Please Chance my Class of 24 Daughter [TX resident, 4.23/1440/32, Cognitive Science, Psych or English, cost not an issue]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hi, please chance my daughter. She’s graduating high school in May
US domestic
San Antonio, Tx
Small but academically intense college prep school
Native American with a tribal registration number but little actual involvement with the tribe.

Intended Major(s): Cognitive Science, Psychology, plus College counselor thinks she should apply for English at the schools where changing major isn’t difficult (mainly private)

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.23
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.45. School gave a .3 boost for AP/honors until last year where they started giving 1 point boost
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 32 ACT, 1440 SAT

Coursework
Freshman Year (no AP’s for freshman)
Advanced Topics in Composition A
Algebra II A+
Physics I A+
Global Studies 1 & 2 A
Spanish II Honors A+
Photography A+

Sophomore
Survey of British Lit & World Drama A+
Precalculus Honors A+
AP Stats A+
Field Marine Bio A+
Chemistry I A+
AP World History A+
Spanish III Honors A+
Photography A+

Junior
Rhetoric, Composition & Literature III A+
AP Calculus AB A
Cell Bio A+
Macro biology Human Anatomy A+
AP US History A+
AP Spanish Language A+
Digital Imaging Honors A+
Theater Production A+

Senior 1st semester
AP Literature and Composition
AP Calculus BC
AP Bio
AP Computer Science
Spanish V
Studio Photography

Honors:
National Honors Society
Mu Alpha Theta (math)
Spanish Honors Society
Scholastic Gold Key for digital photography
Scholastic Silver Key for darkroom photography
ISAS arts festival entrant

Activities/Extracurriculars
After Junior Year, Summer internship at a local performing arts center

3-week program at Barnard. Took gender study class

Junior yr, San Antonio Express-News Teen Team. Year long journalism program working alongside reporters, photographers, social media pros. Story published.

National Charity League: 4 years. Junior year, recording secretary. All the volunteering. Food Bank and Children’s Bereavement Center principally

Issues Day Planning Committee

Sophomore Lighting Director for Musical

Junior, performer in the musical

Junior, Stage Manager for spring play

Senior, Stage Manager for musical

After Sophomore: Summer program in Hawaii to study Marine Bio

Cost is not an issue

Generally wants urban or suburban but after 3 weeks at Barnard I think NYC is just too hectic. Wouldn’t mind a school that had some school spirit and at least one team that the school supports but this isn’t critical. Open to all women schools. Except for possible Plan II or liberal arts honors at UT-Austin is very interested in leaving Texas.

In the next 30 days we are going to take a couple of trips to see if there is an ED school that stands out.

Schools

Safety: U of Indiana

Likely: U. of Vermont

Match:
U. of Washington,
UT-Austin,
UC-San Diego,
UC-Santa Barbara,
Villanova,

Reach:
Boston College,
Wellesley,
Wesleyan,
Smith,
Amherst,
Penn,
Vanderbilt,
Duke,
Emory
UVA
UCLA
UC-Berkeley
Tulane

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Paging @AustenNut to help out!

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It’s Indiana U and it’s a safety as is Vermont.

U Washington is likely. UT Austin depends on rank and the UCs are hard to know. Villanova is possible.

You have a college counselor and they’d be best to answer the rest. I don’t want to say Amherst isn’t possible and yet it is, etc.

They’d be the best one to ask.

For some, you’d go TO - and then others are test blind - the UCs, Washington, etc.

Best of luck.

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Congratulations on her great record!
Chancing the reaches is hard without some school context:
What AP classes does the school offer that she has not taken?
It appears she did not take Honors for a few of her classes, such as most science classes and Spanish5.
I am trying to get a better idea of her relative rigor for her HS: she appears to have a relative science “weakness” in rigor.
Also, more of a curiosity, what are her AP scores so far? Any chance she is taking the SAT again?

Edit to add: the counselor’s advice to “apply for English” at schools where changing isnt hard makes me think the counselor also may agree there is a relative Stem transcript weakness. However—you do not apply to a major at many if not most of her reaches, and since these same ones allow any major to be declared(usually after 1-2 years), they tend to see through that tactic, or at least that’s what our school’s counseling team says, loudly and often: don’t try to pretend you are interested in a major you are not.

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Yes, she’s taking the ACT again next week. My understanding is that she could have taken 2 additional AP’S. Of course the school made a huge deal that taking all the AP’s wouldn’t necessarily be the best for mental health so they required permission which she didn’t seek. It’s clear that the few kids with higher weighted GPA’s did take those classes however. She’s taken 3 AP tests so far. Two 5’s and one 4 but not positive which subjects.

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UT Austin will be a Reach, not a Match, if school doesn’t rank.

