Chance Me: NC resident, 3.84 UW, 34 ACT, biology or chemistry. Please give me some hope

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US Domestic (one immigrant parent), NC, top 1% public HS
  • Asian female, upper-middle class
  • athlete (not looking for recruitment)

Intended Major(s)

  • Biology or Chemistry

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • 3.84 GPA UW, 4.48 weighted ← BC calc hurt :confused:
  • Top 13.7%
  • 34 [ACT] (34 R, 33 E, 34 M, 34 S)

Coursework

  • 10 APs + bunch of honors courses + Dual Enrollment
  • AP Calc AB (5), AP BC (5), AP Chinese (5), AP Environmental (4) AP Macro (4) AP Physics (3) {prob won’t submit this one}.
  • Senior year courses: AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP World
  • Dual enrollment at South Piedmont CC (5 total): Art appreciation, Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, Psychology, Statistics

Awards

  • State Finalist at HOSA (Epidemiology)
  • All American time for 4x100 freestyle relay at highschool states+hs record+1st in state
  • 1 of 2 students in the school chosen for a Chinese essay to be published in Juhe Supplement magazine.
  • Commended Scholar PSAT
  • Scholastic art and writing awards: Gold key in digital art

Extracurriculars

  • Competitive swimmer for 9 years, Varsity swimmer all throughout high school
  • Competed in state and sectional level competitions for pool and open-water swimming
  • Private swim instructor for 4 years, 7k+ in profit
  • Club) Membership manager for Mental Health Messages, conducted club outreach, and made presentations
  • Volunteer: Assistant swim coach for neighborhood swim team, 4 years, (>100hrs)
  • Volunteer: Created paintings to be installed in Atrium hospitals to increase patients’ mood and well-being (20hrs).
  • Volunteered at a vaccine clinic for Chinese Americans who can’t speak English well, worked as a translator and detailed patient’s blood pressure/basic stats

LOR/Essays: Good LORs and worked with essay counselor for essays and supplementals

School list:

Dream/ED school: Emory

Reach School: UC Berkeley

Target/ Hard target schools:

UNC Chapel Hill (in-state and EA)
UT Austin
Boston University
UC Santa Barbara, San Diego, Irvine, Davis

Safeties:
UNC Charlotte
NC State

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Do you have a budget for college annually from your family?

I ask because the UCs will likely be $75,000 a year or so.

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Yes, anything under 80K is okay, I’m applying to a lot of scholarships as well

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Emory is unlikely.

Not because you can’t get in because you can. But you shouldn’t ED - because if under $80K is the requirement, and their stated costs this year (including personal/travel) is over $80K and it’s only going up - then you can’t hit the mark. I imagine you’ll say - that’s small potatoes but just making you aware. Oxford doubles your shot if you will.

Your targets are reaches - except maybe UNC.

Let me ask you this and I don’t see it happening because NC State is highly likely - but if you had to go to UNCC, would you be disappointed?

If so, why is it your safety? Choose another. If you’re ok with it - then no problem.

Also, if Emory is $80K+ and UNC is $26K - and you’re getting a degree that’s for lack of a better word putting out underemployed grads - so is your family willing to spend an extra $220K vs. one of the top schools in the country?

I ask because there’s a chance you get into both Emory and UNC - are you sure they’d send you to Emory? You should have that discussion - because when they see the #s, they might feel differently.

Good luck.

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@Emma_06 I’d say UTAustin is a hard Reach-
OOS and class rank work against you.

*I would edit your list and put NM Commended at the top, with scores-don’t bury that!

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Yeah I’d agree with you on that, thanks!

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I would put Austin and BU in the reach category.

Do you plan on going to some kind of graduate school? If yes, would your parents help pay if your undergraduate costs are lower?

I would add Pitt.

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UT will be tough bc you’re OOS.

