stressed out rising senior, Chance Me pls :)) [Cornell, Cambridge, Gtown, Penn Tuft etc.]

heyo! :slight_smile:

Ive been reading so many of these for the past year and they’ve been pretty helpful, and as a rising senior (stressing a bit too much abt college) it’s my time to go through all of these. i honestly dont know if im aiming to high so any constructive criticism (pls be nice tho). Just wondering if you think of the list given my stats and everything, if there’s anything you’d change, add, take away, anything to remember for essays for any of those programs, anything at all! thanks a ton!

btw, the college list is at the bottom! PLEASE BE AWARE: THIS IS NOT MY FULL COLLEGE LIST, it’s mainly the top of the list, I also have a number of safeties (GW, American, St Adrews etc.), to be super super clear, I know that all of these schools are inherently reaches!!

PERSONAL STUFF:

I lived in France for 10 years (ive got the passport and nationality fun fun) and then moved to the US for 7, years and I’m actually moving back to France for senior year. technically I think i count as an interational studet, bc thats where im applying from, but I have a greencard so idt I use their “visa quotas” and all.

GPA

[most defenitly my weakest point!!] : 3.7 unweighted -my school doesn’t weight and doesn’t do class ranks so idrk abt that (it’s a pretty tough private school in ny with big time grade deflation tho so yikes)
just a quick note, no clue if it counts but there’s def an upward trajectory, the breakdown was smt like 3.59, 3.61, and 3.85

ACT:

because of corona this one’s been a real doozy, I only took it once in February and I had the flu and the day before i had 104 of fever :confused: so def not the best I could have done but I got a 32 (a single point away from the 33, so superscore should def be there). I was scheduled to take it again but it was cancelled 3 times in a row. I’m taking it again whenever I can tho and im hoping for a 34

COURSELOAD:

(so im def def on the lowside for number of APs junior year so im overstacking next year) -

Freshman Year: AP French (5), Advanced Spanish III, Advanced Precalc
Junior Year: AP US History (4), AP Art History (5), Senior Calc, Advanced Spanish IV
Senior Year: AP Comparative Gov, AP English Lit, AP Calculus AB, AP Macroeconomics,
AP Microeconomics, IB Spanish SL

SUBJECT TESTS

French: 800 + US History (not taken yet, hoping ~750) + Litterature (not taken yet, hoping anywhere from 700-800)

EXTRA-CURRICULARS: mainly centered around IR/Poli-sci

DEBATE: national-travel team (and nationally ranked), Captain of the Team (2 years)
MUN: President (2 years)
NEXT GEN POLITICS: CIVIC Fellow (we basically met with a whole buch of cool
politics peeps)
Private DEBATE COACH (yay money fun fun)
Politics Summer Program @ Princeton
Politics Summer Program @ Columbia
Politics Summer Program @ Georgetown
CURRENT EVENTS CLUB: founder and president (wasnt a big thing tho)
SERVICE TRIP CAMBODIA: [basically taught at this rural school for 2 weeks]
COO of the ONLINE DEBATE LEAGUE: (we organized half a dozen online tourneys which
was fun but it kinda died after 2-3 months so idk if i shoulD include it, probably wont)
Director of the Summer Senate Invitational (created a national online debate tourney
with 75+ ppl competing)
11 years of PIANO (classical and Jazz)
Internship @ The Economist

AWARDS

  Ranked #2 in New York State in Debate by the national speech and 
     debate association (aka NSDA) and top 100 in the coutry
Academic All American by the NSDA (awarded to top 2% of debaters in the country)
Finalist at the University of Kentuky Speech and Debate Season Opener
Semi-Finalist at the New York City Invitational National Speech and Debate Tourament
Qualified to States 3 years in a row (freshman, soph, junior)

ESSAYS:

I’m actually really proud of those, I spent a lot a lot of time on them (prolly too much tbh). I’m not gonna talk abt all of the suplements, but my Common App is about how I came to the US without speaking a word of English and basically wanted to ‘do the impossible’ by doing debate and politics and all. the intro is a bit quirky too which i think makes it stand out. but there’s soooo many great essays that at this point idek

