Hi! I’m currently a rising senior and I need help finding some colleges that are reasonable for me.
Demographics
US domestic
Born and raised in Massachusetts
I go to a lower class, very diverse public high school
Female, white and ethnically Jewish (not religious), LGBT
Parents went to Simmons and Wentworth repectively
Intended Major(s)
Interested in persuing astrophysics up to the PhD level, but I may choose a less specific major for my undergraduate degree such as physics or statistics to make sure that I don’t trap myself on one path. I will either combine major or minor in Chinese.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: I am not sure, but I believe around 3.4
Weighted HS GPA: Again not sure, but maybe around a 3.7 or 3.8
Class Rank: Unsure, it isn’t released until fall
ACT/SAT Scores: I recieved a 1480 on the SATs without studying, I am confident that I will be getting a 1520+ on my retake
Coursework
My school doesn’t offer AP until junior year (with 2 exceptions: AP US and AP Spanish) and doesn’t have many offerings after that, but I have taken:
Freshman year: Nothing unusual but all honors. Got mainly A+'s and A’s with one A-
Sophomore year: AP US History, got a 3 on the exam. My grades this year were not good due to financial issues and is the main reason my GPA is so low (our lack of reliable technology made remote school extremely difficult, I will be explaining this.)
Junior year: AP Statistics, got a 4 on the exam and an A in the class. IB Chinese, I am the only person in the school taking this at the high level and got an A+. My grades were nearly all A’s with one low grade in English.
Senior year: Will take AP Calculus, AP Physics 1, continuing IB Chinese HL.
Note: our school offers the IB Diploma and I chose not to apply because the AP math courses were more interesting to me, but I am worried this may hurt my application
Awards
Recieved first place in a national Chinese essay contest about the pandemic
National Honor Society
Classical and Modern Language Honor Society (for Chinese)
Extracurriculars
Astronomy club: 11, 12 (founded junior year, we participated in the Plant the Moon NASA competition but results are not out yet)
Planning to graduate with Seal of Biliteracy (English/Chinese)
Marching and pep band: 8-12 (I, with one other person, was the first middle schooler to participate in our high school’s marching band, which is fairly well known in our district for out football halftime shows)
Held 3 leadership positions in marching band: 11-12
2nd chair 1st horn, Junior district orchestra: 9
1st chair 2nd horn, Senior district orchestra, all state recommendation: 11 (and likely 12 as well. Did not participate 10th grade due to lack of technology access.)
1st horn school concert band: 9
Advanced concert band, french horn: 10-12 (silver medal at MICCA festival, 11)
Math tutoring: 10 (2.5 hours per week to anybody who wanted to stop by via Microsoft Teams. Tutored in anything anyone needed help with.)
Social issues virtual book group: 10 (This was only available for me for one year, as it was with my 10th grade math teacher. We spent the year discussing topics such as housing segregation and reading related books.)
May be getting a part time job within the next few weeks to pay for driver’s ed
Essays/LORs/Other
LORs: IB Chinese teacher, possibly AP Stats teacher. Both should be very positive but I am not sure how close I am to them so they may not be as personal as is ideal. Essays should be fairly strong.
Cost Constraints / Budget
I come from a very low-income family and have high demonstrated need. My family can contribute nothing though, so I will need to be able to pay exclusively through financial aid and loans. Because of this, I don’t have a particular budget in mind.
Schools
Currently Tufts is absolutely perfect for what I want, but I understand that my profile is not very competitive and I don’t have a good chance (I would still love if somebody would chance me for them? I will likely be applying ED1 regardless because, again, I really love the school.) I have a few others in mind but nothing is set in stone so any recommendations for target and safety schools would be wonderful.
Other
Studying abroad is extremely important to me, it would be great if the school had a strong abroad program.
I would like to continue my instrument in some capacity, either in a full ensemble, marching band, or otherwise.
I would still like to have a traditional college campus feel while being close to the city. the Boston area is perfect, but I’m open to anything.
*Staying in New England or bordering states like PA or NY would be best, but again, I’m open to anything.
Sorry if I wrote too much! I’m worried that I didn’t do enough in college and so I’m not competitive for a lot of schools, and I’m having trouble finding realistic colleges that I like. Thanks so much to anybody who has recommendations.
