Chance Me: Washington University, Vanderbilt, Emory, and Rice; Princeton, Yale, and Stanford

Your academic qualifications are outstanding!!!..but pretty average for the type of student applying to Washington University, Vanderbilt, Emory, Rice, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford. Most, if not ALL, applicants to these schools boast a perfect 4.0 UW GPA and near perfect SAT (1550+) or ACT (36) scores. What you need to do is stand out among them, and the only way to do so is participate in unique ECs and achieve an award (or something of the equivalent) on a national or international level. As of now, your ECs are pretty generic and all over the place – that is to say, they do not show your focus or intent on pursuing chemistry in college. I understand that you may go to a high school that may not offer you very many opportunities, but colleges want students in the same situation who have found a way out of this, and either find new opportunities or create new ones. For you, it just looks like you have merely taken what has been offered in front of you. People who are admitted into these schools are the kinds of students who have done research at a university-affiliated lab in high school, have published articles in scientific journals, have won in international competitions (ISEF, STS, Google science fair, etc), and have made a significant impact on their school and community. Unfortunately, as of now, your ECs do not reflect that kind of emphasis on science/chemistry, so I urge to you participate in more activities that directly relate to that field, and perhaps even enter a competition or science fair to show these colleges you mean business. I would say Washington University, Vanderbilt, Emory, and Rice would be regular reaches for you, while Princeton, Yale, and Stanford are high reaches or out of reach, simply because of your lackluster ECs. Good luck!

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