Chance me after deferral to RD?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Case Western Reserve University
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Weighted GPA: 3.95/4.0
Unweighted GPA: 3.5/4.0

Class Rank: School does not rank

ACT Composite: 34 (Superscored) (35 E, 34 M, 32 R, 33 SCI) (I didn’t send in the recent ACT, so my superscored only came out to a 33 to match my composite)

SAT I: 2130/2400 (680 M, 680 CR, 770 WRI)
1480/1600 (750 CRI, 710 M)

SAT II : Math Level 2 (730)

Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)

Teacher Recommendations: I sent four recommendations in, and I’d say that all are 9/10.
Counselor Recommendation: Probably 8/10
Essay: 9/10 (Talked about how I overcame not making the tennis team in 9th grade, and also talked about how my lack of balance in my social life, academics, and extracurriculars led to lower grades in tenth grade and how I overcame that)

Senior Courseload: IB HL Biology Yr. 2, IB SL History Yr. 2, IB Mathematics SL Yr. 2, IB Psychology HL Yr. 2, IB Theory of Knowledge SL Yr. 2, Health and Medicine III, IB SL German Yr. 2, IB HL Literature Yr. 2, Symphony Orchestra (When I send my mid-year report in, the way I’m going, I should only have one B.)

ECs and Accomplishments:
-National Merit Commended Student for PSAT
-Member of school’s NHS chapter since junior year.
-Student council general assembly member since my sophomore year.
-Was part of a group that organized a hack-a-thon at my school when I was a sophomore.
-Member of the school orchestra since my freshman year (violin).
-Played on the boys’ tennis team since sophomore year (was cut as a freshman)
-Member of my school’s HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) chapter as a freshman, sophomore, and senior. Held a leadership position as a sophomore, and also won third place in an event at the regional level that same year.
-Member of my school’s FBLA chapter as a freshman and sophomore (competed at the regional level.)
-Volunteered in a local hospital’s escort department this past summer to gain a feel for a healthcare environment.
-Worked in a summer job at a local ACT/SAT preparation place, even worked for them a little before the summer.
-Attended a week-long practicum at a major software company this past summer. (IB requirement for my school)
-Also attended a week-long practicum at a local biomedical engineering company this past summer. (IB requirement for my school)
-Speech and Debate since junior year, leaning more to the speech side (did Dramatic Interp. last year)
-Helped to start a political discussion and debate club at my school recently (me and two other classmates)
-Part of my school’s UNICEF and Key Club chapters.
-Member of the Junior Achievement Program at Pfizer.

1st Choice Major: Biomedical Engineering
2nd Choice Major: Economics

In addition to all this, I like to think I have shown an extensive interest in Case over the past year and a half or so:

  • Visited campus in April 2016.
  • Talked with a representative at a college fair in October 2015.
  • Signed up for the mailing list (which I am fairly sure they note.) in August 2016.
  • Had an Alumni Interview, which I thought went well.
  • Contacted the admissions counselor for my area. -Have given them updates whenever I join a new extracurricular or receive an award. -Thanked the admissions for reviewing my application, and asked them more questions about the next step.
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I am a Case parent. With what I know about Case, I think you have a good chance at admission. You have done a very good job showing interest and have a good record. Your GPA, it depends on which classes you got Bs, whether that is hurting you. Also you are taking SL math and not HL or BC Calculus, so may be less rigorous than other EA/ED engineering applicants. Selecting biomedical engineering and if you are premedical, may be hurting you a tiny bit in the early round of admissions, as so many applicants are interested in that field OR medicine, and Case wants a well rounded class. Asian students are not over represented at Case yet, as far as I know, but that may be the other factor against you. Don’t take that personally, just apply to a good set of schools including some public programs, and hope for the best. Public programs in Engineering have more freshman seats. Case is a more personal school than some larger pubic programs, with more undergraduates research and great TA options, and may have a better rate of getting admitted to Med schools with good coaching on the med school application process. CWRU is generous with AP and IB credits so take some AP exams in your senior year. With SL math under your belt you can take AB Calculus exam as well as the SL math exam. Your HL exams will count for credits as well as a few SL at CWRU. Most AP exams will count for credit.

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@Coloradomama But I thought Case doesn’t take major selection into account?

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Case does not admit by major or have exact quotas per major. But I think Case reserves the right to diversify its freshman class as any university does. So since you said you took a medical elective I assumed you were premedical. That particular career interest is very high in the Case undergraduate population.
Some public schools admit per major. Thats very different than Case Western, because some public schools will not let you change majors. Case does not require that you select a major for two full years. (although you can declare a major at Case at the end of freshman year if you want to do that)
Case and any school in the USA, public or private, can reject you based on any factor in your application, including race, gender or career interest. That may or may not be the reason you were deferred, I do not work for Case or the admissions office and just giving you my opinion.

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@Coloradomama I apologize. I do see your point though; it makes sense that even though I’m not being selected by major, I can still be scrutinized because of it. I’m weighing calling and changing my first choice major to something from Weatherhead to have better odds in the RD pool.

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One thing that stands out to me is lack of leadership? i see a lot of “member, member, attended, member”

Even if you were not a titled leader, did you show leadership in other ways?

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@bopper I’d say so; should I try phrasing my resume to make it show that?

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I certainly would! You want to talk about leadership activities you have done, even if they are not titled. You also want to talk about results.

I don’t know what you have on your resume/common app, but if you phrased things like:

“-Helped to start a political discussion and debate club at my school recently (me and two other classmates)”

I would say instead:

“Started a political discussion and debate club at my school along with two classmates. Arranged for advisor and official club status. Although this club is new, we have 10 members and have had 3 debates on current political issues. Are planning to…”

obviously put in whatever is actually true. But “helped start” is not a strong opening.

or
“-Member of my school’s FBLA chapter as a freshman and sophomore (competed at the regional level.)”

vs.
“Competed at Regional Level of FBLA despite being a freshman” (if that is rare) or “as the only freshman” or anything that shows that you are doing well compared to your peers (if that is the case)

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@STEMGuy2323 If you are premed, you can major in any subject you like, and maybe biology is actually not as popular lately as an engineering field or as you suggest, a management field. If you are interested in science, major in it though. I think the sciences are amazingly strong at Case. You do not have to follow the crowd into biomedical engineering unless
you really have a passion for equipment design. Follow what you love as you will have a number of requirements in whatever you pick. Look at all the sciences including psychology and neuroscience possibly. Biomedical engineering is an odd major because it requires mechanical design, and all the chemistry classes sort of like a chemical engineer but then it adds electrical engineering in there too. I think its too much for most undergraduates to learn all of that well. Pick a broader major and you may be better off. If you really like the idea of building equipment or artificial limbs say, think about mechanical engineering, over biomedical engineering I would say. It will give you better options if you choose to become an engineer instead of a doctor. Some premedical students are majoring in computer science today, as medicine becomes more computerized, with records and all the measurement equipment used by doctors today.

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@STEMGuy2323 If you are thinking econometrics, you could also think about majoring in mathematics at CWRU, or double major in math and econ. This would give you a lot of options and you could still apply to med school with those majors. My kid at CWRU was in economics and math, but ended up taking an econ minor and a physics and math major. All three departments are very good at Case, although there is no PhD program at the moment in economics. That means economics professors really focus on undergraduates and MBA type students in the economics department. There is money for undergraduates to do research in econometrics and other branches of economics at CWRU.