Chance me at Emory, Rice, UF, UPitt, WUSTL, Vandy? JHU and Duke are far reaches

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hi everyone! I am a current Junior (Asian Male, rising Senior, 2020) that lives in Florida. I’m asking for a CM b/c I just wanted to see what Universities I should bother applying for and which ones I can do a little more to get in, so all feedback is greatly appreciated!! Also, for my fellow Floridians, I do qualify for Bright Futures.

I’m currently very interested in pursuing the medical field, so any comments on how I should do that are welcomed.

Stats:

Test Scores:

1550 SAT, 36 ACT; 800 on Math II SAT Subject Test, looking for 800 on both Bio and Chem currently;
On the 3 AP’s I’ve taken so far, I have a 5 on World, a 5 on Euro, and a 5 on Psych, currently looking for a 5 on AP Calc AB, AP Chem, APUSH, AP Lang, and on Music Theory, even though the latter is questionable.

Coursework/GPA:

4.0 UW GPA, 4.81 W GPA
Rank: top 10%
Freshman year: 1 AP (World). Sophomore: 2 APs (Euro, Psych). Junior: 5 APs (Calc AB, Chem, APUSH, Lang, APMT). Senior year (AP Biology, AP Microeconomics, AP Comp, AP Stats, AP Gov and Pol and maybe AP Physics 1).
Also, since my school offers IB courses, I am HLing in Bio, Chem, English, and maybe Math or History.

ECs:

2 years member of QuizBowl
Member of multiple honor societies (including NHS, Math, Science, English, History…) and clubs.
3 years member of Band
Participated in National Chem Olympiad (although I didn’t place)
200+ Volunteer Hours (looking for 350 hours by the end of this year). This is my main EC
On that subject, I volunteered at Hospitals, tutored students, and also worked at distribution centers to help educators and the disadvantaged. I’m also looking for a shadowing opportunity.

I know my chances of getting into an Ivy league are pretty slim, if any, so I’m only trying to think about less selective colleges for this round. I’m also aware my EC’s are really lacking.
My dream college right now is Emory or WUSTL, but even the latter is a stretch for me. I was thinking about applying ED for Emory, but I heard it’s infamous for a lack of scholarship money.
Any suggestions, bad or good, are welcomed with open arms.
And yes, I can write a really good college essay if that helps.

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The medical field sounds like a career goal. Do you know what you would like to study as an undergraduate?

Based on your tentative choices, the University of Rochester and CWRU would seem to fit your mix.

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@merc81 I would love to do Biomed, Chem, or Biology. However, I hear (although not sure) that if I try to apply to those majors, and especially through the premed track. Also, I have heard about URochester, but I am much more interested in CWRU (for personal reasons). Now that I think about it, I should have put CWRU on there as well.

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I think you should definitely apply to all the schools you listed on your headline. They seem like target/reach schools for you. You should also consider some top-notch state schools like UC Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, UNC, UMichigan, etc. Your stats look like the typical very competitive applicant, and honestly nothing from your ECs struck me as unique. Many, many people participate in QuizBowl, honor societies, band, chem olympiad, volunteering, etc. Is there a club you are a part of at school or another EC that is maybe less common and personally meaningful? If so, it will help you stand out more. You have very impressive test scores and GPA, but I doubt that will help much in your case. If I were you I would really try to distinguish myself in the essay portion. If money isn’t a problem, I recommend applying ED because it significantly raises your chances of getting in, and sometimes it can mean all the difference. I’ve heard from someone that if you get accepted ED and the financial aid package is really too low, you can still back out of the agreement through a lengthy process immediately after acceptance (you may want to double check this). Hopefully this helps. Good luck!

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Biomed? Biomedical engineering? Or do you mean biochemistry?

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@peach0v0 Although I am acutely aware :frowning: that my ECs are only normal, I do have a real passion for chemistry (and b/c of that, I am thinking of making a Chemistry Olympiad club). Other than that, my love for volunteering is the only personally viable EC for me.

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@merc81 Biomedical Engineering and Biochem are my biggest hopes for a major right now

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Stress that in your activities descriptions. You don’t have to have perfect ECs to get into those schools. It depends on your application as a whole.

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@peach0v0 Ok I’ll keep that in mind!

On a general note, I forgot to mention that I am also pretty sure I’ll become an NMSQT finalist (if that helps at all; I hard only UOklahoma cares about that).

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What about $$?

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Being an NMSQT finalist is always a plus for colleges. I was a finalist too for my state (I’m not sure how much it helped for my applications). But keep in mind that for your reach schools, a ton of people are also going to be national merit semifinalists when applying, so I don’t think it will boost your application too much since it will be very common. There will be extra space on the CommonApp for you to add miscellaneous info, so definitely mention somewhere that you are a semifinalist. Yes, it will definitely help a lot for UOklahoma.

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Disregard the advice about applying to OOS publics unless you’re willing to pay outrageous prices. Cal and UCLA OOS will roughly be the same price as a private school.

UNC and UVA take in state kids as first priority.

Supposedly Alabama and UR-Dallas will look at NMSF for OOS and give merit aid.

OP, since you’re in Florida, I assume that UF is your match/high safety.

Your numbers seem to be good enough for WashU. If you’re not afraid of full pay, use an ED1 or ED2 for it since the school seems to be your overwhelming favorite.

Case Western is good with merit aid so I would EA there.

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You mention scholarship money. Are you going to need financial aid or merit money to go to college? What is your family EFC? Do you have a non custodial parent situation or does your family own s business? If not, you can run the NPC for a few sample schools and get a pretty good idea as to what you will be expected to pay. How much are you and your family expected to pay?

The financials are important because you have the stats to be a contender for any school, but getting in AND getting the money you need to attend brings the numbers down lower in terms of attaining that goal if you have to get substantial merit money. The most selective schools do tend to meet full need, but they define that need. Getting substantial merit is very difficult.

Emory does offer some good scholarships as well as meeting full need. As a
rule ED is not a good idea when you need merit money. Some schools do assure that they do not penalize ED applicants about scholarships but unless they award them at acceptance, you won’t know if you can afford the school when accepting the ED offer if it’s merit that’s at issue.

If the FL schools are affordable, get your apps in early so you have sure seats at the ones you prefer. Than you can “play the market “ in terms of the other schools. But what you pick is determined by your financial need and eligibility for school and what these have to offer.

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@Hamurtle I only recommended OOS public schools since OP did consider private schools with high tuition like Vandy and Duke. Yes, it would be like paying private tuition, but those state schools also offer really amazing medical-related programs that OP might be interested in learning about.

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Cal for premed is death-grade deflation and large classes. I would not advise it for a potential premed at all.

The U (aka Miami) has a medical school and could be a target for OP. 4 years in Miami/Coral Gables is not a bad place to be.

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And take Physics instead of AP Gov. Your application will be stronger.

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I agree that Cal is not for everyone. Some people thrive there while others hate it. OP can treat it as an option to consider. The premed track at a lot of competitive schools are/can be cut-throat (to varying degrees), regardless of whether it’s public or private.

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@collegemom3717 I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that… like NMSQT scholarships? I’m not entirely sure on that either; I need to do some more research

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And UCs do not give any financial aid and very little merit money for OOS students, so that is off the table.

Use the Florida publics as your match/safety along with Brighter Futures.

Pitt is a good target. Along with Case Western and possibly BU.

Add your absolute reaches and make use of EA/ED, but do not ED unless you’re absolutely sure of the school and its costs.

Finally, no OOS public schools unless they are the Alabamas and UT-Dallas of the world that give an almost full ride to OOS NMF students.

Medical school is going to be expensive so you need to weigh the costs of your undergraduate institution. Also you will need to avoid schools that practice grade deflation.

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@InnateSavage, I was asking if you have any financial constraints.