Chance me for Ivies, Georgetown, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Ah, junior summer.

Bio:
-Citizenship: Dual - USA/Netherlands
-State of residence: California
-Class: Upper middle
-Race: South Asian/White/Middle Eastern
-Gender: Female

School:
-Type (Public/private & size): Private, 120 per class
-Graduates (How many go to Ivy’s/top 20): Uhhh… a lot? 15+
-AP’s Offered: None

Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 3.96
-Weighted GPA: N/A
-AP’s: N/A
-ACT: 36 (36 E 35 M 36 R 36 S) with a 12/12 essay
-SAT: Did not take. 1460 PSAT which should be National Merit commended
-SAT II: 750 Math II, 730 Lit, will take Physics, possibly Spanish, possibly retake Math II in August
-Rank: School does not rank, but I am at least top 9% as I qualify for ELC
-Course Rigor: Hardest possible

EC (In order of importance/commitment):

  • Internship at UCSF neuroscience lab. Aid PhD student in her project while working on a project myself focused on the lab’s overarching question. 10 hrs/week during school year and 35 hrs/week during summer.
  • Varsity tennis, 3 years by the time apps come around
  • Volunteer at animal shelter on weekends
  • Pollworker for general/state elections

Other Notables (College courses you’ve taken, papers published, created own website, TAing a class, ect):

  • TA’d a woodshop class and a metal fabrication class
  • I should be on a published paper sometime this fall, but I’m not sure if it will be in time for apps (has to do with neuroscience research; not my own paper, but I am a contributor)
  • Idk if I will put this but I invest in the stock market and my current portfolio has returned 54% as of now (meaning it’s worth 154% of itself)

Honors:

  • nike tennis camp coaches’ award
  • should be national merit commended
  • got most improved player for jv basketball but i doubt i’ll put this
    -weakest part of the app. However, note that my school doesn’t offer anything like MUN, DECA, Debate, or any of those traditional clubs. Also we don’t give out academic awards, we don’t even have a valedictorian because of inequity or something.

Work:

  • the internship/pollworking

Schools I’m looking at:

  • Georgetown
  • Harvard
  • Yale
  • Dartmouth
  • Brown
  • Johns Hopkins
  • UCB
  • UCLA
  • maybe the Pomona-Pitzer series
  • maybe UPenn/Stanford
  • BU
  • UW Seattle
  • UCSD
  • UC Davis
    ***The list is more or less in order of preference

Intended Major: Neuroscience
Intended Minor: Economics

2

I’m really sorry to tell you this because it sucks but I’m pretty sure you need to take the SAT to be eligible for National Merit anything. (Unless I’m confused and you only need to do that for Finalist?)

3

Your ACT is great same with your gpa. I would definitely play up your participation in the neuroscience lab. Just try to not seem to typical, colleges like people who are unique so try to make yourself seem more unique.

4

You look like a super competitive candidate. The only part of your application that could be better is your ECs. They seem pretty average, but with stats like those you could get into any of those schools given you write some fantastic essays

5

You seem to be in the range for all of those. However all but those last 4 are “crap shoot” schools, meaning that as many or more within that range are rejected than admitted (and UCSD is now getting a little unpredictable). Find a couple of “safeties” that you love and maybe a couple of more matches. If you are serious about playing tennis in college, you might still be in the time frame to get a look and a little boost from coaches at JHU or Pomona (DI & IIs tend to ID their women recruits earlier).

6

@ski_racer , you don’t have to take the SAT to be commended or semifinalist, just to be a finalist.

7

@doorrealthe, thanks so much! yeah they aren’t as impressive as some other people’s, but i’m hoping to write good essays and have my passion shine through:)

8

@FMhornet20, that’s definitely the plan! gonna try and have a unique common app essay for sure, and hopefully my lors will be glowing…

9

@otisp , thanks so much, yeah i definitely need more safeties, people were suggesting some schools like URochester maybe. I’m not good enough to play d2 or d1 tennis, possibly a walk-on d3 candidate but it’s really unlikely. i’ll probably just play club in college:)

10

For UCLA the admit rate for your GPA is nearly 70% (according to UCLA’s own statistics) combine that with your ACT of 36 and it approaches 100%, it’s pretty much a safety for you.