I’m currently a junior attending a decent-sized public school in the DFW Area in North Texas, and I have very little knowledge on what I should be doing in order to get colleges like Harvard to consider admitting me. I identify as Asian-American, and I’ve heard that I will be at a disadvantage in the admissions process because of that. I have a few leadership positions in school clubs and organizations, but I’ll hopefully have more at the beginning of senior year (like NHS officer). I took the SAT in December last year and got a 1580 (780 on the English, 800 on the Math section), but with only a 6-6-6 essay. I am currently ranked 7th out of 441 and I do not think it will be possible for me to get a better rank unless all my friends ranked ahead of me caught mono and flunked all their classes. I think I have a respectable transcript with some challenging courses, but I am not sure which classes I should be taking next year in order to have the most impressive course load for admissions. I’ve heard a LOT of information about what top colleges look for in a transcript, but I would like a concrete and detailed answer. I also need advice and opportunities regarding what I should be doing with my time, especially this summer, with less than a year left before I apply for college. As of right now, the only activity I have planned for the summer is a summer camp where I volunteer as a youth counselor. I’ll also be taking the ACT in a couple of months (as insurance) and some subject tests in the summer since they’re “recommended.” Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!
Top 25 universities and LACs aren’t pressed by course load. They want to see about 6-8 APs total for your HS career and mostly As, but what will impress them is your ECs, your essays, and what sort of person you are.
Don’t take the act: considering your sat results you would run the risk of appearing a test robot.
Do prepare for subject tests, two that relates to what you want to study and one in another subject to show versatility.
What are you thinking of in terms of major?
Be aware that if your answer is cs or engineering, you become one of literally 500.000 Asian boys all applying to the same schools with the same goal and a similar profile, and so your task becomes that much more arduous. If your answer is philosophy your odds increase significantly.
Your senior year should include English, Social science/history, science, foreign language (unless you already reached level 4 or AP in a foreign language) and math (preferably calculus, otherwise AP stats). The last subjects should relate to what you want to study in college.
Right now, as a junior, you must do two things: know your college budget, find safeties and matches you like and are affordable.
- talk with your parents about what they can afford out if pocket (from income and savings). Scholarships primarily come from the colleges themselves so having a budget is essential.
Run the NPC on UT, TAMU, UOklahoma (if NMSF), Williams, Pomona, Harvard, Cornell, 2 more top 25 LACs and two more top 25 universities. Bring the results to your parents: what is affordable? - find two affordable safeties. I think TAMU would be a safety but UT only is a safety in terms of general admission, you may not get the major you want, so you have to count it as a match. Hence you need to find another safety, and run the NPC for it.
- buy a Fiske guide or a Princeton review’s best colleges, and find a dozen colleges you’d never heard of yet sound great. Run the NPC for them and try to classify them as reach, match, or safety. Remember that anything with a 25% acceptance rate or below is an automatic reach.
Everyone has dream colleges. Saying you’re interested in Harvard requires no work at all. Finding the two affordable safeties you can see yourself going to and the 3-5 match colleges you like and can afford, THAT’S hard work.
THere are many, many threads on this topic here on cc tat will give good suggestions like the one above. Let your fingers do the walking.
Just being a very good student with great grades and scores isn’t going to impress the AO. However, with your stats, if you have some kind of a hook, then it would increase your chances tremendously. As an Asian-American you do not have URM as a hook. First generation college student perhaps? But if there is a passion for something, which will make you stand out, would certainly attract the AO’s attention. I assume you are not an athlete, or at least not at the level of being recruited? Recruited athlete is perhaps among the strongest hook for admission, especially with your academic stats. By now if you haven’t any activities that you were passionate about during your high school career, it seems all there is left are basically cookie cutter EC’s that most of the 40 or 50 thousand applicants will have as well. By the way, your SAT is fine, I would not bother and waste time taking the ACT. Just focus on your subject tests.
I would agree with myos1634 post, and research all the colleges that you’ll find a fit. Harvard and the top 25 schools may be dream schools for many students, but ithey’re not the only great schools around, and they may not even be the right school for everyone, even if they get in.
Note that being a boy boosts your application to LACs and being Asian does help in the Midwest (where it’s URM).
Check out Colleges that Change Lives too (website, fairs, book).
In-school activities and leadership roles don’t always impress admissions. Grades, rank and scores have to meet a benchmark but after that it is about other things, including “character” and talents or interests that can contribute to the class as a whole. It really is about the mix of the class, not the individual, at a school like Harvard.
What are you interested in and what do you do when not in school?
I believe, as do many others, that trying to fit yourself to a school is a mistake. Instead find a school that will fit you.
It really is destructive over the long term to do things only for admissions. That said, if you have some genuine interests, high school is a great time to explore them, in school and out, in order to clarify your path and even to have fun.
Be yourself and the right school will accept you. Don’t get fixed on Harvard or any other one school. Instead of changing what you do, just do more research on the (affordable for you) options out there and things will work out fine.