chance me for UChicago, Rice, other top 20 schools ?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

i’m applying to Uchicago EA and Rice ED (will also be applying to Rice/Baylor med program), and if i dont get into rice i’ll be applying to JH, georgetown, northwestern, dartmouth, MIT, U penn, and some local safety schools.

i’m planning on going into biomolecular engineering and then medical school.

GPA: 3.87/4.0
Rank: top 25% currently, but i anticipate that i’ll be at least top 15-20% after ranks are renewed this summer (super competitive, large public school)
SAT: 2240 (710 M, 740 CR, 790 W)
Going to take SAT II (math 1, math 2, bio E) and ACT in fall (anticipate at least a 32 based on practice test scores)

APs taken so far: World history (5), English lang, Spanish Lang, Physics I, Human geo
Senior schedule: AP Chem, AP English Lit, AP Calc AB, student leadership honors, academic decathlon honors, research honors, possibly AP bio
Recs and essays should be strong
Asian, not applying for FA, but a possible hook is that im a female going into engineering ?

summer activities: taking AP macro, AP gov, writing workshop at Rice, pre-health program at another university, freshman mentorship program
Volunteering: ~200 hours

Awards: NSE gold, DECA stuff, some in-school stuff (academic excellence, english award, etc.)

ECs:
-robotics club
-HOSA
-science NHS
-Future Physicians of America
-NHS
-DECA
-i tutor freshmen in a peer tutoring program
-red belt in chun kuk do , don’t know if i’ll list this on my app though
-thespian honor society (have been part of 10 ish plays, out of those i’ve had leadership positions in about half)
-have chaired a few educational campaigns this year (one for cultural awareness, another for religious tolerance)
-have done some other various programs (one over political leadership, another over medical technology)

research:
am doing a research and awareness project on health care for the impoverished

also am part of an international studies magnet program within my school

i’m really nervous, especially about Rice, so please let me know if you have any tips on how i can increase my chances of getting in. from my school (which is in close proximity to rice) , typically 7 or so seniors matriculate into Rice, and they’re usually from about the top 15%.

2

thanks in advance for any help you can give ~

3

bump

4

I kind of wish you had a few schools a bit down the ladder of selectivity. All of these schools are so hard to get into. You look qualified but not just over the top…being from Houston might make it harder to get into Rice. Also, make sure your parents can afford Rice.

5

thank you for your advice! my parents are basically only going to let me go to a top 20 school :confused: but i will be applying to less selective publics if i dont get into rice

6

So you will apply to UT and A&M? You cannot count on UT. I would advise you to consider UTD. It is possible you won’t get into to any of the schools on your list. Have you checked Naviance for admission results? There are so many terrific schools below the top 20.

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i’m applying to two private safeties (SMU and Baylor), and two public (UH and A&M,) but not UT because i know the 7% law pretty much guarantees that i won’t get into their engineering school.
hadn’t thought of checking naviance, i’ll do that now.

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I don’t think GTwon and Chicago have engineering. I wish you would consider Tulane and some similar ranked schools. I think you are auto admit for A&M. Baylor and SMU are safeties but you are tippy top for these schools. I don’t want to sound all gloom and doom and being female may help you, but the top 20 schools are super competetive. Check UT on naviance. Being female might help you get into engineering at UT. You are a good candidate.

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naviance is saying there’s no data available ? i think my school may have opted not to share our seniors’ stats. Gtown and UChicago do have engineering, but they’re admittedly not the best for it. not too familiar with Tulane, I’ll look into it.
thank you for your advice!

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@sahar1811 with a few exceptions your list doesn’t have many of the top schools in that field like Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Illinois and University of Washington.

Perhaps you should explain it your parents that way.

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@BatesParent2019 that’s a good way to look at it! i think if i put it that way, they’ll be a little more lax.

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GTown offers a 3-2 program with Columbia. When we toured there, I don’t recall much talk about engineering. BatesParenthas good advice.

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“science and engineering is not a major at Georgetown.” <–nevermind, you’re right haha
guess i’d better cross gtown off my list

14

Research UChicago…I don’t think it has your area of interest.

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don’t think they have bioengineering, but they do have other specialized biology programs that im interested in.

16

If you want another safety think of Penn State. Great school for engineering and has great networking potential since it has the largest alumni network in the world.

17

Also consider Carnegie Mellon. They have a good engineering program and I think it would be a match (possibly high match) school for you.

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i will, thanks!

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Hmm… i seem to remember ED Rice was at about 41% or something so i think you have a very good shot with a strong SAT. Similar to WashU for me, being in state will not help my chances neither will it help you. being in state is usually more competitive for schools like rice.

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Rice ED was 20%.

Here are the stats.

https://futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Freshman_Profile.asp