Chance Me (dream: Harvard EA).

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi. I understand that there’s a multitude of “chance me!!” posts on here already. I go to a competitive public high school, and have been compared to my peers for the majority of my adolescent academic life. It would be refreshing to get outside perspectives from people who are not competing for the same spots that I am. Feel free to chance me on any school I have listed, or even offer some other schools you think I would have a good chance at. This is long; here we go.

List of Schools:
I have categorized these schools into what I believe they are to me (reach, match, safety). Please feel free to let me know if you feel the label on any school should change. I will probably apply to more schools as EA, but not sure yet.

-Harvard University(reach, dream) EA
-Johns Hopkins (reach)
-Yale University (reach)
-Vanderbilt University (match)
-Emory University (match)
-Washington University (match)
-University of Southern California (match; legacy)
-University of Louisville (safety)
-Boston University (safety)

I am also applying to some combined programs (BS/MD guaranteed entry into medical school), which are listed below.

-Boston University SMED program
-Northwestern University HPME program
-Brown University PLME program

At a Glance:
-Asian-American female
-Attends a pretty competitive high school in Kentucky
-Married parents, high household income (no chance of need-based financial aid)
-Dad’s current job is an anesthesiologist. He attended Peking University in China, and came to America to complete medical school at University of Southern California.
-Mom’s current job is a CRNA. She attended Peking University in China.

Stats:
-School does not offer a calculated UW GPA, but I estimate about 3.95/4.00
-4.45/5.00 Weighted GPA
-Top 4% in class (school does not rank)
-36/36 ACT (36 Math, 36 Reading, 36 English, 35 Writing) + 10/12 Essay Score
-1550/1600 SAT I (800 Math, 750 W+R)
-790 SAT II Math 2
-Will retake SAT II Math 2, as well as SAT Chemistry this August (projected 800 in both)
-1490/1520 PSAT (National Merit Semifinalist)

AP Coursework/Class Rigor:
Very difficult course load. For the readers’ sake, I will only include AP classes and college courses in this list.

Total AP Courses: 11 Taken, 2 Prospective

-AP Human Geography (5)
-AP Computer Science Principles (4)
-AP Physics 1 (4)
-AP Seminar (3)
-AP Statistics (4)
-AP World History (3)
-AP Computer Science A
-AP Calculus BC
-AP Chemistry
-AP English Language
-AP United States History
-AP Biology (senior year)
-AP Comparative Government (senior year)

-English 102 (Course taken at University of Louisville)
-Linear Algebra (Course taken at University of Louisville)
-Calculus III (Course taken at University of Louisville)

Regrettably, I know that my AP test scores leave something to be desired. I probably will not submit any tests that I scored a 3 on.

ECs and Summer Camps:
The following ECs and summer camps are of the academic type:
-Founder and President of Medical Assistance for Chinese Louisvillians (2017 - Present).
-Researcher at the Donald E. Baxter Laboratory (2018 - Present)
-HOSA Future Physicians of America (2017 - Present), Officer
-American Mathematics Competition Club (2017 - Present), Officer
-Greater Louisville Math League (2017 - Present), Officer
-Science Olympiad (2014 - 2019)
-Academic Team Composition (2017 - 2019)
-Camp Cardiac (2018). Camp in Kentucky that focuses on medicine, especially cardiology.
-Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Program (2019)
-Introduction to Evolutionary Medicine course at Harvard University (2019)

The following ECs are of the non-academic type:
-Piano (2010 - Present)
First Place Kentucky Music Festival (2018, 2019)
-Taekwondo and Judo (2010 - Present)
First Place World Taekwondo Championship (2016, 2017, 2019)
-Lacrosse (2014 - 2018)

Top Awards/Recognition:
-Published research article in the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology (which has an impact factor of 4.084, very high for even publications by medical students)
-Regeneron ISEF 2020 Finalist (did not get the chance to compete because of cancellation due to COVID-19 concerns; thus, understandably no awards)
-Best of Fair Regional Science Fair (2020)
-First Place Regional Science Fair (2020) + Second Place Regional Science Fair (2019)
-Harvard-MIT Mathematics Competition Finalist (2018)
-Fourth Place International HOSA Future Physicians of America Competition (2019)
-Second Place Kentucky Junior Academy of Science (2019)
-First Place State HOSA Future Physicians of America Competition (2019)
-National Merit Semifinalist

