Hi! This is my first post here, even though I’ve been using the forum archives for a couple years now.
I’d like to know my chances at Yale (my #1 choice, doing early action right now), Harvard, Dartmouth, Duke, Reed, Northeastern, Bowdoin, and Smith. I’m majoring in biomedical engineering.
Here’s my resume (it sums up everything fairly well)
Cumulative GPA: 4.00 unweighted
ACT: 33 (34E 34M 35R 29S)
SAT: 1500 (760RW 740M)
Summa Cum Laude
–Leadership Positions–
Founder and president of Academic Decathlon, 12
Safety Captain of FIRST Robotics Club, 11
Responsibilities included reminding team of proper safety procedures, and
speaking with necessary leaders at state level of FIRST Robotics Competition
Co-president of Diversity Club, 10
Aided in preparing presentations, led the club when president was away
Co-editor of school newspaper, 10
–Extracurricular Activities–
Academic Decathlon, 9-10, 12
FIRST Robotics Club, 11-12
School Newspaper, 10
STEAM Team, 10
Also known as STEM plus Art. We designed and built a Rube Goldberg device, and competed at the ASU Rube
Goldberg Machine Contest.
Computer Club, 10
Learned computer hardware and coding basics.
Diversity Club, 10
Also known as GSA, or Gay-Straight Alliance.
Future Doctors, 9
Different people with medical careers spoke about their experiences and gave us advice.
–Awards–
National Merit Commended Scholar 12
Sparky Scholar 11, 12
Two time Science Fair winner 9, 10
First place in category both times, qualified for and competed at ISEF State Science fair
Principal’s award, 9-10
Summa Cum Laude, 11-12
I went to two different schools for high school–both college prep with very rigorous material. One for 9-10, the other for 11-12. I don’t have much community service–I was told it wasn’t that important for college decisions, and it honestly felt like resume fluff. I’ve since been told a couple of times that it won’t matter as long as the rest of my application is impressive enough–maybe a topic for another discussion but do you guys have opinions on that? As a senior applying right now it’s a little too late to cram some in, but I’d like to know.
I’ll list my classes below; got an A for the final grades in every one so far, without exception. At my first school we had the usual honors/AP (I live in the US), but right now I’m taking Cambridge courses. (IGCSE is normal level, AS is like part one to a class and A is part two, each counts for about 3 college credits I believe–I think it varies). I’ll list my classes first, then my Cambridge exam scores.
9th grade–
Honors Algebra 2/Trig
Honors English 1
Honors Lab Biology
Honors Spanish II
Logic/Academic Workshop
New Media 1
PE Female
10th grade-- (had a free period on account of there not being a Spanish III class available)
AP World History (got a 3 on the AP test, ugh)
Art & Design I
Creative Writing/Acad
Honors Chemistry
Honors English II
Honors Pre Calculus
11th grade–
AS Level English Literature
Cambridge A Level Mathematics
Cambridge AS Level Physics
Capstone- Life Sciences
IGCSE American History
Principles of Engineering
Spanish III
Yearbook/Journalism
12th grade-- in progress grades, but I expect As
Dual-Enrollment Calculus for Engineers I (taking Calc for Engineers II next semester)
Cambridge A Level English Literature
Cambridge AS Level Biology
Capstone IV- Leadership
Academic Apprenticeship (doing an internship with a professor, we meet once a week and she’s helping our small group create videos explaining a type of automation)
Independent Study (did an online Western Civ class for college credit, the time slot will either get filled by an internship at an algae lab or another online credit class)
Spanish IV
US Government/Economics (one class per semester)
Okay, now for Cambridge scores. For any Americans out there, getting an E (as in, the score past D) counts as passing the test–and a 70ish % can get you a B. I studied hard for these.
A Mathematics: C©, (I was happy with this considering I took the AS and A tests in the same year. Spent uncountable hours studying for AS on the side.)
AS Physics: b(b)
AS Literature in English a(a)
and for non A-Levels: B(b) on IGCSE American History.
This year I’m not only taking the AS Bio and A Literature tests, I’m learning A Physics on the side (so it’s not technically on my transcript) so I can take the test come May/June.
Yikes, that’s a lot. FYI, I’m working with my English teacher to write compelling essays–he’s a blessing. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes a look at this!