Im applying to safety schools too, but I truly would love to go to these schools (In particular Brown.) However, not sure if I’m a fit in terms of my stats and EC’s.
Gender - Male
Ethnicity - Indian
School - Private
Class Rank - None (school doesn’t do this)
UW GPA - 3.90 (is this low for these schools?)
SAT - 1550 (800 Math, 750 English)
SAT 2 - Math II - 770 English Literature - 790
Intended Major - I am not sure, but I know it will be more on the Humanities side of things.
ECs and Summer Activities:
Badminton Club Founder (12)
Yearbook Lead Editor (9, 10, 11, 12)
Student Ambassadors program leader (9, 10, 11, 12)
Co-President IMPACT Club (9, 10, 11, 12)
Squash Player Played since elementary school, Nationally ranked, few big tournaments (9, 10, 11, 12)
City Youth Council Member (9, 10, 11, 12)
Tutor Middle Schoolers in English at my school (11, 12)
Boys + Girls Club tutor (11, 12)
Worked a job at Panera (15 hours a week) (12)
Played the piano since 1st grade
Taken various coding and web design courses (Summer after 9)
Oxford University Journalism course (Summer after 10)
Internship in India, writing for a well known paper called The Hindu. Am a published writer (Summer after 11)
Awards + Honors: (This is where im pretty pathetic)
National Merit Commendation
AP Scholar with distinction
Is the fact that I’m an indian male looking to pursue something outside of STEM considered a “hook?” Because otherwise, I have no hook. My family is very much wealthy upper class and both parents have college degrees.
I’m not sure if being interested in the Humanities would mitigate your ORM status at these elite universities – it might help – but it probably would be noticed at a LAC. I also think the ORM hurdle is far less prevalent at LACs to begin with.
Have you thought about schools like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Carleton, Haverford, Wesleyan and Vassar?
If you’d rather be in a city, you might consider Macalester, Lafayette, the U of Richmond, Reed, Occidental, Holy Cross, Trinity (CT), Rhodes, and Oxford College (part of Emory U). Many of these would be matches for you – outstanding matches. And Vassar is in Poughkeepsie, NY, a small city.
The universities you listed are all going to be reaches. You are a competitive applicant, but those schools are still reaches. The top LACs are still highly selective, but generally not quite as hard to get into as the most selective universities.
3.9 UW should be totally fine. Make sure you write strong essays. And I agree with the previous poster about LACs. if you like Brown’s open curriculum, definitely consider Amherst. Going to add Bowdoin, Colby, Bates on that list as well. Are you a recruit for squash?
Haverford would be an amazing option. Although there are distribution requirements, they aren’t very strict and there are ways to satisfy them by taking the courses you want. I know schools like Hamilton, Amherst, and Brown advertise their open ended curriculum which is great and those are certainly great options. Truthfully though, I wouldn’t pick a school based on an open curriculum. When you look at most of the distribution requirements you will satisfy virtually all the distribution requirements just by taking the courses you were going to take anyways. Instead, I would pick a school based on fit, location, people, accessibility to professors (much better at a LAC), etc. Haverford is going to give you a top notch education just like any of the other LACs you mentioned (Pomona, Vassar, Amherst) my opinion the LAC route is the best route to take for undergraduate learning. One nice thing about Haverford is that it is 15 minutes or so outside of Philadelphia and is much easier to get to than any of the other LACs if location matters to you. Any of these schools will give you top job opportunities in finance, law, politics, medicine, etc. and top placement into grad schools. Pomona is in a Consortium with the 5 Claremont schools, Amherst is in a Consortium, and Haverford is in the Quaker consortium with (Haverford, Swarthmore, UPenn, and Bryn Mawr). You can take classes at any of the schools within the consortium. All of those schools are great and you have the credentials to go to a great place. Best of luck in the process!
I wouldn’t consider not applying as a STEM major a hook, but it doesn’t hut you as much to apply as a liberal arts major. Your stats and ECs are great. You are a competitive applicant for all of these schools
actually turns out im just an AP Scholar. No distinction. idk how I made that mistake. is that something colleges really look into and take into account?