Another Chance me question....please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Applying to:
Harvard (SCEA), going to submit next weekend probably!
Columbia
Princeton
Penn
UChicago
Northwestern
WashU
Georgetown
and 1-3 safeties</p>

<p>Academic Interests: Biology/Chemistry and Journalism. Probably going to major in Biochemistry, possible major/double minor in Communications. Also looking at minoring in dance, depending on the school.</p>

<p>SAT: 2390 (800 CR, 800 M, 790 W, 10 essay). Took it once
SAT II’s: 800 US History, 800 Math II. Planning to take Bio M in December
ACT: 36 (36 E, 36 M, 36 R, 35 S, 32 English/writing. I got an 8 on the essay. yeah....) and another time with no writing (36 E, 35 M, 36 R, 36 S)
GPA: 3.97 UW, 4.68/4.72 weighted. my school's weird.
Rank: 32/800+ I believe? top 4% everyone above has straight As
Essays: Should be good. I'm getting them edited extensively, and writing is strong, despite my ACT score :P probably one about world hunger, tying to my food pantry volunteering and another about my passion for reading (common app) for Harvard</p>

<p>AP’s: Psychology, English Language/Comp, BC Calculus, US History, all 5s. Taking Bio, Chem, Spanish, Macro/Micro Econ this year.</p>

<p>EC’s/Service:
-Dance (ballet, Graham/Humphrey modern, jazz and pointe in past years) since age 3. currently 12+ hours/week, have performed with local company since 7th grade
-Toured for a dance festival in Austria summer before sophomore year
-Submitting a professionally made art supplement for dance, getting a recommendation from the head of the dance place
-Have taken classical piano lessons since age 5
-Finished the seven books of Suzuki Piano
-Writer for school newspaper: on staff 11th grade, news editor 12th
-Volunteer at local food pantry 2-3 hours/week, since July 2012
-Founding a South Asian culture club this year with my friend
-Model UN team 10-12th grade, attended UChicago conference, will go again this year
-Participated in school service club 10-11 grade
-Played tennis 7th-11th grade, on JV high school team for 3 years
-This summer, worked in a research lab at University of Chicago for 30+ hours/week, about 9 weeks. Conducted independent research with gene cloning, getting a recommendation from the professor</p>

<p>Awards:
-National Merit Semifinalist
-AP Scholar with honor
-School history award
-Cum laude (11, 12)
-Spanish NHS, Science NHS
-Selected to attend Argonne Women in Science conference
-Prairie state scholar</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: 10th grade English teacher who's the advisor for the newspaper, she loves me :) and 11th grade US history teacher, I did very well in his class especially on projects and tests/final</p>

<p>Hook (if any): Indian female sooo.... but I am a first-gen American</p>

<p>Concerns: I don't have great leadership or volunteering. I feel like I haven't done anything at all impressive or major compared to some of these people on here so will my high test scores and commitment to things (especially piano and dance) be enough for Ivy-esque schools?</p>

<p>State or Country: IL
School Type: Highly rated/affluent public but racially and socioeconomically pretty diverse; 3200 students</p>

2

<p>You said it yourself: you have very impressive stats (ones that will certainly put you in the range for these top schools, but will not guarantee admission) and you have fairly decent ECs. I would say the majority of kids admitted into these schools haven’t done anything ground-breaking. They have shown that they have a passion for something and that they have the potential to go far with it. Your best shot now would be to work hard on your essays.</p>

3

<p>your testing and classes seem to be in order (assuming that your coursework is challenging in context of your school)</p>

<p>I think you need a math/sci rec letter too, and its good to have anyway if you’re interested in science.</p>

<p>Leadership and Community Service are very important, but this doesn’t mean you have to have so many hours or something; just show you give back in some way (tutoring other kids in dance or something) highlight whatever you’ve got. no point stressing about it now.</p>

<p>also, genetics for the win…if the U chicago thing was selective, so much the better. Consider doing the Science Fair and trying for ISEF. </p>

<p>honestly, how do you know that my opinion of whether you’ll get in is any better than yours? </p>

<p>–also first-gen Indian female</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys. I’m planning to possibly ask my AP Bio teacher for a recommendation in December, after she gets to know me a little better, especially because I need it for Georgetown. but so far, I haven’t had any great math/science teachers who I thought could write a good rec for me.
also forgot to add: Should note that my dad did his grad studies at Penn and postdoc at Columbia, works at UChicago. My mom did undergraduate at Penn and graduate at Northwestern, so maybe a slight edge? How big a factor is legacy?</p>

5

<p>“honestly, how do you know that my opinion of whether you’ll get in is any better than yours?”</p>

<p>Just saw this. I don’t, of course. I’m just looking for some outside opinions and thoughts :)</p>

6

<p>bump…</p>

<p>hate to be annoying but I’m kind of freaking out/psyching myself out about the extracurricular thing. and my parents are just like, I told you so, you spend way too much time on dance and I could have apparently been curing cancer or saving the world from poverty or something :(</p>

7

<p>Your test scores ar amazing. And it’s kind of surprising that you aren’t a higher rank when you have a 2390 SAT and 36 ACT. Top 4% is good, but may not be ‘ideal’ when it comes to certain top institutions like Harvard.</p>

<p>And you’re right in saying that you are a little concerned with your ECs. Honestly, I feel like your ECs might be your only noticeable weakness. Other than a strong focus on dance, your ECs seem to be fairly sporadic and generic. There aren’t many awards or leadership positions or unique activities that might set you apart. Of course, that doesn’t mean that your ECs will hurt you; they’re mostly fairly decent. They just don’t add anything truly significant that would really bolster your chances at a place like Harvard. </p>

<p>And legacy certainly helps but won’t make that big a difference tbh. I’m sure you’ll be fine, don’t stress</p>