Volunteering/Employment:
-Employed at Snaplingo Tutoring (2017 - Present). Roughly 4 hours per week. Tutoring underprivileged Chinese students in English.
-Volunteering at the Kentuckiana Chinese School (2015 - Present). A total of roughly 400 hours. Aiding teachers in teaching students the Chinese language.
-Volunteering at Jewish Hospital (2017 - Present). A total of 800 hours; 8 hours per weekday each summer. Working with patients and family in pre-op, recovery, and throughout the hospital.
-Volunteering at University of Louisville Hospital (2019). 60 hours. Working with patients and physicians in internal radiology, pre-op, and recovery.

Recommendations:
Teacher Rec 1: A teacher who taught me in both AP Physics 1 and MST Precalculus. I excelled in both of these classes, and we both have a similar sense of humor. I helped out with struggling students in his classes often. He can write about me as a leader, a student in his STEM classes, and as a person.
Teacher Rec 2: A teacher who taught me in MST Biology and Science Fair (our school assigns every student a science fair teacher mentor). She saw me overcome many academic challenges in her classes, and we are really quite good friends. She can write about me as a student in her STEM classes and as a person.
Teacher Rec 3: A teacher who taught me in freshman year English. She was one of the first teachers who I really got along with, and she can truly attest to my writing abilities. I check in with her often, even three years later. She can write about me as a leader, a student in her English class, and as a person.

Community Rec 1: My lab mentor at my research laboratory. She has seen me prosper in the last three years as a researcher, and can attest very clearly to who I am as a person, my perseverance, and my dedication to research and medicine.
Community Rec 2: The principal of Kentuckiana Chinese School. He has watched me, quite literally, grow from student to leader. He can attest to my leadership, willingness to help others, and who I am as a person.

If you have read this far, thank you. It kind of sucks being in such a competitive environment constantly – tripping your ‘friends’ to be better, comparing yourself to your peers, never really knowing where you stand.
Let me know. Thanks.

2

Hi emma! I think you have a great chance of getting into Harvard because of your EC’s (wow you’re published!). I think you’ll definitely get into Boston too. Although college is like a crapshot, I think your stats and EC’s make you a really strong applicant :slight_smile: Good luck!

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Great applicant. KY will help a lot. There are not a lot of Harvard students from KY. Low AP scores might hurt but your other scores seem fine. Hopefully H knows your high school and its rigor. Asian hurts a lot (sadly).
I would say 50/50 chance. The volunteer hours are great so is the Tae Kwon Do and the published article.

4

Take a look at the Arcidiocano report from the recent Harvard lawsuit. Being an early applicant boosts your chances at Harvard slightly. But being Asian hurts your chances. Being female tends to be about even. The Kentucky demographic will help.

I think a large part of your chances will depend on your essays, and how well this ties in with your intended major. There are some humanities departments where they are looking for strong students. Especially if you can make a link with your ECs/interests. Overall your chances are probably much better than most applicants, but Harvard is tough for just about everyone.

5

Some thoughts:

  1. 6 LoRs (3 teachers, 2 outside + 1 GC) is at least 2 too many. Harvard asks for two from different areas (usually construed to mean one Humanities and one STEM). ONE further LoR where there is something substantial to be added that is not present in the rest of your app is fine (in your case, your research mentor).

  2. Are you the sole or first author of your paper? if not, where in the line-up are you?

  3. You have clearly been well-mentored and supported. Be careful about coming across as overly packaged / having a tick-box mindset.

  4. What does “tripping your ‘friends’ to be better” mean to you?

  5. Have you looked at the Naviance diagram for your school for BU? I agree that it is more likely than not, but at 25% I would be cautious at considering it as a safety- especially because I am willing to bet that you would be gutted if your only choice was U of L.

