What colleges should I aim for? Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I am currently a junior finishing up this school year, and I was just wondering what my chances currently are with my scores/ECs. (Or, at the very least, what colleges I should aim for). I am planning to retake the ACT to bring my score up, and I think my USH Subject Test score improved upon retake (I may be wrong about that though, haha!)

I go to a large (~1700 kids) public school in Minnesota.

UW GPA: 4.0; 99th percentile
ACT: 32; 11 on writing (I am going to retake the ACT in the fall and study this summer to hopefully bring it up!)
SAT Subject Tests: 670 on USH (I retook it recently; I think I at least got a 700 this time around); I plan to take the Math 2 in August.
AP: U.S. History (4), AP Lang. (either 4 or 5, I think), World History (probably a 4?)–if I did well on these exams, then I would be an AP Scholar, I believe

Classes for senior year: Honors American Gov. and Politics, Honors Economics, Spanish V, Honors Physics, AP Literature & Composition, AP Calc, Student Government, Symphony Orchestra

ECs (these include what I predict to do in my senior year, as well)
-Liaison Officer of Student Government (1 year as officer; member for 2 years); organized Path to Peace Walk, Catsby Walk for a beloved community cat (don’t know if they’re worth mentioning, but they were on the news)
-Viola section leader of Symphony Orchestra; might seek another leadership position in our orchestra as well
-Founder of Random Acts of Kindness - small, unofficial club seeking to promote kindness in our school (2 years)
-Math Team (4 years)
-Student Forum (4 years)
-Gay Straight Alliance (2 years)
-Amnesty International (2 years)
-Puzzle Derby competition (4 years); placed 13th out of 32 first year and 18th out of 40 second year (idk if I should include this but it’s kind of dorky and fun lol)
-Co-president of Open Mind (4 years); Open Mind is an art and creative publication at our school; hosts Open Mic event that involves community
-Art Club (1 year)
-STEM Club (2 years)
-MUN (1 year)
-Knowledge Bowl (1 year)
-National Honors Society (only for seniors at our school, so 1 year); would be cool if I could be an officer!
-VocalID as a sophomore; contributed over 4300 sentences to an online database
-Participated in a hijab-wearing day for solidarity event at our school; this made ABCNews so yay
-History Day as a junior; “Magnus Hirschfeld: Taking a Stand for Gay Rights;” 1st at Regional competition and advanced to State; I plan to do History Day again next year as a senior
-Prom Quartet (2 years)

Summer Stuff/Volunteering
-Student Workshop in Mathematics (SWiM) Program at Duke University (2017 summer)
-Arts Center Volunteering for 17.5 hours (2016 summer); plan to volunteer again this summer
-Caroling at nursing homes (Annually 2008-2016)
-WorldQuest volunteering (2 years); trivia competition
-Bingo at nursing homes

Honors or Awards
-Use Water Wisely Poster Contest High School Division Winner sophomore year; best poster in state
-Dartmouth Grant Award junior year; awarded by school
-Academic Letter of Excellence all years in high school
-Honor Roll since middle school
-Viola lessons for 8 years

Downside: I am an Asian girl whose parents are Ph.Ds, so I have lived a very, very lucky life.

I also hope to major in Chemistry (I know my ECs don’t really match that major, but there aren’t a lot of science-related clubs at our school–and I am really passionate about social issues in general. A Chemistry major is still up for debate; I am hoping to become a teacher).

I plan to write my essay about the things I have learned about myself by journaling (I have journaled since 6th grade, each journal being ~400 pages each, and I think it’s really helped me grow). I will be asking two teachers who I am very close to for recommendations, one of whom I have had many good discussions with and who is also a very good writer.

Schools that are definitely reaches for me are Cornell and Duke, but I really like those two. Also looking into Boston College, UChicago (another reach, I am sure, lol), Twin Cities, University of Madison–I haven’t formulated too extensive of a list yet, sorry!