Lol my kid is an astrophysics lgbt kid, so did a lot of research for this. I think Tufts is a good choice but I think a long shot even ED but who knows. Another idea would be Wesleyan, again with ED, may be a more realistic shot. Other New England/middle Atlantic schools that would fit your criteria are Vassar, Smith (if a women’s college would work, another place with big ED boost). Haverford is another option. ED big help on all of these. If open to left coast, you could consider Reed or Whitman. Very different as very urban but Boston University would also fit the bill. For large state schools. uWash at Seattle and CU Boulder. Sorry editing as I see you need serious financial aid. Delete the big out of state state schools then, they won’t give much aid to out of state. Agnes Scott is strong in Astro and I have been reassured of lgbtq friendliness in the school and in Atlanta.
Thank you so much for responding! I’ve considered a couple of these as options but was worried that my gpa and lack of interesting ECs would make them too competitive for me. I’ll look into it some more.
And… honestly you know what would be perfect and cheap… UMass Amherst- very strong in Astro, we visited Amherst College where my kid is applying and the higher level courses would all be at UMass Amherst. Great telescopes. Great location, fits the bill, you will get in… I know it is easy to roll your eyes at your own state schools but in your particular case UMass Amherst would be VERY high on my list if I were your parent . and Amherst is a great town and area is liberal and inclusive.
UMass Amherst is another that’s on my list actually haha. I like their offerings a lot, the only downside is the location, as it is kind of in the middle of nowhere (my older sister did a journalism program there so I have visited) and I’d rather be somewhere with easier transportation to the city and to home since my parents don’t have vehicles.
Investigate bus or shuttle services for students at UMass Amherst. You’re going to have to figure out transportation to and from any college you attend and you can’t be picky with your options considering your high financial need and low ish GPA.
Consider Bryn Mawr. You should be able to get there by train if you live in the Boston area. They recently enacted a no loan policy and meet full financial need.
Top private schools that meet full need, in high-demand locations (in or near major cities in the Northeast), are going to be tough for an unhooked applicant with a 3.4UW and sub-4.0W If you were a recruited athlete, that GPA might be sufficient, but in the pool of unhooked applicants… you’re probably going to need to go much farther from home to find a school that will admit you with a generous aid package. I’m thinking, for example, of a school like Lawrence University in Wisconsin, which has great music opportunities for non-major musicians and has a particularly well-respected physics department with strong placement in PhD programs. They don’t guarantee full-need-met aid, but they’re fairly generous and often need-based+merit combined will make it affordable. St. Olaf in Minnesota is another that’s very strong in both music and math/science, and they do meet full need or very close to it. Both of these schools have strong study abroad programs and have sufficient depth of course offerings in Chinese to offer a Chinese major.
My first thought in terms of MA colleges was Smith, which is a reach but worth a try. If you run the Net Price Calculators for both UMass Amherst and Smith, which is more affordable? A lot of students in the 5 College Consortium need transportation to the Boston area; as LeastComplicated says, investigate the options, because limiting yourself to schools on transit lines in the Boston metro area may not give you great options. (Although, UMass Lowell’s reputation is rising fast, and they even have an observatory on campus.)
Wellesley would be a big reach, but it would be both financially and geographically excellent, not to mention allowing cross-registration at MIT as well as consortium cross-registration with Brandeis, Babson, & Olin. It’s a tough admit, but not as tough as Tufts (higher acceptance rate and slightly lower median stats) - not because its reputation is any less, but just because the potential applicant pool is smaller, as with all women’s colleges. I’d give women’s colleges very serious consideration as ED1/ED2 contenders; try to visit Wellesley, Smith, and Mt. Holyoke before making a decision about an ED school. (Bryn Mawr is another good suggestion, albeit a bit farther to visit.)
Tufts makes extremely clear that there is no real ED “bump” there; higher acceptance rates in ED result only from higher numbers of hooked applicants (especially athletic recruits) in the ED cycle and a stronger ED applicant pool; they state very clearly that applying ED there does not improve the odds for an unhooked applicant.
Are you in the top 10% of your HS class? Top 20 or 25% This is another metric that can be very helpful in gauging chances.
We do not see our class rank for a few more months, but I assume I will be relatively high because the school is not very academically competitive and not many people take AP.
