I just need a ballpark estimation. I’m only a Junior right now.
School: Arcadia High School (Predominantly Asian), Race: Burmese and Chinese, Gender: Male
Cumulative Unweighted GPA: 4.0, Cumulative Weighted GPA: 4.5 (maintained straight A’s since Freshman)
Redesigned SAT: 1540
AP Biology: 5
AP Comp Sci: 4
Taking three APs right now (AP Calc AB, AP Chem, APUSH), four next year (AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP US Gov)
SAT Subject Test Biology M: 730 (trash i know)
Will take Chem and Math Lv. 2 this year
Extracurriculars: Tutor at After-School Center, Methodist Hospital Volunteer, Intern at Dr. Khin Khin Oo Internal Medicine, XC/TF Two Years, Sports Medicine Club Officer Two Years, Volunteer for various clubs/organizations
Future Extracurriculars: Summer Biotech Program at USC, First Aid Practioner for school physical therapy program
Planning to major in biology/biochem
Also:
Are my extracurriculars enough? Compared to my peers, I feel like mine are quite lacking. Should I consider doing track again in my senior year to boost my extracurriculars?
Thanks.
Forgot to add: SAT breakdown (Math: 790, Eng: 750)
It barely matters how good you are, you just need a certain “cut-off”, which according to me, you have already cleared. No focus on your essays and pray the admission officer falls in love with it. Make sure to get 800 on subject tests, or they wont consider them (it wont be disadvantageous, but they only consider it if it is 800).
tip for essay: Show them how much you love what you are pursuing by describing the nuances of what you do (dive deep into the subject of your essay). Show your interest without blatantly saying it. Its a generic advice, i know, but it’s something you have to keep in mind.
*now (on line 2 where i accidentally wrote “No”)
Thanks for the input. However, there’s still this feeling of self-doubt within me. Are my extracurriculars enough? Compared to my peers and other students on this forum, they seem to pale in comparison. Am I missing anything that I can make up in my senior year?
They’re fine. You should probably not put on specific researchers you worked for just for the future reference…
USC and UCLA are in the bag in my opinion. Probably like a low target-target. For Berkeley, I’ve seen people with 4.0’s and 35-36 act’s got rejected my year, so it’s pretty random. It’s a reach for almost everyone.
It depends how many people apply your major. I published a paper which helped me get into CAL. Just think about what makes you unique and write about it. In my opinion, your essays are the last thing you need to work on to have a chance of getting in.
Lol don’t call your Sat 2’s trash… 730 is decent for bio. For Sat 2 Math, that might be different.
You have a very good chance at getting into one of the three, but you need to research how your school has done in the past years with these three schools and what type of numbers your high school’s admitted applicants had.