CHANCE ME FOR ALL OF MY SCHOOLS (INCLUDING IVIES)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Bio:
-Citizenship: US Citizen
-Race: I’m a refugee so I was born in Baghdad, Iraq and my family fled to the US in 2007 because of the war. I speak Arabic and English, and I’m a Muslim.
-Gender: Female
-State: Maine

School: Public, Class Size of 150

Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 95%
-Weighted GPA: 97%
-Rank: Top 10%
-SAT: 1420 total (720 English, 700 Math, 24/24 Essay)
-Taking Subject Tests for Math 2 and Chem in October

Recommendations:
-I am having my AP Lang and Comp teacher write me one of my recommendations. I got 97+ in her class and a 5 on the exam. She said I was the best writer she’s had in years. I’ve also known her all four years of high school because she is the adviser of my school’s literary and arts magazine, which I am the editor-in-chief.

-My second recommendation is being written by my Science Research teacher. I’ve also known her for all four years of high school and over the years she’s become a great friend of my family’s. We actually had her over for dinner a few weeks ago!

Course rigor:
By the end of high school, I will have taken 8 AP Classes, 1 IB HL class, and 10 honors classes. This is my course load for senior year:
-AP Literature
-AP Physics
-AP Calc BC
-AP Comp Sci
-AP US Gov and Politics
-AP French
-IB History HL Year 2
-Science Research (Honors)

Awards:
-New York Times Editorial Contest Runner-Up (Top 25 out of almost 8,000!!)
-Award from the American Psychology Association @ State Science Fair
-Three scholastic writing awards (Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention)
-Columbia College Chicago Young Author’s Competition finalist in the creative nonfiction category
-My school chose me as one of 2 delegates to Girls’ State, and there I was elected to the senate, then elected senate president.
-RIT Medal for Creativity and Innovation from my school
-Selected to attend Consider Engineering camp at the University of Maine (Summer 2017)

EC’s:
-School Literary and Arts Magazine: Editor-in-Chief junior and senior year
-I do an independent science research project every year and I have presented scientific research every year at the state science fair, and the junior sciences and humanities symposium
-Student Government (Head of Academics Committee)
-Science Bowl (Co-captain of team 2017, Captain 2018)
-VEX Robotics (Captain of team)
-Civil Rights Team Senior Member
-French Honor Society

  • National Honor Society

Volunteering:
-I am a trained Youth Court volunteer.
-I volunteer at my local library
-I volunteer at a local mosque teaching Arabic to young kids

Essays:
I know I can write a good essay (as you’ve probably noticed, writing is kind of my thing) and I really would love to show the admissions committee that Brown is the school for me!

Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering/Biological Engineering. For Bowdoin, I am applying as a Bio major. I am not strictly a science person though, and I’m also very interested in writing and government.

–Colleges–
Early Decision:
Brown

Early Action:
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Northeastern
UMaine

Regular Decision:
Cornell
Dartmouth
Smith
Bowdoin
Tufts
BU

2

You’re an impressive candidate! You have a compelling personal story, so enhance your essay by telling it. The one weakness for the Ivies are your SAT scores. I know this is a bummer, because they’re GOOD scores, but most Ivies like to see students clear 1500. But your scores are in the zone for all the other schools. I’m assuming that Northeastern, wpi, UM-O are safeties. I’m saying this without knowing much about your high school (highly rated, or not well known) and how competitive it is, but you could have a shot at Brown because I think they’re into unique students with varied backgrounds. My niece went there, and her scores were horrible; but she was a 4.0 and super creative. A writer like you! You’re likely to get into Smith, BU, too. Tufts, Cornell, Bowdoin, Dartmouth are all hard to get into and it’s pretty much a crapshoot – you might indeed get in, or might not. Your essays and recommendations are key. (Not to add pressure, it’s just the way it is.)

