Chance for REA Stanford, UCB, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Rice, UPenn... And other concerns...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Chance for REA Stanford, UC Berkeley, Rice, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, UPenn</p>

<p>First I will like to voice some of my concerns. I have been planning for a while to apply REA to Stanford, but after some shallow research, I've come to the shaky conclusion that applying early to Stanford is useless or even harmful to my admission chances... Stanford has always been my dream school, but I don't want to waste my "Early-Action/Decision" card on it if it will only hurt me (or be a waste...). Can someone please tell me what I should do? My other concern is that, if I use ED on a different school, and if I just happen to get into that school, and if find out later that I happen to get into Stanford as well, I will probably be upset... </p>

<p>ANYWAY... here are my stats:</p>

<p>Grades+Scores:
GPA:3.9 UW (3.89-3.91 I can't remember exactly)
PSAT: 236
SAT: 2290 730M 800CR 760W (I am retaking it in October in attempt to raise my math score)
SATIIs: 800 Math IIC, 770 Physics, 760 US History
APs: Euro 5; Calculus AB 5, US History 5, Physics 5, Biology 4 (Ouch... my favorite subject too XD)</p>

<p>Notable classes 9-12:
Honors: Geometry, Alg2/Trig, Spanish
AP:Calc AB/BC, USH, Bio, Physics, Chem, Environmental, Computer Science, English.</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP Statistics, AP Calculus BC, AP Computer Science, Spanish Honors, AP English, Comp Govt. and Econ.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Hospital Volunteering 250+ Hours
Summer Internships under various mentors (9, in the lab of Shinya Yamanaka with metabolism and stem cells, 10 in the lab of Lennart Mucke with Neurology and Alzheimer's and the tau protein, 11 Under Yadong Huang with Alzheimer's and the APOE protein).
Red Cross Club (9, 11, 12) elected treasurer and fundraising chair in 11
President of UNICEF club (11,12)
Science Club (9, 10, 11, 12)
Holiday's for the Homeless program 9-11 (raise money for 200 50$ survival backpacks for the homeless, wake up at 5 AM on Christmas to distribute)
Working at Kumon Tutoring Center 9-12
Tutored English at a foreign language program for kids in Chengdu, China 9
Piano ABRSM Level 7
Music Theory ABRSM Level 5
Teaching Taekwondo Classes over the summer</p>

<p>Taekwondo:
Nationals:
Gold 9 Junior Light
PAR 10 Junior Welter
PAR 11 Senior Fly</p>

<p>Western Regionals:
Gold, 9 Junior Light</p>

<p>CA States:
Silver 9 Junior Light (Qualified for Nationals)
Bronze 10 Junior Welter (Qualified)
PAR 11 Senior Bantam (Qualified)</p>

<p>Nevada States:
Silver 11 Senior Fly (Qualified)</p>

<p>1st Dan Black Belt</p>

<p>Teacher RECs:
I think one will be stellar, the other will be good.
Won an underclass man award for spanish in 10th grade (basically a teacher picks their favorite student)</p>

2

<p>Your app is good! But sadly so are the apps of most of the 30k odd people applying over there. If you could do something that sets you apart from everyone else, then you have a great chance. Also from what I’ve heard, they do emphasize on essays…so you will have to work hard on them.</p>

<p>As for EA/RD, I feel you should apply RD as there will be a lot of stellar applicants in the EA round and you will have little chance of being accepted…but the RD acceptance rate is ~5% too!
If you can come up with great essays and if you do not require FA,you should try and apply EA as you are a competitive applicant.</p>

3

<p>Wow! Looks like you’ve been working really hard throughout high school - congrats and keep it up!</p>

<p>Difficult to say without more personal details and any idea of how good your essays are going to be but here are my thoughts:</p>

<p>REA Stanford - Reach. I’m not going to tell you it’s impossible, but they do have the lowest admittance rate in the country.
UC Berkeley - Match, maybe low reach. Depends if you’re in-state or out-of-state.
Rice - I don’t know much about Rice, but I’d guess match
Northwestern - Low reach
Johns Hopkins - Match
UPenn - Low reach</p>

<p>Your National-level taekwondo and research should set you apart, but in terms of getting into places like Stanford and Ivies, it will be about your essays. If you don’t come across as one of the top 5% in your essays, you’ll get deferred or rejected like 95% of people. Distinguish yourself, be unique, and write good essays!</p>

<p>With the ED stuff, usually admission rates are higher for Early Action and much higher for Early Decision (because it’s binding and they know you have to go there). This occurs generally for two reasons: less applicants, and those applicants are usually better prepared and more qualified. On the flip side, the vast majority of people who get in Early to places are recruited athletes or just way too good of applicants to let go. Weigh the risks, think of other places you would consider applying early to, and remember that the worst case is that you get deferred.</p>

