<p>I am a caucasian female at a competitive public school (1/2 asian, 30+ national merit finalists every year) in the Houston metro area. My freshman year hurt my gpa/rank alot and I have a upward trend in my grades as well as the rigor of my courses (in my most recent semester I had 2 APs, 4 honors and all As). By graduation I will have taken 7 APs and over 10 honors.</p>
<p>UW gpa: 3.5
W gpa: 3.95
Class rank: ~25%
ACT: 33 (may retake)
Extracurriculars: academic octathlon/decathlon (3 years), cross country (3 years), track (3 years), VP of charity, member of NHS and NJHS, various volunteer clubs (~150 hours). Part time job for 6 months of junior year plus summer job currently.</p>
<p>Senior Schedule:
Calculus BC AP (already took AB this year and have a 97, should have taken BC...)
Statistics AP
English IV
Eco./Government
Chem. II AP
Comp Sci II AP
Decathlon Honors (academic competition)</p>
<p>I want to major in biochemistry or chem., possible double major in math. After college I want to go on to grad school or vet school (possibly med school even).</p>
<p>Here is my current list:</p>
<p>University of Chicago (dream school)
UT Austin
Texas A&M
University of Minnesota
Case Western Reserve</p>
<p>Thank you for chancing me :)</p>
<p>Any other suggestions for schools? Undergraduate research opportunities and/or prevet programs are a huge plus!</p>
<p>Since you obviously don’t mind large public universities, why not add UW-Madison to your list. I don’t think UChicago is out of reach if you can write a great essay.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion. Need someone to chance me :)?</p>
<p>UChicago: quite a reach. While your schedule is very good, and your ECs are good enough, your UW and W GPA will hurt you. I would say a mid to high reach; however, if your essays are phenomenal you might have a decent shot.
20-30%
UT Austin: hard. Unfortunately, you aren’t in the top 7% of the graduating class, meaning you’ll be fighting stiff competition.
40%
Texas A&M: safety/in
80+%
University of Minnesota: you shouldn’t have too much issue; it isn’t that hard to get into. I would say match.
70%
Case Western Reserve: probably in. They throw a lot of money at people.</p>
<p>Undergraduate research opportunities are best at large and well-known universities. Applying to various state universities is probably the best option; I don’t think Case Western Reserve is fabulous for its research opportunities. Not sure about prevet.</p>
<p>Chance me?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1168046-thread-has-interesting-title-ill-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1168046-thread-has-interesting-title-ill-chance-back.html</a></p>
<p>Yes thank you so much Steven! I know the percentages arent exactly scientific but they help me compare them a bit. Yes Chicago is a huge reach but I would regret if i didnt try. </p>
<p>That darn auto admission rule really hurts my UT chances you are right. Only reason I am more hopeful is because my school is one of the top feeder schools (due to its competitiveness,etc.) and therefore half of the admitted kids arent even top 10%. Fingers crossed :/.</p>
<p>I would really consider Case (unless you hate Cleveland). It’s a pretty decent school, and if you get an ACT of like 34, you might get a half scholarship or more.</p>
<p>Does anybody else have specific suggestions for schools I could apply to?</p>
<p>Yea im trying the ACT one more time because if i get even one more point higher, it could help alot :)</p>
<p>The admissions rule for UT this year is the top 9%, not 7%. </p>
<p>[Automatic</a> Admission | Be a Longhorn](<a href=“http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/after-you-apply/automatic-admission]Automatic”>http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/after-you-apply/automatic-admission)</p>
<p>^Says it here on UT’s official website. </p>
<p>Being 25% definitely hurts you, but it depends on your intended major. You would be applying to the College of Natural Sciences instead of something super competitive like McCombs or Cockrell, but it’s still hard.</p>
<p>chicago really cares about GPA so that will hurt you A LOT! with a great essay you might stand a chance. Texas should be no problem along with all of the other schools you listed. consider mich unc uva cal and ucla also.</p>
<p>chance back
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1168613-chances-congressional-page-columbia-ed-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1168613-chances-congressional-page-columbia-ed-will-chance-back.html</a></p>
<p>also NC State has a great veterinary med program.</p>
<p>Yea ugh I hate how I’m lacking in the most impt part, I had a bad freshman year but my course rigor and grades dramatically improved 
yea don’t chance me for Chicago it’s a shot in the dark hah. Def not qualified for ucla or unc haha</p>
<p>I have one other IMPORTANT question: </p>
<p>Let’s say a school (case western, Chicago,etc) has early action and regular options. Would I be better off doing early action or waiting until regular deadline so my improved gpa and class rank from 1st semester senior year grades** would be included? </p>
<p>**(assuming that they would be all As with 5 out of 7 classes being weighted credit) </p>
<p>So if I were to hypothetically get all As, which option would I be better off with???</p>