Friends S is at McGill in Montreal in a special biomed engineering program and loves it. Have you considered Georgia Tech, Hopkins, and U Mich, too? The UCs (California)? If looking for scholarships, they’re not good if OOS, but if you don’t need financial aid, UCSD and Berkeley have excellent biomed. Having said that, you clearly have a talent in English/writing and may want to consider a bio major with English or writing minor – which you can more easily do at a smaller school. You might want to mull that over as you make your final choice.

I know you asked for “chance me” but thought I’d throw in the other schools known for strong biomed. Also, track who-went-where from your high school last year’s senior class, and the year before. Did many kids get into Bowdoin? Brown? Cornell? I ask this because some high schools have affinities/ties with specific colleges. For example, our town’s high school seems to be popular with certain colleges, but not others. Nobody seems to get into Princeton, Vanderbilt, and Duke, but many get into Stanford, Williams, Pomona and UPenn. So, if your school is “liked” by a college, you may have more of a chance. See where your predecessors went and it’ll give you an idea if your school is well known to the admission departments.

You’ll get in at many of schools on your list (at least 5). Best of luck!

3

You should run the NPC on each school on your list and make sure that you can afford them. Other than that I think that you have a good list with at least one very safe safety, some reaches, and a few in between where I still think that you have a decent chance. I do wonder about adding UMass Amherst and/or UVM (Vermont) as schools between U.Maine and some of the reach schools on your list.

4

@proudmama2016 A ton of kids from my school get into Tufts. I think we have 3 going this year. Bowdoin is also very popular for us, probably because we are only about 20 minutes away from Brunswick. As for Cornell, I know one person who graduated a few years ago goes there, and I know one person from the Class of 2016 who goes to Brown. Honestly, at this point, I just REALLY want to get into Brown. I know my SAT score isn’t super high, but do you think everything else makes up for it? Especially if I know that I will have great recs and great essays? Plus I think I’m a really good fit for Brown and the Open Curriculum overall and I will try to express that in my essays.

As for the other schools you suggested, I don’t want to stray too far from New England so the UC’s are a bit too far for me along with Georgia Tech & JHU, though I briefly considered applying to JHU.

5

Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, and Tufts are all going to be tough to get into with your SAT score. I think a lot of kids think Brown is for them because of its open curriculum and Ivy League status. But what else about it do you love? I don’t think those two things alone are enough reason to apply ED to Brown.

6

You don’t need to clear 1500 (750 each,) but 720 and especially the 700M, for stem, will be comparatively low.

But you have so much else going for you. Now you need to nail what Brown looks for and show it through the CA essay and supp. And the engineering supp.

Remember, the essay isn’t usual hs writing or the sort for a writing competition. Nor is it just about responding to a prompt. You want to show the attributes they like.

I don’t think OP is superficially pointing to the open curriculum. She has depth and breadth in interests and experiences that can fit well.

Adding: I wonder if you also want an LoR from a classroom math or sci teacher, as they know you in that setting, with those tasks. Think about it.

7

@lookingforward do you think a higher SAT Math II subject test will makeup or the 700? Plus I have a 5 on the AP English exam and I’m pretty sure my grades and that score + my writing awards show that I’m pretty competent in reading and writing so I’m not so worried about the 720. I absolutely hate standardized tests…they stress me out and I get a lower score because I overthink everything.

8

@Tufts2021 Brown is not the only school with an open curriculum. I’ve done a lot of research on a ton of colleges, and I’ve talked it over with my parents and ran NPC and I’m 1000% sure that Brown is the right fit for me in every possible way. I wouldn’t be applying to Brown ED if I wasn’t. I pointed to the open curriculum in this post because that’s the most well-known aspect of Brown. And, as @lookingforward said, I have many interests that go beyond science and I’ve always been a bit intellectually flexible which I believe is what Brown looks for. I’m obviously not going to a write my “Why Brown?” essay in this post, especially because I’m asking people to chance me for other schools as well, but there are many reasons that I want to go to Brown that go beyond the open curriculum. Plus, it would be kind of stupid to apply early decision to a school just because they’re an ivy league, don’t you think?

Also, Bowdoin is test-optional, so if all else fails… :slight_smile: