Chance a to-be senior

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a chinese female in California. I am solidly upper-middle class and my tuition for undergrad is secured. I'm getting recommendations from my counselor, AP Bio teacher ("I was hoping you'd ask me for a recommendation!"), and APUSH teacher ("I'd be excited as heck to recommed you.") I am very strong in science and in essay-writing. I want to major in biomedical engineering. I'd like suggestions for some safeties and whatever else the CC community can offer.</p>

<p>STATISTICS:
SAT: 2250 (M 700 / CR 750 / W 800) in one sitting (the second try)...maybe I'll do it again
SAT II: Physics 710, Biology (a year after taking bio, before taking AP Bio) 760, Spanish 700...will be taking Math II, Lit, US History
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Rank: #1 cool beans
APs: English Lang (expecting a 5), US History (definitely a 5), AP Bio (probably a 5), Spanish (5 without a doubt), Music Theory (3 if I'm lucky...boooo), English Lit (sr year), Calc AB (sr year), Chem (sr year), US Gov (sr year), Macro and Micro (sr year)
ECs: independent student-run humanitarian club (not naming any names...we do more than most similar clubs) (9, 10, 11, 12), CSF (9, 10, 11, definitely 12 when it comes), Jazz Band (9, 10, 11, 12), Band (9, 10, 11, 12) last two years in advanced...music has dominated my life since elementary school, Spanish Honor Society (10, 11, 12
Leadership: hooray! Nothing! This is obviously my weakest area.
Honors/Awards: distinguished scholar academic awards, honor societies, commended scholar for NMSQT, AMC (this is really stupid because math isn't my focus), NCTE writing competition (one of two in my school picked to compete...the results aren't in yet)
Volunteering: giving food to the homeless through the club (we've had several appearances in local media and news), visiting vets, etc
Work: optical assistant at an opthalmology clinic (11, 12) My bosses have told me that I will be the first high school employee to be promoted.</p>

<p>COLLEGES:
Stanford (I doubt it, but it's worth a shot. My dad did post-doc work there and said it was a neat place. Also, I want to be the dancing tree.)
Johns Hopkins
Princeton (my mother is making me apply. I have no desire to go to the snow)
Duke
Rice
UCLA
UCSD
UC Davis
Northwestern and UChicago (again, I have zero desire to go to Illinois)</p>

2

<p>Ecs are decent, but with no leadership and no big awards, the ivies will be reaches. But they are for everyone, so I guess take that with a grain of salt…?</p>

3

<p>Boston University, Tulane and Georgia Tech might be worth a look too. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>Make sure you visit as many of these schools as possible. My list this time last year had a lot of overlap with yours (Princeton, Duke, JHU, Stanford, UofChicago) and I just want you to realize how entirely different these schools are. The only thing that really draws parallels between them is prestige. Yes, you will get an amazing education for biomedical engineering or whatever else at any of these schools, but does the work-hard, rigorous attitude of Chicago and Jhu, or does the relaxed, preppy attitude of Duke and even Stanford, to a degree, fit you better. Also, JHU will give you just as much snow as Princeton (: Just as a fair warning, my resume looked similar to yours (GPA, rank, awards, etc), though I had higher SAT II’s and slightly lower SAT’s, and I was rejected at Princeton and Duke, waitlisted at Stanford, and accepted at JHU. Make sure you have a number of schools you would love to attend.</p>

5

<p>yeah, i figured that. JHU has the right attitude…i honestly wouldnt go to stanford, but it’s close to home, and duke is a bit sour for me. i actually got attracted to JHU for the applied physics lab research opportunities more than the bme program (initially)</p>

6

<p>bump bump bump!</p>

7

<p>Well your scores and GPA are obviously at the level they need to be, and valedictorian is always a big plus. It seems like music is a significant part of your life; perhaps you should play that up on your application. Also, maybe this is just my opinion, but I think having a job (while balancing a challenging courseload) shows that you’re independent and driven. </p>

<p>Anyway, UCSD and UCD should be fine. Probably UCLA too, as you’re in-state. Everything after that is fairly unpredictable, but your interests seem to line up fairly well with Johns Hopkins. Again, consider the social and academic environments at these places. Duke and Northwestern students are quite different from, say, UChicago students.</p>