You stand a decent chance for Emory but of course it’s a highly selective school so it’s always umpredictable. Do your best on the app and :crossed_fingers:

Not sure why you have all UCs on your list which will be twice the cost of UNC and not be noticeably different in terms of quality, UNC being a top public university nationally. You stand a high chance of getting in and into NCSU for sure.
App State/ UNC Asheville are typically better considered than UNC Charlotte and App State has a solid Honors College (+sth interesting with Wautega) - do you like UNCC for familiarity reasons, becase of a special program, or because you hope courses will be easier?

Seconding Pitt.

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Apply to Emory ED - much higher chances. I think you have great chances ED, but something cool about Emory is you can apply to BOTH Emory and Oxford College of Emory together ED and they review you independently as some students get into both. I think you are a viable candidate for both - BUT if Emory is your dream school - be open to Oxford as well because you will end up in Emory Atlanta after two years. My daughter got into Oxford regular decision and LOVES it there! But you have to be ok with a smaller/rural vibe but you will know EVERYONE and be very one on one with your profs. I think as an NC resident you are getting in NCSU and have very good chance for UNC CH.

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Below are my guesses as to what your chances for acceptance might be at the colleges on your list.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • UNC – Charlotte

Likely (60-79%)

  • NC State

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • UNC – Chapel Hill

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Boston U. (closer to Low Probability)

  • Emory ED (move to Low Probability if not ED)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • UC-Berkeley

  • UT-Austin

For the other UCs, I would recommend calculating your UC GPA using this site: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub and then perhaps someone like @gumbymom or @ucbalumnus might be able to chance you better.

As @tsbna44 asked, how would you feel if UNC-Charlotte is your only option? Would you be happy to enroll and spend four years there? If not, I would suggest finding one or more additional schools that would be extremely likely admits for you.

An answer to this would be really helpful. You are a strong applicant. If you are thinking about something like medical school, those options are generally paid for through loans or family gifts, as scholarships are for med school are virtually nonexistent. As the costs will likely be about $400k for medical school, you may want to consider some less expensive schools if your family would be willing to use any money saved from the $320k they have budgeted for college ($80k x 4 years). The lower costs could be for lower sticker costs or by receiving merit aid.

Also, is that $80k/year figure an “around” $80k max, or does it really mean, we’re not paying one penny more than $80k?

This year’s direct costs to Emory are $79,746, which does not take into account the costs for books, travel, or personal expenses (source). A 4% increase/year would be about $3200/year, meaning that direct costs are likely to be above $90k/year by the time you’re a senior.

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For the UC’s, they consider all 3 UC GPA’s in their application review: Unweighted, Capped weighted and Uncapped weighted. As an OOS applicant only AP, IB or UC transferable DE courses taken 10-11th grades will get the extra honors point bump in the calculation. Reposting the calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Since the UC’s are test blind, your ACT will only be used for course placement and not for admissions or scholarship consideration.

That said, below are the admit rates by campus for Biology and Chemistry along with the admitted UC Capped weighted GPA ranges overall and the OOS admit rate for each UC campus.

|Campus|Biology|Chemistry|Capped weighted UC GPA|

|UC Berkeley|12.9% for College of L&S|14.8% for College of Chemistry|GPA: 4.15-4.29|

|UC Davis|45% for College of Biological Sciences|37.9% for the College of Letters and Sciences|GPA: 4.03-4.27|

|UC Irvine|23.7%|31.5%|GPA: 4.07-4.28|

|UCLA|10% for College of L&S|10% for the College of L&S|GPA: 4.20-4.31|

|UC Merced|93%|89%|GPA: 3.48-4.08|

|UC Riverside|66%|82%|GPA: 3.76-4.18|

|UC San Diego|No major specific data but estimated <20%|No major specific data but estimated <35%|GPA: 4.11-4.29|

|UC Santa Barbara|27% for College of L&S|27% for the College of L&S|GPA: 4.13-4.29|

