Chance me please? - OOS

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>Details:</p>

<p>Rising Senior at a very competitive high school in Texas which is ranked in the top 40 public schools in the nation.</p>

<p>SAT: 2210 (2230 Superscore)
M- 740
W-770
R-700 (720 for Superscore)</p>

<p>ACT: 34 (actually a 34.25)
E-35
M-32 (Sort of mad since I could have had a 35 composite if I was 1 point higher on M)
R-34
S-36 (Pretty happy about this!)</p>

<p>Both tests can be retaken if you think it would boost my chances by a lot but I would prefer to focus on subject tests (Math II and Biology) ----> suggestions welcome.</p>

<p>GPA (Weighted, 5.0 Scale): 4.62
GPA (Un-Weighted) : 3.3333</p>

<p>AP Classes taken/currently taking:</p>

<p>AP Economics
AP Government
AP Biology - 4
AP Physics
AP Calculus AB
AP Statistics - 4
AP Psychology - 4
AP US History - 3
AP World History - 3
AP English III - 4
AP English IV
AP Environmental Science
AP Computer Science</p>

<p>Other notable classes taken:</p>

<p>3 Years of Language - Spanish
Took IB classes in World Area Studies and Science (Accel.)
Pre-AP/Pre-IB Classes in all core subjects during Freshman/Sophomore Years</p>

<p>Explanation for Low (in my opinion) GPA:</p>

<p>Sophomore year I overloaded on classes taking AP US History, AP Comp Sci., Pre-AP/Pre-IB/Honors Pre-Cal, Pre-AP/Pre-IB Honors Spanish, etc.</p>

<p>Pre-Cal was a struggle and I got a C (only C in my life). It didn't help that I had the same ineffective math teacher for two years in a row (Algebra II in 9th) and I had to learn everything out of the book. Algebra II grade was a B+ but it was also a challenge considering my teacher was very poor at teaching ( She is no longer at my school, I believe she was fired so this could help my case????) and thus my fundamentals going into Pre-Cal were not very strong. I bounced back in AP Stats Junior Year (A+ both semesters) and AP Calculus AB this year has started out great with an A!</p>

<p>Also, as I expected, AP US History was extremely difficult but at the end of the course I did have good grasp on the subject.</p>

<p>Besides the Pre-Cal debacle, I got all A's and B's in sophomore year with a great improvement in grades junior year so Upward trending.</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Engineering Club Member for 3 years - no leadership positions but I did have steady commitment and participation in</p>

<p>Chess Club - Played in state tournaments as well as regional ones; USCF Member</p>

<p>Piano - Played for over 7 years now; many recitals and performances as well as great scores on music theory exams and a progression through the levels of examination</p>

<p>Tennis - Had training lessons every weekend for about 2 years. I now play 3-6 hours every weekend so still committed.
Participated in 4-5 Regional Tournaments (ZAT) and reached the Semi-Finals twice!</p>

<p>100+ Hours of Volunteering at 2 Different Local Hospitals - had a more in depth experience my junior year as I was in the OR wing and had consistent exposure, experience and participation. Was more like a internship my junior year as I was an integral part of the Sterile Processing Branch and I learned so much about hospital protocol, surgery, etc.</p>

<p>Leader of my community's local Math Pentathlon Program - 4 years (all of high school)</p>

<p>Led about 80 kids every year; taught math based games for grades K-5; each year we did very well in the final tournament for Texas. Also developed strong relationships with many parents and overall made a positive impact.</p>

<p>Academic Awards:</p>

<p>Kumon J200 Math and J200 Reading Awards</p>

<p>High School Honor Roll/Academic Excellence Award</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction Award</p>

<p>Work/Hobby:</p>

<p>I run my own online business and have been doing so for about 2 years. I have served customers in over 20 different countries around the world. Learned a lot about dealing with people from different cultures/countries and about business principles such as profit, opportunity cost, revenue, and markets, etc.Overall a good experience and something different and unique.</p>

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<p>Special Circumstances: From 1st to 4th grade, my mother fell terribly ill and ultimately needed to have open heart surgery to replace 2 of her heart valves. My brother was barely one year old at the time so my father took care of him almost exclusively obviously. As a young child throughout elementary school not being able to ask your mom to do even the basic things was very hard and I had to learn to be independent and self-sufficient at a young age. Also, the confusion that I felt over what was going on was very strong. Overall, I believe this experience led to my passion in Medicine/Biomedical Science (other factors did contribute as well).</p>

<p>Sorry if the post was a bit much to read but that is pretty much everything I can think of. Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>You have a great ACT, nice ECs but your unweighted GPA will not make this realistic.</p>

3

<p>Are you applying to LSA or CoE? It seems you want to go pre-med track.
Your uwGPA is low but your course rigor is very good. Do you know your class rank? UMich does focus more on GPA but not necessarily on the face value. You took AP Comp Sci in sophomore but you did not list the score, so one may assume you did not do well in the test. Besides the school profile from your GC, adcom will also compare your AP score with your school grade. You have a bunch of 3 and 4 in AP and your uwGPA is 3.33. It seems your school does not have grade inflation. You do seems to be overwhelmed in sophomore and suffered in GPA. That is certainly something one should avoid. Nevertheless, you did continue with this trend and accumulated so many AP (11 more in junior and senior). The low GPA may hurt your chance even if you have a very high course rigor. Your test scores are very good though. UMich should be a low reach for you.
Subject test is not required at UMich, so it would be up to you and if you are applying to other schools that require it. You may apply EA at UMich, but make sure if you submit your first semester grades if that may help to lift up the GPA a little bit. Did you recalculate your GPA without subgrades?</p>

4

<p>I didnt take the AP comp sci AP test. I am planning to apply LSA. Are you required to submit first semester senior grades if you are not applying EA.</p>

5

<p>I am applying to UMich RD also. Since the application is due in February, I am pretty sure that we have to send our mid-year report.</p>

6

<p>@college2015yo Idk how I feel about this. I’m taking 6 APs senior year and so far I have 95+ in all of them except AP Calculus AB which I have a 79 in. The class average right now is a 78. I need to get it up to at least a 85 imo to not look like I am slacking off even though the class is one of the hardest at my school.</p>

7

<p>Just remember to try your hardest this year. I am taking 5 APs senior year. Just remember that you still have like 3-4 months till the end of the semester to raise your grades. </p>

8

<p>Mid year report is not really necessary for RD rolling as it is often not available until late January or even February. Nevertheless, if the first semester senior grades would help your GPA, you should submit that once it is available. It may bring up your GPA to near 3.5.</p>