Chances thread/college recommendations

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Heres my Stats as well as college I would like to apply. Also please give me recommendations to other colleges. Parents didn't attend college.</p>

<p>Asian Male. Poor Family. Born in USA, but speak Chinese at home. Living in Oregon and attending a public school.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 (UW)
Rank: 1 out of 587 (Share rank with around 20 students, but 2/3s of the students are taking easy classes)
Work Load: Most demanding</p>

<p>SAT: Composite Score= 1880
Math: 740
CR: 600
Writing: 540 (Highest MC score is 54 and highest essay score is 9)</p>

<p>Took test twice, but didn't study. I'm expecting my writing score to definitely go much higher. I'm expecting around a 650 on writing and a 650 on CR on the October test. I haven't taken my Subject Test yet, but will take it November)</p>

<p>Award (not sure which one to put on the app and which one to leave out):
Straight A's Scholar
Symphonic Strings Rookie of the Year
Student of the Month
Social Studies Poster Winner
NHS Scholar
Link Crew Leader
Highest upper classmen AMC score in HS
Symphonic STrings State Qualifier 3 years in a row
Gold Metal Presidental Volunteer Award (haven't received yet, but expecting to)</p>

<p>EC:
Volunteer at Hospital (Over 250 hours and I've been Dispatcher, Escort, Pharmacist Assistent, Gift Shop, around 8 hours a week for since 10th grade)
Tennis (around 6 hrs/wk commitment, JV/Var, Started Junior year)
Math Club (founder/president 2 hours a wk commitment, Started Junior year)
Job Shadow with Head Pediatric Surgeon at OHSU (around 10 hours)
Interned with a General Surgeon at a Local Hospital (around 25 hours)
Science Club( around 1.5 hours a week started 11th grade)
National Honor Society (2 Hours a week started 11th grade)
Link Crew (3 hours a week, started 12th grade)
Symphonic Strings (Varsity letter since freshman year, 4 hours a week commitment since 9th grade, expecting concertmaster 12th grade)
Pit Orchestra (1st violinist, total of 90 Hours of work during school musical season, Junior year)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Private Violin Teacher (around 2 hours a week)
Helped parents with small local market business( around 16 hours a week during weekend, worked during 10th grade year)</p>

<p>I expect my recommendation to be decent, but not impressive.</p>

<p>Essay:
Haven't started, but I'm a fairly strong writer and I might use my internship and job shadow as essay topics, because I was able to see lots of surgeries.</p>

<p>So those are my stats. Here comes the colleges I have in mind.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins University (Applying ED)</p>

<p>If rejected, deferred, waitlisted, I will apply to:</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Brown U.
Northwestern
Washington U. at St. Louis
Berkeley
University of Washington (hoping to use this as a safety)</p>

<p>Chances? Comments? Maybe even percent chances?</p>

2

<p>Well everything except you SAT is pretty good. Those scores need to go way up...around 700-750 for each section. 650 isn't going to cut it. Also, have you taken any SAT IIs? Some schools require you to take 2-3 of these.</p>

<p>I'd suggest finding some more safety/match schools considering everything you've listed is a reach--besides U Washington.</p>

3

<p>I haven't taken my SAT II's yet, but I plan to take it November. My School counselor doesn't tell me anything and it seems that she keeps recommending me to attend University of Oregon. So I'm a tad behind.</p>

<p>As for my SAT scores, I think I should be able to raise my score. I was amazing tired when I took my test (first time was right on finals week and I've been sleeping late at night from school musical and second test was right after tennis season which also might late night sleep). So I do expect a good raise. </p>

<p>Oh, and I'm going heading towards pre-med. Any school suggestions?</p>

<p>edit: btw, with stats like this, should I even try applying to the colleges like Harvard, Yale, or Stanford?</p>

4

<p>There's never any harm in trying. All you have to do is improve those SATs and you would have a fighting chance. Nothing is certain.</p>

5

<p>what is your thoughts towards ED at JHU. Do I even have a chance if my test scores don't increase?</p>

6

<p>i agree that your SATs are too low!!!
600V is not a suitable score for:
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Brown U.
Northwestern
Washington U. at St. Louis
Berkeley
ESPECIALLY when you are born in the US
And 540 writing is worst :(
I would highly recommend that you study harder for the SATs, because everything else look good, not terrific, but acceptable at JHU :)

[quote]
Share rank with around 20 students, but 2/3s of the students are taking easy classes

[/quote]

