Chances for Emory Early Decision Class of 2021

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
1

HI guys! Can you please chance me for Early decision at emory!! It is definitely my dream school and in the best location possible, as well as strong academics for Pre-Med.

SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 33 Composite: 35 Math, 35 English, 33 Science, 27 Reading
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Math II, 760 Molecular Biology
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 20%
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Statistics (5), AP US History (4), AP Biology (5), AP Chemistry (5), AP Calculus BC (5), AP English Language and Composition (5), AP European History (3)
IB (place score in parentheses): Biology SL (6), Chemistry SL (5)
Senior Year Course Load: IB Theory of Knowledge, IB Biology HL, IB Math HL/IB Further Math HL, IB English HL, IB History HL, IB Spanish SL, AP Physics C, Symphonic Orchestra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 3rd Place Biochemistry Chapter at Regional Science Fair on the usage of Nanoparticles to fend against Cancer, Bio-RAD Award, SXSW Education Expo Presentation

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Food Drive with a community organization (President), Student Charities canned food drive for children with free/reduced lunches, Red Cross (Treasurer), Symphonic Orchestra
Job/Work Experience: Internship at local Austin nanotechnology startup company, Internship at University of Texas, Austin Laboratory, Shadowing doctor and experiencing a live surgery.
Volunteer/Community Service: 6 weeks at India to volunteer at the Mother Teresa Organization at the central orphanage.
Essays:
Teacher Recommendations: IB English Teacher (9/10), Calculus BC teacher (9/10)
Counselor Rec: 10/10. MY counselor writes very personalized letters that explain the general atmosphere of our school and how we take advantage of the opportunities.
Additional Rec: Nanotechnology Internship (10/10), UT Internship (10/10), Head Spiritual Leader in North America (10/10)

Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Behavioral Neuroscience, Computer Science, Computational Neuroscience Training Program, Pre-Med
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Highly ranked and competitive public school.
Ethnicity: Indian Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Study of Vedanta, an ancient Indian philosophy, and its application in mathematics and science.

Strengths: GPA, Course load, Research and Work experience.
Weaknesses: Class Rank

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

2

@prizm1 Strong chance (I can say that, for ED, you would be deserving of admission)…I am glad you did your research on some of the programs Emory offers. Don’t rate your rec. letters…but regardless, as long as you wrote cool essays, you should have a great shot. BTW, you look like a current freshmen I know of who ended up taking the bull by the horns first semester at Emory and actually got the Computational Neuroscience Training program position as a freshman! My advice if you get in would be to use the AP credits to challenge yourself early on. It impresses the folks in charge of what will be the Beckmann Computational Life Sciences Scholarship in the future.

3

You have a great chance of getting in! Good luck :slight_smile:

4

@bernie12 Thanks so much for the feedback! I am definitely looking at the Computational Neuroscience program, and hope that I can do it in the future! What I was wondering is what is different about my application that other people don’t have? I come from the IB program in one the most rigorous schools in Texas, and it is a very small group that I spend time with every day. Within our IB program, every person is very unique with their own interests and passions, so in the scope of overall all the students applying to Emory, what makes mine so different that I would deserve admissions, especially because I was worried my class rank was lacking. (Ive taken a ridiculous course load that many teachers warned me against it, and sometimes wouldn’t allow me without further persuasion.) I love the thrill of harder classes and teachers that focus more in the learning rather than just memorizing formulas and applying them or doing tedious work with no real purpose, but this choice has definitely taken a toll on my grades and put me behind people that are much higher ranked than me, but with significantly easier courses. Although my GPA is within the range for Emory, I have a constant series of B’s in my history classes throughout my sophomore and junior year, although this year its going a lot better. Can I have your opinion on this, because sometimes I feel like I stabbed myself in the foot by taking on this level of rigor, as you can see clearly from my senior year schedule.

5

@prizm1 : You don’t have to be ultra special compared to your peers unless all or most of them are aiming for Emory’s ED1 for some reason (I really doubt that top students at an HS in Texas would collectively have some affinity for Emory). You look like a solid RD candidate applying in an ED pool with pretty deep extracurrics that would allow or at least make you look like the type of student that will take the bull by the horns. Also, if your actual unweighted GPA is a 3.84, it is still very strong, and your SATIIs show that you are strong and have passion and strength in certain areas. You are more than qualified for ED. Hopefully your knowledge of Emory and its programs came across in essays because they should be able to recognize that you fit better with Emory than say, a standard high achiever just throwing apps to a plethora of top schools hoping that it hits somewhere. Also, your desire to face and rise to challenges and hold that GPA should have been discussed in essays (if not they do reflect in your record). If Emory makes the wrong decision, I suggest you use your talent well elsewhere. All that work and knowledge you built up should not go to waste based upon you second guessing what you did in HS. Of course in college, you’ll want more balance in your course load, but generally you are prepared to take at least 1 or 2 challenging courses per semester and are certainly prepared to take courses “on level” (as in ones freshmen can place into if you use AP/IB credits) and do well.

6

Dude you have a great chance- I hope we both get in!

7

Thank!! Im getting super on the edge right now about decisions, especially as other colleges such as WashU are already rolling out theirs, so maybe Emory can give it early as well!!