I am going to be a senior at a public high school in New Jersey. What can I get into realistically and what would be a reach
My Intended Major is International relations or Chinese, and cost and location don’t matter
Objective
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t Take
ACT (breakdown): 31 C(33 English, 35 Reading, 25 Math, 31 Science) Will be taking again
SAT II: Took US, Bio E, Lit and am taking Chinese in November
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 3.7
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP United States History (5), AP Enviro (4), AP Psych (3), AP Micro (3), and AP Macro (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NSLI-Y scholarship ( awarded to study Chinese in Shanghai), AP Scholar
Extracurriculars In school (Been a member of all clubs since freshman year):
Speech and Debate Team. My events were Congressional Debate, World School Debate and Extemp. I was the
Congressional Debate captain (2016-2017), and Vice President (2017-2018). I am ranked number one in the state for
Congressional Debate. I have qualified and attended the Tournament of Champions and the National Tournament in
Birmingham. I have major breaks at national tournaments like the Yale Invitational and the Princeton Classic.
International Concerns Club (it is linked to Amnesty International). I am fundraising director and treasurer of the club
(2016-2018). I host bake sales every month and typically earn over $100. I also host round table discussions. Hosting a walk a mile in there shoes event to simulate a refugee camp.
Girl Up. Girl Up raises money for the United Nations for Girls all over the world. I am the Public Relations officer, but also
act as fundraising director. I have held multiple fundraisers like a self defense fundraiser, international culture night on the
nations Girl Up effects, and a drive at our school that collects pads, tampons, and other stuff for women at a local
battered woman shelter.
Extracurriculars out of school:
Intern for the Phil Murphy for Victory Campaign
Work for local democrats office
Play piano ( 5 years)
Volunteer at a local elderly home and play piano there.
Baby Sitter
Camp Counselor at a debate camp
Classes in High School
Freshman Year
English 9 Enriched: (A-)
World Hist/Cult Enriched ( A )
Algebra I ( B+ )
Biology Enriched ( B+ )
Mandarin I ( B+ )
Business Law ( B )
International Business ( B+ )
Sophomore Year
English 10 Enriched: (A-)
U.S. History I Honors: (A-)
Sociology: (A)
Geometry: (A)
Chemistry Enriched( B )
Mandarin Chinese III (teacher thought I showed enough talent to skip a level): (A)
Accounting I Honors: (A)
Junior Year
English 11 Honors ( B+ )
AP Psychology ( C+ )
AP U.S. History ( B )
AP Economics: ( A- )
Algebra II Enriched ( C )
AP Environmental Science ( B+ )
Mandarin Chinese IV Honors: A-
Senior Year (this is what I will be taking next year)
For international relations or related majors, you can’t beat DC area schools…American University, George Washington University, Washington & Lee, William and Mary. Also, look at Bucknell University.
Look at Critical Language Flagships for Chinese.
(Way to bury the lede! nsly is going to be a big deal/so highlight it!)
Alao include Tufts, Macalester, Middlebury?
@Gumbymom My parents said budget is not a factor in my decision and I’m looking for a school that has over 1,000 kids per graduating class. I am also looking for a school within 2 hours of a city or in one, and I dont care about greek life or if it is RaRa.
ASU Barrett+ Critical Language Flagship could be a terrific combo.
UO, Ole Miss, and UMN also have merit aid for stats and a Critical Language flagship. https://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/chinese
Middlebury and Tufts are totally out of reach based on grades and stats. my daughter had 4.37 GPA; 14 AP’s, nearly all 5’s, 2190 old SAT (800 on CR) lots of EC, competitive swimmer and did not get accepted at either school. American might be realistic.
Middle America has a lot of strong liberal arts colleges that are eager to bring in Coast kids like yourself and may be more forgiving if your GPA and test scores are at the lower end of their range. Good luck!
I agree that American or GW would be very good. Also, check out the University of Denver. It has a school of international relations, is a short train ride into downtown Denver, and you might get $12-15,000 in merit aid. Apparently it only has a minor in Chinese, but they are very big on study abroad, and you can always study in China.
Some totally unsolicited advice: Your senior year schedule, with seven courses, seems about as hard as your junior year, when you had a C and a C+. It can be harder senior year to do well, with college apps, etc. It may be too late to do anything different with your schedule, but I would just point out that schools would probably rather see six courses with no C’s instead of seven with two (or even one) C. My point, basically, is to try to do what you can to make sure that when schools that could go either way (like American) get your midyear report it will help push you over the line rather than hurt your chances.
