Hello! If you could just chance me for Tulane, NYU, Reed, and offer suggestions of other colleges you think I would be a match for, I would appreciate it! I’m looking at Pre-Law at the moment, but I’m also interested in physical therapy or just a general liberal arts.
----Personal Info:
Female
Middle Class (80,000 AGI)
Not a first generation college student
Comes from an extremely poor and underrepresented area (Southern New Mexico)
Mixed Race: White, Black, and Latino
----Academic Stats:
31 ACT (31E, 27M, 35R, 32S 11/12 W)
4.0 UW 4.25 W GPA
1/35 Class Rank (Go to a small arts high school)
Took two APs, got 5s (only ones offered), and two college classes at local college classes with As, also took all honors classes available
Essays and Recommendations will be totally out of this world. My AP English teacher has gotten countless students with “meh” grades into ivies with her essay supervision. My teachers love me and are very passionate about me.
----Volunteering, Extra circulars, and Hobbies:
NHS (probably be president next year)
Student Leadership Team, President
Junior Leadership (Local Chamber of Commerce)
GSA, Vice President
Prom Committee
Dance Squad, Founder and President (hahaha)
Volunteer heavily at local humane shelter
Annual toys for underprivileged kids
Tutoring for English
Heavily involved in Flamenco dance, could probably get art scholarships for this
Estimating match for all three.
Agree that your chances would be decent at all three schools. It’s hard to suggest others without more specific info about what you are looking for. Virtually any school could help you with “pre-law” or “general liberal arts”, so that doesn’t help to narrow it down. Furthermore, your three schools range in size from very large to very small, and from one end of the country to the other, so those factors don’t help to narrow it down either.
Why did you pick these three schools in particular? Apart from selectivity, they seem to have very little in common, except that they are all located in large cities. Is that what you want?
A difficulty is that 'fit’is very different at these schools - and both Reed and Tulane take interest and fit into account.
I think you’ll probably get into NYU and they’ll gap you so you won’t be able to attend.
You’ll likely get into whichever, between Reed and Tulane, is the better fit. Odds are good they’ll provide sufficient aid.
Where else have you applied?
I’d suggest Muhlenberg, Goucher, Dickinson, Beloit, Wheaton Massachusetts (not Illinois).
Unfortunately many deadlines for universities that meet 100% need have passed.
Carleton, St Olaf, Whitman, Macalester, Grinnell, Kenyon - all excellent-to-elite schools that seek geographical diversity , had deadlines January 15, you can always try to send an app if your common app is good to go. Some may have supplements but if not, it’s worth a try.
Oh, I’m not graduating until May 2018, don’t worry about deadlines. I’m just trying to see if I REALLY need to step up my ACT or extra circulars for the schools I’m interested in.
I suppose I like them all because they are so different. I think that I would prefer to go to a college in or next to a large city, but geographically, I would like to stay out of the north-east unless it is NYC, and the south unless its New Orleans or Florida. A free and open social society is important to me, as well as diversity. I’m not super into schools that have dynasties or have lived in a sheltered suburb their whole life, so I’m hesitant about ivies or Stanford, Pomona, Kenyon, Whitman, Colby, etc… I just want the balance between name brand and the people don’t suck.
Oh good.
Since you have time, work hard to increase your ACT to 32. It tends to be the “magic number” that unlocks scholarships!
Also, borrow a Fiske Guide from your town’s library and start reading 
(2013+ edition is okay, no need to have the 2017 one) .
Since you’ve taken all AP’s available, continue challenging yourself taking classes at the community college.
Make sure you have 4 years of English, 4 years of History/Social Science, 4 years of science including bio, chem, physics + 1 AP or one more class of your choice, Foreign language through level 4 or AP, Math through precalculus or calculus, art, some electives that reflect your personal interests.
Well thank you so much, MYOS1634! I don’t have a counsellor at my tiny school to help out with college admissions, so information like this is super appreciated and very helpful.
You’re welcome, don’t hesitate to ask questions.
Since you’re a junior, things aren’t as in a hurry as I thought, but being prepared starting about now junior year will really make your life easier next year.
Can you indicate what classes you’ve taken so far:
- English =
- Math=
- Science=
- Social Science=
- Foreign Language=
- Graduation requirements (health, PE…)=
- Personal picks/electives=
It sounds like you want an academically selective school with high levels of both economic and racial diversity, preferably in or near a large city, not in the northeast or south.
If that’s the case, then the best candidate that I can think of would be UCLA. High academic ranking (#24 USN&WR), high economic diversity (30% of students get Pell Grants), high racial diversity (roughly similar numbers of Asians, whites, Hispanics, and “other”), and located in a cool neighborhood in a big city. Other UC campuses would also approach these criteria, to varying degrees.
But you are not a California resident, which means that you would have to pay the out-of-state tuition rate, and would not qualify for financial aid. So the UCs may not work for you.
-English= 9th grade honors, 10th Pre-Ap, 11th Language and Composition, 12th literature, and a college course called Language and culture
-Math= Everything up to trig, no honors courses available. Not taking a math this year due to scheduling conflicts, but I have the four credits I need.
