Chance Me- Rising Junior, NC resident, 3.94 UW GPA, 31 ACT, IB Magnet HS for biomedical engineering

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Applying In State UNC from wake county (highly competitive)

thinking of biomedical engineering major or something similar
math minor of double major

Background:
Wake County, NC (highly competitive)
Public IB Magnet High School (offers ~10APs+ 15IBs)
White+ Asian, Female
Not low income or first gen
Class of 2025

Stats:
UW GPA 3.94/4.0
W GPA 4.375 (sophmore year)
Class rank 64/625 (freshman year)
31 ACT (will retake)

Coursework
Taken: 6 APs- 3 self study+ Calc AB,BC, APES (grade 10)
~10/650 students taking calc grade 10

Taking: 5IB+ 2-4 Dual enrollment (might take calc 3) junior + 6IB 2 Dual enrollment senior
~120/650 students taking IB in my class

Extracurriculars:
Varsity Gymnastics (9,10,11)- repeating state championship team(9,10), competed 3/4 events at states (max 6 gymnasts per school, 4 per event)

Club Gymnastics- AAU State Qualifier - competiton team 11hrs/52wks/year but quit after grade 9 (practiced 8 years total)

Varsity Stunt- 11hr/8wk- grade 9,10

Shadowing Orthopedic Surgeries (summer)

Hospital Volunteer

Nonprofit chapter leader-organizing card making sessions & distributing to senior cotizens

Culture Club Historian

Math Honor Society Treasurer (will run for president/vp senior year)

Art Honor Society Social Media Manager (running for co president senior year)

Kumon learning assistant (3days/wk)

+member stuco, french club, school mentors

Applying to govenors school next year for either art or math, planning to do more art competitions and join some more honor societys (most students cant join until grade 11)

colleges

still looking for matches but definetely applying to ncsu & unc

safetys: dont really wanna pay OOS tuition for a safety, so I dont know any good options besides NCSU but that could be more of a target because im from a competitive county and applying to a competitive program

maybe elon as a safety but id need to get a lot of merit scholarship (not many schools have medical engineering major)

for reaches maybe emory, georgia tech, wake forest, hopkins (hard reach),

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If you don’t want to pay for OOS, then apply to schools that will reward you and they’d be inexpensive, in some cases as low (or lower) than NC State. Also, don’t forget, NC State engineering is a 20 minute or small bus ride from campus.

Where can you do well - with ABET accredited bio engineering - many schools, but look at UAB, Arizona, WVU.

Not as inexpensive but Delaware, Cincinnati, Louisville, Miami Ohio, MS State, SUNY Bing and Buffalo, Purdue, South Carolina, UTK.

You have a shot at both in state schools - but plenty easy to find inexpensive OOS too.

Best of luck.

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You’re a year early to be thinking about chancing. Since you took your ACT as a sophomore and got a 31, I anticipate that score will go up over the next 12-18 months. Your GPA appears strong, but your ranking outside of the top 10% might be concerning since you’re coming out of Wake County, where it is so competitive. I think you’d have a definite shot, but I wouldn’t consider you a lock.

Also, I just want to forewarn you that many students find their junior year to be their hardest, academically. Many students who were swimming along through 10th grade all of a sudden find it harder to earn the same level of grades junior year. I’m not saying this will happen to you, but just be aware that there might be additional difficulties this coming year.

Paging @Sweetgum, @1dadinNC, and @EconPop who might have better insight.

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Missed the sophomore year - yes, way early.

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I’m not in Wake but I think you have a good shot at UNC.

My advice is don’t waste your time self studying for APs though. It’s my understanding (y’all correct me if I’m off base) that colleges want to see you having a rigorous schedule of classes and if you’re not in the class the self-studying is not going to have as much weight. If you do well on the tests it might get you out of some Gen Ed requirements once you get to college, though. For applications being in the class and getting a good class grade usually holds more weight than your score on the AP test. It sounds like you already have a rigorous IB schedule so I think you are ok on that front.

If your parents’ income is below $150k (not what I would call low income) definitely apply to Duke. They are offering free tuition to students in NC and SC below that threshold.

