Any feedback highly appreciated!

Hey everyone, thanks for reading and commenting, I really do appreciate it!

State: Virginia
Gender: Female
Race: Black (Ethiopian)
Income: <100k
Intended Major(s): Depending on where I decide to go – Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Clinical Laboratory Science, Psychology

Here are the colleges I’m applying to:

Early Action:
UNC Chapel Hill
UVA

Regular Decision:
William and Mary (In state)
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Dartmouth
Cornell
Columbia
Brown
Harvard
Virginia Tech*

I know that chancing for the Ivies is pretty much pointless because it’s going to be a reach for basically everyone (I’m going to try by best regardless), but I was wondering if anyone could focus on some of the lower-tier Ivies and the other schools I’m applying to?

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):n/a

ACT:
Best Composite: 33
Reading: 35
Math: 34
Science: 33
Writing: 34
Essay: 8

SAT II**:
Math Level II: 700
Chemistry: 640
I recently took Biology E and French but I’m still waiting for the results (I don’t think I did much better though to be honest)…

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0

Weighted GPA: 4.25

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/239 (Okay so my school does a weird ranking system–if you have a 4.0 weighted GPA or higher you’re automatically placed at #1…I’m not sure if the colleges can see this information or not though???)

AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language (5) Calculus AB (5) World History (4) Chemistry (3)

IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a

Junior Year Course Load: AP Calculus AB, AP English Lang, AP Chem, Dual U.S. History, French IV, Anatomy & Physiology
Senior Year Course Load: AP Psychology (took over the summer) Dual Government, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, AP English Lit, Physics, AP French

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Voted Secretary of Senior Class
French Club (president) - (Grades 8-12)
Prevention Club (secretary) - (Grades 10-12)
Most active extracurricular activity; work alongside local chartered Prevention Council
Green Club - (Grades 11-12)
Key Club- (Grades 10-12)
Concert/Symphonic Band (6-10)
Debate Team (8-9)
Beta Club (only available to 12th graders)
Pep Club (10)

Volunteer/Community service:
Volunteered 115+ hours at local VA Hospital
Volunteered at local library 8-9th grade
Do the majority of volunteer work through school clubs (Key Club, Beta Club,etc.)

Summer Activities:
Took an online class, worked with Prevention Council to develop a Community Summit

Essays:
I’ve completed some applications and here are the essays I’ve done so far:
My common app essay is about moving to America
UNC/William and Mary essay was talking about my synesthesia
UVA essays were about losing a family friend to pancreatic cancer and my favorite word
Duke essays were about what I love the most about the Duke community and how I could bring more diversity (being a first generation immigrant) to the campus.

Teacher Recommendation:
2 Recs
I had one recommendation from my English Lang teacher that I think will be excellent. He writes very formally and I think he is the best writer out of all of my recs by far. I know my chemistry teacher on a personal level so I think her rec will be pretty good too.

Counselor Rec: I’ve had my counselor write me a rec before for another thing and it was good but not anything exceptional.

Additional Rec: I also had a rec from the head of the Prevention Council who I know personally. I think her rec will be good and give insight about me outside of the classroom.

School Type: Public (pretty small <1000)

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first generation immigrant, female interested in the sciences

*Virginia Tech: I was thinking applying to Virginia Tech would be a good safety school…what do you guys think? Also, if I do apply to VT do you think I should write the essays because they are optional?

**SAT IIs: So I was thinking of not submitting any Subject Tests (except maybe to UVA, UNC, and William and Mary) to the schools that don’t require them because I think they’ll hurt my application and because a lot of the schools I’m applying to take the ACT w/ writing as a replacement. What do you guys think would be the best move because I’m somewhat conflicted? I really don’t like my SAT IIs and I know they’ll probably bring down my application the most so how should I go about things?

I would really REALLY appreciate some feedback and some advice!

Thanks again!

For schools that super score the ACT your composite as posted is a 34.

You have a 4.0

Good extracurriculars

URM

Looks good. Probably too many reaches and no safeties where you would qualify for Merit. And in the end you might be best off picking a school where you are towards the top of the applicant pool and will do extremely well in college. The “name” schools might be a rougher time for you to excel.

@ClarinetDad16 Thanks! I was having a lot of the same concerns as well. Do you think I should apply to Virginia Tech (which I think would be a definite safety given the type of students at my school who get into Virginia Tech)?

If you would qualify for merit, absolutely. And seek out other schools that would fall head over heels and be thrilled to have you on your campus.

Think about your dream career vs a dream school.

@ClarinetDad16 Okay thanks! I’ll definitely think about that when I’m deciding where to go!

Honors programs and research opportunities could open up for you. Maybe even stipends…

@ClarinetDad16 You make a good point

Anyone else have other thoughts to add?

bump

Also I might be considering applying to Tufts RD

What about Lehigh as another safety?