-Science= Honors 9th, Honors Biology, Honors Chem, no further courses available
-Social Science= New Mexico History, U.S. History, World History, no honors courses available. However, I will be taking AP Government next year. I also took a civil war class… My principal loves the confederacy so much he taught a class on it lol.
-Foreign Language= Beginning Chinese and two years of advanced Chinese. My school is a little unorthodox, so we don’t really have levels and certainly not AP. I’m planning on taking an advanced Chinese class at the college next year, however.
-Graduation Requirements: Everyone is required to take a semester of health class, one year of dance, and complete an apprenticeship senior year. I have taken the offered health class, and have taken dance every year. I’m planning on apprenticing with a physical therapist, but I’ve been flirting with the idea of law again lately, so I might apprentice there.
-Chinese is an elective here, and I’m very involved in that. I’ve been to China, and have a close relationship with all of the Chinese teachers. Foreign language isn’t a requirement, so it has to be more of a passion at my school. Unfortunately, this has interfered with my other passion, art, of which I have taken two classes. I hope with a more open schedule next year I can take a course at the college or take AP art at my school. My ultimate elective and passion is dance. I am possibly, without trying to brag, the most dedicated and best dancer in my year. I have taken two dance courses at the college and two courses at the high school that can be transferred to beginning Flamenco credits at the college level.
Sorry that was so long winded! It’s hard to explain the mess that is my school and my schedule. It only has 190 kids and like 20 teachers, so you really have to decide between things you’re passionate about. The upside is that the teachers are very happy with their jobs because they aren’t overworked or too stressed, so that simply makes for a much more positive learning environment.
So your best bet in California would likely be private schools. I wouldn’t expect any private school to match the economic and racial diversity of a state school like UCLA, but some certainly come closer than others. In California, USC or Occidental might work. Both are located in Los Angeles (like UCLA).
My dream schools are definitely UCSB and NYU, but looking into it more I found that there was 0 chance I could pay for UCSB and only a small chance I could pay for NYU. I just don’t even think its worth the application fee to UCSB or any UC for that matter. Sad stuff, but unfortunately realistic.
@Corbett: UCLA doesn’t give any financial aid. A family with 80K income can’t pay 60K to attend a UC.
@olivestarry: in terms of diversity and “free and open” society, what matters isn’t the state or the region, but the actual area the college is in. For example, there’s a world of difference between Asheville, NC, and Rutherford County; or Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Stearns County, MN; or Dallas and Wheeler County in Texas; Miami-Dade and Pensacola, Florida. You have to look at details that matter to you (if there’s a mosque or synagogue or how many and what about activities and membership, how prominent some clubs are, whether there’s ethnic or socio-economic diversity…)
For now, look into these colleges - they’re pretty different in setting, atmosphere, emphasis, etc, so it may help you figure out what you like.
To take you out of your current comfort zone, none are in NYC, Florida, or New Orleans.
Whitman, UPuget Sound, Lewis&Clark, Macalester, St Olaf, Grinnell, Butler, DePauw, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, University of Indiana, UChicago, Northwestern, USC Columbia Honors, Emory, Agnes Scott, Spelman, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, Smith.
@MYOS1634: Which is why I concluded that “you would have to pay the out-of-state tuition rate, and would not qualify for financial aid. So the UCs may not work for you.”
This is also why I suggested USC and Oxy as possible alternatives. They are both located in Los Angeles, and share certain characteristics with UCLA – but since they are private, they do not base tuition or financial aid on state residency.
@MYOS1634 Thanks for the suggestions! Kind of funny, my mom went to Lewis and Clark and my grandma went to Whitman, but she left because of the antisemitism. Anyways, I think I have a couple hours of research on my hands.
It sounds like you are a person with an unusually diverse ethnic and cultural background, and so it’s not surprising that you would prefer to go to a school that is known for diversity. But you should be aware that your “bargaining power” may actually be higher at schools that don’t have a reputation for diversity, and therefore want to get more students like you.
For example, the University of California schools have no need whatsoever to enroll out-of-state students for the sake of diversity. The University of Alabama, on the other hand, maybe does. OK, Alabama may not be your dream destination, but before you dismiss it, do one thing: take a quick look at the scholarships that they offer specifically to out-of-state students (like you):
http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
Your 31 ACT and GPA would qualify for a massive (two-thirds) tuition break at Alabama. Add one more point to your ACT and you could attend tuition-free. Needless to say, that’s a far better deal than anything that the UC system will offer you. Note also that you would probably qualify for the Alabama “Honors College”, which is much more selective than the university as a whole.
So while your dream may be to attend a highly diverse school, be aware that those schools may not be particularly excited about what you can bring – precisely because they are already diverse. The less diverse schools may be the ones that will try hardest to recruit you – if you give them the chance.
Zowie, Whitman has changed a lot in inclusion attitudes since your Grandmother’s day! Worth taking a fresh look.
I would actually highly recommend applying to Whitman, or at least doing more research on it. They are actively seeking diversity of all kinds: geographic, ethnic, and socio-economic. You would qualify for merit aid and need based aid. A lot of students who want academic rigor but also a less intense happy environment choose Whitman over Reed.
what does it mean 'they’ll gap you so you won’t be able to attend" Is this referring to the amount of aid given
and the amount left for student’s family to pay?