LORs

From Calc teacher and English teacher. I’m pretty confident in those. We’re not insanely insanely close, but I got an A in both classes, I was one of the only junior in senior calc and I kinda led the class and I think my English prof really liked me and I was a finalist in her school-wide essay contest. I haven’t been with them since pre-k and we dont chat for 5 hours every sunday, but i think these should be alright :))

FINANCIAL AID:

nope, im all good there (this is super super unfair to a lot of ppl, but i think that during corona, being international and not needing aid actually puts me at an advantage, which ig helps but is pretty unfair im sorry)

STRATEGY and stuff :slight_smile:
I’m thinking of going Early Decision to Cornell (CAS), prolly Early Action to Georgetown, and Early Decision 2 to Tuft. I’m also applying to 4 countries for college (because why make it simple when you can make it complicated) -US/UK/France/Canada.


SCHOOL LIST (not including some safeties):

ED: Cornel
EA: Georgetown
ED2: Tuft
1st choice UK: Cambridge - applying as European

RD:
UPenn (i loveee Huntsman but its also impossible)
Columbia-Science Po Program (i would ED but its only RD)
UC Berkley
USC
UCLA
London School of Econ (UK)
McGill (Canada)
Williams
John Hopkins
Science Po Paris (France)
Northeastern

Also btw if anyone knows anything abt Cambridge admissions [especially in terms of choosing specific colleges, which ones are easier etc.] or UK stuff that’s also greatly appreciated !!

Thanks a ton yall, it means a lot :slight_smile:

You cannot EA to Georgetown and ED somewhere else.

actually?? i just checked and you’re right! damn i didn’t know that thanks! do you know if acceptance rates differ that much between EA and ED for Georgetown

You haven’t mentioned your subject choice at Cambridge. Cambridge doesn’t regard the US curriculum as particularly rigorous and I don’t see anything that appears outstanding in terms of your courseload and test scores. Debate isn’t going to count for much there.

So I’d be surprised if you got an interview. Choosing a course (perhaps even at Oxford) where you can excel in a pre-interview assessment test would be very wise, as would picking less popular/prestigious colleges (for example lower in the Tompkins table).

McGill will not care about your freshman year of high school at all. This will help you. If you get accepted there since you are a French citizen you will pay the same as a citizen of Canada – which is a lot less than the international tuition there.

Do not be surprised with your significant uptrend if a few schools ask for your midterm grades senior year. It might help you to do well senior year.

Cornell and Cambridge seem to me like reaches or high reaches.

The official word from Georgetown is that EA is more difficult than RD

Georgetown says there is no difference between EA and RD acceptance rates:

IME AOs have also said this in admissions sessions.

https://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/applying/early-action/#

I think it would probably be HSPS (human, social, and political science). I love PPE at oxford but i heard it was IMPOSSIBLE. do you know how how competitive HSPS is compared to other majors?

also do you know what specific colleges are good but less competitive for admissions specifically for that course?

also (last thing sorry!) what’s considered a good enough amount of APs for Cambridge or what the average is for Americans?

:slight_smile:

Cambridge is not going to be an easier admit than Oxford, because they don’t like the lack of depth in American .courses. If you want to do PPE then apply for that. You then get the chance to excel in the TSA which realistically is you best option in terms of getting an interview.

At Cambridge the rule of thumb in broad terms is that the further you go from the Backs, the less popular the college.

I only see reaches and high reaches on your list. Do you have any matches and a safety (or two)?

I’ve said this dozens of times but doubt you’ve seen it: you can’t get all worked up about tippy top colleges if you haven’t put in the work to determine your match to what they look for. You can’t be the sort who asks strangers for info you could be digging for. You have to be the sort who picks his own self up and gets going.

You can’t assume your essays are great because you like them. YOU are not admitting yourself to those tippy top colleges.

Learn what makes an applicant competitive and compelling to various individual colleges. The competition is monstrous. Day after day of reading 4.0/top score apps from kids who achieved breadth and depth, insight, compassion, amazing dedication, made real world contributions, even small, and more. Not just a resume. NO excuses, no trying to rest on “upward trends,” not one main EC area (debate and politics, costly summer programs, ) almost exclusively, with a teeny service trip thrown in.

