I visited Emory recently and decided that it will definitely be my top choice! My GPA (unweighted far below median) and Korean status kind of makes me nervous… Should I wait and apply RD to boost my UW GPA?
Stats
UW GPA- 3.68 - I know it’s crap - Did horrible freshman year but did quite excellently sophomore and junior year. ( Moved from Top 33% - > Top 10.9% )
W GPA- 4.6250
ACT- 32 composite ( 32 E, 35 M , 33 R, 29 S ) ( Going to Retake - Going for a 34 )
SAT - 2140 ( probably won’t send )
SAT Subject Tests - 690 Math II and US History ( DEFINITELY need to retake Math II - Going for at least 750. 690 in History might be aight tho )
Ethnicity: Korean ( This makes me really nervous because there are supposed to be a TON of Koreans at Emory so I’m like mega-ORM )
State: Texas. Go to quite a good/competitive school.
Ranked 88/806 ( 10.9% UGH SO CLOSE )
Extracurricular:
Debate Captain ( LD )
President and Founding Member of Philosophical Inquiry Club
Founding Member and Leader of a Church-Based Organization ( Distributes Flowers and Cards to Elderly Homes )
Head Activities Director for Church
Tech Solutions Club ( Nerd Herd )
No Major/National Awards
Community Service: ( About 120 hrs )
Volunteered at Special Education Facility
Service Trip to Fix Poverty-Ridden Homes and Communities in West Memphis
Homeless Ministry
Essays: Expect them to be good, at least the common app.
Recs: Might be a slight weakness… I’ll probably get good ones albeit a bit generic and nothing amazingly stellar.
Prospective Major: Philosophy / Economics / Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture ( Pretty interested in the Voluntary Core Program )
I feel if you get your test scores up,and keep up your volunteering and EC’s,you should have a decent chance early decision,maybe a 35-45 percent chance. If that doesn’t work out,just cross your fingers for regular! Good luck.
I would say your chances are more on the upper end as your stats are probably higher than a normal ED applicant but I promise nothing…I am not an adcom member (I remember how it worked out for many ED high stats applicants 2 cycles ago. The ED2 round was especially brutal with students who would get an offer at others based on their stats getting waitlisted or denied). This ain’t Vandy or WashU…a 34 is not going to make you that much more competitive and in fact will probably do nothing (a 35-36 maybe would be a lock-in for ED, but not a 32-34 as 32 is only 1 point below the 75% of the students that typically yield at Emory). As for ORM: I suspect the ones that consider Emory don’t apply to it as a top choice college, but apply RD, especially the internationals which have higher chances because of their income (we have started to offer scholarships. ED is more about: “Do you have good enough EC’s and stats and can you PAY”. Also, if you are actually any good at math, please add QSS to your major in econ. Emory’s econ. dept is not that great alone.
Retake the SAT’s if you want, but mainly worry about how you’ll pitch your intellectual interests versus Emory’s programmatic offerings and also just show them how you think. I think your background will make you a hit with the adcoms if you sell it well because you seem like a student more intellectually engaged than normal. As in, focus on the supplement AND please don’t assume at the moment that your common app essay will be weak. You have plenty of time to plan and execute a strong one. I think you’ll definitely like Emory as the direction it is going kind of fits your profile. Hopefully the adcoms will realize this. Also, being near top 10% is more important than having a 3.8…many who have that are not even near the top 10% at their school. It just indicates that your school is somewhat rigorous.
As for RD: Avoid. If Emory has anywhere near the application volume it had past cycle or even the last ones, your chances will diminish significantly. If you aren’t getting in ED w/your stats (especially even after raising SAT/ACT scores), then RD is even less likely as all the students applying to bunches of colleges with even higher stats and longer lists of EC’s (some w/substance and some more stereotypical) will be applying in that round. Take your chances on rounds with much smaller applicant pools. You also may stand out more in ED as Emory ED students tend to be applying for larger, more well-known programs or tracks of strength like pre-med linked natural sciences (biology, NBB or non-sciences like anthropology or psychology) or the b-school. You don’t fall in this pool…and it will help. With RD, more students will look more like you just based upon how statistics work.
@RamenUniversity match for ED, low match/reach for RD. Also, I’ll retract what I said about retaking the SAT if you still decide to go ED. Retake it just in case for some reason you don’t get in, but still want to consider other schools, especially those with higher application volumes and test scores. That way, Emory may say no, but somewhere else you like and is ranked highly/very good at what you like says yes! But don’t do it with Emory in mind. Do it as a precautionary measure. If disaster strikes, you want to walk out with a strong foundation to rebuild and try again elsewhere.
Hey I was accepted for class of 2019 and thought that I could give some advice. I applied as a Korean Biology premed so I was definitely an ORM. I think if Emory really is where you want to go if you can get your ACT to 34 and go ED then your chance to Emory is really high! 32 is still very good! Just really focus on the essays because that can be a pretty good factor. Your upward trend will help a lot and I think because your extracurricular correlate with your prospective majors that it will help a lot! If you want my stats or have questions just PM me! Wish you the best and good luck!