Chance my D, please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>South Asian female
Finishing junior year
Planning to major in Neuroscience, minor in music composition.</p>

<p>PSAT-219
SAT I- 2280 first sitting
SAT II- Biology- 800, will take Chemistry and Math II this month
ACT- 35 first sitting
AP - Biology (5), did not get scores yet on Chemistry, Calc AB, APUSH and APLAC (taken this year)- expect to get 5's, except maybe a 4 in history. </p>

<p>UGPA - 3.85/4.0 , WGPA- 4.55 ( should go up after this year and next year because of AP's ) - have taken mostly honors and AP classes
Rank- 4/425 </p>

<p>Freshman course taken- English I honors, Algebra II honors, Earth Science honors, West Civ Honors, Spanish II honors, Band, Health and Gym- all A's (some A+'s (4.0) some just A 's)
Sophomore courses taken - English II honors, Pre Calc Honors, AP Biology, Spanish 3 honors, Global history honors, Wind Ensemble, Music Theory and Gym- all A's
Junior course load- AP Calc AB, AP Chemistry, APUSH, APLAC, Spanish 4H, Wind ensemble, and Gym- should get all A's
Senior course load - AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP Literature, AP Psychology, AP Gov, Wind Ensemble, and Gym</p>

<p>EC's and awards
School marching band - 4 years, section leader and woodwind captain.
Regionals and All State participant (band and orchestra)- 4 years
All School Musical- pit orchestra for 3 years
School literary magazine editor - 4 years
Writing club president- 4 years
Model UN- 2 years
Science Olympiad
Probably a National merit commended and AP Scholar
Hospital volunteer >100 hours
Volunteer at the music center - teaching kids to play flute (2 years)
Volunteer math, science, and Spanish tutor ( for 3 years > 100 hours)
Class Vice President
Raised money for Out of Darkness ( for mental health )- 2 years
She compose and arrange original music for pay.
National honor society -vice president (11,12)
Spanish honor society- Vice President (10,11,12)
Will intern in a biology lab this summer at a university.</p>

<p>Essays and Recs
She is a gifted writer - plan to start working on her essays this summer.
Recs- from chemistry and English teachers, maybe third one from the band director- should be good.
Counselors- knows her personally, so it should also be good.</p>

<p>Income- >200K</p>

<p>Please chance her for Columbia (ED), Barnard, UConn, Wesleyann, Johns Hopkins, and Fordham.
Can somebody suggest a school that has a good neuroscience program?
Thanks! </p>

2

<p>In everywhere on the list.
For neuroscience, also look at Brandeis.</p>

3

<p>@ soze - Thank you so much! I will check the neuroscience program in Brandeis. My D wants to stay driving distance away from home, and Brandeis is definitely close enough. </p>

4

<p>Columbia is always a wreck. Go JHU for ED and your D should get in.
chance- <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1655532-promise-final-accept-waitlist-decline.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1655532-promise-final-accept-waitlist-decline.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Thank you for your suggestion, FinancingGuru. Columbia is a dream school for my D, and she really wants to give it her best shot. </p>

6

<p>If she wants to study both neuroscience and music, Wesleyan and Brandeis probably have the strongest combination of the two subjects of the schools mentioned. </p>

7

<p>Thanks again! My D has a personal reason for wanting to study neuroscience (I believe she will write about it in one of her essays), and music is her passion. I am wondering, is it a good idea to showcase her musical talents in her application?</p>

8

<p>Consider UMich too for both Neuroscience and Music.
Are you from CA/NJ/NY? It must be one of those highly competitive states that your D only get NM commended with 219 in PSAT.</p>

9

<p>I would say your daughter has meet the bare minimum to be considered. She has a lot of extracurricular activities, but what sticks out is that none of her extracurricular activities, other than perhaps the science olympiad are really relevant to her desire to study neuroscience. Perhaps look into possible summer research positions? If she can bring her SAT over 2300, that would be good. </p>

<p>From the list of schools you have given, I would say those schools are all high-match schools or low-reach schools. If she can get excellent recommendations and write compelling essays, the top 10 ivies should be worth considering applying for. They would all be far-reach schools for her, as they are for everyone, but I would say she has met the minimum to be considered at those schools. She will need to differentiate herself and prove herself through her essays and letters of recommendation. </p>

10

<p>I’m not sure what the above poster is talking about. A 35 ACT is THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOVE a 2300!! Even at that, her SAT score is FANTASTIC.</p>

<p>Her activities are pretty good. They don’t have to pertain to what she wants to study. They should be things a student enjoys; this includes things OUT OF academic life…</p>

