Please comment with my chances at admission to the schools in the title, as well as my chances at merit scholarships to these schools.
Background: White female from suburban IL, 2nd gen immigrant, upper middle class with no hooks
Major: Economics & Mathematics
SAT: 1530 (m: 800, r+w: 730), hoping to retake for 1560
SAT IIs: Bio: 770, plan to take math 2 and French
UW GPA: 4
W GPA: 4.7
Rank: 1 of ~20 valedictorians in class of 800
APs: APUSH-5 Macro-5 Micro-5 Calc BC-5 Lang-5 French-4
Dual Credit: Geopolitics, Intermediate Economics, Discrete Math
ECs:
-Science Olympiad (treasurer, 4 yrs)
-Math Team (4 yrs)
-Regional director for political campaign (2 yrs)
-JSA (2 yrs, co-prez)
-Student economics organization (2 yrs, writer for blog)
Work Experience:
-Summer internship with the Democratic Party (11)
-Internship with national political campaign (11-12)
Community Service:
-Co-founder of community initiative with participation of ~150 (11-12)
Summer Programs:
-Study Abroad (10)
-Jewish Literature Program (totally free so pretty competitive) (11)
I think that you are certainly competitive for these schools, however…they are still reaches. Despite being very accomplished (congrats!) I have to say that your chance for merit remains very slim.
Are these schools affordable based on the NPC? How much merit do you need? What can your family afford to pay?
Take it down a few notches and you would be competitive for merit.
You are competitive for them all, but, as you know, they are all reaches. They are, however, all good reaches, in that you really have a better than average chance for any of them. A few questions:
What are the acceptance rates from each for your school, based on Naviance?
Did you win any individual or team awards in science Olympiad or Math team?
@MWolf My school is relatively competitive, so acceptance rates are higher than average for all schools listed, especially so at Rice. Lots of regional awards and state qualifications in Math Team and Science Olympiad, also voted MVP of Science Olympiad. JSA (Junior States of America) is a political discourse club, basically.
I would not use the word “unlikely” as far as acceptances are concerned. “Unlikely” implies that you are not qualified…but you most certainly are. The issue is that these schools are reaches for almost everybody. I do think that merit scholarships to these schools are unlikely.
Have you run the NPCs? There is no harm in applying for the competitive merit awards at some of these schools. Just make sure you can walk away if you don’t receive one.
Rice has the Rice Investment which offers aid for students with family incomes of less than $200,000 assuming typical assets. Run the NPC and see where you’re family falls.
@twogirls NPCs are pessimistic, so my only shot at these schools is with merit aid. Also applying for scholarships at Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, UW Madison, Tulane, Boston U, plus my safety.
To be honest, for any of the top 20 schools, everyone has good grades, test scores, and extensive extracurriculars. What your admission really comes down to is your essays, if you have shown a lot of interest, race/gender/socioeconomic status (obviously cannot control this) and plain luck.
Try to be extremely creative and out of the box with your common app essay/supplements. This is the main way to stand out and can be your “hook” even if you dont have a conventional one. Also, and I cannot emphasize this enough, reach out to your admissions rep. you MUST show interest, especially if you cannot visit schools!!!
do you have the potential to get into one of these top 20 schools? of course. Your best bet is to ED to the school you like the best, otherwise there is really no way to predict. at all.
Don’t apply ED to a school if you cannot afford to attend without a merit award. Rice gives some merit scholarships, but in reality very little merit aid goes to unhooked students. Rice concentrates on meeting financial need. Since graduates of your school have good rates of admission success at Rice, apply and see if you are accepted and get any merit. Washington University in St. Louis and Emory are top schools that also give out some merit.
Merit at top schools is incredibly competitive even with super stats like yours. What are your matches and safeties? Would you be excited to attend if one of the reaches didn’t come through?
I would choose a few more schools where you are very likely to receive significant merit. The schools you reference are not going to be easy either (not familiar with merit at Wisconsin).
What is the amount that your parents can pay each year? What are your instate options and financial safeties?
@twogirls I should have clarified, I am guaranteed half tuition at some of the schools I just mentioned, and full tuition at my safety. My parents can pay 40k-50k annually.
Ok …I didn’t realize that some of the schools you referenced above have guaranteed merit awards for all students who meet certain criteria. I assumed that students would be considered…but not guaranteed. Do you automatically qualify for a specific type of scholarship at these schools?
You seem to be in a very good place. I would try for merit at a few of the reaches that you mentioned, and I would take a look at Pitt (if you haven’t already).
If I understand correctly, you are a rising senior and you have guaranteed acceptance and merit to some of the schools that you mentioned. The merit is not available to the general population. The cost to your family will be affordable, given this guaranteed merit.
It seems to me that you are in a good place. Choose a few reach schools and apply for the highly competitive merit awards.
It sounds like one of the OP’s parents works at university. As a benefit to full time faculty/staff, many universities offer Tuition remission programs. Typically these offer 50% tuition for other institutions and 100% for the home institution. Doesn’t sound like a merit based scholarship to me.