Chances(Ivy and Northwestern HPME)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone,
I'm currently going into my Sophomore year of HS and would like to know (and yes I know this is cliche) how I am looking for admittance to an Ivy and/or the HPME program at Northwestern. </p>

<p>My school doesn't tell us our grades on a 4 point scale
Unweighted Cummulative GPA: 96.3
Weighted Cummulative GPA: 100.6</p>

<p>I am predicting this to go up. What brought my GPA down was the unweighted courses I took in 8th grade (Algebra and Earth Science). Perhaps a better set of grades to look at are my GPA's for each quarter of Freshmen year. The number in parentheses is the weighted GPA for the numbers following.</p>

<p>Q1: 95 (101.36
Q2: 96.5 (102.29)
Q3: 98 (104.5)
Q4: 97.5 (104)</p>

<p>I also expect these to increase next year because I am taking classes with a higher weight and cutting an unweighted class.</p>

<p>Regents:
Bio: 100
Geometry: 92
Earth Science: 97
Algebra: 95</p>

<p>Here are my Extra Curriculars:
Intern at my Congressman's Office
President of my Class Student Government
Science Research</p>

<p>So what are my chances?</p>

<p>Additional Note: I truly love medicine and the idea of changing someone's life for the better, so any additional advice on how to pursue that goal would be of much appreciation.</p>

2

<p>Your grades are on the right track, but you just need to pick up some extracurriculars. Unless I am mistaken, you have one school based extracurricular. Try to join clubs/teams in your school related to science/medicine. Try to get leadership positions in those clubs. Get at least a 33 ACT or 2200 SAT. I say at least, because even then it would be very difficult for the Ivies.</p>

3

<p>In my school Science Research is an extra-curricular. And I forgot one thing I volunteer at my local hospital.</p>

<p>Thanks Debater1996 for the post it was helpful.</p>

4

<p>You seem to be off to a good start…but with only one year and no test scores, you really can’t give an accurate guess. </p>

<p>Try joining another club?</p>

<p>And I’m really jealous of your internship.</p>

5

<p>SaraCo:
Reach out to your local Congressman. Most are willing to give internships and the ones who won’t aren’t worth your time anyway.</p>

6

<p>My sibling goes to Northwestern, and she told me all the HPME students had a strong medical background. This includes clubs/shadowing/volunteering/research, so you need that if you want to stand competitive. Remember the acceptance rate is lower than that of HYPSM</p>

7

<p>Off topic:
Was your internship admittance competitive?
What did you do?</p>

<p>I probably shouldn’t try to get an internship until next summer…</p>

8

<p>SaraCo:</p>

<p>For my internship, they looked for someone who was hardworking and new why they wanted to intern for that specific Congressman.
For me it was the experience.</p>

<p>I gave them a resume with my GPA (I recommend giving them your weighted GPA if they don’t specify which one they want), EC’s and a Cover Letter stating why I wanted to intern there, what I hoped to learn and my aspirations.</p>

<p>I also recommend researching the Congressman whose internship you are applying to. I had one or two questions about what I know about the Congressman I applied to in my interview.</p>

<p>Fall and Spring tend to be the best time to apply as a high school student.</p>

<p>If you are in high school I say call your local congressman’s office and ask if they have and internship program and if they do I would ask how to apply. </p>

<p>Admittance was more competitive in the summer as I believe there were a hundred applicants for forty spots, but there was little to no competition for a Fall or Spring as long as you had the credentials.</p>

<p>You will have a very high chance of hired if you have:
93+ average unweighted
Strong EC’s
EC’s that have some relation to government (For me Student Government)</p>

<p>Research skills help (like science research) because a had a few research projects.</p>

<p>That brings me to what I did:</p>

<p>In the beginning I did mainly clerical work like phone calls, writing letters, scanning newspapers for mention of the Congressman you are working for and things of that nature.</p>

<p>Later as I showed my worthiness and hard work I went on to making lists for various events, still basic but a little more variety there than writing letters.</p>

<p>I know my experience interning is fantastic. The people who work there truly care about their jobs and what they are doing. Most likely you will be working in a District Office, which is located in the area that each Congressman represents. In a District Office there are caseworkers to deal with various issues a constituent (someone in the congressional district) comes across with a federal agency, people who deal with outreach and a scheduler.</p>

<p>Its a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone no matter where their interests lie.</p>

9

<p>Thanks!
Your experience seems really incredible.
I’ll definitely consider applying.</p>

<p>I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to this stuff.</p>

10

<p>SaraCo: Best of Luck!!
Make sure to apply to the Congressman/woman for the town you live in.</p>

<p>You can use the following link in order to find your Congressman/woman:
[Find</a> Your Representative · House.gov](<a href=“http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/]Find”>Find Your Representative | house.gov)</p>