<p>Caucasian Male Junior
3.85 UW/4.0 W GPA
Top 75 US High School in NY</p>
<p>Scores:
2110 SAT (1430 M/CR)
750 World History SAT II
Will take Math I, US History, and Molecular Bio SAT II’s
AP World Hist: 4 (Will have Language and Comp, US History, Economics, Literature, Physics B AP’s)</p>
<p>Major: Pre-Med Minor: Ancient History</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
I’ve played the saxophone and guitar for about 10 years and I play in Jazz Band, Pep Band, and Wind Ensemble.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I have volunteered for an optometry organization for the past 2 years and I help to write lenses for people in third-world countries.</p></li>
<li><p>I take a special honors molecular biology course at a genome lab. Will be interning at this same DNA lab this summer under a professional molecular biologist.</p></li>
<li><p>Officer of the Latin Club (I have 6 years of Latin under my belt)</p></li>
<li><p>Varsity Baseball and Golf</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Notable: Throughout school I have had a speech impediment (called stuttering) and have really battled it throughout high school. It has shaped who I am as an individual and I would really like to showcase this to a school like Brown which likes odd characters with a good story. I am also a liberal living in a very conservative community where I often get alot of flak, and feel very comfortable voicing my opinion.</p>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>University of Michigan</li>
<li>WashU in St. Louis</li>
<li>Columbia (Legacy)</li>
<li>Tufts</li>
<li>NYU (7 year med program)</li>
</ol>
<p>Hey Strat728, there are a couple things that would be great for you to know. First, pre-med isn’t a major/concentration. Pre-med is more like a set of classes you must take these generally include organic chemistry, chemistry, biology, calculus, and physics. You can be a pre-med student and major in History (Brown, to my knowledge, does not offer a specific Ancient History curriculum, though I’m sure you can take many ancient history classes within that major) or you can major in Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, or whatever you want. Second, for Brown, Cornell, JHU, WUSTL, and Columbia, 2110 by itself is too low. What I mean is, without a reseme of strong EC’s and/or a major hook (Intel/Siemens Contest Winner, URM, etc) an SAT score of 2110 will be too low. However, this does not mean you are out of the running entirely, but you need to seriously consider bolstering your extracurriculars with activities that the average Brown application can’t do. Plenty of prospective science majors do research, but you will not stand out unless you can truly demonstrate that you are superior to them. Nevertheless, I personally know several Brown students with sub-2000 scores, and I can tell you that, despite their low testing, their EC’s and passions got them into their Ivy-league school. As for EC’s, if Brown, Cornell, JHU, WUSTL, and Columbia are on your list, you need to do more and show more passion and leadership. You’ve got a great start with what you have, but as I wrote before, if you want to offset your slightly-lower SAT score, you’re going to have to go above and beyond in EC’s. I cannot accurately assess you in any of these schools, especially without a class rank, but for all of the schools you’ve listed with the exception of perhaps UMich and Tufts, you’ve got to work hard. You need to take your special characterisitic, your speech impediment, and turn it into your marketing slogan. If you’re serious about getting into Brown, I would start an organization to help poor families cope with communications disorders.</p>
<p>So since you’re a junior I assume you’re applying next year? I think you have as good a chance as anyone on CC but I wouldn’t call your essay topic interesting. Nothing about your story really pops out at me and it seems like something a lot of kids may write about. Be sure to take the SAT again along with the ACT to see how your scores compare.</p>
<p>Like hollow said, your SAT score is quite low for Brown, Cornell, and Hopkins. (Since you’re a legacy at Columbia you’ll have a good shot there). You’ve good a decent shot at Tufts and Washington U and a good shot at NYU and UMich. And sorry to say it, but that you have a stutter isn’t a hook.</p>
<p>^If he intends to pursue BME or something along those lines, a 2110 is very low; if he’s going for just Arts and Sciences, it’ll be around average, perhaps a little below.</p>
<p>You need something to make yourself really stick out. Perhaps you could combine your interests, maybe have a jazz concert to raise money for a medical program? I would retake the SATs, I retook them as a Senior and raised my score by 160 points, taking me from 2140 to 2300. I didn’t think that I had learned anything Junior year, but just retaking it knowing you have a good score to fall back on makes you do better. Chance me back :)</p>
<p>I like your idea of an essay about being liberal in a conservative environment better than the stuttering one. An essay on stuttering wws on the list of over done topics in one essay book I recently read.</p>
<p>Use this year to bolster ECs and bring up SAT scores as others suggested. Good luck!</p>
Brown: high reach. Brown is huge on community service and is known for accepting applicants with astounding ECs and sub-par (for an ivy applicant) SATs and gpas. use this year to really get involved.
Cornell. low reach. Being in NY does help, surprisingly enough. a girl from my school just got in with a 1990, but with alot of ECs
Johns Hopkins. low reach
University of Michigan. high match
WashU in St. Louis. i honestly dont know, so i wont pretend that i do.
Columbia (Legacy). being a legacy bumps your chances nicely into putting that into the low reach range. more ECs and that would push it to a high match or even match.
Tufts. high match. They love applicants who are globally minded- see about organizing some over-seas outreach programs, even as simple as sending basic necessities to impoverished people.
NYU (7 year med program). I would say match with NYU but I dont know the stats for the 7 year med program so I won’t lie.</p>
<p>use this year to retake the SAT once or twice more, get really involved in a couple more ECs - ones that you’ll enjoy. and i really like the essay topic of being a liberal in a conservative environment. I think that presents yourself in a stronger light, that you’re presenting yourself to colleges with an essay that is to inspire them, not with one meant to cause them to pity you.</p>