Hello Everyone, could you please chance me for Vanderbilt. Any input is appreciated!
SAT: 2230 (CR-670, M-770, W-790 Essay:10)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Biology E
ACT: 32 (Math:33, Reading: 28, Science: 35, English: 32)
NC GPA (Unweighted) - 3.96
Class Rank: 7/631
Attend Top Public School in NC
Student in North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Online Program
Taking courses offered nowhere else in the country, which include Honors Medicinal Chemistry and Honors Bioinformatics
AP (6 AP’s taken):
Biology (4)
Calculus BC (5)
Statistics (4)
Human Geography (5)
US History (4)
Senior Year Courses:
AP Computer Science A
AP US Government and Politics
AP Comparative Government and Politics
AP Psychology
Calculus III (at NC State)
Honors Anatomy and Physiology
Major Awards: Winner of Genentech Emperor Science Award in Cancer Research, PVSA recipient, Selected and Completed NC Governor’s School in Mathematics, NC House of Representatives Page, Junior Marshal
Subjective:
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Men’s Tennis Player (9-12)
Cancer Research Lab Assistant at UNC (11-12)
Key Club (9-12) / Executive Board Member (10-11)
Science Olympiad (9-12) / President (11-12)
National Technical and Spanish Honor Societies (11-12)
Quiz Bowl Team 9-12) / Co-Captain (10-12)
Tutoring Club (9-12) / President (10-12)
NC School of Science and Mathematics Ambassador (11-12)
NC School of Science and Mathematics SIDE Leader: Create and teach enrichments to K-12 students across NC (11-12)
UNC Hospitals Volunteer (11-12) 200+ Hours
Red Cross Volunteer (9-12) 50+ Hours
You’re certainly a candidate. Being Asian isn’t actually a disadvantage in the Vanderbilt pool (not quite yet anyway!) so just get good recs and write a coherent narrative with your essays and common app. Best of luck!
I’m asian as well and I was admitted through regular action this year I will show you my stats and extracurriculars to compare to and share a bit of my opinion.
SAT: 2390 (writing was 790) superscore is 2400 tho
Didn’t take ACT
GPA unweighted: 3.8
Rank was like 26 in a high school in NYC i think that barely put me in top decile
Senior Year Courses: essentially all APs except for PE
Extracurriculars: Submitted two papers to APS in 10th grade and presented it at a conference at MIT and Penn State, AIME qualifier (barely missed USAMO should’ve studied fk me right), did decently well at HMMT, and some county and state awards for math competitions with school math team, Football varsity for 2 years, volunteered at hospital for like 3 years?, worked at a research lab at NYU for like 1.5 years, didn’t really join other clubs, national merit thing, and did some music stuff, student council (VP), EMT, and prob some other stuff but i forgot.
Comments:
IMO I’d say your scores are probably your biggest hindrance on your application. Vandy has been accepting more higher scoring students. And you said you took 6 APs but you have 5 scores. since your taking computational chemistry I am assuming you already took AP Chemistry, if so, how did you do?
Furthermore, take your school into context. How many usually get into Vandy every year? (My school was like 10?) the spread was like 8white kids and 2 asian kids. Furthermore, how do you compare to other applicants applying to Vandy in your school?
I’m doing this for you but tbh don’t really do chance me threads because you still have like 2 quarters left. If you like the school, then just apply. It’s a crapshoot. some of my friends get into stanford but dont get into nw and other “less selective” schools (whatever that means). Just ask for opinions on what to improve on your application to give you the best chance possible. Work on what you can control.
Vanderbilt is pretty score conscious, especially in the RD round. Get your scores up to a 34+ ACT or 2300+ SAT to have a really favorable chance. The SATII scores are fine. Your EC’s are definitely pretty good, and they might compensate for scores on the lower side. That would really depend on how prestigious the awards you have are. I’m not really sure what they are (mainly the first one), but if they are actually competitive/a big deal (like in the range of being a finalist at the intel science search or being a semifinalist or finalist in the national bio or chem olympiad tests) then they might get you a second look.
I would say retake your ACT or SAT, whichever one you like better. You’re SAT is better, and pretty close to the range you want to be in. 2300 would be ideal, but if you could have it in the high 2200s that would probably be ok. Really work on your CR, that’s killing your score. If you can just keep your other scores where they’re at at bump that one up, then you’re set.