Hi all, first post here.
I am looking to improve on my ECS (specifically awards) so any suggestions would be helpful. Demographics
Asian Male
Low ranked, not so great, public High School
Junior Year
Domestic Student
NY
Intended Major(s)
Either Compsci or Bio (premed)
Very interested in bioinformatics, but it usually isn’t offered until graduate school IIRC
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): My school weights on a 100 pt scale, so each college/AP class is 1.1x their normal point values. (ie. 99 * 1.1 = 108.9). Weighted this way my grades are: 106.4 (freshman year has no weighted classes)
Class Rank: School does not have class rank, but most likely valedictorian or top 5/300~
ACT/SAT Scores: Just took December SAT, projecting 1550~, PSAT was 1460 sophomore year
Coursework (AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives)
9th grade: No college/AP classes
10th grade: AP Comp Sci (4), SUNY Chemistry, SUNY Alg2 Trig, SUNY Spanish 1, AP World (5), Honors Orchestra, English 10
11th grade: AP Bio, AP Stat, APUSH, SUNY Precalc, SUNY Spanish 2, AP Lang
Awards
Probably weakest section of Application, not too sure what awards I could garner other than school specific ones.
Will be participating in a regional science fair this year, so hoping to win some awards.
Will also be nominated for All-County orchestra, not too clear on it. Extracurriculars
Worked 30 hr work week over freshman year summer
Worked part-time at a Carvel near me for 10th grade summer and last semester of 10th grade (10 hrs a week)
MSKCC HOPP Summer program 10th grade, 50 hr workweek, paid internship
Continue work with MSKCC, listed as an author on abstract for submission to AACR conference, will be on paper as well.
Working with independent researcher on computational biology project, will have a manuscript to submit by college app time, and will probably publish.
Secretary of Class
Founded active club of 40 or so members
Accepted to Regeneron’s NY research summer program, declined to go to HOPP
5th year of varsity swimming (not particularly good, most likely will be voted captain, started in 7th grade)
3rd Year of XC (captain)
3rd Year of Track (captain)
Essays/LORs/Other
Haven’t started ;D, but LOR should be pretty good from STEM teachers, need to work on bond with humanities teacher.
Cost Constraints / Budget
No real constraints, very grateful for parents that are willing to pay/save.
Schools
Not to knowledgeable on US schools, both parents went to school abroad so my understanding is limited to their rankings, which I understand is not a great way to base your enrollment decisions off of.
Awards aren’t weak. Awards mean little. It’s what is behind them that matters. You have solid, I’m assuming quantifiable ECs, so you are fine.
In other words, you could be Volunteer of the Year. It says nothing. What you did to earn it is what matters. So I’m general, awards aren’t a big deal. Most that kids list are not impactful - like Dean’s list or Ap Scholar wit blah blah.
Work is a great EC.
You’re in 11th grade - yes it’s too early to start essays as you don’t know what they’ll be. It’s even too early for a finalized school list.
You’ll be able to go low cost in-state, really low cost OOS or to numerous privates. When you say they’re willing to pay do they know that might be $340k over four years ??
What you should figure out is the setting you desire. Large or small. City or urban or rural. Weather. Distance from home. Things like that.
Have your folks take you to a variety of local campuses but different types to get a sense of what you desire.
First, SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Binghamton are definites. These are your safeties. Very lucky. You’d get a great education at either one of these.
Next, you need to give us a little more info on the type of college you’re interested in. Size, geography, student body, location.
If Cornell is to your liking, add it. CALS is a lot less expensive than Arts & Sciences and you’d get a good grounding in biology at that division of Cornell. You may also consider the engineering school.
I recommend getting the Fiske Guide to colleges or borrowing it from the library so you can review the range of colleges and narrow down your interests.
Note that medical school is expensive. If you choose that path, will your parents be able to contribute to medical school costs if you choose a less expensive undergraduate school?
Prestige is not important for computer science (thus all the t-shirts and blue jeans). You have in-state public universities that are very good for computer science, and stats that are excellent and should get you accepted to in-state public universities.
The prestige / ranking of your undergraduate school does not make much (if any) difference either when it comes to applying to medical schools. Your in-state public universities should prepare you very well for applying to medical schools also.
You are a very strong student with excellent stats. I expect that you will do very well regardless of whether you end up at a top ranked “famous” university or at a very good in-state public university (such as one of the SUNY’s).
In terms of extracurricular activities, my belief is that you should do what feels right to you, and do it well. If you get into a leadership position, remember that “leadership” does not mean getting your way. Instead, leadership means making the activity better for everyone (or nearly everyone) who participates in that activity.
This looks very good to me.
If the club is doing well, then this is very good also.
I do not think that you need a long list of ECs. Do what seems right to you, and do it well.
Remember that medical school is expensive. If you can save money for medical school, then this is a good thing to do.
