What are my chances? and How to improve [96 GPA, 1550 SAT, top 8%, psychology, low income]

Can anyone evaluate where i can improve? and if it good enough for schools like Yale or Columbia (or just the ivies in general)

Stats:
96/98 uw/w gpa

1550 sat

top 10% (around 8% to be exact)

African American Female

low-income

took around 11 ap’s (out of 22)

intended major: psych

Extracurriculars:

  • barista
  • internship at a mental health organization
  • danced as a sport all through out highschool and was a teacher assistant
  • research with a professor on psych-related topic
  • discovered a club at school to celebrate different cultures
  • was in girlswhocode SIP
  • elected to be in my schools county choir
  • co-vice president of philosophy club
  • volunteered at a daycare
  • created a children’s book centered around diversity and psychology.
  • job-shadowed a psychologist

(I know this is very vague but i don’t want this to be too detailed)…

what are my chances? and please provide any details on how to improve or be more connected to psych/neuro based ec’s

What are your chances?

Well I don’t know the admit rates based on race and that will help you - but with a 4.5% rate at Yale and 3.7% at Columbia, the odds aren’t great - for anyone.

Obviously, you’re very accomplished - and I see you are doing Questbridge, and I bet you’ll find a match somewhere!!

You seem very accomplished. One concern I have - and I don’t know if it’s true - but do you have tenure and impact in your ECs or are they all short term?

Obviously, essays and LORs will matter.

If you’re headed into Senior year, likely not much you can do - but you certainly are a very credible candidate - and with many opportunities in QB, I’m guessing a good outcome for you.

Please make sure to have your state school as a backup - hopefully the state has a low income program.

Best of luck.

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most have been long termed
barista (2 years)
choir (3 years)
book ( a year)
intern (every summer to fall for about 2 years)
psychtrist( all through the year)

the only one that’s temporary would be the girlswhocode one

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Hard to chance within the context of the hooks you have. Chances could be reasonable.

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As others said above, it’s hard to accurately chance but you’re a hooked candidate with great stats so I think you have a very good shot.

Focus on writing great essays. Research each school thoroughly so you can explain fit in your essays. Make sure your passion for psych comes through convincingly.

Hopefully you will have strong LORs as well.

Good luck!

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No one can tell you about chances but your accomplished. Apply to schools for fit and not name. Lots of excellent schools out there. Make your essay count and as stated really research the schools and have plenty of safeties that you would be happy going to.

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Yale and Columbia are both excellent colleges with low rates of admission.

If you are considering Columbia, I would suggest adding Barnard to your list. If NYC is your goal, add Fordham too.

It looks like you are considering urban colleges only. Is that correct? Also, are you looking for additional suggestions for additional colleges to consider?

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You are obviously a fantastic student and any college would be lucky to have you.

Start channeling your energy into finding colleges which have the things you love about Columbia and Yale but which have higher admissions rates.

And then you’ll be in great shape going into senior year!!! Keep up the good work!

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OP - I thought I saw Questbridge on your list yesterday but now I don’t see.

If you’re low income - like $65K or less - , that’d be a fantastic opportunity for you.

I don’t see it there now so I’m missing it, it was edited out, or I’m imagining things.

But take a look.

QuestBridge

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As everyone is saying, what you told us so far looks like it should be competitive for admissions anywhere. The issue for all candidates like you is the most selective “holistic” colleges will likely make their final cuts based on perceptions of subjective/“soft” factors like fit and personal character, and it is extremely difficult to predict how that will work out in any given case.

But we know that recommendations and essays are typically very important inputs into such factors. Because we are looking at subjective factors, it remains difficult to say what would count as the sort of “very good” recommendations/essays they are going to be looking for. But this is enough information to know that at this point, likely your best “value-added” areas in which to spend your remaining time and energy for college admissions purposes is going to be in making sure you get the best possible recommendations and writing essays that are both personal and compelling (and I think many people get tripped up trying to do one or the other and fail to do both).

The only other thing I would note is when talking about both activities and desirable personal characteristics, many official admissions statements and informal statements by admissions officers (in the highly-selective “holistic” admissions world) have strong themes of “leadership”. I tend to think this is another thing that gets underplayed in certain circles–people devote a lot of time and energy to individual activities and awards, but these “holistic” colleges place a high value on the sorts of people who not only participate in group activities, but are the sorts of people who end up emerging as leaders among their peers.

As usual, if you are just trying to check boxes, there is a good chance admissions officers will see through that. And it is getting pretty late in the process, and if that simply isn’t you, that won’t necessarily be a deal-breaker. But still, if you can find some opportunities to take on new leadership roles (which can be formal titles but also informal roles), and/or identify and highlight existing leadership roles (and again, it doesn’t have to involve a formal title, just cases where you stepped up to lead a group), that might be helpful.

