Chance a junior for Duke, Vandy, Dartmouth, JHU, and Northwestern

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So, first off I'm from a very underrepresented state (MS - which I'm pretty sure is very underrepresented at most elite schools) and I go to a small high school (<50 in my graduating class) that offers no APs or Honors classes at all. That being said:</p>

<p>***Standardized tests:
-ACT - 33
-PSAT - 225 (should definitely be a semifinalist/finalist, last year my state's cutoff range was 202 I think)
-SAT - 2120; CR-670, M-670, W-780 (not good I know, but first attempt and I'm going to study more and take it again at the end of my junior year)
-Still have to take SAT IIs</p>

<p>***Grades and classes:
-Unweighted GPA - 4.0 (98.6 at the moment). My school doesn't offer any AP classes, but I've tried to make up for it by taking as many classes as possible. I've actually run out of science and math classes to take at my school, because this year I'm taking all of the math/science classes that seniors usually take. So next year I'll have to take a lot of online classes to fill my schedule.
-Class rank-1st </p>

<p>-Last semester I took two classes at a local college, A+ in both
-This semester I another class at local college, A+
-Over the summer I'll be attending the Mississippi Rural Medical Scholars program (really selective, 20 students from MS spend 5 weeks taking college calc and biology classes and shadowing doctors) so I'll have taken at least 2 more college classes</p>

<p>***Honors, awards, etc:
-1st place, mississippi mathematics and science tournament (biology - also plan on majoring in some type of biology) sophomore and junior year
-Science Quest finalist - biology sophomore year and physics junior year
-since 9th grade I've had the highest average in every class I've taken
-star student, scholar athlete, other misc. awards</p>

<p>***ECs
-Student government: 9th grade class treasurer, 10th and 11th class president
-Beta Club president
-Math/Science team
-Academic team
-varsity cross country, competed in state championships twice
-about 100 hrs volunteering at a hospital
-50 hrs volunteering in Ecuador over spring break building a school
-last summer attended a leadership program at Johns Hopkins
-after the RMS program, I'm going to spend the rest of the summer volunteering </p>

<p>**<em>Essay/recommendations:
essay - *should</em> be great
recommendations - my principal and counselor both really like me so I should have stellar letters of recommendation</p>

2

<p>Boost those test scores and you have a good shot</p>

3

<p>ECs look good, awards look good. Bring up those math and reading scores and you’re good to go. If you get those scores in the 750+ range i’d say you’re a match at all of those schools; however, you never know with these college admissions things. The person ranked 4th in my class was a dual-sport varsity athlete, captain of the academic bowl team, president of 2 of the biggest service clubs at my school, tons of volunteer hours, and had about a 2100 on her SAT, but she got rejected from Northwestern. On the other hand, this kid I know who is fairly dumb relative to the JHU admissions pool was accepted, and he wasn’t a legacy or recruited athlete or anything.</p>

4

<p>^^ yea i’m going to try and pull the SAT scores up.</p>

<p>Anybody else?? and please be brutally honest</p>

5

<p>buuummmmpppp</p>

6

<p>You have good chances at all of those. Write good essays and hope for the best. Question: why the disparity between SAT and PSAT? Did you take SAT before PSAT or something?</p>

7

<p>^^ Thanks & I dunno, I took it a couple of weeks after the PSAT I think. Maybe I was just having a bad day or something</p>

<p>And also would my chances at Amherst be about the same or worse?</p>

8

<p>I’d say you have a pretty good shot at a Williams/Amherst. Your ACT is fine for test scores, my GC says its around a 2200, and no school will deny you because of that. Just work on SAT IIs</p>

9

<p>Amherst is around as selective as Duke, slightly less selective than Dartmouth, and more selective than every other school on your list. More importantly, though, it’s a completely different type of school than your other choices: it is a small, liberal-arts school, while your others are big universities. Which do you prefer? They are very different experiences.</p>

10

<p>Big university type, because (and this may be totally wrong) it seems like it would be much easier to be involved in research and volunteering at a larger university with a medical school and affiliated hospital within a short distance. And also, Amherst offers far fewer majors, classes, etc. so if I decide not to go into the medical field I wouldn’t have as many options. </p>

<p>I was considering Amherst and some other LACs because it seems like it would be so much easier to get individual attention from professors, smaller classes, etc. And also Amherst (at least from what I’ve gathered) has stellar academics and really great med school placement stats, without being so competitive</p>

11

<p>I can’t speak for Amherst specifically, but I know it can actually be easier to do research at LACs, because there are no graduate students, and therefore the professors use undergrads exclusively when they need a student to help them with their research. I’ve even heard of freshmen doing summer research at some LACs.</p>

<p>Amherst certainly would offer more individualized attention, smaller classes, and outstanding academics, and you would have an easy time getting into med school from it. If you think you’d like a liberal arts education, Amherst is a great choice, although I can’t speak to the competitiveness or lack thereof.</p>