|UC Santa Cruz|52%|45%|GPA: 3.86-4.22|

2023 Freshman admit rates (Preliminary Data from UCOP)

Campus CA RESIDENT OUT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL
Berkeley 14.4% 7.8% 5.2%
Davis 36.3% 60% 49.8%
Irvine 20.4% 47.4% 32.5%
Los Angeles 9.5% 8.6% 6.1%
Merced 95% 80.9% 69%
Riverside 68.7% 87.2% 81.4%
San Diego 24.5% 31.8% 17.8%
Santa Barbara 28.1% 32.7% 21.9%
Santa Cruz 60.4% 81.3% 61.1%

UCB: Reach
UCSB, UCSD and UCI: High Targets
UCD: Target

Good luck.

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I may have missed this, but in what county in NC do you reside?

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I may have missed the reply, but why UCs - why pay 70k when you’d have a similar-quality education at UNC for half the cost?

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Emma_06 I think you are likely in at UNC-CH, but it’s not certain. I have seen kids with less impressive GPAs and ECs get in. Are you in the Triangle? Some folks say that UNC has a limit for certain schools/counties, but they swear they don’t. They do want to get kids from all over the state, though.

For State are you applying directly to a major? Like Engineering? I think your chances are good there too, but applying directly into a competitive major can make it a little trickier.

UNC-C is a shoo-in for you. Good school, too.

I don’t agree with this at all. NC Mom of D22 here. I would definitely put UNC-C above UNC-A. AppState is good if they have what you want, but UNC-C is better for many things like tech. App is good for education, music, pretty good for Sustainability, but business or tech I think you are just as well off or better off at UNC-C.

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If you are premed then you should definitely try to save some of your college funds for medical school.

If you are not premed, you might still want to save some of your college funds for a master’s degree.

You have very good options in-state. I would be reluctant to spend twice as much to get just as good of an education somewhere else.

When I was in graduate school (at Stanford) one of my best friends was a UNC graduate. I do not recall whether it was Chapel Hill or Charlotte, but it was one of them. He was one of the stronger students in the program. He had done very well to get a good education in-state at a reasonable price, and then spend the big $$ for a one year master’s degree. He was also a pretty good squash player (you might wonder how I know).

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Hey Sweetgum, thank you for your reply. I’m not in the triangle but my school is known for many students who both apply and go to UNC-CH. For example last year there were about 40-50 kids who chose UNC-CH (out of a class of 500), and this is not counting the students who got accepted but chose to go to a different school.

Do you think this is a benefit or a detriment if so many students apply to Chapel Hill from my school? I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

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Union county. Does the county you live in make a difference?

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Thank you for your response, after reading this thread and speaking to my parents, I’ve decided not to ED Emory. They were very supportive and did not mind whether I EDed or not.
I wanted to keep my options open for my instate schools (especially for Chapel Hill), plus your point about the cost of graduate or med school.

As for your grad friend who plays squash, my brother used to play a few years ago but aside from him, I’ve never heard of anyone else who has even heard of squash before!

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Yes. For one thing, it is going to be more competitive if you live in Wake and Mecklenburg Counties. Further, UNC-CH has been trying to increase enrollment from rural and economically depressed counties; so not living in a county that has a large urban area is likely to work to your advantage in admissions to UNC-CH.

Also, here is a link to an interactive dashboard for the past several years: Workbook: db_freshmen. This may allow you to see how students from your high school have fared in recent matriculated classes at UNC-CH.

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Yes, it does. The districts that are part of the Triangle are very competitive whereas the more rural districts are much less so. UNC CH wants to serve students from the entire state.

An issue with HS applicants who want to be premed is that most do not actually make it through the premed gauntlet and, out of those who do, only about 40% nationally get into even just 1 med school. So you need to choose a balance of academic strength&opportunities whether Med School works out or not. A good gauge is for you to be in an environment that’s supportive and that is a good fit while being academically solid and where you’re in the top 25%…

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