Reverse Chance for Political Science Major

College Search & Selection
1

Gender: Male
Race: Arab Middle Eastern
State: Texas
School: Locally competitive early college high school
Hooks: Disadvantaged Immigrant from North Africa

Grade: 11th (Junior)

Intended Major(s): Political Science, Philosophy, Economics, History

SAT: 1560 (790 RW, 770 M)
Planning on taking SAT Subject Tests in World History and U.S. History

UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.0 UW, 5.21 W (probably went up after last semester), can’t determine rank right now but definitely top 10% (school will post)

DE & AP Coursework:(All As) AP Human Geography (4), AP World History (5)

Self-studying for AP US Gov, AP Comp Gov, and AP US History, will all be 4s and 5s

DE: Intro to Comp Sci, Comp & Rhetoric I, Prin of Sociology, Art Appreciation, Comp & Rhetoric II, College Algebra, Intro to PE, Brit Lit I, Federal Govt, US History I, Trigonometry, Intro to Communication, Macroecon, Brit Lit II, Texas Govt, US History II, Precalculus

ECs: Competed at NSDA Speech & Debate Nationals, qualified for state competition in UIL Policy (CX) Debate (alt), competed at regional tournament in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, 1st place at qualifiers for Houston city championship for World Schools Debate (Feb 22). Currently officer of school debate club, will be president in Senior yr.

Volunteer teacher at an Islamic sunday school (5+ hrs/week), volunteer debate judge for middle and junior high tournaments (~20 hrs/month)

Founded and captain of school’s Social Studies team. Competed at regional tournament first season, going again.

Founded school SAT Prep initiative tutoring students that need help on SAT/ACT (2 hrs/week)

Essays/LORs/Other: Essay theme is advocacy throughout my life, living first under a tyrannical, repressive regime under which my family was politically and religiously persecuted, then immigrating to the US, then debate. Using voice for change.

Recs from some HS teachers (~10/10, 8/10, 8/10), Rec from principal of sunday school I volunteer at (7/10), recs from 2 profs (one in govt, one in literature)

Other: Receive Free & Reduced Lunch, have CB Fee Waiver

Thank you so much!

2

What does “reverse chance” mean ?

3

Basically you can suggest schools for me to apply and the chances I would have with them.

4

Do you prefer LACs, medium sized schools, or large universities ?

Do you have any geographical or weather preferences ?

Williams College in Massachusetts is an LAC with about 2,000 students. If you apply ED, you should receive ery serious consideration for admission.

Do you prefer a liberal or conservative environment ?

Notre Dame, although Catholic, has a substantial number of Muslim students.

5

Schools: Yale, UChicago, Duke, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, UT-Austin, UVA. Northwestern, Emory, Vanderbilt

These are some I’ve considered but not a rigid list

I’ll take Williams and Notre Dame into account

6

Congratulations on your accomplishments. I think you will be competitive wherever you apply, but some of the colleges you listed are high reaches for just about anyone.

FWIW: I would consider Math2 (or another STEM) as a second subject test rather than 2 history tests. Even though you want to major in Poli Sci or something else in the humanties/social sciences, the highly selective colleges are looking for basic rounding. I also think self studying for AP classes is not a good use of time/energy. All you will be doing is studying for an exam. If you want to be a Polic Sci major, learn the materials through a true class. I also don’t think AO’s will necessarily be impressed, especially for those subjects which they all know are easily crammable. I also don’t see the 2 English AP courses, Language and Literature. I see British Lit. Not taking 1 or both AP English courses may be seen as a hole.

You are in a great position to possibly get auto-admitted into UT (top 6%). Get that app in early as soon as it opens up and look at 1 or more of the honors colleges and apply for as many scholarships for which you would qualify. Then choose a school(s) to apply EA (or ED if there is a clear #1 choice that is affordable).

7

You should be a competitive candidate for one of the major scholarships at Emory University.

Based on your shared information, you will be viewed as a strong candidate for admission at all of your listed schools.

8

Thank you so much; I should clarify that my school doesn’t offer APs for most subjects, hence why I take them as Dual Enrollment at a local college.

9

Are Texas public universities affordable?

If so, all except UT Austin should be safeties if your rank is within top 10%. UT Austin needs top 6% rank for automatic admission.