Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I’m a Junior this year, and was wondering if someone could please chance me for some undergrad programs. I’m looking into pursuing medicine in the future.

Test Scores and GPA:
UW GPA: 3.78/4.0
W GPA: 4.21
ACT Scores: 34 Composite (34 Math, 34 English, 33 Reading, 33 Science, 11 essay)
(Have not taken subject tests yet but I will most likely take Math II, and Biology M)
Course Work (AP’s Junior and Senior Year):
Junior Year:
AP Statistics
AP Biology
AP Language and Composition

Senior Year:
AP Chemistry
AP Physics
AP Calculus BC
AP French
AP Literature

Leadership/Clubs:
-Treasurer of Model United Nations
-President and Founder of Pre-Med Club
-President and Co-Founder of Dance Club
-Treasurer of French Honors Society
-Competing member of Science Olympiad (won medals)
-National Honors Society
-Math Honors Society
-Science Honors Society

Major EC’s:
-8 Years of Classical Dance
-12 years of Classical Vocal Training
-Sunday School/Youth Group for 11 Years- participated in many service projects, and taught younger students
-Hospital Volunteering: 200 hours
-Shadowing Doctors: 150 Hours
-Volunteered with Patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia-30 hours
-Tutored Children in Grades 3-9

Awards:
-Highest Honor Roll (3 years in a row)
-Science Fair (2nd place at school science fair two years in a row)
-Regional ISEF science fair (Awarded 2nd place from Patent and Trademark Company)
-National History Day participant and went to National level
-Performed dance at the Kennedy Center along with dance group
-Performed dance at the Pentagon along with dance group
-Won several awards in classical singing competitions (including first place at local and regional competitions)

I realize that my GPA is very low for most mid and high tier undergrad programs but I could really use some advice on how to improve my app. Also could someone please give me a list of some schools that I could possibly get into? My top choices are:

-University of Virginia
-University of Pittsburgh
-Virginia Tech
-Cornell
-Brown

Thank you so so much!!! :slight_smile:

2

I think you will get into them all, and I would choose Cornell or UVA

3

I have a question: On the EC form, are you able to notify if you’ve been a club starting from before high school?? (I hope that makes sense).

4

What state are you from? It seems like you could be from Virginia, so if you’re in-state at UVA you should be fine. You’ll get into University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech pretty easily. Cornell and Brown are like the other Ivies and very hard to chance, but you seem like a really good fit. UVA is the same as the Ivies for out-of-state, but again, you’re very well-rounded so that can give you an edge.

5

I got accepted into Cornell this year via Regular Decision, so I can compare my scores with yours if you like. I did not apply to the other schools on your list, sorry.

GPA: W 4.10/4.00 UW 3.95/4.00
SAT I: R 720 M 800 W 740 (it doesn’t seem as if you’ve taken the SAT but you should look into it)
SAT II (aka Subject Tests): Math Lvl 2 800 U.S. Hist. 800 Chem. 780 World Hist. 770

My senior year course load is similar to yours, with four AP’s because I took Chemistry last year.
But overall, your extracurriculars are much more intense than mine, as well as your Junior year.

Some advice about Cornell: location matters and your Cornell-specific essay matters. I am from a nearby suburban school with a large amount of students accepted to Cornell in the past. I applied to the School of Arts and Sciences as an undecided, focusing my essay on my interests in linguistics and computer science. I also mentioned some research projects currently at Cornell that I would like to take part in. These things worked in my favor.

Another thing might be your race and gender … I don’t want to be the one to say this but I think it’s important to know. Through affirmative action, under-represented minorities (URM’s) like Latino- or African-Americans are more likely to be accepted, while over-represented minorities (ORM’s) like Asian people might be capped at a certain percentage point. Females are given preference over males, generally.

Of course, I’m an Asian male, so that might not matter so much.

AND ABOUT THE UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS OF CORNELL:
You have to make a choice and apply to a specific school of Cornell:
College of Arts and Sciences*
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences*
College of Architecture, Art and Planning
College of Engineering
School of Hotel Administration
College of Human Ecology*
School of Industrial and Labor Relations

*You probably want to apply to ONE of these. And put into your essay that you want to be pre-med (hint: mention a desire to join the Health Careers Program)

I would personally recommend the College of Arts and Sciences as it is the easiest to get into and contains courses in social sciences, natural sciences, languages, computer science and performing arts. The other schools at Cornell are more specific and might not suit someone as well-rounded as you.

6

I’m not sure if I understand your question…are you asking if we can state on college apps if we’ve started a club in high school? if so, I believe the answer is yes. And essays are definitely a good place to elaborate on your ecs

7

@allison1225 Yeah, I’m from Virginia, but it just seems like UVA’s selection has been so random this year, and I just don’t know what to expect. I know several people who made it into Ivy Leagues and not into UVA, and also some people who didn’t seem to have a strong app, who also got in…

@writer80 Thanks for the encouragement haha :slight_smile:

@AL I’m an asian female. So I guess that gives me an equal chance? And thank you so much for the info!! Also, what do you think my chances are for getting into Johns Hopkins?

@elliegez123 I’m not sure if I understood your question…could you rephrase?

8

You’re very competitive, if you’ve done enough research you’d know Ivy’s a crapshoot for everyone. Make sure you write a great essay and consult many educated people/guides about your essay.

It helps a lot if you’re a URM and/or First-Gen

Assuming you’re interested in Pre-Med, there’s a ton of colleges/programs you can get into if you look hard enough (too many to list). Use the college search tool on the college board to narrow your choices.

Also, maybe if you are more specific as to what you would like in a college, we can probably narrow it down for you even further.

9

@Hamlin Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I’m applying widely to both Undergrad programs as well as accelerated med programs. I really don’t have a favorite school, but I want my undergrad base to be strong whether I get accepted into a bs/md program or not which is why I’m looking for high tier colleges. My gpa is now around a 3.84/4.0, do you think that will increase my chances?

Thanks!

10

I can’t really help you too much with JHU because I didn’t apply there, sorry. I have a good friend who got accepted, though. Her scores are very similar to mine, she has rigorous classes like you but not as many extracurricular activities. I think you have a fighting chance, but you’ll really have to make your essays stand out.

You might have a geographic advantage, too, seeing as you are closer to Baltimore than I am. I advise checking your high school’s history at Johns Hopkins; my school posts all the information for the past few years on Naviance, if your school does something similar then you can find out how favorable your specific high school is.

For example, my high school has lots of resources and is considered pretty good, so our acceptance at JHU is about twice the average: 11/47 of our applying students have got accepted in the past (23.4%) while JHU overall acceptance rate is 11.5%. Naviance also gives the average test scores and GPA of all students from my high school who were accepted there.

For your reference here are those averages:
-Weighted GPA: 4.01/4.00
-SAT 1600: 1478
-SAT 2400: 2201
-ACT Composite: 33

I really hope this helps.