I agree with others that you have some strong in-state options for your interests and that you have a strong background for your college applications. You may also want to watch your wording…when you said you had a low ranking, I was thinking you were in the bottom 25 or 50% of your class and then started questioning it when you were mentioning your grades. Emphasis added to your words:
Most people would say your are highly ranked (i.e. just be careful when you’re applying for any programs/schools/awards, etc).
And speaking of a “not so great, public High School” what kind of colleges do the top students from your high school go to? That might help us to understand what you mean by a “not so great” school.
Apart from your interest in bioinformatics and sharing your resume and budget, we have very little on which to chance you. These are some questions that you might want to think about that can help us to match you to potential schools.
Do you prefer to be one of the top kids at your school or do you thrive when everyone is super impressive and you’re trying to keep up?
Do you prefer for plum positions (whether dinner with distinguished visitors to the university, or spots in a preferred lab, etc) to be pretty easy to get, or do you prefer to be hustling and showing how hungry you are for the opportunities?
How do you feel about Greek life?
How do you feel about college sports and the role at the college you will attend?
Do you prefer the anonymity of larger lectures or do you prefer smaller classes where there is no place to hide?
Are there any particular activities you want to pursue in college?
Are there particular areas of the country where you would like to study (or avoid)?
Do you prefer an urban, suburban, or rural location?
By a low ranked school, I meant that relative to other schools in my county, my school isn’t all too great. However, we have a very prestigious science research program that usually produces 3-4 Ivy acceptances and a couple more T20s. Outside of this program, it is very rare (1 in every 5-7 years) to see an Ivy acceptance.
For each question:
I do like to be in a competitive environment, and I suppose this isn’t quite exhibited in my school, but like I mentioned before the research program usually does best in state so there is a lot of competition there.
I do like being in plum positions, but I am not opposed to having to work hard to get them
Never thought about Greek life, probably will have very little to do with it
Again, similar to Greek life I am not all too interested in whether my team wins or loses
I do like larger lectures, so I suppose a larger non-liberal arts school is better
Would like to continue research in a Lab, preferably at MSKCC where I am still continuing my work
Would like to stay Urban and preferably east coast.
To be more clear, I like big schools in an urban environment (or at least close to one), and Greek/Sports don’t really matter all that much to me.
In terms of medical school, if it is possible I’m aiming for the dual PhD/MD path hence my continuation of research. If not, I may consider just a PhD simply for the stipend and lower cost (sometimes free). I understand that a lot of schools are going tuition free for Medical School, so I may apply to somewhere like NYU by that stage.
Competitive applicants to MD/PhD programs will have undergrad research (hopefully some publications and/or abstracts), along with all of the other standard premed activities (volunteering, clinical, shadowing, etc). Know that you’ll need top MCAT scores (>514) and a GPA >3.7 to be competitive.
So going to a college/university where you can keep your grades high is imperative. CS and engineering majors are known for having deflated grades. So keep that in mind. I would argue that going to a smaller liberal arts college where you can get high grades, and get a big scholarship would be an advantage.
It sounds like it will be tough to get into an Ivy+ level college given historical trends at your HS. You might also consider a strategic ED1/ED2 application next year. Save the ED for colleges where you are solidly in the contention, as the early application will tip you over the edge.
With your interest in continuing your work at MSKCC, these are the schools I would look into, and how I would categorize your chances for admission. I am known as being on the conservative side with my estimates:
With the CUNYs, I’d also recommend applying to the Macaulay Honors College. Also, although you are aiming for an MD/PhD or a free medical school option, realize that those are extremely competitive. If you seriously want to go to medical school, I would make sure to include options that will be very affordable in order to have extra funds for medical school, should you decide on that path. I would not be surprised if you received extremely generous merit aid from some of your likely options.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
CUNY City College
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Seton Hall
Likely (60-79%)
SUNY Stony Brook
CUNY Hunter College
Rutgers – New Brunswick
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Low Probability (20-39%)
Lower Probability (less than 20%_
Columbia (NY)
NYU
Princeton (NJ)
Now, research in a lab is available at just about every university with a science department. So, excluding the MSKCC wish, these are some schools that you might want to consider.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
U. of South Carolina: Also has a very well-reputed honors college.
Likely (60-79%)
George Washington (D.C.)
Howard (D.C.): HBCU, which is also has a really good science scholars program that @ChangeTheGame may be able to speak more about.
Toss-Up (40-59%)
U. of Rochester (NY)
Wake Forest (NC)
Low Probability (20-39%)
Boston College (MA)
Boston U. (MA)
Northeastern (MA)
Lower Probability (less than 20%)
Rice (TX)…not east coast, but right next to Houston’s medical area, including the renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Brown (RI)
Cornell (NY): I believe that one of the publicly-subsidized colleges also has some good options for science/med school prep, which might be a less competitive entrance and be lower cost. I can’t remember who was discussing it recently, though to tag them.