Consider adding UPittsburgh, which is a safety for you, has a really strong pre-med program, and for which you have a really good shot at their guaranteed admit to the Med school:

https://www.medadmissions.pitt.edu/programs/guaranteed-admissions-program

Finally, to make your senior year happier, I strongly suggest a diversionary approach on the subject of college. Research some wild card programs that have some element that you could credibly say you are interested in. Every time the subject of college admissions come up pull out a different one “I was looking at the X program at Z college last night- it’s really innovative”. Resolutely don’t tell any of your classmates where you are applying / what you are hoping for until you make your deposit in the spring. Hand on heart, it helps. To the extent that you can, enlist your parents to follow the same path: “waiting until all the results are in”

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collegemom3717: i appreciate the long and clearly well thought out response. thanks for taking the time out of your day to do this for a stranger.

  1. understood; i will probably use two teachers LoR and my research mentor’s.
  2. I am the second contributing author.
  3. if you don’t mind explaining, what IS a tick-box mindset? i’ve googled it and tried to do a little research on what it is since receiving your advice, but can’t seem to find much.
  4. lots of my peers “sabotage” others in order to boost themselves ahead - things like conveniently telling people the wrong date for a competition so that they don’t show up and there is less competition. it sucks to see and it’s sad.
  5. you’ve hit the mark with this one; i would not want to only have UofL as a choice. i will definitely do some more research on UPittsburgh’s undergrad and medical program - thanks! i’ve also added some more safeties since then, especially Northeastern Univ.
  6. that’s genuine advice. i’ll take it to heart. thank you.
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:slight_smile:

That is what I was afraid of when you referred to ‘tripping’. I am profoundly sorry that your environment is that sort of competitive. Spend some time learning about the culture of the schools you are applying to- some are decidedly more collaborative than others. On that metric, I would put JHU and Yale ahead of Harvard.

A tick-box mindset is ‘if you do these things you will get this result’. For selective college admissions the usual tick-list is: rigorous academics, top stats, sport (preferably team), art (preferably performing), community service, some awards, a meaningful leadership role. There is even a “stereotypical Asian” version- perfect stats, piano or violin, solo sport (eg, tennis, martial arts) and STEM competitions. The list keeps getting longer (starting a non-profit has only been on the list for about a decade or so, but imo is already going out of favor) as high achieving, ambitious students try to tick all the boxes that AOs have indicated they value. When everybody works to the same list it is harder to stand out as an individual. In no way am I disparaging of your accomplishments! just urging you to remember to keep you front and center. When you do your essays, and write up your LoR cheat sheet, be sure that a good sense of the person who would be coming* to their campus shines through. To that end, the thing that I liked best in your first post is that you and one of your teachers share the same sense of humor- it caught my attention because everything else reads as being so disciplined, so focused, so single minded that it was a happy thing to see that there is still a 17(ish) year old who can laugh in there!

*trusting that by Sept 2021 colleges are back to normal…

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You have a great chance of getting into some of your schools. Even most of them. Clearly all the boxes have been ticked off. So look up what the chances are for those schools and thst’s what your chances are. You are an excellent candidate as most of HPY et al applicants are. In fact, several years ago? You might have stood out, but now your the research paper , has become a line entry for many privileged kids applying to top schools. A lot of these activities were things that made a person stand out until they became part of what one does to get into a selective school of one has the parents to facilitate. Nothing on your entire list that stands out. Nothing that Harvard needs—do they have a NCAA Tae Kwon Do team? Do they need another pianist? A violinist ?

Back some years ago, a friend’s son with nearly the exact resume as yours got into Harvard EA with almost the same resume right down to the TseKwon Do. He was the first crop of kids that authored research papers and had these activities that are now commonplace and de rigueur for high achievers today. There are a number of such kids selected each year, and you may be one of them.

You have a good list of schools and you ll do well on most of the outcomes. The BS/Med and Harvard and Yale are very much reach.

9

You list Boston University as a safety but then mention you may apply to their BA/MD program. You cannot apply for both regular admissiion and the combined program. If you apply to the combined program and are denied you will not be considered for regular admission.

