Chance Me for Ivies and T20 (kind of)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys! I’m a junior from a semi-competitive school in the Northeast. I’m currently having trouble as to what college/program I want to use my ED on. Here’s what I’m deciding between: JHU BME, Brown PLME, UPenn, and Dartmouth.

Here are my stats:

School Type: Public school
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

  • N/A

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1590 (800 math) (790 reading)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 Math II; 800 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4): 3.78
Weighted GPA: (out of 5): 4.24
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Probably top 10% in school of ~450 students
AP: Taking AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Microeconomics, and APUSH this year. Taking highest possible course load.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  • 1st place Computer Science/Math award in Regional Science Fair (3rd place out 120 so missed ISEF by one place ?)
  • Diamond Challenge Semifinalist (top 30 teams out of 800)
  • 1st place Biomedical Sciences Category Southern New England JSHS and 3rd place overall (National JSHS Finalist with $1000 scholarship)
  • 3rd place Dartmouth Brain Bee
  • Community Service Presidential Gold Medal (all three years and 500+ total hours)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:

  • Club for Independent Research (president and founder): I started this club at the end of sophomore year, and we sent 8 members to the state fair this year (1 was chosen for ISEF)
  • Stadium Ways (CEO and cofounder): Made company as part of entrepreneurship program and received $2000 in pitch competition. Also was a Diamond Challenge Semifinalist in the Business Innovation track.
  • Science Olympiad (Invitationals Team Member): Joined my freshman year, but first made invitationals team this year. I got a few top 5 awards at the Harvard and Brown Invitationals Tournament, but our state competition was cancelled.
  • Chess: Have been playing in competitions since 6th grade; won a few local competitions and part of a regional chess club
  • Intern at Harvard Medical School (image-guided therapy): Joined at end of sophomore year; Developed neural networks for multimodal registration to monitor real-time kidney deformation in PCNL (submitted paper to MICCAI); Built a model for breast cancer risk quantification (submitted abstract to RSNA); Got to watch live neurosurgery and PCNL cases; Currently building app for COVID-19 prediction and tracing.
  • Intern at Harvard Medical School (stem-cell based therapy for Parkinson's): Joined recently; Building a database of genes involved in Parkinson's disease in literature; Working on a project for early detection of Parkinson's disease from MRI/DTI scans
  • South Indian Classical Music: Have been singing for the past 8 years; Had a few concerts in India + raised money for some fundraisers; Received a few local awards
  • Academic Decathlon: One of 3 honors (top GPA) division members the past year; placed 5th overall in my division at state level
  • Samskrita Bharati (teacher and SAFL alumni): Since the end of my sophomore year, I have been teaching Sanskrit to over 30 local children through the Samskrita Bharati association. Before this, I completed the SAFL course (3 years), from which I received a Princeton certification.
  • Helm Learning (teacher): Working with some friends to create an environment for remote distancing learning for elementary and middle school students. Currently teaching an Intro to Neuroscience course to over 20 students.
  • NHS (National Honors Society) (started in junior year and just member)

Job/Work Experience:

  • N/A

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Tech for Seniors (founder) (200 h) I worked with seniors in local senior residences to help them better understand how to use technology to connect with others and improve their daily lives. This included a wide range of things from using Skype and Facetime to helping with taxes. During the COVID-19 outbreak, I recorded a Zoom intro for the local TV station and hosted calls to help seniors connect with their families.
  • Kids on Computers (website designer and inventory manager) (100 h) Attended Linux Conference in Canada in 2017 and taught many children how to use Arduino boards and Linux; I currently work on installing Ubuntu and Linux systems onto the computers we transport to labs abroad (Nepal, Mexico, Uganda, etc.)
  • Volunteer in a local senior residence in the neurodegenerative diseases wing; As a part of this experience, I take many of the seniors walking and I have been playing chess with them for the last year
  • Volunteer for I Can Shine Bike Camp for past three years; As a part of this experience, I was able to teach over 80 children with neurological disorders to bike in a week.
  • Manaavseva (Singer + Fundraiser): I have sung in the annual event for the past two years, raising over $20,000 every year. This organization helps the under-resourced in rural parts of India by providing women with access to breast cancer screening.

Summer Activities:

9th grade:

  • Sanskrit camp: Nice experience where I spent the entire 2 weeks speaking only Sanskrit and made many friends (published Sanskrit article in Samskrita Bharati newsletter)
  • Shadowed local dentist (private practice): helped with managing customers + insurance reports
  • Summer Research Program: Taught by my Honors Biology teacher; learned how to use model organisms + took care of school garden

10th grade:

  • Intern at HMS for image-guided therapy
  • Visited a few colleges
  • Travelled a little bit

Recommendations (people who I’ve already asked):

Teacher Rec #1: from my history teacher. I think he kind of likes me and I’m working with him on a project about the Cold War and read a few books with him.
Teacher Rec #2: from my AP Chem teacher. I mentored for another one of his chemistry classes and had a good relationship with him.
Counselor Rec: My counselor and I are pretty close since I talk to her a lot about my research so I hope this is good.
Additional Rec:

  • 1st additional rec from image-guided therapy professor: He really likes me since I’m the first HS intern at his lab, and we’ve done a lot of interactive things as a lab. Also, he knows I’ve pulled all-nighters at the lab, so hopefully its good.
  • 2nd additional rec from my 9th grade Biology teacher: He is the advisor for the Science Olympiad Club and my club, and taught the summer research class.