After posting this, I realized my GPA may be inaccurate. As of 1st semester I had a 4.2 weighted gpa as well as a 3.7 UW GPA according to my school’s grading website, and my grades have not dropped since then. The ones I wrote above were ones I calculated online but I may have done so incorrectly. How much do you think this differenct would affect my chances? Given that I’m confident my senior grades will also be primarily A’s with 2 APs and 1 IB
I think you can find the major in many schools and with your gpa, it’s gonna be tough for a top school. You can try a school like f & m or Dennison that meets need but I don’t see you getting in. U of AZ is near tops but won’t be cheap for you. I’d say a secondary in state school is more likely for you. Sorry. Not what you want to hear. But given the low income…
These are all good ideas but I would not send an lgbtq kid to Wisconsin (though admittedly don’t know the specific school you are suggesting) . Also note Wisconsin is now a state where women don’t have access to health care (abortion) and I would really not advise a girl from New England to go there.
I wasn’t looking to hear anything but honest opinions from people who know better than me : ) As I said above, I believe my GPA may be closer to 3.7/3.8 UW 4.2/4.3 W, does this make me more competitive by any significant margin?
I’m not lgbtq and I know you are noting the state but the school is known to be friendly.
Perhaps the student can research schools on campus pride. U of A gets a 4.5 and my niece who works there says it’s very supportive. It’s super strong for the intended major. Why I mentioned it’s an in but not huge scholarship $$. My daughter at C of Charleston also says very friendly. Liberal city. Red state.
As for a 3.4 uw and 3.7, unfortunately it’s unlikely to sniff top schools. But trinity. Connecticut. Some of the lesser schools on the meets need list may.
Fill out a few net price calculators. See the amount and discuss with your folks what you can afford.
Everyone has to weigh these factors for themselves. As a school with a performing arts emphasis (it’s a university because of its music conservatory), Lawrence has quite a few LGBTQ+ students, and the president who recently retired was a gay man. But the city of Appleton is on the conservative side, and state-level politics have been problematic of late. I’m not proposing Lawrence as a perfect solution across all metrics, just trying to answer the more limited question of “where can a student with a 3.4UW and high need get an acceptance with a strong aid package, at a school with strong physics, music, & Chinese, and an LGBTQ+ friendly campus.” I can’t answer whether the tradoffs are worth it or not.
That said, OP has revised her GPA numbers fairly significantly.
No reason to debate and different people have different experiences. Because of my Astro LGBTQ kid I looked hard into U of Arizona and although I heard positive stories, I also heard enough negative ones (students being closeted, not feeling comfortable to hold hands or kiss walking in the evening in the town, lots of offensive ignorance among other students) etc from actual students and parents that I would not advise going there.
Not debating. As I said I’m not an lgbtq parent. I mentioned the school due to the gpa and having my niece work there. My wife went and Tucson is blue but yes the state is red.
I feel bad for folks who have to make the decision of blue city/red state.
Lots they have to think about. I’d investigate but each person is different. Op can decide. But the school is well known in her field but easy to get into. Plus it’s got a huge Jewish population.
Yes, 3.7UW/4.2W is a lot more favorable than 3.4/3.7. And if your rank is high, all the better. Even a 4.0 weighted wouldn’t make you a slam-dunk for Tufts, especially coming from MA (as colleges with a national reputation are trying not to take too high a percentage of local students, yet they attract a lot of local applicants)… but at least you’re not applying with below-median stats, which tends to make the odds pretty low without a hook. Also, these stats make acceptance to UMass Amherst a much safer bet (although you might still keep Lowell in the mix, as there’s some good scholarship money to be had there and it’s increasingly respected as a STEM school).
I still say, give the women’s colleges a chance to win you over. The aid is generous, the admissions odds higher than at mixed-gender schools with comparable reputations, and the “ED bump” is significant at many of them. Plus, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more affirming environment for an LGBTQ+ woman. Smith has its own observatory and very strong STEM, in addition to cross-registration with UMass Amherst and the other consortium schools. https://www.fivecolleges.edu/academics/astronomy As I suggested in my earlier post, run the Net Price Calculators for Smith, Mount Holyoke, and UMass Amherst - do the LAC’s look like a better deal than the state flagship, for your financial profile?