Trying to Build a College List- Pls Help!

Hello. I am an incoming senior in high school. I’m currently trying to build a college list with a good helping of safety, match, and reach schools. Here are my stats/info/interests:

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen)
  • State/Location of residency: Seattle, Washington
  • Type of high school: smaller competitive private catholic all-girls school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: White Female

GPA and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.87
    G9 S1: 4.0 S2: 4.0
    G10 S1: 4.0 S2: 4.0
    G11: S1: 3.5 S2: 3.67 (My junior year was extremely difficult for me. my entire year of school was online. I became estranged from my mother, and my parents’ divorce took a turn for the worst and took up all of their attention and money. I spent a lot of my time in family therapy sessions and individual ones. My mental health and the mental health of the people around me was extremely poor and I struggled a lot. My stress level was off the charts and I did the best I could in school.)

  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.027

  • ACT/SAT Scores: I will not be submitting test scores throughout my college application process.

Rigor of Coursework

  • AP World History- S1: A-, S2: A
    AP Government & Politics- S1: A, S2: A
    AP Psych- S1: B-, S2: A-
    AP Environmental Science: S1: (not taken yet)
    AP Stats: (not taken yet)
    AP English Lit: (not taken yet)

  • 8 honors courses

Awards/Honors

  • National Honors Society, Inducted Spring 2021

  • Accepted with Honors into High School (Awarded Merit Scholarship)

Extracurriculars

  • Shirts Across America: SAA is an organization that sends students to New Orleans to build homes for low income families/hurricane katrina survivors. I have been a part of SAA for all of high school and have been a Core Team Leader for the organization since sophomore year. Core Team Leaders go through extensive leadership training, meet civil rights icons, lead trips to New Orleans, and get involved with other social justice causes. One must go through an application process to be accepted as a Core Team Lead (includes grade requirements, supplemental essays etc).

  • Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) Intensive Studies Program: For 3 summers in a row (incoming 8th, 9th & 10th grade), I attended CTY. Each summer I chose a different intensive studies focus: Yr1: Logic, Yr2: Law and Politics in U.S. History, Yr3: International Politics. Each session was a 3 week long residential program that included morning, afternoon & night classes 6 days a week. One must go through an application process to be enrolled in a CTY Intensive Studies course (includes standardized testing requirements).

  • Sophomore Yr. Debate Club: In sophomore year I attended a large public school (then transferred back to my current school for junior year). At the public school I participated in the policy debate team and won multiple regional level trophies.

  • Babysitting- I have been a regular babysitter since I was 14 for multiple families in my neighborhood. I have obtained a Child & Baby First Aid/CPR/AED cert. through the red cross and have made. I have gradually increased my rates as I have gained experience, age, and a driver’s license.

  • Volunteering: Food banks, SAA, Aegis Living, Seattle Green Partnership

  • Global Visionaries Diversity Book Club- participated in a virtual book club put on by Global Visionaries in which we read Anu Taranath’s book, “Beyond Guilt Trips”. We discussed what it means to be a good global citizen, and grappled with issues of privilege, class status, and race. On the final meeting of our six-week book club we met the author of the book (virtually) and discussed it with her.

  • Member of my school’s Multi-Cultural Student Union

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Essays: I am still in the process of drafting my essays. I plan to put a ton of time and effort into my essays as I think that they are one of the things that may set me apart from other applicants. Some potential essay topics are listed a little farther down.

  • LOR: I will be having my Honors English 11 teacher write me a LOR (she worked with me very closely as I was going through my various crisis in junior year and saw my dedication and perseverance through an incredibly hard time, while also recognizing my gifts as a writer. I have not decided who my second teacher will be yet (probably a 12th grade teacher).

  • Interviews: I am planning on doing alumni interviews as part of my application at any school that offers one. I think my communication skills are some of my best attributes and I think I will do really well with these.