I was hoping you guys could suggest a school to ED. I’ve already visited JHU, Brown, and Dartmouth, and I really like their campuses. However, another thing to consider is my GPA is slightly lower than those historically admitted to the above schools from my high school, so I’m really concerned. Thanks for your help!

2

If you can afford it, I think Johns Hopkins ED1 will be your best shot.

3

Thanks for your help! Do you think I have a chance at BME?

4

To be honest, BME is one of the toughest majors at Hopkins. A large percentage of those who apply want to enter the BME program. Given that BME is the toughest major to get accepted, it will not be easy. Your test scores are fine, but I think the main thing holding you back will be class rank. Top 10% is certainly very good, but for BME they are probably looking for higher (1-3%).

5

Hopkins BME isn’t binding for ED, so go on ahead and try. D your reading on how that works on the JHU website.

Look up what the accept rates are ED for those schools and all things equal, go to the one that gives you the best odds. If close, go with what you like best.

You are certainly within the acceptable range—the rest is pretty much up to chance. IMO, Hopkins snd Brown will give you more leeway in your gpa.

Don’t forget to have done good sure thing schools in your list, especially if financial aid is an issue. Those schools are under researched especially when they are where most students end up going. Ironic that kids spend 90% of time on the schools far less likely to accept them and end up at schools they haven’t researched as much.

6

IME JHU is very GPA-focused- and the Common Data Set* backs that up. Rigor, GPA & Recs are noted as “very important”. Rank, Standardized test scores and Essay are noted as “important”.

But I agree with @cptofthehouse: put your back into finding your B & C choices. Easy to agonize over whether you want the Lamborghini or the Ferrari, but most people- even really accomplished ones- end up in a Lexus or Toyota.

*Section C-7, https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2017/01/2014_2015_EnrollmentReport.pdf

7

Thanks for your help! I’ve been looking into other colleges such as Tufts and Northeastern but I just needed some help with choosing an ED school.

8

When I said top 10%, that was because I didn’t know exactly where I am. To be honest, I think I’m probably top 5% and maybe top 3%.

9

Hi, I have similar questions to these. I am a HS freshman right now, looking towards colleges I am interested in. If you can please kindly check out my threads that would be great. I will link both below

  1. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2186625-ivy-league-questions-please-kindly-answer.html#latest
  2. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2186622-3-7-freshman-gpa-good-for-ivy-league-universities.html#latest

Thank you in advance! Your feedback is important to me.

10

You definitely have Ivy potential… Your chances are looking pretty good.

11

How did you get an internship at Harvard Medical School? Did you just email a bunch of professors?

12

I’d recommend going ED for JHU. Based on your stats, you are very similar to my friend who also was accepted ED. I’d also recommend only having one additional letter from you Sci.o coach.

13

I agree with xmasberry. I think that you have a clear shot at JHU for ED; you have a focused resume and good stats. Good luck!

14

^ As said above. I definitely think you should ED to JHU - it seems like a very good fit for the resume you’ve built, and the kind of story you seem to be telling. I also think that you have very good test stats for these schools (SAT, SAT II, etc.) You would be a competitive applicant anywhere. Good luck!

On an unrelated note, I’m about to take the SAT Chem test. Any tips from a full scorer? Thanks.

15

@rusty231, I agree that JHU sounds like a good fit. I did not find this resource until after my daughter was accepted: https://apply.jhu.edu/application-process/essays-that-worked/. I believe a JHU applicant’s supplemental essay (along with the entire application) can make or break an acceptance, even with stellar test scores. Good luck!

16

@emmahuang Ya sure! imo SAT Chem was very easy for me since it tests surface level chemistry, so just focus on a basic understanding of all of the concepts. I would emphasize memming intermolecular forces since that shows up a lot as a 3-5 question section.

17

Hi, thanks for your insight! I definitely agree that the supplement essay is important (my JHU friends have said the same) and I’ll keep that in mind!

18

@xmasberry do you mean my scioly coach? I was gonna have my scioly coach and my research advisor for my recs.

19

@rusty231 I meant that you should only have 1 additional letter and that you should pick your scioly coach. I just had a typo in my comment. Oc, its completely up to you, but chances are both people will say the same thing and then the letters are made redundant.

20

@xmasberry I still think I’ll do both since I feel they know me in different ways/capacities.