Chance for Emory ED?

<p>Hi, applying to Emory Early Decision... I'm going to be a Senior in Oct.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8/4.0 scale (unweighted) Junior Year, same for Fresh and Soph.
Courses: Half-most rigorous. My school is a competitive "progressive" private school, and they don't offer many APs, nor do they rank. I've taken all the ones possible except AP Spanish and Comp Science, and almost all the "Accelerated" courses I can. I also came to the school from a really really bad public middle school, so there were major adjustments I had to make...</p>

<p>Relevant Junior Year:
Acc World History
Acc Math-2, (what they call it)
Spanish elective
Chemistry</p>

<p>(...I know I didn't take the more rigorous course load possible, but I have awesome relationships with my teachers and know they will write me stellar recs.)</p>

<p>Relevant Senior Year: I've upped my load to the max
AP European History
AP Calculus
Acc Spanish elective
Acc Physics w/ Calculus</p>

<p>SAT: (plan to take again in Nov) -- which brings me to another question. If I take my subject tests in Oct and SAT again in November (2nd time) is it too late to do EDI, if so, I'll go EDII. I'm going to actually study hard for the next time--I really think I can bring up everything to 700-range.
Math: 650
Reading: 650
Writing: 720</p>

<p>SATII (October)
Math I, maybe II (is it better to score really well on the Math I or not as well and take Math II?)
Biology M
Reading</p>

<p>AP tests taken this year: even though I couldn't take the classes...
AP Eng Lang: 5
AP Eng Lit: 4</p>

<p>AP next year, but it'll be too late for admission:
AP Calc BC
AP Physics</p>

<p>Activities:
<em>Columbia Scholastic Press Gold Medalist School Newspaper:
Editor-In-Chief
(It's a really good paper, so this takes up so much of my time, and will be a lot more next year...part of the reason I held back with my courses)
*Model UN 2005-graduate
*Mentoring program for Lower School students in "Life Skills"
*</em>Experience:
-I've worked in at the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of MD since summer of my freshman year. I started just helping out anywhere, retrieving samples from the freezer, but worked my way into the lab, where I really wanted to be...I work in the lab as a technician and am currently working on a major study. I'm very interested in research, on Salmonella (Typhoid fever) in particular. This summer my work sent me to Mali (Africa) to train lab workers in a new technique for diagnosing Salmonella serovars in developing countries. I'm also working on a study here. (Sorry if I rambled, I do that when I talk about this stuff...)
-Last summer I was accepted to the Biomedical Research Program at UPenn. Took classes, attended lectures, worked in the lab.</p>

<p>As you can see I'm interested in Biology, but want to do Undecided because I'm not sure what I want to do. Also, I'm worried it would be harder to get in if I declare Bio, right?</p>

<p>Schools that I think are reach, but loved, that my counselor also recommended:
Tufts
WashU</p>

<p>But I am in love with Emory.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>ok first of all I'm not too big a fan of tufts haha just had to put that out there... </p>

<p>what's your race, sex, and hometown? Emory likes to get students from all over with lots of diversity</p>

<p>You have strong academics and EC's so what's really important now is making yourself seem like an individual. The numbers and activites will onl get you so far so now you have to make yourself standout from the crowd.</p>

<p>In the other guys thread read what I posted about the essay, thats really important. at this point there is not too much you can do except retake your SAT stuff, I highly recommend taking the ACT at least once, I bombed my SAT but got a 33 on my ACT... </p>

<p>You're in good shape, better than i was, but also keep your mind open about other schools, Johns Hopkins was my number one, I got denied, but into Emory, and now I couldn't be happier! Now if I had to choose I'd be in a big dillema because I fell in love with my second choice school just as much as I loved my first choice</p>

<p>I'm a white male from Baltimore, Maryland...
I was thinking about the ACTs, it's not too late? I have to do some looking into the dates and stuff.</p>

<p>yeah, well at least your not from georgia haha yeah definitely take the ACT if possible, some people do really good on one and bomb the other, so i suggest at least taking it once... how many hours of community service do you have?</p>

<p>I don't really have any... I have pretty much no time. the paper takes up all my free time during the week, and i do manage to work two or three times a week in the lab in between that. I "volunteered" at the UMD hospital, but that was just so I could observe surgery. I kept track of my hours though, so far eleven. Should I keep going to the hospital??</p>

<p>I had 363 hours of community service when I graduated... yeah definitely keep going there and if you can get more hours. I've been reading some of the stuff on here and I'm starting to realize that alot of the people who got denied had amazing stats but thats what they were resting on, they didn't go above and beyond. My stats were lower but I definitely tried to make up for it by doing all this extra crap... so yeah community service is a big plus!!!</p>

<p>I got in EDII. My GPA was 3.7ish and my SAT was similar (1340 / 2050). However, I did take 14 AP classes and 8 community college courses. I think for you it might just come down to your essays. Really spend a lot of time on them and make sure the voice of the essay portrays yourself accurately and in a good manner. I think you will be able to do that judging on your AP english scores. Also, if you are an English buff, try the ACT. It's best for those who read well (fast) and has an entire section of just english grammar. I got a 32 combined - much better than my SAT score - because I'm a quick reader and I know a lot about grammar (got a 34 on that section.)</p>

<p>Make sure you emphasize your hospital visits and such. Schools like to see that you actually do something with your spare time.</p>