Chances for a worried senior, please?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>please tell me my chances/which schools are reaches? i'd be really grateful!</p>

<p>Race: Asian-Korean
Gender: Female
Grade: 12th
High School: large public school in MD, part of the magnet program
Planned Major: Neuroscience, w/ minor in literature (maybe?)</p>

<p>Schools:
1) Columbia University, Columbia College: ED
2) Brown University, PLME: RD
3) Johns Hopkins University: RD
4) University of Maryland, College Park: Priority
5) Washington University in St. Louis: RD
6) Dartmouth University (maybe!): RD
7) University of Michigan (maybe!): Rolling</p>

<p>GPA: 3.83 UW/4.61 W, aiming for a 4.0 for first quarter senior year
~senior course load~
AP Spanish Lang, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Human Geography, multivariable calculus/differential equations, research project/optics, marine bio/materials science, biochem/origins of mathematics</p>

<p>PSAT: 225, national merit semifinalist
SAT: M 800 C 800 W 720 (took twice)
SAT IIs: Math II 780, World History 730, Bio M 710 (do these scores hurt my chances?)
APs: AP Calc BC 5 AP Lang 5 AP Bio 5 AP World 4</p>

<p>School Extracurriculars
1) Philosophy Club: 9-12
2) JV/Varsity Field Hockey: 9-12, captain 10th grade
3) NCSSSMST 2007 planning committee: 10-12, we're helping plan/hold a national magnet school conference that will be held in the VA/DC area, hosted by Thomas Jefferson High School
4) ICARE: 11-12, a group trying to raise cancer awareness in the community
5) Spanish Honor Society: 11-12
6) National Honor Society: 11-12
7) MagPi: 12, senior group that mentors magnet freshmen</p>

<p>Out of school Extracurriculars
1) AWANA: 7-12, 5th grade teacher
2) Piano: Kindergarten-12, various awards
3) Art: 9-10 & 12</p>

<p>Awards
1) 2007 National DNA Day Essay Contest-Finalist
2) 2007 Leestma Piano Scholarship-$1,000
3) 2007 National Merit Scholarship-Semifinalist
4) 2005 Maryland State Music Teachers Association Piano Solo Festival-Third Place
5) 2005 MD division of the Junior Federal Duck Stamp Competition-Honorable Mentions</p>

<p>Work experience
1) 2007 Summer intern at the National Institutes of Health</p>

<p>Community service: 277 Hours
1) volunteering at church
2) volunteering at camps in inner-city DC
3) volunteering at a soup kitchen in DC</p>

<p>(sorry it's so long and i know these can be annoying, but please tell me my chances, esp for Columbia? It's my dream school, and any input would be really really appreciated)</p>

2

<p>Class rank and size?</p>

3

<p>class size: ~770
my school doesn't rank, but i'm pretty sure i'm in the top 10% at least.</p>

4

<p>excellent chance at all.</p>

<p>now the only thing you have to worry about is writing a phenomenal essay, in order to set you apart from other top applicants. best of luck</p>

<p>Ps: just curious, do you plan on being a neurologists or neurosurgeon? I ask because I will also be majoring in neurscience in college, and endeavoring to be a neurosurgeon.</p>

5

<p>thanks so much for your response! ahh that essay is troublesome indeed :(</p>

<p>i'm planning on being a neurologist! i've been really interested in neurodegenerative diseases for a while!</p>

<p>also, good luck to you on being a neurosurgeon!</p>

6

<p>First of all, being Asian sucks for colleges. You might here it alot, but your chances are much worse because of the pool of other Asians. And compared to them, not so good.
1) Columbia University, Columbia College: ED-Reach
2) Brown University, PLME: RD-Reach
3) Johns Hopkins University: RD-Reach
4) University of Maryland, College Park: Priority-Safety
5) Washington University in St. Louis: RD-Safety
6) Dartmouth University (maybe!): RD-High Reach
7) University of Michigan (maybe!): Rolling-Match</p>

7

<p>thanks for the input, yeah i know being asian isn't exactly the most helpful thing when applying to big name schools. oh well. gotta try my best anyways!</p>

8

<p>Yeah, dont let what I said or anyone else stop you. Screw the haters, I am just saying what I thought. Of course, Im not the adcom.</p>

9

<p>I think you can get into Columbia. There aren't any weak points in your stats unless being asian is a "weakness". It doesn't look like you're the typical straight-out math/science asian either, so perhaps that will help.</p>

10

<p>b-bump, could anyone else please chance me? thanks!</p>

11

<p>a-awww thanks so much! your comment means a lot to me thank you so much.</p>

12

<p>any other input? (bumpppp)</p>

13

<p>comment on your teacher recommendation letters?</p>

14

<p>i know one from my bio/genetics/marine bio teacher will be superb and really personal
not so sure about my english teacher or counselor rec...</p>

15

<p>i say u have a good chance at all, but get more safeties</p>

16

<p>^^ I think the OP has enough safeties.</p>

<p>You have a great shot at all of them: strong GPA, great ECs and honors/awards, excellent scores. I'm not sure Michigan has rolling admissions anymore (I heard they're stopping that, though I can't be sure), and UMCP should be a definite safety. I think you'll get into a couple of the others.</p>

17

<p>umm shouldnt oyu be applying to like harvard?</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
i know one from my bio/genetics/marine bio teacher will be superb and really personal
not so sure about my english teacher or counselor rec...

[/quote]

unfortunately you should know</p>

19

<p>

i was worried about safeties too, but if i don't get into my top schools or wash u, i don't have a huge problem w/ going to UMCP since i'll probably get lots of scholarships (magnet kids from my school with my stats always get loads of $$ from umcp, they love us for some strange reason) thanks for your response!</p>

<p>kyledavid80, thanks for your reassurance! i was a bit worried about my ec's, being too stereotypically asian (sport, piano, etc...) but i'll just aim for uniqueness in my essay</p>

<p>

haha i can't tell if you're being sincere, sarcastic, or just joking but thanks for the compliment. i don't really care for HYP. they don't have any programs that interest me and adding more schools to my list would be quite troublesome. </p>

<p>bobmallet1 i'll hope for the best-my teacher and i had a pretty good relationship and she knows i seriously obsess over reading, so i'm just hoping it'll show up in her recommendation.
i was wondering though, how important is a counselor's rec? i'm afraid mine will be pretty generic since i've had three counselors throughout high school... and the latest counselor just started this year. :(</p>

20

<p>i was being serious i would apply i mean its not THAT hard to apply.. right? of course i wouldnt know yet... but wouldnt it suck to know that you could have gotten it but didnt because you didnt apply?</p>