Finally, as others are also suggesting, I’d really try to avoid the mindset that you should start at the top of a US News-type ranking list and assume the higher you can end up on that list, the better. Ideally you will instead approach this in a more bottom-up way.

What sort of college experience would really excite you? Be both challenging (in a good way) but also fun? What sort of location, both regional and in terms of urban/suburban/rural, would you prefer? If relevant, which colleges might offer that sort of experience/setting in an affordable way?

Forgetting about US News-style rankings for the moment, hopefully the intersection of those different, very personal, circles will include a lot of colleges.

Indeed, hopefully too many! Sadly you can only attend one of these very exciting colleges, but hopefully there are many potentially affordable and exciting places you COULD choose.

And hopefully, in fact, the challenge is now narrowing it down. But again, try not to let US News-style rankings do the initial narrowing. Take some tours, in-person or virtual as works for you. Refine, or perhaps even change, your criteria. Be open to simply falling in love with some colleges on your search list! Noting at this point, it is OK to have multiple crushes.

OK, now you can finally decide where to apply. And now, finally, you should take into account selectivity. But not because you should necessarily prefer the more selective school! Rather, just make sure you don’t choose only the most selective schools. But also feel free to select some very selective schools–if you want! Or maybe you will have fallen in love with a college or two that is not among your most selective. You are not crazy if you do.

As many experienced professionals will tell you, if you follow this sort of bottom-up approach, applicants like you basically can’t lose. You know you will be excited to go anywhere you apply, because they wouldn’t have made your list otherwise. And indeed, maybe you will get into your favorite early, or at least a high favorite early, and it will cut your list way down, or to zero, early. Which will be a big relief.

If you do it in a top-down, rankings-driven way instead–that is a recipe for being one of those kids who is still stressed out deep into senior year, possibly looking online for rumors about whether a waitlist is closed or not, and so on. I am not saying all those kids have done something wrong, but I think it is a lot better if by that point you are very “meh” on whether you get off the waitlist. Because hopefully you are justifiably really excited about where you are already on track to go.

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As low income, which I think will become the new hook for diversity if SCOTUS rules against affirmative action, I think you have a much much better chance than the single digit acceptance rates for applicants in general. While it is a good to have a safety and some targets as a backup, I’d go reach heavy in your case. Some of the reachiest schools will have the best financial aid. If you are low income (HH income below $75k in the case of Yale), FA will cover everything (tuition, room, board, travel, plus: " Families with annual incomes below $75,000 and typical assets qualify for a “zero parent share award” — Yale’s most generous financial aid package. These awards cover the full cost of tuition and fees, housing, the meal plan, and travel with a Yale Scholarship, and qualifying students receive a $2,000 grant their first year and hospitalization insurance coverage."

To optimize your app, make sure you secure good LoR’s from teachers who can speak to your intangible qualities, like persistence, curiosity, empathy, leadership. As you think about your EC’s and your essays, connect tangible accomplishments to personal qualities you want to get across, and how that fits/enhances within the school’s academic and social communities.

Wanted to add, agree with @NiceUnparticularMan, as you compose your list, choose not based on rankings but based on aspects of the school that get you excited. Could be strength of certain areas of study and resources available, could be location/environment, could be nature of student body – your idea of “fit”.

If you have a good state flagship, especially if it has a good honors college, put that on your list. It’s most likely a safety for you, which allows you to go even reach heavier. IMO, limit yourself to no more than 10-12 final apps, maybe less. College apps are not a lottery. The more customized and thought through each app in the school specific sections increases your chances more than throwing in a bunch of generic apps.

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… and specially given the interest in Psychology.
With two completely separate admissions, a female applicant can much improve her odds to be admitted at that particular university.

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I think you will be a strong candidate for just about any university in the U.S. Unfortunately, however, the schools with extremely low admission rates don’t have enough space for the many strong candidates who apply, thus many strong candidates still receive rejections from those universities. Even if your chances are 3x higher than the typical “strong” student, then that might raise your chances to 15-20%, which means that the odds are still not in your favor.

Please make sure that you have affordable schools on your list that you are extremely likely to be accepted to and that you would be willing to attend. Which state do you live in? Many states have programs to help lower-income students attend, and in combination with your excellent profile, you should have many options (in-state or out-of-state). If you need help coming up with schools that would meet these criteria, please let us know.

If you have not done so already, I second @tsbna44’s suggestion of looking into Questbridge.

Also, if you’re interested in suggestions as you help to develop a more balanced list of schools to apply to (beyond the extremely rejective schools like Yale and Columbia), then let us know what you want out of your college experience. What is it that you like about Yale and Columbia? What area(s) of the country would you like to be in (or avoid)? What size school would you prefer? How important is Greek life or spirit surrounding intercollegiate athletics? Are there particular interests you would like to pursue in college (outside of a psych/neuro major)? What would you like the vibe at your college to be like?

Wishing you the best on your college search journey.

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