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Your daughter is very competitive but the UC’s are test blind so her test scores will be used for course placement and not for admission or scholarship consideration.

The UC’s have their own UC GPA calculation using only A-G UC course requirements from the summer after 9th to the summer before 12th grades.
For OOS applicants, the extra honors point weighting is only given to AP/IB or UC transferable DE courses taken during this time.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Please post her 3 UC GPA’s: Unweighted, Capped weighted and Fully weighted.

UC’s do not consider +/- grades so A+ is an A along with race/ethnicity in the admission review.

Based on admit rates for OOS applicants,
UCSB and UCSD should be in the High Match/Low Reach Category (around 30% or less).

UC Berkeley and UCLA are Reach schools as listed.

Best of luck to her.

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I hear you—and mental health is important. Our school does similar, even going so far as to state that it is rare to take more than 3-4 honors/AP per year…when in fact over 1/3 of the class takes 5,6, or even 7, with the very top group encouraged by advising to push rigor, yet the majority are discouraged(and that is the outward party line if you will). It is hard to know how to navigate it all.
She has a great resume—I am sure she will have many great options!

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With respect to your daughter’s interest in cognitive science, your daughter may want to consider adding Vassar to her list.

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Congratulations to your daughter on building such a strong record in high school! I agree with the others about IU and UVM as safeties and U. of Washington as a likely.

Are you aware that U. of Washington has a number of capacity-constrained majors, including psychology? This list indicates which majors are capacity-constrained and provide links to see the admission requirements to the various majors: https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degree-overview/majors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/.

It’s great that you’re planning on doing some school visits. Has your daughter visited any other schools, even local ones? For instance, although it’s not impossible, I’d think it’s unlikely that someone who would be strongly interested in U. of Vermont would be strongly interested in Penn, or someone strongly interested in Villanova would be similarly interested in UC-Berkeley, etc.

If you let people know more about your daughter’s personality, they may be able to provide more information as to which student bodies/campuses might be a good fit.

Wishing your daughter the best during her college search process!

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Was going to say Vassar as well. It’s certainly strong in English and Psychology, as most top LAC’s will be, but its CogSci department is “the oldest undergraduate cog sci degree-granting program in the world.” Cognitive Science | Vassar College and it seems to fit the pattern of the kind of schools she likes.

Since she’s interested in California schools, I’d consider the Claremont Colleges, which are excellent in all of her areas of interest. The CogSci major is based at Pomona, but students from Scripps, Pitzer, and CMC can easily pursue it as an off-campus major. In addition to CogSci, the combined course offerings in English/Literature/Rhetoric and in Psychology are fantastic. The Consortium offers a great mix of the small LAC vibe with the resources and rich course offerings of a mid-sized university. Scripps is similar to Smith in competitiveness and could be a great target.

There’s also Occidental College, in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of LA, which also has all three majors of interest; if she’s looking for a smaller LAC that would be in the “match” category (which is all larger schools in your current list), Oxy could be one to consider.

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Before the recent court decision, I might have said she had a chance anywhere, since she is a strong student with a tribal reg #. Look at Dartmouth, which of all the Ivies does seem to have a commitment toward admitting tribal members, plus she should consider in some way mentioning tribal identity in a diversity essay response.

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Have you looked at University of Rochester?

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For UC schools;
Unweighted GPA: **4.00
Weighted GPA: **4.53
Weighted and Capped GPA: **4.47

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To clarify, Spanish 5 and her photography class this year are college level courses and students get the 1 point GPA boost like AP

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Women have a somewhat lower admissions rate than men applying to Wesleyan as the college likes to keep the student body as gender balanced as possible. However, being from the south/southwest could be a hook. And being a “Woman in Science” is a definite thing:
Resources, Women in Science - Wesleyan University

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I too think an essay on her ethnic heritage will lead to many admissions at reaches with this profile.

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By chance do you have an opinion on how her Native American status affects her candidacy? She has the tribal registration but she isn’t very involved with the tribe beyond getting mail and the offer of some benefits. It seems there are less than 1% Native American students at nearly every college/uni.

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She doesn’t seem willing to write about her ethnic heritage because she doesn’t think it’s honest. She thinks that since she doesn’t look a certain way or live on a reservation that it’s not fair to tap into possible benefits.

Though I generally find her attitude to be admirable, my point is that the college/unis got out of the blood measuring business years ago. On the common app, if you check Native American, a pop up box comes up that requires the name of the tribe and registration number in order to continue. That’s the standard and she’s got it.

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Tribal registration and strong stats are a rare combination. Since colleges can no longer officially admit for this, her essay will need to delve into the diversity of view point she will bring to the campus. The school is subject to litigation if it admits just based on her race, so she will need to at least offer something diversity-wise if she wants to increase her chances. Without that hook many of the reaches are quite unlikely.

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