Chance me at JHU, Stanford, WashU and UC's

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm applying RD at these eight schools and I was looking for some feedback for my chances. Please and thank you!</p>

<p>California Resident
Race: Asian (Filipino)</p>

<p>Major: Biomedical Engineering/Pre-Med
Schools: Johns Hopkins
UC San Diego
Stanford University
University of Washington
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Los Angeles </p>

<p>They're listed in order of rankings as best undergrad biomed schools. I've toured all of the schools except for Johns Hopkins which I will only visit if I get accepted and the financial aid works out. I enjoyed UCSD the most out of the seven schools, and would most likely choose to go there if accepted.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.92
Weighted GPA: 4.42
Class Rank: 34/458 (I’m ELC Eligible)
(I would have a higher rank if my school went by weighted GPA. Most of the students ahead of me only took AP English Language, English Literature, Government and Economics)</p>

<p>Honors/AP/College Classes</p>

<p>Freshman Year
Honors Ethnic Studies
Honors English 1</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
Honors English 2
Honors Modern World History</p>

<p>Junior Year (Scores in parentheses)
AP English Language (5)
AP US History (5)
AP Biology (4)
CC Art Appreciation (A)
CC Government (A)
CC Macroeconomics (A)</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP English Literature
AP Calculus AB
AP Physics
AP Psychology
CC Microeconomics (A)</p>

<p>Hopefully I'll get to transfer my credits and skip freshman year of college. I think I'm going to pass all my AP tests with 4's and all of my community college classes were A's. I don’t plan on transferring Biology or Physics though since pre-meds are recommended to not test out of the required sciences.</p>

<p>SAT First Attempt: 1720
(580 CR/ 610 M/ 530 WS)</p>

<p>SAT Second Attempt: 2020
(700 CR/ 680 M/ 640 WS)</p>

<p>Yes I'm aware that's a big jump in scores. I didn't prep at all for the first test because everyone described the test as being easy. The test was easy, I just wasn’t prepared. I spent a few months studying for my second test.</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests
U.S. History: 800 (lol)
Math II: 720
Biology E: 740</p>

<p>ACT: 31 Composite
I took the ACT right after my second SAT just to see how I'd do and it turned out nicely.</p>

<p>Sports
3 Years Cross Country (1 Year Varsity)
4 Years Track and Field(2 Years Varsity)
I'm actually one of the top 400 meter runners in the state and can be competitive in college. Johns Hopkins Track and Field is only Division III so I could dominate the competition and likely have pull with the coach.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Crimson – 3 Years (School newspaper, ranked as a pacemaker finalist meaning it’s among the top 10 best newspapers in the nation)
SkillsUSA – 3 Years (Nationwide competition that I’ve competed on the National Level and won)
International Club – 3 Years
Cal Poly Model United Nations (POLYMUN) – 3 Years
National Honors Society – 2 Years
Cycling Club – 2 Years
AP Biology Club – 1 Year (Only open to those in the class)
Filipino Association of North County – 7 Years
Key Club – 2 Years
Future Farmers of America – 1 Year</p>

<p>Volunteer Hours
100+ Hours of various community service
(Clean ups, Walks, Food Drives, and tutoring)</p>

<p>Leadership Positions
Founded a project with my friend where we will donate track equipment to the impoverished communities of the Philippines (To be donated this summer)
Founded a cycling club for those who love to cycle
Section Editor of top ranking school newspaper all three years (I design and edit stories for about 2 pages of the paper on average each issue)
Co-President of International Club
President of National Honor’s Society
Co-Captain of Track and Field Team
Treasurer of Filipino Association of North County</p>

<p>Awards
AP Scholar
SkillsUSA State Champion in Audio Production– 2 Years
SkillsUSA National Champion in Audio Production– 1 Year
President’s Volunteer Service Award – 2 Years
Outstanding Research (POLYMUN) – 2 Years</p>

