Demographics (location, residency, HS type, legacy, US or Int’l, gender, etc)
Asian American Male, US Citizen, Texas, Extremely Competitive Public, Income Bracket: 400k+, No Legacy No Hooks
Intended Major(s)
Biochemistry/Biology
UW GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (also weighted GPA for systems like UC/CSU)
Significant Downward Trend See Below
3.91 UW GPA
5.1 W Gpa
Border of 1st Decile
Test Scores,1540(740RW,800M), 35(35,35,36,35)
Coursework (college coursework for transfer applicants)
17 AP’s, All math up till Calc BC, all science except Physics 2
Founder of an organization dedicated to providing students research guidance and opportunities to involve themselves
Medical Shadowing 100+ Hours, 2 clinics
HOSA President @ my high school
Essays/LORs/Other
My essay revolves around intellectual humility and widening perspectives, hope its good
Lor from JHU Professor I worked with alongisde normal LORS
Cost Constraints / Budget
None
Schools including Safety, Match, Reach (include ED/EA when applicable)
JHU ED (REJECTED)
EA:UT Austin(Non-Auto) USC, UMICH, UNC-Chapel Hill, CWRU, UTD(Accepted), TAMU(Accepted), UAB(BSMD), TTU(BSMD), UCLA, UC Berkeley
RD: Emory, WashU, Pomona, Rice, Amherst, Cornell, Duke, Vanderbilt, Brown, Tulane (Note: Tufts/Vanderbilt/Brown not confirmed, am willing to look at other schools and swap them out)
Note: I had solid academics until the start of jr year, (4.0 top 6%) but due to a mix of covid-19 burnout, the sudden death of one of my closest cousins, and poor performance impacted by that, my stats took a huge decline and i went from straight a’s to a couple of b’s in ap courses and such. Although nothing is an excuse for my own poor performance, i still plan to mention the extenuating circumstances that affected me regardless of whether they help or not. They happened first sem jr year, which I ended up having b’s and low a’s in, and by second sem i brought everything back to 94+ with the exception of one B, and currently im doing fine in senior year(except a B in ap chem), but overall a downward trend is stilll present as a whole.
Just for confirmation, you’ve had several Bs but still have a 3.91 unweighted GPA? You may want to double-check that.
Either way, you have a lot of great aspects to your application. Did your school counselor include a note about the extenuating circumstances in your junior year? It would be a lot better coming from the counselor than from you. My comments about the other schools are going to be very similar to what I wrote when you were deliberating about EDing at Hopkins: Is it even worth EDing JHU and crapshooting with such poor academics? - #6 by AustenNut. With respect to the schools on your new list, odds are slim for all. See the RD admissions rates here. For small liberal arts schools like Amherst and Pomona, because their classes are much smaller, you will also need to have shown how you’re a great fit for the school. If they feel like you’re just throwing an app their way to see if you get in, it’s likely to be a pointless exercise for you.
A few questions:
Would you be happy to attend TAMU or UTD? If so, fabulous, you’ve got two strong in-state options. If not, you need to find a safety that you would be happy to attend.
Is your family still wanting you to take a loan from them to cover the cost of two years at the expensive schools? If you’re still interested in med school (and by your BSMD app to UAB, it looks like you are), then I would strongly advise against going to an expensive school and instead save the money for grad school.
yeah, i have about 4 B’s(they are by semester, not full year grades) across almost 60 grades(rest are a’s) and on my school’s scale that equates to a 3.91, shown on my transcript, after this one B in ap chem in senior year on mid terms I’m not sure where I’ll be but it should only be a .01-.02 drop idk.
our counselor recommendation was submitted with us filling in a google form answering some questions, and in the last question I did write about these circumstances for her to note down. whether or not she put it in the letter is something I couldn’t confirm so i hope it did end up going in.
do you know if liberal arts schools consider demonstrated interest? or is the best way to show my fit through essays. I understand the chances are slim for all so I don’t have any expectations, I feel like my stats alone are enough to cut me out.
