Hi! I’m applying EA to MIT and RD to Harvard, Columbia, JHU, and Stanford but I’m pretty nervous, I’d like to know where I stand.
Background: Female born in India but live in Western NY. School doesn’t rank but near the top. Hoping to major in Biological engineering/BME.
- I knowwww it's really bad to leave all standardized testing for the last dates but I've been studying a lot and the practice test scores are high. If my scores are bad I'll withdraw my EA app, retake in December, and apply RD.
This is what I’ll have for EA to MIT:
ACT: taking October 27 - should be 34-36
Subject tests: taking Biology, Math 2, Physics October 5th - should be all 800s
SAT: taking November 3
UW GPA: 3.92
Weighted GPA: 4.4
Past Courses: AP Lit (3), AP World (4), APUSH (4)
Senior Course Load: IB Biology HL, IB Physics HL, IB Mathematics SL, IB Literature A HL, IB History of the Americas HL, IB Spanish SL, AP Calculus AB, Theory of Knowledge
Awards: Top 50 in USA Biology Olympiad out of 7,000 students nationally; AP Scholar
Also fluent in 4 languages: English, Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi; almost there in Spanish and Arabic (where do I squeeze this in?)
ECs
- (10, 11, 12 1000+ hours) Scientific research at the same lab for ~ 2 years researching the effects on chromatin damage caused by a chemotherapeutic drug that’s currently in clinical trials (Unpaid = volunteering?)
- (10,11,12) Teaching English to immigrants from the Middle East and India at local Mosque (Volunteer)
- (10, 11, 12) Peer tutoring in math and science (Volunteer)
- (10, 11, 12) Recreational Badminton
- (12) Co-founder and Captain of Badminton Club
- Job (11): 3h/week research mentor hired me as lab manager to order materials, make solutions, keep lab organized
- (11) Founder and President of AP Chemistry Club (taking exam senior year though)
- (10, 11) Coordinated and organized events to raise funds for cancer research (Volunteer)
Summer Activities: Research, studying for USABO, teach English at the Mosque, take STEM courses with Coursera, and travel/relax.
Hooks: First generation, low income, girl in STEM??
Supplementals: Will submit Research and Art (I’ve studied hyperrealistic drawing for my IB MYP project, I can make a few nice pieces and my art teacher was impressed with my previous work)
Concerns: Juggling research, badminton club, standardized testing, full course load, and IB deadlines is not fun. Not the smartest student, AP scores are ugh, got two B’s in Algebra 2 and IB Physics junior year, not much humanities, never volunteered at a hospital…
Extra things ready by RD:
- Research is a looong road, second author in publication pending by December, definitely by February
- Will acquire NYS Seals of Biliteracy in Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, and Arabic
Questions
- Will I be compared to super competitive students in NYC? Otherwise my region isn’t competitive at all
- Is being a polyglot a plus or not really? It’s just something I’m truly passionate about so I’ve put time into it
- What are my chances?
Thank you for reading! I would really appreciate any sort of feedback