Sorry, but is your school REALLY SMART? 20 people have 4.0 :O</p>

<p>
[quote]
Job Shadow with Head Pediatric Surgeon at OHSU (around 10 hours)
Interned with a General Surgeon at a Local Hospital (around 25 hours)

[/quote]

Those are not ECs, they are just unique experiences.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I expect my recommendation to be decent, but not impressive

[/quote]

decent is not good enough :(, you want them to be at least... EXCELLENT! you have to make sure your recommendation writers support you all the way, I had the problem with this when i applied. My recommendation writers wrote decent/very good recommendations, however, they didn't sound like that i was THE top students they had met, even though I had the best stats at my school :(.</p>

<p>BTW, you do stand a chance at JHU if your test scores don't improve, i would say 35% (which is pretty good)
But if you really want to go to one of the top schools, ED Washu St. Louis is your best bet!</p>

7

<p>Your chances at ED to JHU would be much greater than HYPS. 20 kids sharing the rank of 1 also seems to suggest that there is grade inflation at your school. This doesn't help you much either.</p>

8

<p>If you don't love U Wash, add some safeties. There is a huge range of schools between the iview (which are a MAJOR reach for you) and your one safety.</p>

9

<p>which schools would you recommend.</p>

<p>and if i get a 650 on CR and 650 on writing, would JHU still be a reach or more of a match.</p>

<p>newby: what would be my ED chance at washington st. louis comparing to JHU</p>

<p>oh and yes grades are inflated, but it also means that the education isn't good and that SAT scores of students reflect self-motivation since school doesn't provide any preparation.</p>

10

<p>mrcapslock:</p>

<p>UCB: Slight Reach (out of state)</p>

11

<p>thanks for comment... i knew a student 3 years ago with lower stats with me (1200 SAT, but also valedictorian) and was accepted into UCB. She didn't attend because of money problem though.</p>

12

<p>

assuming you are a pre-med, chances at UWSTL>JHU (esp. BIOMED ENG)
but if you are studying other majors then JHU ED>UWSTL ED</p>

13

<p>I'll most likely select biology as my major.</p>

14

<p>oh and any suggestions for good premed college would be much appreciated.</p>

15

<p>Really NewByreborn? </p>

<p>Washington University in St. Louis is one of the hardest colleges to get into nowadays, even more so than JHU. Supposedly WUSTL had about 20,000 apps this year...
<em>crosses fingers I'll be lucky next year</em></p>

16

<p>The Country is filled with self (or parent) motivated Asian kids from low income families. They are your competition. They are applying to all the same colleges as you list. Your chances are low. </p>

<p>You would be smart to look at good colleges where fewer Asians apply. Vassar like schools and schools not on the East or West coasts where there are tons of Asians. You'll get into the best school that way.</p>

17

<p>JHU BME is a separate program, and applying for it has no effect on whether you get into JHU or not. You just may not get into JHU BME, but since the OP doesnt want to major in BME, this doesnt matter. I would suggest ED at JHU, then if you get deferred do EDII at WashU. You would have a good shot to get into one of those, especially if you get your SATs up into the 2000s. Check out my actual results threads, as I applied to both JHU and WashU.</p>

18

<p>thanks for the response.</p>

<p>ckmets: How would I apply for EDII at WashU? I went to the site and the ED deadline is december 15. Wouldn't I still technically have 2 ED app out at the same time thus breaking my agreement?</p>

<p>Another question, how does university of washington honors college compare with the school without the honors college. If you apply for honors college and get rejected, would they still tell you if you made it into normal?</p>

<p>Is Vassar a good school for premed students? I'm also looking into Rice, Baylor, NYU or UCSD, would they be good schools to add towards my list?</p>

19

<p>One quick question before I misunderstand you. When you say WashU, do you mean washington U in St. Louis or University of Washington. My guess is St. Louis, but i just have to clarify.</p>

20

<p>WashU = St louis
UWash = Seattle</p>

<p>UCSD has very good premed, however it costs quite a bit OOS, and you would need to raise your SAT a little. I think Baylor would be a safety, and Rice would be a reach but a good school to add. NYU doesnt have great premed, and it costs a lot. I wouldnt apply there if I were you. </p>

<p>On the ED issue, i was pretty sure that the deadline was January 1 for ED2, but not positive. If its the 15th, you can send it online the same day you get your JHU decision and still get it in on time (ED decisons usually come december 14th or 15th, and JHU emails decisions)</p>