Currently applying to colleges, and I’m having a bit of a conundrum. My father is an engineer, and it’s been my life-long dream to work in the medical field (research, specifically) because I have a rare disease that has led me to spend long days in the hospital. I’ve done out of school programs for science, and have done very well with those. I am stellar at english, but don’t want to major in it, but I see it as a very useful skill in research. My problem lies with math; I skipped a grade and the school board’s compromise was to take me off the fast-track program, so I am only in AP Calculus AB. I’ve earned B’s/A’s and have a solid understanding of the math that I was actually taught. Unfortunately, I don’t remember ever learning probability for whatever reason, so it screwed me over on both ACTs. But do I even have a chance at top schools? Should I change majors so I can get in somewhere as science, or at the very least, something that will help me achieve my dreams?
My ACT scores are
Composite 33 (Twice)
English 35, 36
Reading 34, 36
Math 29 (Twice)
Science 33, 30
Writing 31, 34
I’m applying to
UCs (Davis, Berkeley, LA, SB, maybe Irvine?)
USC
Stanford (as a legacy)
University of Washington Seattle
Many (maybe even most) students don’t get the chance to take anything new beyond Calculus AB. I’m not sure why you think that’s a problem. I never had a hance to go beyond that in high school and I turned out alright (and got into UIUC).
Being a Stanford legacy is a huge boost if that’s where you want to go. A Stanford publication that studied the impact of legacy status at elite schools estimated a 25 point boost. At Stanford that would be 5% to 30%, a 600% boost! There hasn’t been a recent Stanford admit from my son’s school who wasn’t a legacy even though many have had better stats that those who were chosen. Good luck. You’ll land somewhere good.
Those are great stats. But Stanford is still a long shot for all, even legacy. I don’t know much about the other schools.
Calc AB should be fine for most engineering programs. Try not to fret over lack of “probability” training. Most hs students only have basic understanding - easy to learn.
so you can get into UCLA much easier as say a Bio major than a biomedical engineer major. Even UCSD engineering is very difficult to get into, and transferring in requires stellar GPA and is not guaranteed.
Calc AB is fine, especially if you get a 5, you can start with Calc 2.
There are other good biomedical engineering schools, you need to look around, and the new trend is tracks that focus on EE,ME,Materials,CS, etc rather than a broad survey type major which did not have really good career prospects.
Your illness and interest in the field could make for a very good personal essay … which could help your chances.
You probably could have self-studied probability and improved your ACT score considerably … but it may be too late.