11

<p>@noel597 I am by no means saying her scores are not excellent, she should be very proud of them. However, as OP indicated, she obtained a 2280 on her FIRST sitting. With self-studying, many students are able to increase their scores from between 20 to 100 points. Therefore, she is fully capable of, and likely with ease, to increase her competitiveness. </p>

<p>I agree, she does have a lot of good activities - but how much do they actually say about HER? For someone interested in neuroscience, honestly, high school research positions are not extremely difficult to find. Most students seeking to enter that type of field and attempting to enter a top 10 school will have some type of lab experience. It is clear from her grades and scores that she is more than capable of obtaining such a position and conducting research which would, without a doubt, give her a competitive edge, especially if she wants to aim higher than the colleges OP has already listed.</p>

<p>The suggestions I have given OP are what I feel her daughter can reasonably obtain while providing a significant increase in her competitiveness. </p>

12

<p>But a 35 IS equivalent to over a 2300… Why should she waste her time?</p>

<p>You’d be surprised. I’m majoring in biological basis of behavior at Penn in the Fall and I’ve NEVER conducted research. None of my activities (other than an organization to raise awareness of mental health-- which only sort of applies) pertained to my prospective major. </p>

13

<p>@noel597 That is very impressive. But as I said before, the suggestions I have made are ones that I think OP’s daughter could easily do. The schools they are looking at are highly competitive, if a few hours of studying and finding a research position (which in itself, OP’s daughter would probably find very interesting based on her interests), could increase her chances, then why not do it? The two things I’ve suggested OP’s daughter to do are not particularly difficult or crazy and I don’t think anyone could claim that they would not help her. </p>

14

<p>Raising an already good SAT score when her ACT score is already up to that standard IS a waste of time.</p>

<p>Research position is cool, but usually by now (start of summer), profs and researchers aren’t looking to take on new students…</p>

15

<p>can i have a chance back nmctmom
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1655532-promise-final-accept-waitlist-decline.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1655532-promise-final-accept-waitlist-decline.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>@billcsho - we live in the northeast, and the national merit cut off is usually not less than 220. Also, UMich is too far from her preferred location. Thank you for the suggestion. </p>

<p>@Bridgewood- my D has compelling personal reasons to study neuroscience, which I really hope she can articulate in her essay. She does not really want to take the SAT or ACT again, unless she really has to. She wants to get all the testing done before summer. She is taking Chem and Math II subject test this weekend, which she is hopeful she will do well in. She wants to focus her energy on something else, like work as an intern or a research scientist. This summer she is going to work on somebody else’s project in a molecular bio lab at a nearby university. She will probably learn mostly instrumentation, but that could help her land a research scientist position later. </p>

<p>I know she will be busy this fall, because of all her AP classes. She still has to get A’s on those classes. An A or A- could pull her gpa down. I also expect that she will be busy applying to colleges. I really hope that her test scores are good enough. I think I am more tense about the whole college application process. My D is very realistic about her chances, (you can see from the short list of school she plans to apply to, only one ivy). She actually has it in her mind that she probably won’t get accepted in Columbia. I think she is doing a good job so far keeping her expectations in check. </p>

<p>@noel597- the summer research was set up for her months ago (I think in January, right around when the spring semester started). I also forgot to mention that she did a 2 year research project on synesthesia, a neuroscience topic (wrote two papers), but those were more like a journal reviews. I don’t think those count for anything, but she is well versed on that whole topic. </p>

<p>@soze - thank you again for your suggestion. We will plan to visit Brandeis sometime this summer. I think it will be on our list of schools we are applying to. We already visited Wesleyan, and my D liked it. She might even get a chance to get a substantial merit scholarship from there. If she does not get a chance at Columbia, she is thinking to go to the school (in her list) that gives her the best aid.</p>

17

<p>Wesleyan does not offer merit aid and it is doubtful that you will qualify for financial aid. Be prepared to pay the full cost. </p>

18

<p>@FinancingGuru I am not very familiar with business schools. For what it is worth, I chanced you back.</p>

19

<p>@Deaston I misspoke, and I apologize for that. The financial aid assistance is indeed based on need, and there is no chance of us qualifying for that. The great thing about Wesleyan is that they will meet your need, be it by grants and scholarship, loans, or work study. We definitely have to contribute money towards her cost of attendance, but not the full $63,000. There are also many scholarships and grants that my D will be eligible for. </p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>Unfortunatly, Wesleyan does not offer merit aid.</p>