I’m applying for the class of 2022 and I want to see the chances for my top schools. I am a female in a private all girls school in a city. One of the most prestigious high schools in the state. I plan to go to a film school of some sort to study writing for the screen.
Freshman Year - 4.0 GPA, 2 honors classes (most freshman could take) rowed in the top boat all year, photography club, girl power club, and school news station
Sophomore Year- 4.45 GPA, AP Computer Science, AP World History (4 and 5 on each), 2 other honors, rowed, same clubs as before along with the LGBTQ alliance club and tech assistant for student technology
Junior Year- 4.0- 3 honors classes, College level class for CS, Media Studies and Creative Writing class (decided to take non- AP class to show interest toward desired major), rowed, same extra curriculars, volunteered over a 100 hours so far at a teen crisis line, Tech Assistant
Senior Year- I plan to take AP English, AP Psychology, AP US History, AP Calc AB, + same as above
My Schools Are In Order Are;
New York University
Columbia University
Yale University
University of Southern California
Fordham University
Barnard College
University of California Berkeley
Boston College
Boston University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Chicago
Assuming you’re applying for the film programs at NYU and USC, you’ll obviously need a good application film. As for the rest of the list, no one can tell you much without your SAT or ACT score. Your GPA (assuming those 4.0s are unweighted) looks competitive, as do your ECs – but without a test score, there’s only so much that can be said.
What is clear is that you need to add some more low match to safety schools. Right now, everything you’ve got is in the high match to low reach range. The Ivies are a reach for everyone, as there are just so many well-qualified applicants and not enough spots for them all. UC Berkeley is also tough, and they offer no financial aid to out-of-state students, so if you’re not from California, expect to pay $60,000 a year. UChicago is another one that’s up there.
BU, Barnard, and BC are okay at the high match level, but not stellar. BC can be flunky. And Fordham as your only safety? Risky; there are some rumors that they engage in yield protection (i.e., deny very qualified applicants because they don’t want to let someone in who probably will go somewhere more selective, thus keeping the school’s enrolled-to-admitted rate as high as possible).
Your gpa is good, but it’s impossible to say anything without test scores. Also, how many AP classes does your school offer? Your rigor looks a little light for some of those school’s with no APs junior year and your ECs look pretty average. For USC and NYU, your application will be a huge factor in admissions for your major. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to find an extracurricular involving film, maybe you could find a summer program on it?
My school offers 16 AP classes and currently I am doing everything offered that involves things to do with film. My media class is based around filmmaking. The area I live in does not offer many summer programs unfortunately but I spend all my free time, writing and filming short films. As for the non- AP classes this year, my computer science class is a equivalent to a second college year level class without the pretty label of AP. Thanks for the advice it is well appreciated.