You could be very happy at a less competitive college where you can thrive and rise, be notable for your uniqueness, assets, and college accomplishments.

Being a stressed out senior is overrated. Sorry to be tough. Get a good college guide and explore.

“1st choice UK: Cambridge - applying as European”

No longer an option, I’m afraid, even if you had been living in Europe for the currently required three years (so I don’t think you’d have been eligible anyway): https://thepienews.com/news/england-eu-students-lose-home-fee-status-from-2021-22/

Expect to pay full international fees.

I think both Cambridge and LSE would be quite challenging. Your 4 in US Hist will be a red flag. Did you get 5s in the ones you haven’t mentioned?

What subject at LSE/St Andrews/elsewhere in UK?

@Mwfan1921 correct, the acceptance rates are about the same, but the EA pool is much stronger. Therefore it is actually harder to get accepted in EA than RD. Compare this to a school that has benefit to applying early (American ED). At AU, they have students that are accepted ED that would get rejected RD. At GTown, if you got accepted EA, you would also get accepted RD.

yeah i was told about the European change. although it sucks i think we can afford it so gladly idt that will be that much of an issue.

also for the 4 ik :confused: i hated the “only-essay-2020-ap” but Art History and French were both 5s and the rest are all next year so i don’t have scores, but I’m gonna work my ass off in september/october to hopefully get 5s on predicted scores but obviously, i don’t have it yet so i cant say anything

is oxford more lenient for American courses?

part of my reasoning was also that i think the interview would (hopefully!) help me, and since Cambridge does interviews for practically everyone who meets the requirements and Oxford interviews are a lot harder to get, I thought it might be a bit easier that way. maybe I’m wrong though.

hey yeah, i wrote it in all caps at the top but you might have missed it lol, its not the complete list. in terms of high safeties ish i was thinking GW or American, and then for matches/targets schools like Northeatern, Bradeis, and NYU. do you think that works?

hold up, I’m so confused. i was literally told by EVERYONE (like every dean, admissions counselor, college freshman, readings I’ve done etc.) that what was needed was to be focused on one main area and to excel at that (the whole spike metaphor). not to be “okay” at a lot of things but rather be really really good at one thing. obviously i could be better at that one thing. i think we all agree that if i was #2 in the country instead of the state it would certainly (obviously) be better, but I’m very very confused by the whole idea of “having one main EC area is bad”. can you elaborate?

If you have a valid green card, you apply as a domestic student, not an international student (even if you are attending an international HS). Applying as a domestic applicant is a good thing.

Make sure you demonstrate interest at American, and any other schools where that is considered in the admissions decision. I would categorize GWU, AU and Brandeis as matches. NYU and Northeastern have sub 20% acceptance rates, so are reaches for all.

You still need a safety school that you would be happy to attend (perhaps you have an international safety?)

“…what was needed was to be focused on one main area and to excel at that (the whole spike metaphor).”

Depth and breadth, for tippy tops. Evidence you’re more than a one note, unilateral sort, that you can -and do- climb out of your own primary interest area(s,) can explore. That’s the safer bet, especially when the competition is so active, on top of a stellar academic record.

It helps to realize top colleges see themselves as communities. They want those kids who’ll interact, try new things, influence and be influenced. Not just subject experts.

AU, GW, and Brandeis will be easier admit shots, but I wouldn’t call them safeties. If your programs at P, C, and NYU are at all because you live in that area, the admit competition becomes even more nutso. (You’ve named schools extremely popular with kids from there.)

You need a safety strategy. You have very little community interaction (service, more real world experience where you make a contribution.) You could add this now. Paying for a summer program or a trip to Cambodia is not it. How can you add dimension?

Not more “lenient” but Oxford doesn’t mind quite as much that Americans often reject them to stay in the US. Cambridge expect everyone they admit to attend. The admissions tutor at my college said they were disappointed that 2 of the 250 people that were offered a place decided not to attend. He complained bitterly that an American turned them down to go to Harvard and said they didn’t want to encourage more American applicants.

Anyway it’s better to excel in the test and have a 1 in 3 chance at interview than have a 1 in 7 chance in an interview that British students will be vastly better prepared for than you are (some schools even have a weekly interview practice for potential Oxbridge applicants).