Chance me for UNC, Columbia, UVA, UChicago, Emory...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Good morning :slight_smile: I want to get an idea of my chances at some top schools and thought this was the place to ask. The list of schools I’m currently applying to looks like this, but I can add if you guys think I need more safeties:

UChicago
Columbia
Duke
Emory
UMD College Park
UNC Chapel Hill
Princeton (REA!)
Virginia Tech
UVA
William & Mary

Academics
SAT I: 2370 first attempt (CR 780, Math 800, Writing 790)
SAT II: 780 Math 2, 800 US History, 750 Bio
GPA: 95.6 weighted
AP scores: Calc AB (5), Chem (4), Bio (5), Calc BC (5), English Lang (5), Macroecon (5), Microecon (5), US History (5); currently taking CompSci A, Enviro, Spanish Lang, English Lit, GovPol
Class Rank: School does not rank
High School: Competitive public high school in New Jersey, ~5 students admitted to Princeton every year, offers ~20 AP classes, average SAT ~1840. I took one of the most difficult courseloads possible.

Extracurriculars
7-week internship at Uniformed Services University immunology lab (under the free Summer Research Training Program)
Science Olympiad co-captain: this is where I dedicate most of my extracurricular time - I stay after school twice a week, send out weekly emails, organize events, etc.
NJ Youth and Government: I’m a Delegate Outreach Leader, meaning I help new members improve speaking skills and edit their bills
Model UN: I’ve won Premier Delegate and Outstanding CRP in a 50-person committee before
Acoustic guitar: I’ve played and sang at an assisted living facility and at school events. It’s my favorite non-academic hobby.
Smiles for a Child: Volunteer work designing the layout and writing articles for a magazine for hospitalized children (about 25 hours)

Awards
National AP Scholar (my junior year)
4th in Geologic Mapping and 6th in Entomology at state Science Olympiad competition
Selected for YMCA Council on National Affairs twice (25 selected out of ~500 person New Jersey Youth and Government conference)
My high school’s Envirothon team won an award for the first time (Urban Forestry) the first year I joined, and they added me to do forestry :slight_smile:
Outstanding Achievement in Technology Education: this is just an award given out at my high school for graphic design

Recommendations and Essays (Subjective Stuff)
Counselor recommendation and recommendation from 10th grade English teacher are likely to be pretty average, but recommendation from AP Bio teacher should be really positive
My essays are good - based on reading others from my school, they’re above average
I have 3 younger siblings and write about this in my essays

Demographic Information
White female
I am applying from New Jersey, but I will qualify for in state tuition in Virginia because my family is moving in June - I indicated this on apps to Virginia state schools
I want to major in either Biology or Environmental Science and indicated this on my apps
I will be applying for financial aid at all of these schools - it’s important that wherever I’m going offers me relatively good financial aid

Thanks so much for reading through this and have a nice weekend! :slight_smile:

2

Hey!
As a current overachieving Columbia undergraduate, I am impressed by your credentials. You seem to be very well rounded and have a solid GPA and SAT score. Obviously you can never count on schools like Princeton, Columbia, Duke, or UChicago, but you definitely have a better chance than most. Don’t freak out too much - you’ll probably get into most of your top choices. Best of luck! Remember, regardless of which college you end up going to, you’re gunna get hella lit. :slight_smile:

3

You won’t qualify as in state for VA until your family has resided in VA for a calendar year. You are considered OOS to admissions. UVA and Tech take about 30% OOS. UNC by law only takes 25%
OOS.

http://www.virginia.edu/provost/vastatus/faq.html

You’re destined to get into some great schools though. Good luck.

4

Thanks Osprey for letting me know about the in state tuition situation. I just read some more about it and you’re totally right. That’s unfortunate :frowning: It looks like I’ll be paying out of state tuition my freshman year no matter where I go.