I’m probably forgetting a bunch of stuff so feel free to ask questions about my activities and such.
Demographics: Mixed (white/indian) female, public school
Intended Major: Physics
Academics:
Haven’t taken SAT yet (Covid-19) but I’ve been getting 1500+ on practice tests
GPA: 3.93/4.00 UW
APs: World History (4), Biology (4), Comp Sci Principles (5), taking exams for Physics 1, Lang, and APUSH this year
Taking AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Comp Sci, AP Lit, and AP Chem next year
Honors/Awards:
LISEF Honorable Mention
NYS Science Congress State Finalist
LI Science Congress Highest Honors and Best In Category
Various Science Olympiad medals
All-Division player for tennis
Scholar athlete award (twice)
Possibly a published scientific paper by November
Extracurriculars:
Varsity tennis for 4 years (possibly captain this coming year)
Captain of Science Olympiad
Girl Scouts since kindergarten, bronze, silver, and working towards gold award
Math Team
Various honor societies
Founded a virtual Best Buddies club
Facilitator for RYLA
Essays/LORs/Other:
Essays: Hopefully a 7+/10
LORs: 8ish-9/10? Asking for letters from my English teacher that I’ve had for 2 years that enjoys to have me in class and my writing (I hope). I’ll probably get the other one from my science research advisor whom I’ve known for 3 years.
You’re as good a candidate as any for T20 schools. Of course, they’re reaches for anyone non-hooked, but you’ll definitely have your share of schools to choose from.
I can’t chance you, but as most T20s aren’t test optional you will need to deliver a good test score.
Are you Asian Indian or Native American Indian? Recruitable for tennis?
Make sure to have a handful of target schools and at least one affordable safety on your list…and spend time identifying those. Identifying reaches (as all T20s are) is the easy part.
The “top Ivies” are probably a stretch, but you have a chance at those that are considered less competitive. T20 is definitely attainable, but such competitive schools are always hard to guarantee.
I would recommend looking at interests and potential career options before getting caught up in rankings. Prestige is rarely affordable. Apply to a few reach schools, but keep your list focused on affordable target and safety schools you’re serious about. Also, check out scholarships. They’re a far better deal.
You have a lot of things going for you, female Physics majors are not common, the latest stats I saw had only 20% of physics grads are women, that will definitely help you, since you have the gpa, rigor, and research. Not sure about your awards, as you may need some national ones if you’re applying to the top-20s, especially if it’s the MIT/Cal Techs of the world. Your second recommender should be a STEM teacher, not an adviser. Make sure you have safeties you can afford as well, if you’re in NY, probably would mean SUNYs. good luck!
