Hi there! Just freaking out and feeling desperate and looking for a “chance me” for UNC Chapel Hill- my top school!
-applying regular decision
-attending highly-ranked (in some rankings #1) PA public school (so out-of-state)
-Caucasian female, probably not going to get much need based aid
-4.0 GPA, 5.0 weighted (as of junior year)
-grade 9: 3 honors courses
-grade 10: 3 honors and AP Chem
-grade 11: 2 honors, APUSH, and APES
-grade 12 (current): Honors Calc, AP Gov, AP Lit, AP Physics C: Mechanics, Journalism, Honors O-Chem
-5 on AP Chem Exam, 780 SAT Chem subject test, 193 sophomore year PSAT, 221 junior PSAT
-SAT: 2230: 730 math, 800 CR, 800 writing, 10 essay
-ACT (though I didn’t send these scores anywhere): 33 composite, 35 writing, 31 math, 34 reading, 31 science (10 essay)
-Varsity cross country runner (ran in state meet junior year where my team placed fifth), JV Spring track
-Honors: National Merit, National Honor Society, Junior Book Award for Literature from Denison
-school newspaper writer 10-12, section editor 11-12, Editor-in-chief 12
-attended Governor’s School for Engineering and Technology at Lehigh University summer after junior year, won third place for research and sustainability in engineering
-Water Design Challenge - researched water issues throughout junior year, prepared solution in 48 hour event to mitigate stormwater runoff and won a $400 grant to implement my team’s plans
-Ambassador Girl Scout, have earned Gold Award for hosting a middle school Pi Day
-Summer camp counselor (VBS day camp several years, 1 summer Camp Invention, 1 summer 5 weeks at overnight Y-camp)
-play guitar and sing at my church
-Student Council, Principal’s Advisory Council, Student Curriculum Advisory Council, Spanish Club Executive Council, Lit Mag editor freshman, sophomore, and senior year
-just started a Chemistry Club at my HS - organizing some fun readings, professor lectures, holiday celebrations, outreach demonstrations, etc. on the subject
-on school team that built weather balloon (outside of class, year long project, just had successful launch!)
-junior year writer for Fastweb- scholarship website, have also written for church newsletter
-Homecoming Queen (SHOULD I INCLUDE THIS?)
-one pretty good rec letter from APES teacher, one probably REALLY good letter from junior year English teacher
-applying as Chemistry major (as of now)
Thus far, I am very sure that I want to major with some combination of chemistry and writing. However, I’m not very sure how exactly I want to go about this. Considering: Double major in chem and English or journalism, major in chem and minor in one of those two, major in Chem-E and minor in one of those two? I’m not quite sure of career goals (who really is?), but I would, right now, ideally want to spend some time in research, some time editing/writing for a scientific journal or magazine, and then maybe become a teacher or professor eventually. Which of these do you think would suit me best/be easiest for me to get into based upon the above?
Please give me some feedback on this! I REALLY love Chapel Hill (though I don’t have high hopes right now)
Other schools I’m applying to include (in no particular order): Pitt, Northeastern, Northwestern, Penn State, UPenn, Lehigh, Bucknell, Johns Hopkins, Allegheny
Thanks for your feedback!