Thank you for your time! :slight_smile:

2

*By the 11 on writing for my ACT, I meant the essay.

3

You have great EC’s, top schools would love you!! I would apply early to your top choices, and if you get rejected, do RD at other top colleges you didn’t think about. So hypothetically if you wanted Princeton and Harvard, applied early and got rejected, then do somewhere a little less selective like Duke or Johns Hopkins RD and see if you get in to those. Also do safeties just in case

4

You sound like a solid applicant for all of the schools that you mentioned! I can easily see you being a serious contender at both Cornell and Duke. It looks like you’re quite passionate about helping others- I can see the teacher in you, and hopefully the admit officers do too. The recommendations and essays sound like they’ll be heartfelt, which will set you well ahead of other applicants.

5

I would ALSO say you are a competitive applicant. It’s true, and your qualifications show it, but let me be a bit more honest with you. Your GPA is great, but typical of an Ivy/high caliber school applicant. This is not to say your GPA is a downside (because it DEFINITELY is not), but I would not bet on it being the sole factor getting you into a school, since most applicants will have perfect/near-perfect GPAs. That said, it certainly is impressive, so good job! Your tests scores are a tad bit low, but you have indicated you will be retaking them. For your ACT, you should aim for at least 34 or higher, and try to get above 700 or 750 on the subject tests you take. Your ECs at first glance look spectacular, and they are. However, they are also pretty typical of most applicants, and colleges would like to see students who have achieved something on a bigger scale (such as a nationally recognized competition/science fair or having and internship for a company or at a research lab). Like you mentioned, your ECs are also not the most relevant to your intended major of chemistry so you may want to work on that. I understand that your school may not have the best resources, but it is the student’s job to actively seek out new opportunities and utilize them. That is the kind of student these schools want. Nevertheless, you have done a lot in high school and colleges will definitely like that. I would say you have a decent chance at all these schools. Good luck! I would love if you could chance me back here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html

6

Thank you all so much! This was super helpful, and I am so grateful for your encouragement and support! @tripledouble2000 I think I will see if I can find any more opportunities in which I can do some more STEM-related things at the beginning of senior year or over the summer. Our school has a Career Center with information about those sort of things, I think. Thank you! I will chance you back (even if I’m pretty new at this sort of stuff, haha). :smiley:

7

I think you have a good chance at some top schools like USC, UMich, Emory, UCLA etc. Definitely try to add some more science related ECs from maybe outside school as at the moment your list of ECs looks a bit like a laundry list.

8

You have an impressive resume. What about flipping the question and asking which colleges deserve you? What kinds of experiences and challenges do you want in those 4 year? Make a list and then interrogate the colleges - do they deserve you? Find a few schools that are a great match. Then your essays can focus on why you belong there on that campus.

9

Thank you! That is an amazing mindset to have–I will definitely start thinking about that! :slight_smile:

10

I highly agree with the other posters, you have an impressive array of EC’s and academics (something that I’m even jealous of LOL). However, there’s a downside to this: your EC’s are essentially ubiquitous among the sea of applicants for the schools you want to go to. Don’t let this get you down. You mentioned that you keep a journal. In my opinion, you should bring up journaling somewhere in your application and describe how it positively affected you. I second @formerfirstgen and you should definitely find the “colleges that deserve you”. Go visit schools to get a feel of it’s like to be there. Make a concerted effort to show that you’re serious about going there. From my college application days (only like 1 month lol), I knew that my current school, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, was the right fit for me. While I wanted to apply to much more well-known and top-tier schools, I realized that none of them had the program I was looking and I didn’t want to flounder. So when you find that perfect school, show them that you are serious about going there. Go to open houses, ask questions, meet with faculty. There’s so many possibilities you can do with looking at schools. Think about safety schools as well. There’ll be the possibility (or more than likely) that your first choice will deny you. Find a plan B and see what you can do from there.

