Bowdoin/Columbia chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Stats:
• SAT: CR: 670 , M: 720 , W: 720
• SAT II: Math II: 750, Chemistry: 780 , Ecological Biology: 750
• ACT: Didn't Take
• GPA: UW: 3.95000 , W: 4.69000
• Rank: County doesn't rank (In top 1% of my class of 352, if I had to estimate)
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP - [5: Chem, Calc AB, English Lang, World, Environmental Science]; [4: U.S. Government]; [Not yet taken: Calc BC, Bio, Literature]
• Senior Courses: AP Literature, AP Bio, AP Calc BC, NIH Internship</p>

<p>Subjective
• Essays: Good to Great (One about my first time crabbing (900 words ;_; ), another about my speech impediment, one about why I want to go to Bowdoin etc etc)
• Teacher Recs: Outstanding (One from math teacher for both precalculus and calc AB, one from AP chem teacher who's also NHS sponsor)
• Recommendation from the head of the Biotechnology Products office of the FDA.
• Counselor Rec: Outstanding (also very close to my counselor)
• Supplement Information (Y/N): Yes, scientific abstract
• Interview: Not sure if I'll get one (have one pending at Bowdoin)
• Hook (recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Did research (my own personal research project) at the NIH in what's considered one of the premier science education programs in the country, sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Internship. Concerns Apoptotic CD4 T-Cells and HIV if you must know. Also I'm building my own boat. Also, I kept all of my grades, stats up, took definetly most rigorous course possible at my HS while protecting my mother and siblings from my father's abuse for my entire high school career (my counselor wants to put it in my recommendation...)</p>

<p>Personal
• Location: Maryland, Montgomery County
• High School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Greek
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: Not really sure what I qualify as, my parents just got separated and my mother (whom I live with) is unemployed... I guess lowest?
• Applied for Financial Aid: Yes
• Intended Major: Student Designed Major in Marine Science, or Oceanography, or double major with Geology and Biology.</p>

<p>Other
• Extracurricular:
President of NHS
Student Academy of Science (10-12)
Mathematics League (9-10)
Environmental Club (10)
Karen Noonan Environmental Education Program
Montgomery County Teen Court Juror (11)
Helped SGA with art and posters (9, 10)
Building a 12' fishing boat (from four sheets of plywood)
Worked for two years at the local diner as a busboy
Member of Immunology interest group at the NIH
Attended Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series at the NIH
Seminar on Toxicology at George Washington University
115 hours of community service
Attended F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference for creative writing (one of two students in my school).</p>

<p>• Awards: National Merit Commended Scholar, Rensselaer medalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, Maryland Distinguished Scholar Honorable Mention</p>

<p>::Schools::
Bowdoin (1st choice)
Columbia (also 1st choice...)
Yale SCEA (Not really sure what to think about Yale but my mother really wants me to apply)
Williams (2nd choice)
Colby
UMD - College Park </p>

<p>I'll chance you if you chance me.</p>

2

<p>i think you have a 40% chance at bowdoin and a 20% chance at columbia. meaning i think about 40% of people with your scores get into bowdoin and 20% of people similarly situated get into columbia. </p>

<p>estimates. what do i know?</p>

3

<p>Is that only based on scores?</p>

4

<p>Your list of schools seems odd to me given your areas of interest. Geology, marine science & oceanography may not be Columbia's & Yale's strengths. Same for Williams & Colby-- although all would have biology. Consider Johns Hopkins University & Rice University for medical research. Washington Univ. in St. Louis and Duke are also options. Univ. of Rochester as a safety. Check out the College of the Atlantic in Maine for marine related sciences & self directed majors. Williams, Colby & Bowdoin are rural while Yale & Columbia are urban--do you have a preference? All six of your listed schools are outstanding academically & socially. St. Mary's College of Maryland is also a great safety option for you.</p>

5

<p>Williams actually has a marine science program/major at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut... Columbia has students researching at three earth science institutes (one with an entire department for marine science). I understand your concern about the other colleges... I don't really want to go to Yale, but my mother really wants me to apply. Colby is a safety/low match that I'm applying to because the app fee is waived online (also, it's a lot like Bowdoin).</p>

<p>And I really, really don't want to go into Medicine. When I say Biology I mean ecology and evolution biology. </p>

<p>On the other hand, Duke's B.S. in Earth and Ocean sciences seems to be exactly what I'm looking for... thanks. What would my chances be for Duke?</p>

<p>And the major, HUGE problem for me deciding between Columbia and Bowdoin is Urban V. Rural... I'm leaning towards Bowdoin right now because there's a shuttle to Portland every Friday night, so I could get Urban time in, but not all the time.</p>

<p>(Also, the private schools I'm applying to all have full-grant financial aid, which is very important to me. Columbia also has a policy that families with income under 60,000 don't pay anything, which also applies to me.)</p>

6

<p>it's based predominantly on scores, but also on your achievements, which i think are similar to your scores - they put you in the running, they're substantive, but they're not incredibly unique. so given your entire portfolio i'd stick by my %s. re: marine biology, you may want to look into the UNC system. i have friends who studied marine biology at UNC greensboro. but it also seems like the reputation of a school is important, too, so i don't know if that's a useful suggestion.</p>

7

<p>actually, rereading your post i'd say: </p>

<p>50% at bowdoin
40% at columbia.</p>

8

<p>Interesting information. You would be a very competitive applicant to Duke, in my opinion. I have suggested College of the Atlantic & St. Mary's College not only as safeties but also to look into their courses in order to help you design your own projects or course of study. I think that Bowdoin is a great choice. At Colby you may miss the water too much to be happy at such a small & isolated school.</p>

9

<p>Yeah, I am going to apply to Duke after looking at it. College of the Atlantic - I might apply, it does look VERY strange at first glance though. St. Mary's, I don't see any geology courses, but the location is awesome. Maybe I haven't looked too much into the site.</p>

<p>And thank you so much for your help.</p>

10

<p>Also, if I retook the SATs and got, say, just 10-20 higher in each category, do you think that would increase my chances?</p>

11

<p>No, but that is just my opinion. A 1390/1600 is an excellent score and your APs are outstanding. Although some schools merit awards start at 1400/1600 SAT. P.S. Is it true that the State of Maryland has more miles of coastline than any other state in the U.S. or, possibly, just in the lower 48 continental U.S.? To the post below: Actually I have been told that Maryland beats out even California & Texas for total miles of coastline due to all the intercoastal waterways.</p>

12

<p>I believe so (more miles of coastline in relation to the size of the state, that is... otherwise California and lots of the other big states like Texas beat us), the Chesapeake bay and the shape of the shoreline along the bay (wrinkled and jagged) really contributes to that. Hawaii probably beats MD if we're going off-continent, and Rhode Island is also a top contender.</p>