Chance Me Please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey guys. I want to major in Bioengineering and then go onto med school. Im from Houston, a male, and white which might be some disadvantages for me </p>

<p>Rank: 1/667 at a public school
Unweighted GPA 4.00/4.00
Weighted GPA 5.52/6.00</p>

<p>ACT score - 34</p>

<p>AP scores so far</p>

<p>APUSH(5)
English Language(4)
Psychology(4)
Music Theory(3)</p>

<p>Course Load Senior Year
AP Biology
AP U.S. Government
AP Macroeconomics
AP Statistics
Wind Symphony
AP Calculus AB( no BC at school unfortunately)
AP English Literature
Academic Decathlon</p>

<p>EC's and Awards
-Marching Band and Top band all four years( made region and area band good shot at all-state this year) Brass section Leader(Junior year) and Band Captain(equivalent to President Senior year)
- I play Euphonium and Trombone( Top awards on solos all four years on both instruments)
-Eagle Scout
-Academic Decathlon Team Junior and Senior year( 2nd place awards at regionals in Music, Math, and Speech)
-Won with my team 3rd Place at the Youth About Business National Championships( strategic Merger and Acquisition competition)
-National Honor Society(Senior Vice President)
-Spanish honor Society
-National Society of High School Scholars
-Texas Music Scholar</p>

<p>Volunteer
-Usher at Church very week
-Run bingo at a retirement community once a month
-Taught First Aid to younger boy scouts at camp
-In charge of running the Solo and Ensemble competition for the region at my school
-Clean the area on my schools street once a month
-Played trombone at a charity concert(Pure Water Project)</p>

<p>Work Experience
-A competitive Internship( only 10 people were chosen) at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where I worked in the Gastroenterology department alongside researchers and was able to do my own project where I found a solution to help the motility of a burn patients digestive system in a cheap and easy way for third world countries to utilize it.
-I gave a HUGE presentation of my project to the staff of the medical school along with a Q&A session.</p>

<p>Essays and Recs
- my essays will be good( about my experience at my internship along with the cultural lessons learned from working with Chinese and Egyptian colleagues)
- will have good recs from my band director, math teacher, academic decathlon and former English teacher, and my mentor at my internship</p>

<p>Please give me your honest opinion and any recommendations on how to better improve my chances at acceptance.</p>

2

<p>At this point, your stats look great. You certainly fit the profile of a student Harvard might accept. Concerns though are 1) Where are your SAT II scores. You will need three and they will need to be appropriately high. 2) Watch out for sending in too many recommendations. The two teachers are required. The other three MUST add something truly different or you are making a mistake. The expression is “the thicker the file the thicker the student”. In my daughter’s case, information was provided by both the band director and liasion to NHS through the GC’s recommendation so she had no “supplemental” recommendations while conveying what was important. Also, you want these to be more than good. 3) Lastly, you will hopefully have a good interview but that is something somewhat out of your control.</p>