  • Other: I didn’t know whether to put this under “extracurriculars” or not, but over the last 4 months I have spent the bulk of my free time working on self-discovery. After having long discussions with my family about certain struggles I have had with school and in home life throughout my life, I decided to devote a lot of my time to trying to obtain a comprehensive neuropsychological eval. I took up this initiative entirely on my own, and spent 4 months talking to 30+ offices to try to find the right fit for an experienced evaluator. It was an incredibly lengthy task as so many mental health care professionals are completely overbooked during this time of overwhelming need. That being said, 4 months later, I eventually found a qualified professional who is currently in the process of administering me a comprehensive eval. After our last consultation, she said she is nearly certain that I am suffering from adhd (predom. innattentive presentation). After obtaining my offical diagnonsis (once the process is complete), my plan is to work with my school counselor to develop a 504 plan for my senior year, hopefully ensuring the best academic (and non-academic) success possible. Going through this evaluation process, it has made me very passionate about how often adhd is overlooked in adolescent girls. I have evidently had many symptoms ever since I was a little girl, and yet it went undiagnosed until 17 years of age. I have come to realize that this is a very common experience for young women with adhd as our symptoms often often do not present in the same way young boys do (not typically as disruptive to others, much more internal struggle related, compensated for better due to societal pressures etc). With the exception of junior year (when I had my dip in grades), my grades have been high only through extreme grit. It has always taken me 2-3x longer to read than other students, my inability to focus has often meant that I take 2-3x longer than other students to get my work done, and I have often had to miss out on social events and other opportunities because of how much my undiagnosed adhd has created problems for me. I say all of this to add some color to my transcript, as well as talk about something that I may write about in one of my supplementals.

  • Another thing that might be worth mentioning in this section is that in sophomore year I attended a different school (bigger, public). I transferred because I wanted a more diverse environment (socio-economic, racial, gender). However, I ended up transferring back to my old school (current) in junior year because they had a much more developed online curriculum than my public school, and I did not want my education to suffer. It was an extremely difficult choice for me as I LOVED the public school, but ultimately I decided to put my learning ahead of my social wants/needs.

Cost Constraints / Budget
None

Location
I’m open to any location, including foreign schools that seem like a good fit.

Schools
I have a good idea of the kind of schools I want to apply to. I am interested in smaller, liberal arts schools. I hope to major in political science, so a school with a good political science department would be great. Diversity is important to me when looking at schools.

Safety: St. Mary’s College of California, Wheaton (MA)- I need more
Match: Help please!! I need some.
Reach: Scripps College (probably ED 1), Pitzer College (probably ED 2)- I need more

U Chicago is another possibility for a reach school, because I’m a double legacy (both parents earned graduate degrees there) and the fit seems good. I would appreciate anyone who can comment on whether that would be worth trying. (I assume it’s completely out of the realm of possibility, but I thought I would ask!)

Thanks so much!!!

You say no cost constraints but with high conflict divorced parents, are you sure they are willing to pay 60-70k a year for your college?

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UChicago doesn’t make its Common Data Set easily available so I can’t confirm this, but I believe they have de-emphasized legacy admissions, and at most institutions that take legacy status into account, grad school doesn’t count.

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I don’t see Chicago as a spot, even with legacy and geographic diversity, but that’s why it’s a reach. It’s ok to apply of course.

So many schools have great poli sci. I’ll assume you are going to grad school - so factor that in $$ wise.

You might look at schools like W&L as a reach - you’d think it’s not diverse - but it’s much more so.

Schools that would be a match safety (in my opinion):

Occidental (match), Ogelthorpe (safety), Kalamazoo (safety), Wesleyan (reach - but 40% of students were TO), Macalester (reach), Willamette (low match), Puget Sound (low match), Wooster (safety).

Here’s an overall list for you.

2021 Campus Ethnic Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges | US News Rankings

You may also look at Colleges that Change Lives

Colleges That Change Lives – Changing Lives. One Student At A Time. (ctcl.org)

Good luck.

PS - the two best for “connections” to Washington are W&L and Sewanee - neither one may satisfy you diversity wise. But if you want into Washington. W&L a reach and Sewanee a match.

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Have you thought about Agnes Scott? I think it would be a match for you. Very diverse.

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Good question. My parents’ financial situation is very complicated right now. I said “none” because I do not want people to hold back on suggesting schools just because they are expensive. My family and I have decided that I should look at all school options regardless of cost for now. (We’re unsure of how much demonstrated need the FASFA will generate for us, what scholarships I may receive, what other relatives in my family may contribute etc.)

Gotcha. That’s helpful. Thanks!

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Thanks so much. So helpful!! I’ll definitely check these places out.

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This site may offer you ideas for colleges to research further:

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No, I hadn’t. But it certainly does! Thanks!!

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Awesome! I’ll definitely check that out.

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Closing. OP posted an update.

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