Boston University and Northeastern are not safeties for anyone. With your profile you would need to show interest otherwise you will be denied or waitlisted. Both schools will see you using them as safeties and they will not like that.

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I have to admit I am curious about your comment:

“It kind of sucks being in such a competitive environment constantly”

That is sort of the definition of “Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Yale, …”. It is also sort of the definition of “premed” at any of a very wide range of universities.

I think that you are competitive anywhere. I do wonder whether you should think harder about safeties, while going ahead and applying to the top schools on your list.

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Since when was Vanderbilt a match for anyone?

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Squ1rrl, I thought the same thing before I read her resume, but after the fact I have to agree with that evaluation. If you can’t get into Harvard with these stats and ECs — provided your essays are on par with the rest of your app—then no one can. I have to agree with previous commenters that you could probably use an extra safety or two, but you’ll probably be fine with your matches, even though I definitely see you at Harvard.

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collegemom3717: i’ve gotten a few comments about having all the boxes ticked, but nothing truly standing out from other competitive applicants. i will absolutely take your advice about making sure to make my story about who I am as a person. your comments are appreciated and i’m grateful. thank you very much

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cptofthehouse: thanks for the in-depth reply; i’m grateful for it. it does seem like applications are getting more and more competitive as the years ago along, which is, of course, nice to see so much being accomplished, but it also, regrettably, makes things a little harder for me. i think at this point, my essays and the story that my application spins will be the tipping point for me. any thoughts? thank you

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tomsrofboston: i was actually not aware of that; i thought that if I had gotten denied from BU BS/MD, i would still be eligible to apply as an undergraduate. thanks for the heads up.
of course, i would write my applications to BU and Northeastern with as much energy and dedication as my ones for Harvard and Yale; just because they are “safeties” to me, I would be grateful and excited to attend either. i penned Northeastern and BU as safeties because of the baselines and resumes of my older friends who have been rejected or accepted to them both - but of course, i am open and welcoming to your reasons. why do you think i should have them as matches instead of safeties (or even reaches?)? i just want to get a little more insight to edit my school list better.
thanks for your time, i really appreciate it.

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dadtwogirls: this was a miscommunication on my part, to be honest. i love being in an ACTUAL competitive environment, with peers and mentors who push me to be the best i can be. on the other hand, i very much dislike being in the type of competitive environment where peers are sabotaging others in order to gain favor for themselves (which is my high school). like collegemom3717 said, there are definitely some schools that are more “collaborative competitive”, which I will definitely be looking more into.
i will absolutely look into more safety schools, as well as applying to my reach and match schools. i appreciate your advice; thank you for your time. :slight_smile:

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squ1rrl, i have designated Vanderbilt as a match for me for a few reasons. for one, my stats are much higher than their 75 percentile statistics. in addition, i’ve spoken to some older friends and classmates who have been rejected or admitted to V, and did my best to compare my resume to theirs, my ECs to theirs, my stats to theirs, etc.
if there’s any reason you think otherwise, please let me know - i’m always open to constructive criticism and making the college application process the best it can be. thanks

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sgopal2: i think if i were applying as a humanities major, it would make my chances a little bit better. however, i am quite certain that i am going into STEM/medicine. of course, i understand that Harvard is hard for everyone; i think my essays will be my tipping point at this point in time.
i appreciate your analysis and reply. thank you!

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austinsanjuan: appreciated! thanks. i’ll definitely look into some more safety schools - maybe Ohio State University or something of that caliber. :slight_smile:

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Re: BU: " Applicants to the Accelerated Program will be considered only for admission to this program."
https://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/first-year/accelerated-medical-requirements/

Schools like BU and Northeastern are aware that many applicants consider them as safeties given that the students’ stats put them in the top 25% of accepted students. Thus they will look for “demonstrated interest” which may include visiting campus and attending an infosession, registering at a college fair, submitting an optional essay etc. They don’t expect to be the first choice but rather a school a student would be happy to attend if HYPSM do not come through.