NC State is a good target/match. I think you should get in there. The joint biomedical engineering program with UNC allows you to take classes on either campus so if you weren’t accepted at UNC Chapel Hill (I think you’ll get in there, too, if you keep up with your great GPA) you could still go to classes there.

You could add UNC-Charlotte as a likely.

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NC A&T is another in state public with ABET accredited bioengineering / biomedical engineering.

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Thank you, I agree with the thing about self studying APs and I probably wont be self studying any new subjects next year, but I’m considering taking ones close to the dual enrollment classes I’m taking so I’ll more likely get the college credit (DE statistics &chem taking AP Stats and maybe AP chem exam). I’m unsure about AP Chem because altho the dual enrollment general chem class im taking likely wont give me college credit AP chem is known to be a hard class/exam.

As for duke and similar schools my family income is too high for financial aid (both are engineers) but not high enough to comfortably pay for 80k a year tuition (theyre currently planning for in state public school tuition).

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You wish it was $80K a year - they now estimate $89-90K - and college costs more than they say.

Yes, don’t waste your time with self study AP - some high level schools don’t take AP or you need the class. If you have dual enrollment - you don’t need AP. Either your school will accept DE or won’t, similar to AP - but you don’t need a DE class and an AP test.

If you’ll want to take a lot of APs and get credit for all of them, then you’ll choose a school that accepts APs - and it may or may not be these two depending on whatever they require (some are 5s or 4s, 5s… Some will tell you, if you are in the sciences, not to take credit for any math or science AP and take them again in school. At Colorado School of Mines, the student panel emphasized this to the kids and I wish my son had listened. He had to withdraw from a class.

You are awfully early.

Keep up the good grades. If you have a 31 ACT now, it will likely go up. And keep up the tenure with your activities - i.e. gymnastics.

Best of luck.

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Keep in mind that high grades and scores at a less competitive OOS school may come with merit aid that would bring OOS tuition down comparable to in-state. (They know to get you, they have to compete with instate in your home state.) However, the flip side is that your OOS safety may not be so safe if they believe you are more likely to accept an instate option adversely affecting their yield. Are there state schools in TX, FL or the Western Consortium that have your intended major? Might be worth checking out including honors colleges that often have merit aid associated with them.

Best of luck

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All the UNC system schools count DE courses taken at North Carolina community colleges. Here’s your recommended pathway for community college courses for the Biomedical Engineering program: Biomedical and Health Sciences Engineering, A.S.-B.S. < University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Some Community College courses may not count for a specific course, so check out that list if you are wanting credit for a specific course. All CC courses should count as credit hours/electives at UNC and State even if they don’t count for the specific course. No need for self-studying for AP exams.

Talk to the Community College advisor if you are unsure what will transfer. There is a special program at the Community Colleges called C-Step that is a pathway to transferring to UNC Chapel Hill as a junior if you get your Associates degree. You may not have enough DE courses to get your Associates, but I think if you take the correct courses and meet the grade requirements it should transfer. There’s a similar program for NC State called C3 (Community College Collaboration). The Community College advisor should be familiar with which courses will transfer with credit for the course, not just hours.

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thank you thats very helpful!

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Hi @AlexH11, congratulations on your achievements. Lot of good advise given to you already. I had two kids apply to UNC, very similar stats from Wake county. One got in and one did not (straight rejection). Your class rank will come into play for both UNC and NCSU. Chances are, you will get WL at NCSU and then get accepted later if you go the EA route. But reconsider BME as your major as it is literally the most competitive major for both schools along with CS.
If you are serious about UNC, find 1 genuine passion project that helps the community and shine there. And it ain’t creating a non-profit.
Remember that you are being compared to your school peers.
Finally, it seems that you are trying to become a doctor? In which case, you might want to rethink UNC. You want to go to a school where you can truly shine. Also, look at universities that have early assurance programs.

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Thank you, I’m still not certain about BME, or UNC/NCSU for that matter, but I know I want to go into something STEM related, which will still most likely be CS or another type of engineering, so other competitive majors. However since I’m a rising junior I still have over a year to decide if BME or premed is something I want to pursue in college.