<p>Letters of Recommendations
All three of my letters of recommendation are amazing and talk highly of me.
Mr. Mount – Princeton Grad (Talks a lot about my passionate work for the school newspaper)
Mr. Bradford – Cal Poly SLO Grad (Talks a lot about my performance in Honor’s MWH, APUSH, POLYMUN and National Honor’s Society)
Mr. Overton – Cal Poly SLO Grad (Talks a lot about my performance on the track and in chemistry)</p>

<p>Common App Essays (Questions 3 and 4)</p>

<p>Question 3 - Discussed Mr. Overton and how he inspired me to do well on the track and in the classroom. He has been there for me on numerous occasions. I thought that this essay was great.</p>

<p>Question 4 - Discussed how the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky has shaped my life through his novels. I started with Crime and Punishment and moved on to read everything he’d written by the end of my junior year. I thought that this essay was good.</p>

<p>University of California Essays</p>

<p>Freshman Prompt – Discussed how my cousin was a genius who got a full ride to UC Berkeley and how I was forced to emulate and hopefully surpass his performance in school and life. I thought that this essay was great considering everyone who read it said that they could feel me “wanting to be an individual rather than my cousin”. </p>

<p>All Applicants Prompt – Discussed Track and Field and how with the help of Mr. Overton as my track coach I was able to attend CIF, which is for the elite athletes of California. I thought that this essay was good.</p>

<p>Final Comments
My father is a disabled veteran from the gulf war (mass hearing loss) so I can get free tuition from any public institution in California. The majority of my family lives in Southern California so UC San Diego is just having more and more things stack up in its favor since I love the area and the feel of the school. I’ve always strived for the best though so being accepted to a school such as Johns Hopkins may push me their way. Another thing is that my girlfriend of two years wants to attend University of Washington, which is a school I actually liked a lot, but is out of state so I’d have to pay a large tuition cost. Since all of those schools with the exception of Davis, Irvine and Los Angeles are top 10 biomedical engineering undergrad schools, does it really matter where I go or will they all be close in the quality of their education? Chances, answers to my questions, comments, suggestions, anything is appreciated! </p>

<p>Thank you everyone for taking time out of your day to read this.</p>

2

<p>I think you have a good chance at UC San Diego , Irvine, and Davis, but JHU really seems like a reach for you. I think what’s setting you back are your test scores; remember that JHU biomed engineering is top in the country and difficult to get accepted to. It’s not discouragement; I’m just being honest. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>What would have been ideal scores that make JHU more of a match rather than a reach?</p>

4

<p>Stanford is a huge reach, as it is for most. JHU, Berkeley, and LA are reaches or low reaches as well.</p>

5

<p>@Dhipprokko For your other stats, I think >750 in Biology and >750 in both SATI and SATII math would sound like a better fit for JHU biomedical engineering. Don’t get me wrong; your ECs are fantastic, but you don’t sound that much like a prospective bio med major on paper. Just a thought.</p>

6

<p>Stanford is a huge reach, obviously. JHU and WashU are reaches. Cal and UCLA are low reaches. You should be able to get into the rest of the schools just fine.</p>

<p>We took the same SAT II’s too, lol, and got almost the same scores. Wow.</p>

7

<p>Well thanks for the input everyone. I can’t be too upset about the fact that JHU is a reach considering it is the best for biomed. I didn’t have high hopes of getting into Stanford either, I was just wondering if I would have gotten in or not. I’m curious about WashU being a reach though. 42% of the school population had entering GPA’s below 3.75 and my SAT scores are at the top end of their middle 50%. Am I missing something about WashU? Is it the major I want being ranking 9th or am I using the wrong acronym?</p>

8

<p>Are you talking about the University of Washington (which is in WA) or Washington University in St. Louis (which is in MO)? You keep saying WashU, which implies the one in MO (which is a reach for you), but your original post says “University of Washington” (which should be fairly safe)…</p>

9

<p>Oh geez I meant WA, I guess I kind of just wrote down the first Washington acronym I could think of. WA is ranked 9th so I’m assuming the major is impacted. Does that leave me with any guarantee for getting into the major? Or do I need to beat out other students, like it an application process to get into the major?</p>