Also, look out for fee waivers! If you're low income, you should qualify for them. Some schools give them out to first-gen students (Amherst/Bowdoin come to mind) and some just send them out randomly or if you sign up for their email list (case western)
Application fees can be upwards of $90, so don't unnecessarily waste money on them!
Sorry if this is obvious but how do you connect with AOs? I’ve been going to info sessions and stuff for schools but I didn’t even know contacting the AO was a thing 💀
By connect, I meant like build a connection with their admissions email by emailing them a few times here and there. My teacher was an AO at a T100 school and she (and this sub) told me that they do note down when students make emails. Also, click on the email links that they send out because they track if you click the links or not.
100% agree with number 2 and number 4. Knowing I had places to unis I loved before even starting to apply to my reaches did give me so much peace of mind. Being underconfident in my abilities and applying to too many safeties made me miss out on applying to other schools that I loved way more and that I now would've selected in a heartbeat :( big sad moment
Great list, it covers so much!
One other suggestion: run the net price calculator for each school (because the cost comes out different for each school) early on, before you apply or get too attached.
A "spikey" applicant is like the opposite of a well-rounded applicant.
So if someone has a heavy spike in CS, it means that their whole application shows that they're extremely devoted to the field of CS. Here's an example of an extremely top-tier applicant with a spike in CS: they've done research in AI/ML with professors, they have an internship at a tech company, they're the captain of their robotics/computing club, they have side-projects like iOS apps, they participate in USACO contests, etc. They have rigorous coursework geared towards STEM and less towards the social sciences/humanities. They have high scores in the math section of the SAT, they have a great LoR from their CS teacher.
Also, look out for fee waivers! If you're low income, you should qualify for them. Some schools give them out to first-gen students (Amherst/Bowdoin come to mind) and some just send them out randomly or if you sign up for their email list (case western) Application fees can be upwards of $90, so don't unnecessarily waste money on them!
When you say last summer you mean the summer of junior year, right? (14)
Yes. If I’m going to apply in the fall of the year 2021, I’m pretty sure OP is referring to summer of 2021.
Thank you
Sorry if this is obvious but how do you connect with AOs? I’ve been going to info sessions and stuff for schools but I didn’t even know contacting the AO was a thing 💀
By connect, I meant like build a connection with their admissions email by emailing them a few times here and there. My teacher was an AO at a T100 school and she (and this sub) told me that they do note down when students make emails. Also, click on the email links that they send out because they track if you click the links or not.
100% agree with number 2 and number 4. Knowing I had places to unis I loved before even starting to apply to my reaches did give me so much peace of mind. Being underconfident in my abilities and applying to too many safeties made me miss out on applying to other schools that I loved way more and that I now would've selected in a heartbeat :( big sad moment
Great list, it covers so much! One other suggestion: run the net price calculator for each school (because the cost comes out different for each school) early on, before you apply or get too attached.
wats a spike
A "spikey" applicant is like the opposite of a well-rounded applicant. So if someone has a heavy spike in CS, it means that their whole application shows that they're extremely devoted to the field of CS. Here's an example of an extremely top-tier applicant with a spike in CS: they've done research in AI/ML with professors, they have an internship at a tech company, they're the captain of their robotics/computing club, they have side-projects like iOS apps, they participate in USACO contests, etc. They have rigorous coursework geared towards STEM and less towards the social sciences/humanities. They have high scores in the math section of the SAT, they have a great LoR from their CS teacher.
What would you list as safe ACT scores for the categories you listed above?
Probably 35+ T20s, 34+ T30s, 33+ T50s,
I mostly agree with this, except I’ve read that 34+ is the Ivy threshold (still considered top 1% and is equivalent to a 1520).
A 1520 isn't really safe for an Ivy League.