For class rank I suspect it will go up because freshman year most of my peers had nearly identical classes to me with the main difference being that I take visual arts which isn’t an honors elective.
I recently found my mid year sophmore year transcript and I was 62/665 when I had a 4.2875 GPA, which was slightly lower than my freshman year GPA because the only semester long course I took I got a B in (AP calc AB). Since I got an A in the other 7 courses I took my GPA slightly improved by the end of the year. Additionally my school doesnt allow for sophmores to take APs besides APES or APHUG (and most dont have room in their schedule to take both) so I was one of the very few people taking 3 APs because of blocked AP calculus, so I suspect my class rank now is a bit higher than it was at the time.
However next year will most likely be the biggest dictator of my class rank because about 1/5th of my class is taking IB and will have 5-7 IB courses. My overall GPA if I got all A’s next year would go up to a 4.56, 4.52 with one B, 4.48 with two Bs etc. so it really just depends if I and my class mates are able to maintain their grades with the additional course rigor.

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also I looked at

https://myinsight.northcarolina.edu/t/Public/views/db_freshmen/AppliedAdmittedEnrolled?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=1&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y

and it indicated 38% of the people who applied from my school got into UNC (38/98)

and 47% got accepted into NCSU (66/141)

this was for class of 2022 and I believe the class size was around 550

average ACT for my school is 27
average SAT is 1190

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Georgia Tech is not likely; although its Common Data Set shows in Section C7 that it gives more weight to GPA and academic rigor than test scores, it is hard to get in to Georgia Tech as an OOS applicant unless you are a valedictorian or salutatorian of your high school class.

You might look at the University of South Carolina in Columbia (one of the schools that @tsbna44 mentioned above); presently COA is under $50K, but if you can bring up your ACT score and get some merit aid, that cost can be reduced.

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thank you, I considered georgia tech a reach because of how hard it is to get in OOS for the reasons you mentioned.

I actually noticed 5 people from my school are going to UofSC next year, which is relatively high considering the majority of students from my school go to UNC system schools. I know of one person who got a full ride to UofSC last year so that is a good sign as well. I will look into UofSC more, much appreciated.

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Sounds like you have some decisions to make regarding major etc. As for success rate from school, be careful here. Textile, Ag or even business are pretty easy admits for State. Engineering, not so much.
For both schools, success could well depend on choice of major. Also for UNC, as things stand now, GPA/scores qualify but ECs lead to admission. If you can get your rank up to top 10%, I’d say UNC and State are both matches.

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Update: passed all 5 AP exams, mix of 3s and 4s

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Congrats - rising Junior right?

Honestly, your biggest question will be - are you interested only in schools where those scores get you credit or only others? It looks like UNC takes some 3s. Surprised by that.

But again, you’re very early in the process - you won’t even start apps for a year.

I’d take minimal time - and start developing a list.

Set up a college only email: AlexH11@gmail.com

Go onto college websites of interest - my daughter started with 110 so you can do however many and then delete as you decide against. Or you can start with these two, add U of SC and add as you see fit.

Go to their mailing list or additional info pages - and they’ll have you noted. Some will even send you app fee waivers next year. When they email (especially privates), open them. Play videos they have even if you walk away. You don’t have to open every email but occasionally. The privates want to see demonstrated interest - not all. But you can see in the common data set section C7 who does. Or on their FAQs in their admission website.

But you have time and you’ll likely increase your ACT - given you got a 31 so early.

If a school is far away, you might occasionally sign up for an admission session and tour. I say occasionally - like 2x a month - because these are all the same and will burn you out quickly.

You’re way ahead of the game. You’re already going to qualify for great merit at OOS schools if you decide to go that route. Or even at privates. Don’t get yourself burned out at this point.

Best of luck.

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Yes, rising junior

From what I’m seeing most private schools don’t take 3s but some public schools will (UNC, NCSU, U of SC). I honestly wasn’t expecting to pass all of my self study exams so it kinda came as a surprise to me.

I’ve already started demonstrating some interest at some schools like Case Western and Elon, and I plan to do the same for UNCW, UNCC, and Purdue for fee waivers, since application fees add up quick especially if AP Score Reports are also sent (its also an additional $10 per school to withhold each 3). Thank you :slight_smile: