours of community service working with various projects in Senegal

I will apply for financial aid, am looking to major in environmental science but am also interested in international relations and sustainable development, am a Virginia resident, go to a public school, am white, female, and my single parent household makes ~50k a year. I will be a first generation college student and have spent a year on a full state department scholarship in a part of the world that most other applicants will never have been to.

I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship from the state department to spend my junior year of high school in Dakar, Senegal. I have of course learned a tremendous amount during my time here and come away from it a very changed person, but the impact on my transcript has been negative due to limited AP courses, organized clubs, honors courses, ect. I was preoccupied with an eating disorder and corresponding severe depression (diagnosed) during middle school and my first year or so of high school and received average grades with a pattern of weak (C-range) math grades. In 8th grade, I received a ‘D+’ in Honors Algebra 1 , and in 10th grade (due to thinking I was withdrawing the class/administrative issues) received an F, which I will be making up online this summer in hopes of an A/B+. I speak two languages, English and French, and have not had debilitating mental health issues since 10th grade. I believe I have changed tremendously in such a short period of time and hope that it doesn’t come off badly on college applications. I’m afraid to mention lower grades due to eating disorder at risk of sounding like I’m grappling for excuses. My grades show and upward curve. I believe my essays will be very good, as writing is my strong suit (if one can believe it after reading this long-winded post) and I will spend a lot of time this summer perfecting them. I may be able to get a news article and/or short story published before RD deadlines.

Thank you so much! This is my first CC post and it’s lovely to be here :slight_smile:

2

OOS students no longer get financial aid from California UC’s. Expect to pay $55K+/year for the priviledge of attending.

3

That’s unfortunate. :frowning: UC Berkeley was more than a crapshoot anyway, though. Thank you!

4

UC’s and UWisconsin don’t offer financial aid.

Definitely take SAT2 French.

HOWEVER I THINK that UCLA has a special program in African program and in the past they’d definitely be very interested in your profile, so they MIGHT be interested in making you come. You’d still have costs though, and since UC’s can’t offer FA it’d be merit, meaning I have no idea how much it might be if even they would consider it and had money. But they do look for applicants with interest in and skill in Wolof (and other languages). In short, contact International/Area Studies to look into it…

Your best bet would be LACs (holistic/International-minded) and 100% need universities. Based on your profile, I’d say Bryn Mawr (for French and African Studies), Penn (specifically for African Languages), Columbia (Institute for African Studies), Yale (African studies), Stanford (African studies), Tufts, Macalester, Middlebury, and Dickinson. Those would all be reaches but their financial aid is excellent and your profile, especially your capstone research project in Senegal, would absolutely interest them - especially if you can upload an abstract. They’re long shots but worth trying. There’s more to an applicant than GPA, and the fact your Senegal high school didn’t offer many AP’s will not be held against you. MAKE SURE your guidance counselor writes it in your recommendation letter, explaining clearly that your rank is due to attending school in Senegal where you didn’t "load up on AP’s. Make sure to write this on your “brag sheet” (for your counselor).
Apply to W&M and UVA in addition to Vtech obviously :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
Look at Questbridge.

While your GPA is low, it’s due to earlier sketchy grades. What you did by going to Senegal will affect how your whole application is read.

5

@MYOS1634 :

Wow! Thank you so much for your detailed and informative response! I’m sad to hear that UWisconsin doesn’t offer aid, as I felt it’d be quite a nice fit for me, but I’ll consider crossing it off of my list now. I do think that UWisconsin offers Stamps Scholarships, however - do you think I may be competitive for one of those? I’m applying to the Stamps Scholarship Program at VTech for sure.

While I am definitely planning on returning to Senegal and other African countries, I’m not really interested in majoring in African Studies. I’m more inclined towards environmental science/sustainable development/international relations (yes, I need to make up my mind!). For example, at Cornell (dream school) I would apply to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It’s nice to have a list of good African Studies programs, though, as that shows I could likely take African languages and African Studies courses if I had the inclination - thanks! While I love Columbia, I prefer Barnard’s smaller women’s college feel with the benefits of Columbia’s big university. However, Columbia has much better financial aid (or so I’ve heard and found from my own research). Either way, I don’t think I am at all competitive at Columbia. Do you believe my year in Senegal would make up for some of the poorer stats/give me an advantage?

