Worth Applying to? + Chance Me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a senior currently working on college applications and I just want to know if I should even bother applying to some schools and what are my chances at a few other schools.

State: California
Race: White(middle eastern)
Gender: Male
Income: ~40000

Intended Major: Computer Science
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.23
UC GPA: 4.4
Class rank: Top 5%(class of about 550 students)

ACT Composite Score: 32
ACT Breakdown: 36 Math, 34 Science, 32 Writing, and 26 Reading(terrible I know)
SAT Math II: 790
SAT Chem: 720
AP scores: Calc AB(5), Comp Sci(4), Chem(3)

APs/Honors taken: AP Calc AB, AP Comp Sci, AP Chem, Honors Pre-Calc, Honors Algebra II

Senior Year APs/IBs:
AP Government
AP Macroeconomics
AP Calc BC
AP Physics C
IB Comp Sci

I’m also doing Harvard CS50 which is an online Introduction to Computer Science class at Harvard.

Extracurricular Activites:
Taekwondo- 12 years, Third degree black belt and Certified Trainee Instructor
Soccer- 12 years
Bridges Club- 11&12th grade, leader both years, went to a week camp(9 hrs/day) to become a trained leader
Trained Peer Mediator- 12th Grade, became this because of being in Bridges
Internship at OCYO- 12th grade, also got this because of Bridges
National Honors Society- 12th grade

Work Experience:
YatchTech- 9-12th grade summer, worked with my dad who is an electrician on yatches(15-20hrs per week)

Volunteer Work:
Taekwondo Instructor- 9-12th, 300+ hours
Tutor- 9&12th, 200+ hours, tutor kids in math and computer science at my school
Boys and Girls Club- 11&12th, 50+ hours
Share the Harvest- 9-12th, 40 hours

Awards(I don’t really have anything outstanding):
Academic Excellence
Student of the semester in a few classes
Third degree black belt
Certified Trainee instructor

Hooks: Low-income, first generation college student

Should I bother applying to:
Harvard
Cornell
Dartmouth

Chance me for:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
USC

2

You are an extremely qualified applicant to all of those schools, especially as a low-income first-gen student - go for all of them.

Harvard - Reach (For everyone)
Dartmouth - mid reach
Cornell - low reach

Berkeley - Low reach (CS is extremely difficult in Berkeley)
UCLA - Low reach/match (Same with UCLA)
USC - Match

Are you sure you can afford Harvard, Dartmouth, and Cornell? They are private institutions and I doubt they will provide sufficient financial aid, despite their “debt-free” slogans.

If you got into all of these schools, I recommend your order of choices to be:

  1. Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. Harvard
  4. USC 5.Cornell
  5. Dartmouth

Discuss with your prospective schools on financial aid packages and see what you can afford. In-state UCs are much more affordable, and I strongly believe you will get into all 3 of them. If you have the chance, tour Berkeley and see if it’s right for you - it’s also great opportunity to ask questions.

Your ACT of 32 is brilliant and so are your ECs. Whatever you choose for undergrad, you have a bright future ahead of you!

3

ACT score of 32 is not brilliant for those schools contrary to @DesperateLoser assumption! As a matter of fact is rather low. Your GPA is good but not much rigor is behind it (only 3 APs?). I consider UCB, UCLA & USC - low reach (raise up ACT To 34 then you have good chances for all 3). The Ivies are high reach to reach.

4

@uclaparent9 I was using Berkeley’s ACT statistics of the 75th percentile ACT score as 33, so I would consider OP’s score in the competitive range.

I’m also assuming that your school is not up to par, deducing from your income. His first-gen hook should bump it up a lot.

5

You are a competitive applicant and you have a good chance for UCLA/UCB and USC. The rest are always tough but Good Luck.

6

A couple of points in DesperateLoser’s post are incorrect and need to be addressed.

  1. Harvard provides full tuition to any family making below $65,000 a year, then charges just 10% of family income if you're in the $65,000-$180,000 range. Dartmouth and Cornell both meet full financial need. If you were an average applicant looking into small private colleges lacking large endowments, DesperateLoser would be correct that financial aid would be unlikely. The nation's top schools, however, are competing for the same pool of students, and want to make sure nobody is deterred from applying by cost. They also have endowments on the order of billions of dollars, so they can afford to provide generous need-based aid. Cost won't be a problem if you're admitted to any of these schools.
  2. I'm not sure why DesperateLoser would rank UCLA over all three of the above and USC above Dartmouth/Cornell, but most studies of student outcomes would disagree. I'm not claiming to have the expertise to provide a "correct" ranking - but neither does anyone else on these forums. Your choice of college is something you need to make without listening to random strangers on the internet, as we don't know the specifics of your situation, much less where you'd be most comfortable and feel challenged.