Chance Me?!?!?! (Emory, UMich, Vanderbilt, Tufts, WashU)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Applying to: Vanderbilt, WashU in St. Louis, Tufts, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Emory, JHU, UMich, Rice, Northwestern

Attend a College Prep School, well known by colleges for rigorous curriculum.
Grade: Rising Senior
Race: Asian American
Major: Finance/medicine
ACT: 32 (Retaking)
SAT: Taking
SAT Subject: 790 Math II
GPA: 3.8/4 School only reports one GPA because little to no boost for Honors/AP’s (3.6 Freshman, 3.8 Sophomore, 4 Junior)
Rank: School doesn’t rank
Classes: (school doesn’t let us take AP’s until Junior Year, limited)
-Taken:
Honors Algebra 2, Honors Precalc BC, AP Precalc BC, several english and history seminars, Bio, Honors Chem, AP Physics, Spanish 2, 3, and 4 honors, Choir
-Taking:
AP Stats, AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Spanish, bioethics, english seminars, Choir

Extracurriculars
Research: 2 summers of approximately 800 hours combined. Participated in several poster presentations, placing second at state competition and entering the Siemens National Competition this year. A part of an elite and highly selective research program that gives students the opportunity to conduct research in the area.
Communiy Tutor: Tutor elementary students at the local community center
Peer Tutor: Tutor classmate who has a learning disability in pre-calc
City Council: Four years to be, member that holds forums on national topics in the heart of the city with local presence of congressman and local leaders
Student Coach of Middle School Academic Challenge Team: Student Head Coach (along with long term teacher/friend), reader, and tournament assistant coordinator for, to be 4 years, of team that has won several state and national titles.
Co-founder and leader of Finance/Investment Club: Uses a lot of my time, became the second largest active extracurricular group after having nearly 70 people join in the first month of starting it.
Editor for newspaper: Senior year editor with more than 15 articles written and published
Speech and Debate: Attended weekly tournaments and comitted freshman year to it (possible why I saw a decline in grades)
Leader of Model UN Club: Pariticpant as a sophomore, leader as a junior (organizing and researching for tournaments)
STEMM: Two semesters of research oriented classes
School Host Club: Student host for new families and students and acive participant at monthly open houses
Independent Engineering Project (Not quite finished, need to put more time into it): Using bikes donated by Shwinn to generate electrical energy back into the school’s energy system as integrated into Physical Ed. Classes.
Violin: Played for 5 years and have played multiple solos at local venues
Piano: Played for 7 years, not competitively, but at local venues as well.
Spanish: Not fluent but proficient
Parents language: dialect that I can speak fluently

Essays: Should be good
Recs: Expecting them to be amazing because both teachers know me well and have seen me grow
Legacy: none, first generation American

2

Additionally, participated in selective state choir camp over the summer with renowned conductors. Will hopefully repeat towards the beginning of the school year.

3

A lot will depend on your SAT scores and on whether or not you are able to raise your ACT score, which is currently near the bottom quartile at several of the schools on your list.

Columbia and Penn (esp. Wharton) require high scores as well as outstanding achievements and a clear sense of purpose. Vanderbilt and Wash U are a bit more stats-focused, but right now that isn’t your strong suit. At present, I’d say that Emory and Michigan represent your best shots.

Still, even assuming that you improve your test scores substantially, there is something else that you need to do in order to increase your chances. As it stands, your list of ECs is impressive in its scope, but it seems to lack any clearly defined sense of focus or direction. Hence you need to think about how you could write an admissions essay that would frame these ECs in a way that painted a sharper picture of who you are as a person and of what you hope to achieve. This essay should also explain the relationship between your two stated interests: finance and medicine. Explain what you hope to do with this combination: Become a biotech entrepreneur? Work on healthcare reform as a policy analyst or consultant? Go into hospital management? Become a surgeon with sharp investment skills?

However you end up answering this question about your dual interests, try to connect your ECs with that answer in a coherent way. In sum, to have a strong chance at elite schools, you need to project an image of yourself as someone who is more than just another bright guy who has taken piano lessons and gotten involved in lots of activities. The purpose of your essay is to effect this projection. Good luck!

4

First of all, where is your home state? Second, I think you misunderstood first generation student definition. It has nothing to do with your immigration status.
With your current GPA and ACT, UMich is a reach for you.

5

Home state is OH, and I understand what it means to be a “first generation,” which is why I used American after to indicate an immigrant household. My parents have attended graduate schools so I apologize if I wasn’t clear enough. When you mention UMich as a reach, are you then stating that all are reaches?

6

No.I am only chancing you for UMich as I ammost family with it. Your GPA is below admission average while your ACT is around admission average, your chance would be right around the OOS admission rate of ~20%. Your immigration status offers you no advantage, so it does look confusing in a chance thread.

7

Vanderbilt- Reach/ High Reach
WashU in St. Louis- Reach
Tufts- Reach
Penn- Reach
Columbia, - High Reach
Cornell, - High Match/ Reach
Emory- Reach, Oxford- Match/High Match
JHU,- Reach
Rice- Reach
Northwestern- Reach/ High Reach
U Mich- High Match
Your stats are below avg for all of these schools except UMIch. Please retake. Also if Emory is your first choice ( idk if it is you listed it first), apply ED.

8

UMich is a mid reach with around 20% chance for OP from OOS. Indeed, it can hardly be a high match for any OOS students even with better stat than OP these days.