I love Macalester and Middlebury but was told by a guidance counselor that they wouldn’t give me enough aid to attend, especially when compared to other schools I’m applying to.

Will definitely look into Questbridge some more. :slight_smile:

Thank you again!

6

Just a question… why would you take French 5 if you’ve already completed AP French? AP French is a higher level, no?

7

@lilacwaves : At least at my school, French 5 comes after AP French. :slight_smile:

8

Do not dismiss Macalester and Middlebury without using their net price calculators. My children attend similar colleges and the cost of attendance is less that our state university.

You are very fortunate to living in a state with excellent state universities. Why would a Virginian ever want to pay out of state public college tuition?

9

@Burgermeister : You make a good point, and after consulting with some acquaintances of mine who attend those two schools I think I would actually have a good chance at some decent aid.

As for Virginia schools - again, you are correct, and I feel lucky when hearing out of state friends agonize over schools like UVA’s OOS acceptance rate and tuition. However, if I were to get into Cornell (dream school), I would likely pay less than or the same as I would pay at VT due to my financial aid situation (father makes 45-50k; parents were never married and do not live together but if I’m required to submit her information she is unemployed and unable to work most jobs due to disability). While I suspect I’ll attend Virginia Tech (don’t think I’d get into Cornell and a most other schools I’d want to go to are reaches as well), I’d at least like to give my dream school a shot! :slight_smile:

10

Your finaid will exceed $50k annually. VTECH is a great safety; but you may find the private colleges less expensive with finaid.

Visit Cornell in February…just a random suggestion.

My kids took the ACTs several times to get what they need.

11

Run the Net Price Calculator on each school to see which ones you’d consider affordable. However they meet need and are very generous to families that make under 75k (middle class .)
Even if you don’t plan to major in African studies, indicate on common app that it’d be your second major. It’d help you get in because there’s a definite link between that major and what you did during your year abroad, and it’s a field that doesn’t have sufficient students. Furthermore, the combination of majors makes sense. It’d strengthen your app and make it more likely that you’d get in. Without that major noted even as a second major, your odds are MUCH lower.

12

@Burgermeister :

Thanks for the advice! I’ve definitely been pleasantly surprised that it can actually be beneficial to have an income that makes Cornell/LAC tuition impossible…because it does put me in a favorable financial aid bracket! It was definitely unexpected - at the beginning of my search I assumed a lot of my top schools simply weren’t options due to how expensive they are.

Why February?

@MYOS1634 :

That is something I hadn’t considered much, but now that you mention it it does make sense how it would improve my application. However, Cornell doesn’t allow two majors to be picked on common app, and the college I’m applying to doesn’t have an African Studies major. The major I’d be applying for would be International Agriculture and Rural Development, and is actually the major I intend to complete - do you think this would be close enough to boost my chances if I emphasized my desire to return to West Africa? Thank you!

13

Would have to link it in an essay, yes. Other universities we’ve listed actually would allow you/encourage you to list both and it’s boost your application.
Add Georgetown to the list. :slight_smile:

14

I love VT but it’s really not that inexpensive for an in-state student. Stamps Scholarship is pretty competitive, too, from what I understand. I love @MYOS1634 suggestions; with any luck you will pull off an admission to an Ivy or elite where you might get significant aid.

Wishing you luck - you do have an interesting background.

15

February? Virginia is ten degrees warmer in the winter. If you are a winter lover then this is not an issue.

16

@MYOS1634 : Will do! Thanks again :slight_smile: After looking further into your list, Bryn Mawr has risen quite a bit up mine!

@SouthFloridaMom9 : VT is my backup school, and I’d be very happy to go there (having a beautiful campus and the best college food in the country doesn’t hurt, haha), but yes - if I am fortunate enough to secure admission into the ivies or an elite LAC I would certainly prefer to go there. I’m just very very worried about not getting into any such schools. Thank you for you well wishes!

@Burgermeister : Well, I /do/ love winter…but have also spent a year in sub-Saharan Africa and now pull on a sweater when it’s 70 degrees outside. So it’ll definitely take some readjustment anyway when I’m back in the US. :wink:

17

Sorry to bump this so soon (not the intent of this post), but does anyone else have recommendations for schools that would be a good fit with my profile? Thanks in advance!