Chance me for Duke ED, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone!
-So I’m a senior in NOVA.
-Hispanic (first generation to be born in the US)
-Not the first to go to college though, as my mom has her master’s degree (my dad has a high school degree)
-Class rank: homeschooled
-Intended major: biomedical engineering or biology (possibly pre-med)
-GPA: 4.55 weighted, 4.14 unweighted
-APs: Macroeconomics, World History, Environmental Science, Chem, English Lang, Comp Sci A, Physics 1, Calc AB
-SAT: 1390 SAT
-Subject Tests: Spanish, Chem, and Math 2 (scores pending)

  • ECs: Medical Youth Society, speech and debate team (LD and I am co-captain this year) engineering internship at a university, an internship in the National Building Museum, head news editor of a homeschool newspaper with over 50 members, lead pianist in church, office assistant at the American Cancer Society (I get leadership experience as I’m in charge of organizing large projects such as galas), NHS, math tutor, chemistry teacher (and research) assistant (past 2 years), peer mentor to 9th grade girls, 300+ community service hours.
    -Awards:
    Biology Science Department Award
    Bronze presidential service award (past 3 years)
    Excellence in Design from the National Building Museum
    -Hook: first person in my family to plan on majoring in STEM
2

Being first member of the family to major in STEM is not a hook. Your Hispanic/URM status is however.

Class rigor seems sufficient, but I don’t see Biology as one of the classes taken. This could be an issue for a BME/Biology major. Your schools want you to have 3 years of lab sciences and many look down on APES.

The SAT is decent, but low for the schools on your list . Try 1 more to get the score above 1400.

You will need a safety since medical school is going to be expensive and you need to keep up your GPA. VaTech perhaps?

3

I’ve taken Honors Biology, but didn’t have the chance to take AP Biology. I didn’t mention this above but I also took Anatomy and Physiology last year.
I am applying to VaTech and UVA! These are just my reach schools.

4

Honors Biology should be sufficient as that completes the Chemistry-Biology-Physics sequence of lab classes.

Since maintaining a high GPA for a potential pre-med is important, take CMU off the list. Any form of Engineering or Science there will be rough.

Consider schools like Case Western and Rochester. Maybe Emory as well, but they don’t have BME-students take those classes at Georgia Tech.

5
  • Is your GPA on a 5 point scale or 4 point? If 4 point, then the max unweighted is 4.0, if 5 point your GPA is an issue.
  • First person in your family to plan on majoring in STEM is not only not a hook, it's not a tip or anything else. *First gen "born in the US" is not a hook
  • Where did your "Biology Science Department award" come from (ionline class? local homeschool group? other?) and what does it represent? *Your SAT puts you in the bottom 15% of accepted students at Duke.
  • I am skeptical that a HS student (volunteer?) office assistant is "in charge of organizing large projects like galas" for the American Cancer Society.
  • How (and to whom?) have you been teaching chemistry?