Chance me!!! (one last dance)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been here. I hope everyone is doing well in this exciting time. Recently some stuff has changed for me college-wise (haven’t looked at my past threads in a while, so don’t count on that last statement being too accurate)

Anyways, the usual:

I am a white male (Senior year) in the East Bay Area in California
I go to a not-too-competitive public high school (very, very average)
Financial aid: Thankfully, money is not an issue in this case at all (don’t wish to go into specifics of that)
Intended Major(s): Biology (probably molecular???) Economics and Business (really want to double major)

The Stats:
3.9 unweighted GPA, 4.4 weighted GPA
IB Diploma
Only taken IB Spanish SL test because 4 HLs and Math SL is taken along with 4 HLs (got a 6 in Spanish so I was happy with that)
32 ACT (33 superscore I found this out last night and was jumping up and down in my bedroom just a little bit)
School only does decile rankings, so all I know is 1st decile

I know some people do senior schedule, so I’ll just do that too:
IB HOA HL
IB Psych HL
Intro to Computer Science
IB Bio HL
TOK
Computer Applications (computer science part 2 at my school)
IB Mathematics SL
Animation II (Was given this last trimester of school and I can’t change out of it)
IB English HL

The ECs:
Temple Youth Group President (sr year)
Temple Youth Group Treasurer (freshman- junior year)
Teen Chairman on Temple Board (junior-senior year)
Hebrew tutor at Temple (freshman- senior year) (4 hours a week, 30 weeks a year so figure 480ish)

Worked at a vineyard as a busboy sophomore and junior year

DECA Chapter Marketing VP and Marketing Manager (Freshman-junior year)
Founder and President of High School Personal Finance and Investing club (junior-senior year)
Spanish honors society founder/ treasurer (junior and senior year)
Marketing intern at a biomedical startup over the summer (summer 2019)

Water Polo (JV sophomore year, Varisty Junior and Senior Year)
Did biotech research course at community college (summer of sophomore year (2018))
Published on NCBI (2018)

Awards:
Pretty Minor:
DECA regional conference 5th place in food marketing category and written project category
Top Scholar (Honor roll @ school)
Seal of Biliteracy( State thing everyone gets)

Letters of recommendation:
Counselor rec I’m not too sure, I’ve gotten to know her so hopefully it will be pretty solid
IB History of the Americas teacher, who’s also Personal Finance club advisor (gotten to know her really well over the years and her husband’s the water polo coach, so hopefully the letter of rec was solid)
IB Spanish SL teacher (not sure with that, known her all 4 years and got to know her well through IB and Spanish honors society, so hopefully hers is also solid)

Writing:
I’m not gonna rate my personal statement since that’s pretty subjective, but I’m proud of how it came out. It was on how I almost choked to death on steak, discovered I had multiple esophageal conditions, and how I learned to turn my fear into curiousity

Now, onto the part that everyone enjoys:
SCHOOLS:
ED I: WashU ( College of Arts and Sciences) (Mega reach) (Toured the school and was SUPER bummed about leaving)
EDII: Deciding between CMC, Emory, or Middlebury (Both pretty big reaches)
EA: UMich, UNC-Chapel Hill, IU Bloomington, University of Washington, UVA (think they have EA)
RD: UCs (Berkeley, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD), USC, U of A, ASU,
Schools because why not: Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Amherst/Williams (maybe???)

If you have any questions on anything or are confused with how I worded something, PLEASE let me know. I don’t like doing these too often, but I always appreciate random people looking at the summation of my 4 years of work and giving me an unbiased answer most similar to what it will be like at admissions

2

UC Capped weighted and Fully weighted GPA?

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

SAT subject tests?

Other than ASU and U of A (since you claim money is not an issue), I see no real safety schools on your list.

Are you ELC eligible (local or statewide)?

3

@Gumbymom I would say that IU Bloomington is also a safety (76% acceptance rate, and the OP is in the top of the pile). Besides, if the OP is OK with a safety, there is no need for more than one or two.

The problem is that list is very reach-heavy with almost no matches.

Reaches: WashU, CMC, Emory, Midd, UNC (OOS), Berkeley, UCLA, UMich, UVA, USC
Matches: UWash (maybe low match), UCSD (high match)
Safeties: ASU, UofA, IU.

4

33 ACT is slightly low for WashU, although there have been students accepted with that score. The school does like demonstrated interest and a visit is considered ‘demonstrated interest.’

UC Davis and Irvine could be high matches.

Take most of the OOS publics off your list. UVA and UNC have a mandate to take in-state students first. Keep UofA and ASU on the list. Consider the University of Colorado or the University of Utah.

5

@MWolf: Other than the California UC’s and Arizona schools, I am not too familiar with the rest of the schools on OP’s list. Thanks for the information regarding IU Bloomington. Although OP states money is not an issue, they should have at least 1 in-state Safety.

6

Absolutely.

7

You’re going to need a stem teacher recommendation, so I’d replace History or Spanish with a stem one.

UCSB could be a match as well. And maybe replace some of the OOS flagships with Cal Poly SLO or a less selective UC.

8

IU isn’t a safety if you’re applying to Kelley. Maybe not even a match.

9

Interesting. The reason I put IU Kelley as safety was because of the auto-admit program for students with above a 30 ACT and 3.8 GPA. I guess since it’s Kelley that was a little foolish of me to put that as a safety. Thank you for the info. I got this idea from this page: https://kelley.iu.edu/programs/undergrad/admissions/future-freshman.cshtml

10

Hamurtle thank you for the helpful feedback! Looking at my list, I agree that I have quite a few reaches. Off the top of your head, do you have any schools in mind that lie within the 40%-50% admissions range? My idea with how I was choosing schools was due to the IU auto admissions program (based off of where I lie in their admissions criteria) I thought I would have Kelley as a possibility before I even apply early decision anywhere, so I could afford to apply for more reach schools. Regardless, it is always a good idea to have more matches. Again, I highly appreciate the response

11

whoops! forgot the @ @Hamurtle

12

I don’t know what your chances are at those schools, but I will mention that the University of Rochester actively seeks and recruits students working toward IB diplomas. Check them out.

Also, a study conducted ten years ago revealed that many schools have shown a preference for IB students. I can’t say whether that is still true, and if so, whether the admission bump is as great as it was then. But it is somewhat reassuring. Anyway, the results have mostly disappeared from the internet but I stumbled upon it here:

https://www.rjuhsd.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=13340&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=16706&PageID=7234

Click the link labeled “IB Acceptance Rates,” and it is the middle document.

It may be helpful in identifying schools that may normally be considered “reaches” but have shown they accept IB students at a higher rate–at least did ten years ago. Good luck!

13

@RayManta thank you for the helpful link! I was actually looking into Rochester, so this is very good to hear.

14

There’s a spot on their application to indicate that you are an IB candidate, and they then ask you for the subject of your extended essay. If you Google “University of Rochester” and “IB”, some info from their site will pop up. They also state that IB candidates are automatically eligible for a merit scholarship, but they don’t say how much they give.