Please give me your most honest opinion on my chances! Suggestions for other schools would also be appreciated. Thank you very much!
Major: Cell/molecular biology
Demographic: Asian, female, 80k household, New York in suburban Long Island. I have a budget of around 60k per year (noncustodial mom sharing tuition).
School: Public. ~1 or 2 Ivy-esque acceptances per year out of 800
Rank: Top 3% out of ~250
SAT: 1580!! Bio 780, chem 750
GPA: around 96% UW (like a 3.8?), 105% W (4.2 on 4.5 scale)
AP: Human geo, world history, seminar, chemistry, apush, environmental science - 4. Biology, language, research - 5
Taking most challenging courses in my school and doubled honors + AP science
Extracurriculars:
- Science Olympiad - 10 regional medals, leadership position with major participation
- USABO semifinalist - 9th and 11th
- Science bowl nationals - 11th
- Quiz bowl, some regional awards
- Principal chair violinist, played as level 5 NYSSMA soloist, qualified for LISFA, in chamber orchestra and Tri-M honor society, quartet
- Worked at a medical clinic over 4 years, ~100 hours
- Summer research with an individual professor
- Small stuff like robotics one year in 9th, NHS, honor roll, ap national scholar / ap capstone diploma, weekly program at stony brook
- Published in the Celebrating Art book contest, will apply to one more contest
You have great stats and EC’s - think your chances at JHU are pretty good especially if you apply in ED. Write good essays and make sure you are applying to some safeties (sate schools maybe). WUSTL in ED2 is a great strategy as well.
Very good chances at WashU since the school loves raw numbers and isn’t as holistic as most of its academic peers.
Rice and Vandy should be included in your list as well.
If you are thinking pre-med, be aware that Hopkins and WashU will deflate GPA/weed out students. Hopkins for sure will deflate the GPA and from what my son tells me, WashU will weed out students starting from General Chemistry.
Vandy has ED and ED2. Rice has ED but not ED2.
WashU has ED1/ED2. Choose wisely and make sure the financials line up based on FAFSA.
I recall the OP posted about divorced parents before and the noncustodial parent (mother) making more money. That could make for a complicated situation of merit/financial aid is required.
@hs2020dad @Hamurtle Currently JHU is going to be my ED1. I visited it and it seemed really cool to me but I was ambivalent about the campus and some of the areas I passed in Baltimore. I’m really conflicted over ED’ing WashU or JHU right now since although I have the most experience with JHU, WashU is higher ranked on Niche for biology and apparently has an incredible campus, but I don’t have the funds or time to visit it. I think what’s most important to me right now is that I attend the school with the strongest biology program, strongest research opportunities, and the highest likelihood of accepting me. Do you have any advice for my situation?
I think you have the numbers to give it a go. Hopkins gets the cream of the crop for natural sciences and premed, so it’s no slam dunk even with your great resume. But ED gives you a bit of an edge.
Wash U is a bit less of s reach though again , you are.competing for a selective seat in your major. You have geographic a
bit on your side there.
A SUNY back up is always a good idea
WashU has ED1/ED2. Hopkins is ED only. So choose wisely depending on FAFSA and what you can afford to pay.
St. Louis isn’t the safest place, but most of WashU is physically located in Clayton (upscale St. Louis suburb). There are neighborhoods in the area considered dicey, but not on a similar scale to Baltimore.
If my son had a do over, he might have attempted to ED to Hopkins. But he’s happy with WashU.
I would go with best fit. WashU does likes demonstrated interest. Plus they get a lot of Long Island kids to attend. I would suggest attending any local informational sessions.
Finally do ED Hopkins and ED2 WashU. IIRC Hopkins is ED only.
My son has several friends who just started freshman year at Johns Hopkins. It will be an academic challenge but they are enjoying it so far.
WashU definitely has “weed-out” courses, but something I emphasize is that if you use the tools that the professors give you, you will succeed. They are very clear about what they want you to know, and do not try to trick you on exams, but you have to know your stuff. Also, in genchem a 75% is an A, which is super nice because you can still get an A if you don’t know one particular problem, and if you do really well on one exam it helps A LOT. Also genchem and intro bio both let you drop your lowest midterm grade, so if you do well enough on the first two you’re chilling at the end of the semester and get a head start on finals :-)))
Just want to mention, if you are premed, I would suggest going to the easier school. These are both AMAZING schools with great reputations, so you should go to the school where you are more likely to have a high GPA and time to pursue research and other opportunities to make you a well rounded student. My older sister actually went to UMD and was top of her class, which made her stick out and get into top medical schools!
From my son’s experiences at WashU, General Chemistry is the harder class but it’s taught well and the instructors are highly rated.
The Introductory Biology classes are not well taught. The material is straightforward but the instructors can be confusing at times. Also there are a lot of grading mistakes on the midterms.
Both classes have roughly the same weedout rates. Although a lot of it may be due to the failure of students to transition to college.