Chance me - UMiami, UF, Penn State, William and Mary, Boston College

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys, let me know what you think my chances are of being accepted into UMiami, UF, Penn State, William and Mary, and Boston College.

  • 4.40 Weighted GPA, 4.0 unweighted GPA
  • 34 ACT
  • 6 APs (my school doesn't offer many APs)
  • Has taken 4 honors/AP/college credit classes every year, since my school only lets us take 4 of those classes
  • Currently taking an independent science research course, since I hope to study biology
  • National Merit Semifinalist

Main ECs

  • Dance: ballet, modern, jazz; 8-12 hours per week; rehearses for recitals, Nutcracker production, competitions in the spring, community events; have been a teaching assistant before; have been dancing since I was 3
  • Internship: offered paid research internship this summer and to the present at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center after volunteering there for a year, work 6 hours per week, code qualitative data about science education on the undergraduate level, helping to write manuscript that will be published within a year about the impacts of informal high school research experiences
  • Social justice club: president, student leader last year, have been involved since freshman year, manages the website, organizes and leads club events/activities such as making posters, going to art exhibits, attending social justice conferences, etc.
  • National Honor Society: committee leader, tutored student in statistics last year, currently tutoring student in precalculus, have completed 40 hours of service by volunteering at school events and tutoring, involved since sophomore year

Summer Programs

  • Missouri Scholars Academy: nominated for and selected to attend Missouri’s Governor’s School the summer before junior year, took college-level classes about sociology and racial justice in Missouri, 3 weeks
  • Kode with Klossy: awarded scholarship to attend 2-week coding camp this summer, learned basics of web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), for final project, coded website with teammates about environmental racism in St. Louis
  • Sea Education Association Expedition: selected to attend 2-week program where I learned to sail on a research vessel and conduct basic marine biology lab procedures
2

Your stats are impressive, but your UF and William & Mary chances can be affected by your particular residency status…i.e. whether you are a Florida resident or a Virginia resident.

3

The worst part is not getting rejected, it’s getting a list of acceptance letters to a bunch of schools you can’t afford. Uncertainty seems to be the new normal. If you can afford an expensive school now, that might not be true in the next 4 years. There are abundant scholarships for kids with your stats. That would be worth its weight in gold.

4

You are in the ballpark with all of these, though there are no guarantees. I think you’re pretty safe with Penn State (but not financially, unless you’re able to pay). Your chances of admission for each vary according to whether you’re applying ED, EA or RD, and, sadly, how much financial aid (if any) you’d need. I doubt if any of these is terribly generous for out-of-state students except for the very top applicants.