Chances of getting into Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard, UNC, JHU, Tufts?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am currently a junior.

Stats: 3.85 GPA
1300 SAT (I realize it’s low, I am taking it again and will likely raise it substantially)
Male, Caucasian- out of state
I’ve taken AP US History (and did well)
Honors Inorganic Chemistry (and did well)

And by next year will have taken AP Bio, Organic Chemsitry (which is a second year college class), and CP English.
Also, Spanish 4 which in the future will be an AP class.
My school doesn’t offer any IB or HL classes, also few AP’s

My passion is medicine.
I wrote my first proper, independent research paper my sophomore year of high school with the advisory of a Ph.D of neuroscience (Entitled: Alzheimer’s Disease: The Theory of Causation). This paper has been published in a magazine and was inspired by witnessing the progression of my grandfather’s Alzheimer’s Disease. I am currently working on my second (Chronic Irregular Respiration and The Allostatic Load), which will be finished and published by the time I am applying next year.

Also, I have a medical TV spot on a local TV show that I host (broadcasted to around 100,000 people).

In addition, I shadowed a doctor at my local hospital for a week and had the opportunity of witnessing, and to a limited degree, assisting in an actual autopsy.

I also have a website that I started which is dedicated to bringing new and “divergent” perspectives to various medical related topics (currently has 3 authors, me included).

I also co-founded a public speaking organization with the Ph.D I mentioned above, where I gave numerous speeches.

Finally, I have my student pilot’s license and will (eventually) obtain my private pilot’s license.

Other facts:
I will have recommendations from a professor of neuroscience and from a Harvard trained cardiologist.
I am NHS president of my chapter and played varsity tennis for 3 years.

I am particularly concerned about the fact that I have taken very few AP classes, do you think this will harm me?

Thanks,

2

Your ECs are definitely great and they showcase your interest in medicine nicely. Your stats are on the low end, so make sure you get mostly As first quarter senior year and send those to Cornell. Your SAT score will need to be at least 1450 to be competitive.

3

Thank you for the response. Assuming I get the proper stats, what do you think my chance would be?

4

are you in top 10%? If you are, and you get SAT to 1500+ then you will get in ED.

5

I was really doubting you, seeing that your SAT was really subpar and the fact that you have not taken much APs (due to not being offered or by your choice?) but your ECs are absolutely ridiculous. You should have a great chance of admission if you get you SAT to at least 1500.

6

Your ECs are INSANE!! In an absolutely good way. =D> If you get your GPA and SAT up (at least to a 1500) then I think you have a really solid chance to get into Dartmouth. And if you do that, I would also consider Harvard if you’re thinking about medical school, you have a pretty good chance there too! (Better than most chance me’s I’ve seen, anyway) Good luck!!

7

Also, it would be great if you could add more AP courses into senior year to challenge yourself and really get a feel for college classes somewhat, but I wouldn’t sweat it too much if you can’t. Anyone can take an AP class, not many can host a medical TV show :))

8

Ah, hello again. I think you can definitely get into Tufts if you raise your SAT, definitely better chances that Dartmouth.
I’m actually really blown away by your ECs. May I ask how you ended up with those opportunities? I’ve been looking to get more involved in my community like you, except in the environmental science field instead!!

9

Your extracurriculares are excellent and if you can get your SAT up to 1500+ (or at least 1450) when applying ED and write good essays that fit Tufts’ quirky vibe, you’ll be in. Good luck

10

@anxiouswreck

Thank you so much for the encouraging response (or rather, responses). Those opportunities came to me through a ton of hard work, innovation, and a bit of luck (but the harder you work, the luckier you become). I spent a solid year researching everything medical, writing papers, and emailing editors before I got any results (no body wanted to talk to me; editors of big magazines can be very rude). But then an editor finally decided to look at my paper and they published it. At the same time I started my website, due to the fact that all of these medical magazines have crazy stipulations as to what they upload. I wanted to create an open environment for new medical ideas. As far as the TV show, I was lucky enough to run into the executive producer of the show when taking a tour of his studio. I asked for his business card and sent him an email a day later, he looked at my website and decided to interview me (it went well).
My advice to you is to clearly define your passion in life, but don’t let age define your role. There are opportunities everywhere, but you have to go on a mad hunt for them. Start emailing big scientists in your field of interest, you never know who may respond and what they may have to offer (I was lucky enough to have Dr. Tanzi , leading researcher of Alzheimer’s, respond to me). There are many people out there looking for new and interesting things to add to their life; be that interesting, innovative person. You can also take the approach of finding something in the environmental science field which you believe can be improved or possibly totally, regardless of how large the issue may be, fixed. I encourage you to do very intense research on that topic, and possibly come up with a theory of your own as to how it can be fixed. Don’t force it though, you have to be truly passionate about the topic. The goal is to formulate legitimate ideas that can be helpful- then make sure to tell people about them.

Best wishes,

11

Raise your SAT and you have chances anywhere!

12

Your ECs are outstanding and will for sure allow you to pass the first cut, but to really have a great shot you would need more APs and a higher SAT. Aim for a 1400 (or higher if you can) on your next try. And is the reason why you haven’t taken many APs because your school doesn’t offer many or has a strict schedule for students? If so then it’s not going to be a big issue for Brown and other top colleges, but if you could easily have taken more definitely aim for 4-5 next year and get the best grades possible. Your GPA, if unweighted, is a bit low… If it’s weighted then it’s definitely low. But then again, Brown will absolutely love your ECs and leadership (and clear ambitious goals for the future), so you could get in without those improvements.

13

21.9% if you apply ED, 6.5% RD!

Seriously though, the research and TV stuff makes you interesting but Brown these days is a crapshoot for most everybody. You should also try and get your SAT scores up.

14

Just get your SAT up and you have a really good chance.

15

You’re EC’s are commendable, probably the most interesting ones I have heard and lots of them. This will definitely give you a leg up, but you stats could be hindering you. How many points do you think your SAT score will go up? Harvard has an insanely high average for testing because they are so selective. Also, how many AP’s does your school offer? If you take the max amount or close to it, schools don’t care that you have taken 10 less than someone offered 30 APs.

16

gpa a tad low. If you get sat to 1500+ then good chances.

17

Here is my usual statement regarding OOS admissions:

"Admission of OOS students to UNC-CH is very competitive; and UNC-CH admits OOS applicants in numbers that are calculated not to exceed 18% of an entering freshman class. See “Undergraduate Admissions” on Page 2, here: http://www.admissions.unc.edu/files/2013/09/Admissions__Policy.pdf. As a further example of the difficulty for OOS students to be admitted to UNC-CH, the entering Class of 2020, for example, had a 15% acceptance rate for OOS applicants: http://admissions.unc.edu/apply/class-profile-2/.

If you look at the UNC-CH Common Data Set, under Part C7 it states that standardized test scores, application essay(s), letter(s) of recommendation, and the rigor of your high school record are “very important” academic factors considered for freshman admission, whereas GPA and class rank are “important” academic factors considered for freshman admission. Extracurricular activities, talent, and character/personal qualities are considered as “very important” non-academic factors.

Further, Part C9 of the Common Data Set for UNC-CH, gives you the median 50% for both SAT and ACT scores, as well as the percentage of the entering first-year class falling within certain ranges of SAT and ACT scores; and Part C11 gives you the percentage of entering first-year students falling within a range of unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale.

By way of comparison, our OOS high school usually has 8-10 students who apply, and 1-2 students who are admitted, each year to UNC-CH; and, with the exception of legacy students, our admitted students have ACT scores of 34+ and weighted GPAs of 4.5+. These successful applicants also were involved in extracurricular activities that showed commitment over time (no “drive-by” ECs), and demonstrated leadership in the school as well as their ECs. Other kids in our city who I know were admitted to UNC-CH recently also had similar academic statistics and non-academic characteristics; and all of these kids were “unhooked” in admissions parlance (i.e., not a recruited D-1 athlete, or a URM, first-generation college student, etc.)."

Specifically with regards to you, I agree with @kjake2000 that your GPA is a little low, IF it is a weighted GPA; if it is non-weighted, you may be in better shape but I would want to know what your weighted GPA is. In terms of your SAT score, according to the concordance tables a 1300 on the new SAT is equivalent to a 27 composite ACT; and if you are not a URM, recruited D-1 athlete, legacy student, etc., that is probably a little too low – especially given that UNC considers test scores as “very important” in the admissions decision.

Insofar as your paucity of AP classes goes, I think that the real issue here is how many AP classes your school offers and whether you are taking them. If you only have 2 AP courses on your transcript but your school only offers that many (or just a few more), that’s one thing; but if your school offers 20 AP classes and you take only 2, then I can imagine that the admissions officers might have some serious questions about the rigor of your high school record – which is another “very important” academic factor in UNC admissions. Since you state that your school offers few APs, the fact that you will only have 2 on your record by the time you apply may not be that much of a disadvantage, however; the important thing is that you take the most challenging courses that are available to you.

In addition to boosting your standardized test scores, work hard on your application essays (it appears that you may have some good subject matter available to you) and be sure that you have good letters of recommendation. Look at the UNC common data set, and sit down with your guidance counselor early this Fall to discuss admissions strategies; if your high school has Naviance, there may be some useful information there for you to discuss with your guidance counselor as well.

Just out of curiosity, have you looked as Case Western Reserve University? I know that it offers, among other things, an 8-year program that will allow you to get both an M.D. and a Ph.D., which might appeal to you; although admission into that program is also very competitive.

18

Low GPA and SAT are going to hurt you especially since your course load isn’t as rigorous. Shoot for 1500+ if possible.

https://apply.jhu.edu/discover/by-the-numbers/

Middle 50th percentile*:
SAT Composite: 1480-1560 (new scale)
ACT: 32-35

19

High reach to pretty much out of reach. Is the 3.75 GPA weighted or unweighted?

Most of the schools you are asking about in your posting history are ultra selective and your profile would put you significantly below the 25th percentile of admitted students. You need to be looking at less selective schools as matches. .

20

@Mr.Jalamam Your GPA is actually meets the avg for admitted students so you good in that department. @Jsteez The numbers posted on the site are actually a projection from college board and don’t portray actual ranges for class of 2020 or 2021 (new SAT’s weren’t used for class of 2020). If you can improve to at least a 1430 the actual 25th percentile for class of 2019 and 2020 you will have a reasonable chance. It would be up to you to have EXCEPTIONAL essays, recommendations, and EC’s.