One last thing, since you’re majoring in Chemistry, you may need to take the SAT subject test for Chemistry before applying to certain schools. I could be wrong on this, but you should look into the schools that you want and see if you need to take the test.

I hope this helped and best of luck applying!

11

Thank you!!! This is very helpful!

12

You might wish consider some LACs. Your profile and interests are a good fit. Obviously in your home state you have Carleton and St. Olaf.

If you get a higher ACT score, Amherst, Swarthmore, the Claremonts and Williams are targets to think about. You might also think about William and Mary.

13

Thank you! I was considering some LACs, but I was hoping to go to a bigger school–do you know of any larger LACs?

14

The Claremont consortium schools (Pomona, Scripps, etc) might work as a ‘large size’ LAC. Each school is its own entity but they share resources

Since you are interested in the University of Chicago, I would consider Washington University in St. Louis as a possibility for you to consider. You seem to be the type of student that would thrive there. The only disadvantage is that WashU is need aware and it’s hard to get any sort of merit scholarship.

15

Your test scores put you in the lower half of unhooked applicants at Duke, Cornell, and UChicago. A 34 on the ACT and 700s+ on two subject tests would be super helpful. If you don’t plan on applying ED to UChicago, it is nearly impossible to get in. Just keep that in mind. Your GPA is great but your ECs seem a bit scattered. You don’t have many leadership positions even though you’ve been in many clubs for several years. Remember, you only have 10 spots for extracurriculars on the Common Application (if necessary you can squeeze in more in the Additional Information section but I would not do that).

Why don’t you start a chemistry club in your school? You could also try getting a research position in the field of chemistry at a local university. Maybe start a YouTube channel about cool chemistry experiments. Anything that is relevant to chemistry and shows that you have initiative is great for college admissions.

16

Hi! Thanks for your response! Sorry I’m so clueless, but what qualifies as a “hook?” My mother and stepfather are both professors at Duke…I don’t know if that makes a difference or not. My stepfather also attended Harvard for undergrad, but again, I don’t know if that makes a huge impact, since we are not blood-related.

I’m interested in being the captain of the Math Team next year, but that isn’t a guarantee, haha. Yeah, I’m going to try to aim for a 34 on the ACT with the retake. I didn’t know UChicago was that selective!

I think I’m going to try job-shadowing for something chemistry-related; since our school already has a STEM club, I don’t want to step on their toes. Thank you for all your advice!

17

You are considered having a “hook” in college admissions terms if you are an under represented minority, wealthy donor, legacy, first generation college student, or recruited athlete.

Having your mother and stepfather be professors at Duke DEFINITELY helps! You have a “hook” at Duke. Not entirely sure about the Harvard situation but I would think you have legacy.

Early action and Regular Decision at UChicago is extremely competitive, with acceptance rates in the single digits. Just be prepared for a waitlist (they like to waitlist students I think) if you apply EA or RD.

18

Very helpful, thank you so much!

19

Hello again! Thank you to those who have helped so far! Thanks to some of your comments, I realized that my ECs are a bit scattered, so I tried to choose 10 ECs to present my application in a more cohesive way; the themes I am aiming to portray with my ECs are my interest in public service and interests in the arts/sciences:

-Student Government, Liaison Officer (Public service)
-Founder of Random Acts of Kindness (Public service)
-GSA (Public service? Human rights?)
-Volunteering at arts center (Public service and arts)
-Open Mind publication (Arts)
-Viola lessons for 8 years (Arts)
-Math Team (Sciences/Math)
-SWiM program (Sciences/Math)
-Hopefully lab work (Sciences/Math)
-NHS (Just academic in general)

Please let me know if this helps my application look a bit more cohesive! I think I would like my personal essay to be used as a unifying force by discussing journaling and how reflecting has helped me realize my interests in future public service.

20

Academically you would be a great fit for several of the NESCACs. You might benefit from looking into them closely to see whether they would in reality (science facilities, spatially in general) be too small for you.