I don’t think UTD is an option at this point in time anymore, I strongly prefer TAMU and have already gotten in, I do like TAMU a good amount and I am getting a scholarship there so yeah in the event where I get into no school, I’d be fine about going to A&M
To take a loan or to pay it off in full are both options, but they said thats a discussion for if I get into a school and have to end up making the choice between them, so as of right now I’m just focused on applying to these schools. Now that I am not ED’ing I’m not binding myself to anything so I feel like I would rather spend a couple bucks on an application fee for the small chance to get in regardless of whether I will 100% attend an expensive school or not.
Take a look at the schools’ Common Data Sets to see how important demonstrated interest is to them. At Tulane, though it’s not a small liberal arts college, it’s very important. Ditto with Case Western.
What is it about each school on your list that attracts you to them? People can certainly be drawn to both small and large campuses, or schools in major cities vs. being in the middle of nowhere, but I’m trying to figure out what it is you want out of college.
Have you given any thought to Trinity in San Antonio? It’s very strong academically, there are lots of opportunities for pre-meds, if it’s not too late for their scholarship application deadline, and you may get very good merit, and its student body will have more of the academic vibe that you seem to be after. Or have you thought about TCU or SMU? Or if you’re looking for a liberal arts college, what about Southwestern?
If you’ve been showing a lot of interest to your schools, including Michigan, Case, and Tulane, then you might see some acceptances there. The odds at the schools on your list are very slim, no matter how great the applicant. Frankly, I wouldn’t be shocked if you don’t get any more acceptances beyond what you already have in-hand. And that’s mind-boggling based on what a strong candidate you are, except for the fact that you’re only choosing the most rejective schools in the country. A low admissions rate is not the only sign of a strong academic program.
Right now, your preferred school of your acceptances has nearly 57k undergrads. The vast majority of the rest of your list has less than 10k undergrads, with some around 2k. Yes, you can make a big college smaller, but TAMU is HUGE. My sense is that there are schools that would be a better fit for you that you stand a good chance of admittance (and merit aid at), than A&M. But it doesn’t do any good if you won’t consider them.
Your EA list looks good. You’ll snatch at least a couple of them. Otherwise, I would STRONGLY recommend EDII for Emory or WashU. I think Emory is a better shot. As to your unfortunate circumstances, those are “acts of God,” so you should not blame yourself. Ask your counselor to insert a statement that contains what you have articulated. The admissions people see numerous tragedy-ridden applicants, and are empathic. These are not stone-hearted people, for the most part.
kind of an update, but I just got into UNC-Chapel Hill yesterday as an out of state student and also got accepted into Honors Carolina & Accelerated Research Program! As an OOS, the rate for 2026 was 8.2% so I was super surprised, considering my profile above with no hooks and not so great academic trend especially in my demographic, and even more surprised for Honors Carolina because the website indicates <1% of applicants get in, and the average class ranking for honors students is top 3% which I am far off of, so I guess the rest of my application + a ton of luck got me in.
I just was wondering if a UNC acceptance with such a low chance could indicate any potential results for my other schools (I got deferred from my other ea’s umich usc and I still got all the rd’s left so im waiting on basically everything), I know every school is super different but I was really surprised by UNC and am now just hoping that it shows some sort of chance for other schools in the future, especially UT-Austin since its cheaper for me cuz in-state but I’m non-auto so my chances are low, and Rice/Emory since they’re probably my favorites within the reaches but they are top tier schools with terrible rates so I definitely know that my chances are staying low, ig UNC just gave me a sliver of hope, not enough to delude myself though ofc
also, i lost my login info to the account above, and thats why I am on this account, which I had made years before that one and only found after some searching, I know i think multiple aren’t allowed so if there’s any way to help retrieve that one, or get rid of that one and use this one, since I don’t have the email access to it, I’d love the help, I just wanted to comment here regardless
I don’t think you can generalize from one admissions committee to another. Each is a stand alone decision. Overcoming the odds with one committee doesn’t change the fact that each of these super selective schools is still a long shot for almost everyone.
I also think that you are being hypercritical of your own credentials. Your resume is superb. Where you see a couple of B’s in AP courses as a down turn, an admissions committee also sees those AP courses as representing rigor, which is highly valued by these kinds of schools. They also see you as being willing to challenge yourself. In the context of everything else in your application, these are not as big a negative as you think they are. Holistic admissions means just that. They look at everything. And your competition is likely not as perfect as you might think it is.