Chance me for a few Schools Please?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

After submitting a few applications I am suffering from extreme impatience and anxiety haha and if somebody could chance me for some of my colleges I would be so grateful!

ACT: 31 composite (32 superscored): 32 English, 28 Math (or maybe it was 27), 33 Reading, 33 Science
Unweighted GPA: 3.9
Rank: 7/388ish
Senior Course load: IB Bio HL YR 2, AP Gov, AP Lit, Honors Physics, IB Psych SL, IB Math HL Yr 2, Honors spanish 4, free hour
Number of AP’s taken: 6
AP Scores Reporting: AP Euro-3, AP Lang-4
Number of IB’s taken: 3
Honors: National Honor Society (2 years)

Extracurriculars: Spanish Club (4 years), Ballet (10 years mentioned in essay but 2 years in HS), Orchestra (5 years mentioned in essay but 2 years in HS), Philosophy Club (1 year), Soccer JV (1 year in HS)
Community Service: Hospital Volunteer (3 years, 400+ hrs), Food Bank (1 year 50 hours), Church (2 years 100ish hours)
Essay: Thought it was pretty good
Recommendations: Probably both good. Teacher recommendation came from my math teacher who knows me pretty well. Other came from my counselor who probably gave a decent one.

State: Missouri
School Type: Public, medium size
Ethnicity: Multiracial: half asian, half white
Gender: Female
Applied for financial aid

Intended major: Microbiology and/or Biochemistry. But Micro was my first choice.

I applied at University of Rochester and Purdue University. I intend on applying to Tulane and Illinois Tech later.

I applied to University of Rochester Early Decision so hopefully that gives me a nice boost. They also superscore the ACT so I’d have a 32 to them. I’m also in the process of attempting to get an interview.
I don’t have too high of hopes for Tulane but I got a fee waiver so might as well as apply.

I’m mainly concerned about UR though because I really want to go there and my scores are in their average but then again I’m no special applicant by any means! If you could chance me I would appreciate it!

2

I think you’re selling yourself short. You will likely get into all the schools you applied to. I would have thrown a few apps into some much more competitive schools.
A 3.9 WU is pretty much as good as it gets. Plus you’re a female looking to study STEM plus you’re from a state that UR likely get’s very few applicants from.

3

Yo, please please please apply to some more Tech Schools. Have you considered Rochester IT? Heck, with a 32 ACT and a Woman in Steam maybe through Georgia Tech and Caltech a bone as a high match ad a reach. Tulane and IIT might as well be safeties/low matches honestly.Rochester IT is a nice safety for you, they really need more women.

4

Some higher-end schools for you to consider:
WUSTL
Brandeis
Case
NYU

You should also try a few hail-mary reaches in:
MIT
CalTech
Princeton
UofC

5

Sorry, this student isn’t getting into MIT or Caltech. Test scores are too low; being female isn’t that much of an advantage. Math ACT is 28… I assume some of those reaches also want SAT IIs (not sure, would need to look at websites).

6

@soze Really? Thank you so much! I mean I’m not incredibly worried but another girl from my school is applying early there too and has similar stats to mine so idk If they’ll accept both of us or not which is pretty much the root of all my anxiety.

I was considering maybe trying for Cornell but that’s about as high as I may try because that’s probably the closest reach I can potentially get. I also considered NYU but I feel as though it’s pretty similar to Rochester.

7

@ADonkeyFly I looked into RIT but I wasn’t too big on tech schools. But I’ll consider it more!

8

Lordy… NYU and Rochester could not be more different. What is it about Rochester you seem to be so enthralled about? I really think you sold yourself short applying ED there. Is that really your first choice of school if you could go anywhere?

9

@evenstevens - IIT is certainly a Tech school. but you have a good chance to be admitted with some sort of financial aid.

10

@soze I mean admissions-wise both are pretty similar. But since NYU is public it’s just less appealing. I really liked Rochester because it’s private and they have open-curriculum which is really nice. Of course I’d like to go somewhere better but I felt as though I had pretty good chances at Rochester and honestly I don’t think I’m ivy material haha

11
  1. NYU is private
  2. You are just as much" ivy-material" as anybody.
  3. You really need to get better informed. You're making a very important decision based on bad data.
12

Rochester is a beautiful school. Be aware that some of the comments on this thread seem to have been introduced with either incomplete information or a significant degree of bias. For example, there’s no reason to think the lower ranked Brandeis is a “higher-end” school in comparison to UR.

Separately

I’d like to go somewhere better (#9)

If you have researched Rochester and like its curriculum, campus and general atmosphere, then there may be nowhere better for you.

13

U of R is one school in the east that gets relatively little play with high stat students and their parents but is known as a first rate school to people that can and will influence a person’s career.

It has that good of a reputation where it counts the most.

Other than Stern undergraduate, NYU doesn’t have as a good a reputation.

14

“Other than Stern UG, NYU doesn’t have a good reputation” You must be kidding me right?

NYU is one of the greatest schools you can go to. Just take a look the school’s meteoric rise in the past 30 years. In the 70s and 80s NYU was a commuter school - nobody really considered going here. Now it has very strong programs for Economics, English, Philosophy, Journalism, Mathematics, International Relations, Education, Film & TV, Acting, etc. It’s not consistently the number 1 dream school for most students in the nation for no reason. The school attracts smart, socially capable students who are able to take run with the opportunities presented to them in the city. I have yet to find a school that has integrated so well with the city it is based in as well as NYU has.

The school offers an incredible opportunity to study abroad in various locations through short-term classes, exchange programs, and semester away programs and does it better than any other university in the nation.

NYU also attracts a contingent of unbelievably intelligent international students who realize the incredible benefit of attending their university years in NYC. NYU is a brand that is known around the world. The same cannot be said of many university that are ranked above it. I guarantee you that if you conduct a survery around the world and ask lay people what they think of schools like Wake Forest, Georgetown, Rice, Emory they probably wouldn’t even know what those are even though they tend to be ranked above NYU on US NEWS.

Any school that attracts such incredible amount talent from around the world has a great reputation.

15

@soze ah my bad this whole time I’ve been thinking NYU was public. Woops

16

@merc81 You make great points. Of course if offered a spot at say Harvard I imagine most would be quite conflicted even with a strong passion for another school, all because of “name branding.” But honestly Rochester is quite unique when compared to other sister schools and that’s why I really like it, not because of its “brand” (which honestly out here in the midwest, Rochester is unheard of).

17

"Of course if offered a spot at say Harvard I imagine that most would be quite conflicted even with a strong passion for another school, all because of “name branding.” (#15)

Well said, and I don’t disagree. However, the resulting experience may not always be postive. This is what then candidate, now Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker said on the topic when asked by the Boston Globe to take the Proust Questionairre:

Q: What is your greatest regret?

A: Not going to Hamilton College. I never really felt comfortable at Harvard.

18

Wow…just… wow.

19

Keep in mind, also, that UR’s 75th percentile SAT scores are higher than Harvard’s 25th percentile scores, so statistically the schools do overlap.

20

We’ll what percentage of dual-admits to both UR and Harvard choose to go to UR? (I’m going to say with the exception of the REMS program) it’s very close to zero.