4

<p>DONT APPLY EARLY TO STANFORD! I’ll give you some stats. Our school had 7 ppl admitted to Stanford this year, and 6 of them were RD. The reason why is that most recruited athletes, as well as well-paying legacies and other extremely hooked applicant (like the one who got in SCEA from my school) apply early. Save Stanford for RD and do EA or ED at another school. If you want to do ED, you have to make sure that the school is your no 1 choice. Honestly, you have to be realistic here; the chances of you getting into Stanford is really, really small. Besides, a lot of other schools offer the same resources as Stanford does and I don’t see why you’re obsessing over the most selective school in the country. You don’t want to go berserk after you get that rejection letter. UPenn CAS or Northwestern ED are good choices, but you definitely want to visit the schools before you sign that ED letter. </p>

5

<p>Your EC’s are fairly decent and you show a lot of dedication. I think the research is easily the best thing you have on your app, but keep in mind that if you haven’t tried for ISEF and such, other people applying to these schools will have a leg up on you, in terms of research recognition. That being said, your GPA and SAT scores are incredible and I think you can easily get into all of those schools. I agree, though, that you should apply Northwestern ED. I think you could really fit in there in terms of what I see on your app. </p>

6

<p>Actually, Duke ED might serve you better. Duke likes to pick up kids like you ED who have stellar, but not recruited, athletic accomplishments. </p>

7

<p>^ I second that.</p>

8

<p>That’s funny, because a noticeable number of people I’ve been hanging around have gone to Duke (about 5-6? Compared to only one person I know who got into Stanford). I only have doubts about Duke because of the location and the fact that it didnt match all of my “must-haves” on college-board’s search tool.</p>

9

<p>Also, I am from California, if that helps my chances at Stanford and Berkeley (it’s also why they are my top choices).</p>

10

<p>What is REA? isn’t Stanford SCEA?</p>

11

<p>If you’re happy to live in Baltimore or Texas I personally see no reason why you should be apprehensive of studying in the 4th most ‘livable’ city in America ;)</p>

<p>You should definitely apply to Stanford if it’s your top choice, but I’m not sure whether applying early will actually help you. Early applicants at Stanford generally don’t receive a big boost in the admissions process. Just something to think about from a strategic perspective. </p>

<p><a href=“http://livability.com/top-100-best-places-to-live”>http://livability.com/top-100-best-places-to-live&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>Right now, my prospective goal is to get myself into medical school eventually, but things could always change. Having said this, I am also interested in a school where my GPA won’t be too difficult to maintain. </p>

<p>ALSO, this could change a lot of things, but I’m also an asian-male from a pretty well-off family (FA not needed).</p>

13

<p>Bump…</p>

<p>Can anybody else help me out? Also, I’ve started filling out common app, but I realize that the apps will be wiped soon. Does that mean new short answer/essay prompts will be put up?</p>

14

<p>Pick one from your list that you like most and apply ED, since money is not a problem. Stanford SCEA is not advantageous, I seriously doubt you get in, UCB does not have EA or ED, it’s also a terrible school for premed if you ask me.</p>

15

<p>Then are any of my listed schools good for pre-med in particular? I only chose Berkeley because my sister went there, I’m in love with the area, and it’s very, very, VERY, close to home (my backyard practically).</p>

16

<p>Penn and Rice. John Hopkins is very good, but I personally wouldn’t go there. Too hard and no play.
penn has top medical school so premed there is better, Rice has some sort of relationship with Baylor Medical school, so maybe there is an advantage there.
And Penn gives you a bit of advantage if you apply ED, but Penn takes 90%+ from the top 10%, so if you are not in that category, you might be at a disadvantage.</p>

17

<p>Then I guess right now my mind is set on UPenn for ED… And what do you mean by “too hard and no play”?</p>

<p>My mom isn’t too hot for Rice because its not an Ivy League, but I personally love it, and I love Texas because my cousins live there… Unfortunately, its a $100 plane ride from where my cousins live in Dallas,</p>

18

<p>It’s tough and competitive, could be cut throat, google the school name and you’ll find more reviews. Premed is already tough at most schools, there is no need to get any tougher. Rice is an excellent school, both of nieces went there. Rice usually sends a free application if you have the stats that it wants, my daughter got a free application there. But it’s too hot for my kid.</p>

<p>BTW, It’s Penn, not Upenn, adcoms get annoyed when students write the essay why Penn and keep refer to it as UPenn, make sure you don’t make that mistake. Penn is an Ivy league and so it’s good because it meets the criteria for both you and your mom. </p>

19

<p>I think at this point in my life, I really couldn’t care less about what my mom thinks about big decisions like this (unless there’s a financial problem).</p>

<p>I will be sure to say “Penn” now… I’ll probably google the story behind that when I look more into the campus culture/life later :p.</p>

<p>Is there any other top tier schools that you would recommend that wouldn’t deflate my GPA and that have good pre-med programs?</p>

20

<p>Maybe Brown, it’s also an Ivy, it has ED, but it’s not easy to get in either. There is no such thing as a good pre-med programs, all schools offer pre-med programs. Pre-med students are very competitive everywhere.</p>