Chance Me: Brown, Harvard, Yale, Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I am a rising senior from Massachusetts and my number one school is Brown. Other schools I want to apply to are Harvard, Stanford, Yale, UPENN, Vassar, and Williams College. Any and all input is very much appreciated. Thank you so much for helping me out!

Intended major: neuroscience

GPA(out of 100): 95.8 unweighted
SAT 1: 1520 (770 english, 750 math)
SAT 2: 710 Biology and taking the Math 1 and 2 in August - will submit my higher score
AP: Bio(5), Stats(5), Comp Sci A(4)
Rank: school doesn’t rank
AP classes: AP Computer Science, AP Biology, AP Literature, AP Statistics, AP Environmental Science
Senior year classes: AP Calc BC, AP Gov, AP Lang, TA for Anatomy and Physiology, Exercise Physiology, ASL 2, Film studies
Also, I’m taking a summer class at Harvard right now (Foundations of Neuroscience) which I have an A in as of now

Work:
-Worker at Cambridge Hospital for this summer
-I worked with a PhD student at MIT on her wearable technology device for her computer science degree sophomore and junior year
-Participated in a program called Young Leaders in STEM where I worked with different graduate students in their labs during the summer of my sophomore year
-Activity coordinator at the Elder Service Plan, an organization that provides healthcare services to elderly with comprehensive medical needs, junior year summer

Volunteer:
-Volunteer at Massachusetts General Hospital for junior year
-Junior mentor for Science Club For Girls for sophomore year
-Volunteer with Birthday Wishes for 15 years

ECs:
-I founded an exercise club at my school to help combat the obesity epidemic (president)
-Medical club for two years
-Jewish club for two years
-Computer science club for two years
-ASL club for one year
-History club for one year
-Travel softball tournament team for seven years (captain)
-High school varsity softball team for three years
-Coached my in-town girls softball team sophomore year
-High school fencing team for junior year
-Competitive gymnast for Freshman through junior year
-High school gymnastics team for sophomore year

Awards/certificates:
-Core chemistry award of excellence
-Best of the best workers for my time at the Elder Service Plan
-Unsung Hero for my high school gymnastics team
-Honorable mention at the state level at National History Day
-Certificate for volunteering at Mass Gen
-Certificate for volunteering with Birthday Wishes
-AP Scholar Award
-First Honors Award; eight times (a school academic award)

2

So I’ll assume you will ED to Brown?

3

Yeah, I plan on applying early

4

You’re a great student with lots of promise the get into a bunch of good colleges, but not necessarily the ones you want to get into the most. Your chances are extremely low at Brown, HYS, and Penn, as they will be for anyone. In fact, your GPA and SAT score is not going to stand out at any of those schools. Your ECs are good, but again, won’t stand out at those schools. Williams is a high reach, Vassar is a reach.

I hope you have match and safety schools on your list. That’s where you need to focus.

5

Your stats and ECs make you a strong ED candidate for Brown. In particular your application will benefit from your starement “Brown is my number one school”. I assume you have done your diligence and can describe the fit. Brown as much as any school out there cares about fit.

Express what about Brown appeals to you and how you will contribute to the Brown community and you have a great shot. Good luck.

6

I think you have a reasonable shot at brown. People are saying that your test scores aren’t anything special, but they fall in the middle 50% so I don’t think they’ll hold you back. You might wanna try to retake SAT II Bio if you think you can get a higher score, especially if you want to go into a field like Neuroscience.

Probably the best thing you can do to increase your chances is try to pull some strings and get a rec from someone you worked with in Cambridge hospital or in research, as long as they are reputable. Still good to have a balanced list of colleges, since there is no surefire way to get into any of the more selective schools you listed, regardless of qualifications.

7

You definitely have demonstrated breadth through your ECs, work, and volunteer experience. I would recommend attempting to go for more depth with one of your ECs that your passionate about. Show initiative/leadership outside of school, and it will go a long way. As a whole, I think you have a really good shot at Brown, and a chance at Harvard, Stanford, etc.