Chance Me? Will Chance Back

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Colleges:
Oberlin
Brown
Wesleyan
Tufts
Vassar
Dartmouth
Cornell

I’m currently a junior at a small, Pennsylvania public school. My intended major is not set in stone, but I’m thinking of cognitive science/neuroscience, and possibly sociology. I’m very new to this process, so please let me know if anything I put on here is trivial/should not go on an application!

SAT Math: 680 (Will take again and try to raise)
SAT Writing: 730 (Will take again and try to raise)
SAT Reading: 800
Haven’t taken subject tests yet, but intend to take biology, US history, and literature

Will have taken 9 or 10 AP classes by graduation (Biology, US, Lang, Chem, Calc, Stat, French, Lit, Euro, and maybe Physics I)
AP Biology: 4 (This is the only score I have so far.)

Race: Mixed (Asian/White)
GPA: 3.9
Rank: 2 out of 160ish
Will be taking a class at either Lafayette or Lehigh next year

Extracurriculars/Leadership:
Philanthropy Club/RAAB Foundation Partner (Founding member)
Key Club (Treasurer)
Scholar’s Bowl (Varsity)
Student Government (Executive President)(School Representative at 2015 Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils Region F Conference)
Madrigal Singers
School Board Student Representative
Odyssey of the Mind (World Finalist/State Ranatra Fusca)
Partners in Action for Community Togetherness
Intern at Hepatitis B research clinic
Will be founding a social action club

Awards/Honors:
French Honor Society
National Honor Society
County Choir
Thomas W. Free Special Projects Grant Recipient

Volunteer:
Cops ‘N’ Kids/Books Through Bars Book Drive Organizer
Math Tutoring
Cops ‘N’ Kids Literacy Program
Volunteer counselor at science camp for elementary school students

Other:
Part-time job
Neuroscience camp at Muhlenberg College (selective and involves lab work)
Possibly attending the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Sciences (highly selective program)
Semester-long research project on neuroprosthetic and created human interface/neuroprosthetic simulator to go along with the project
Semester-long independent study on the Russian avant-garde movement
French III independent study
(Not sure if I should list these independent studies/the research on an application. Thoughts?)

2

Those are pretty good ECs. In your app, you want to be focusing on how you built your leadership skills etc. The SAT scores are pretty good and your rank and GPA is brilliant. Because you want to study sociology, you might want to emphasise on your extracurriculars related to this subject…

I think you have a good chance for most of these schools. Brown, Cornell and Tufts are a wee bit more selective but with a good essay you have a reasonable chance.

3

I see you getting into all of these unis easily except maybe Cornell and Brown cause they are just arbitrary with decisions, I think your EC’s and essays would be the defining factor in your admission. Your academics are extremely strong and you have a long list of EC’s that I think is very good in terms of breadth. Try to really show commitment to a concentration of activities that would complement your major and get recognised for them (leadership position, awards, etc)

Good luck :smiley: