Chance me RD?

GPA: 4.02 W I know it’s p low but I come from a small, highly ranked private HS that doesn’t really allow students to take AP’s before junior year, and I have had a very heavy course load compared to the average student at my school. I do know that the split between A’s and B’s can look bad.

Major: Biology

Rank: no ranking (maybe top quarter)

ACT: 32

Essays: Commonapp 7/10, Emory essays 9/10

Recs: decent, one from AP stats teacher (placed in a county math competition for stats) and one from my APUSH teacher. idk about my counselor since he is new to my school.

Hooks: none, Asian female in an upper-middle class family

EC’s:

  • Dance. I get paid to dance in my Director’s professional company.
  • Teaching beginning ballet to underserved parts of the community like a hispanic neighborhood and local public schools
  • Lots of dance summer programs including a scholarship to American Ballet Theatre
  • Paid dance model for a sculptor
  • Volunteering for the UC Master Gardener’s since I was really young (~30 hrs/year)
  • BLM summer intern (~60 hours). Restoration and statistics on an old military base.
  • Summer study abroad in Costa Rica focused on conservation and sustainability
  • Hospital physical therapy center volunteer (~100 hours this past year)
  • Also help take care of my grandparents since they only speak Chinese
  • Was class VP freshman year before my popularity dropped lmao

@cccali : We need to know an unweighted GPA to have an idea if that GPA is “low”. Also, when you discuss GPA, do mention it relative to how many APs you took or were allowed to take. It just reveals the idea that folks should be taking AP for a GPA boost. Reality is that most schools of high caliber will unweight and reweight that GPA as they see fit and not how YOUR school weights. I suspect that splitting between A’s and B’s will be treated in the context of the school and AP scores if you have them.

*Also, do not mention that your VP position was popularity based. Of course we know these things kind of work like that, but don’t just say it. If that were the case, maybe not worth mentioning. You have demonstrated passion and “leadership” in many other ways. That should honestly not have been included unless you were in your HS’s student gov. on a more continuous basis (and it need not be president or VP position).

I personally can’t tell how you’d be evaluated. All I can say is that I hope you played up dance, and used your courseload to establish that you have a good foundation in STEM that the adcoms can match with the biology major interest you have. The other things look kind of typical from an applicant coming from an upper middle class background so cross your fingers. Either way, would be good to know your unweighted GPA and some AP scores/dual enrollment (anything equivalent to college level courses) if you have them. I hate this chancing crap, and please don’t take them seriously, but since you look like a fairly typical applicant with only a middle 50 ACT score, based upon the information I see, Emory is likely a reach. If you desperately want to go to these top schools, I hope you applied to a lot . Emory or some of them may turn up for sure, but just don’t expect anything, simply hope for it.

Because of its holistic approach, Chance Me thread’s for Emory are pointless. No one can tell you whether you’ll get accepted. Know that Emory is a reach, not necessarily because of your stats, but because it’s just one of those schools that is a reach for nearly all.