Chances of admission at: Ivies,UMich,WashU,UCLA, Berkeley,Oxford,JHU,Georgetown,Vanderbilt,Duke,Rice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am a rising senior hoping to attend an ivy (ideally Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, Princeton) or one of these schools (UMich,WashU,UCLA, Berkeley, Oxford, JHU, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Duke, Rice).

Based on my information do I have a good chance of being accepted?

GPA: 3.95 unweighted/4.7 weighted. (1 B so far in Chinese freshman yr)
State: New Jersey (High School near Princeton is top 10 in state).
Intended study areas include a mix of liberal arts + sciences: Bio/Chem, Science/Technology focused Public Policy/Econ, Neuro (not Pre-med, more on PhD/research/teach at Univ track).

ACT: 35
Reading:35
Science: 34
Math: 34
English: 35

My school does not provide rankings but I would say I’m in the top 20 students out of 440. All honors courses throughout.

APs:
AP Lang: 5
APUSH: 5
CHEM: 5
Psyche: 5
US Govt: A (no AP test taken)

Subject SATs: Chem 800, Bio 760

Senior year I’m taking 6 APs: AP Stats, AP Chinese (I’m not Chinese), AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP BIO and AP Micro.

ECs:
NJ Governor’s Scholar 2017 (1 of 3 from school, 1 of 55 from state over 650 applicants)
Kenyon Young writers workshop (2017, 1 of 100 selected from 1000+ applicants)
Brown Leadership Institute (2018)
Co-President of local chapter on TILE (Innovation & Entrepreneurship) 2018
Director of Junior Statesman of America club at high school (2 yrs); represented school at conferences during debates
Waksman Scholar at Rutgers Waksman Institute (2+ yrs)
Lead Jazz Alto Sax for Rutgers Jazz ensemble (4+ yrs)
Drew University Summer Research 2018
Drexel neuroscience program (2017)
Disease and Public Health program at Rutgers (2016)
Dartmouth Debate Institutes PF (2016, 2017)

Publishing:
Published new DNA sequences identified during my research (Waksman)
Working on paper with my Graduate student mentor on publishing research (as part of 12 mo NJ Gov Scholar program). Submit paper by Aug/Sep 2018 to a Biomedical Journal

Honors:
Performed at Carnegie Hall NYC, Alto Sax duets (as a winner of music competitions, 2017, 2018)

Volunteering:
Teach soccer to 2nd graders (Big Brother program) 3+ yrs
Tutor at high school (2 yrs)
Book drives for underprivileged children/schools
Tutor peers in Chinese

2

You will make it past the Stat and EC portion of the exam, it’ll be what you do with the rest of the application to any school in the country.

3

Totally agree. Nice job. Write an amazing essay and let them know who you are. When seeing this though I always suggest a few safeties. It’s getting really competitive out there. Good Luck.!!!

4

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate it - yes I have a few safeties I am considering like U Rochester, NYU and RPI.

5

Cost constraints?

No Rutgers at in-state price?

6

“Intended study areas include a mix of liberal arts + sciences: Bio/Chem, Science/Technology focused Public Policy/Econ, Neuro (not Pre-med, more on PhD/research/teach at Univ track).”

So why on earth would you even consider applying to Oxford? You’re not focused enough for them, and it sounds like you don’t want to be anyway.

And your ECs would be much more helpful in the US system: Oxford doesn’t want “second-rate historians who happen to play the flute” (not that you are second rate)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/7965715/Universities-uninterested-in-pupils-extra-curricular-activities.html

7

lol @Twoin18, I wondered the same thing…OP, by any chance did you mean Oxford at Emory?

To clarify @Twoin18’s point, in the UK you apply to study 1 subject (or 1 pre-set group of subjects). For the most part each subject stays to itself, nevermind mixing humanities & physical sciences (although there are joint subjects with Philosophy + either Math OR Physics OR Computer Science- but then it is philosophy…).

You might like the Biomedical Science course (https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/bms/about-the-course), but as you can see there is no room for humanities / public policy / econ /etc. You would be at a disadvantage in both admissions and in actually doing the course without BC or physics, but they are not absolutely required.

But, as Two indicated it is genuinely important that you really, really love the subject area for admissions: admission is done by the people who teach you, not in a separate admin office, and they want people who love their subject as much as they do. It is also important for doing the course: I can say categorically you can not imagine how intense an Oxford term is, and if you don’t love your subject it is brutal- b/c you do it all day, everyday (and moving between courses is rarely possible except between very closely related subjects).

8

This is very helpful insight about Oxford. Yes I am aware about the focus on one subject at Oxford.
I forgot to include Emory Univ to my list (thank you for the catch).

But, leaving Oxford aside, what are my chances for the other US schools?

9

You are a highly competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great. Narrow down your EC list to frame your interests in your application. Write amazing essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools

10

NYU isn’t a safety, especially when it comes to cost. Rochester and RPI show a 60% chance of admissions, but they’re private schools. They’re statistically a match/safety, but both of them are a financial reach. The most you can take out in student loans for a 4 year degree is $27k. The rest has to be paid for by your parents. You’ll be surprised how NOT generous private schools can be when financial aid packages come in.

A true safety is either an in-state affordable school with a greater than 70% chance of admissions, or an assured scholarship. I’m not seeing that with any of these schools. You’ll be surprised how many smart kids end-up spending a fall semester at community college with school lists identical to this. I would add Rutgers to the list as well.

11

Thank you, I was thinking about adding Rutgers. I will do so now. Which schools where applying for scholarship would I have a good chance? What other scholarships should I be applying to ?

12

Generally, unless the merit scholarship is given for stats that you have, consider the scholarship to be a reach.