Chances!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello Everyone, could you please chance me for UChicago (EA) Dartmouth, Brown, Tufts, Rice, USC, Georgetown, WUSTL, Emory. I want to know where I stand before I start writing my essays. Any input is appreciated!

Asian Male

SAT (Superscore): 2230 (CR-670, M-770, W-790 Essay:10)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 750 Biology E
ACT: 32 (Math:33, Reading: 28, Science: 35, English: 32)

NC GPA (Unweighted) - 3.96
NC GPA (Weighted) - 5.125
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 (7 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

NCSSM Courses (Semester-Long Courses):
Honors Bioinformatics (Taken)
Honors Computational Chemistry
Honors Medicinal Chemistry

Major Awards: Winner of Genentech Emperor Science Award in Cancer Research, PVSA recipient, Selected and Completed NC Governor’s School in Mathematics, Junior Marshal (Top 35 Class Rank), Chosen for spot in Duke Biology Research Lab

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

2

@therealdeal23 pretty good as long as you aren’t yield protected. I know you probably aren’t seriously considering Emory, but if you are interested in chemistry, it is actually one of the better places to be (unusually strong teaching, and teachers rigorous enough to challenge someone even with your background. Also, the areas of specialty/faculty are extremely strong in the areas you have experience in, medicinal/drug discovery, etc), so maybe you should :wink: .Emory is also just generally good to those considering majoring in both chemistry and biology.

3

@bernie12 Thanks for the feeback. Since I am new to the concept, what do you mean by yield protected?

4

@therealdeal23 : A school like Emory which isn’t in a good position in terms of the admissions ballgame (need-based aid is struggling right now compared to peers, so applications have bumped and plateaued to higher levels than previously, but stats and admit rate has been flat for several years now), may decide to waitlist or deny students close to, at, or above the 75% of students who enroll when they fear that the student will likely just go anywhere else if admitted to protect the yield of the school (which plays a part in the rankings). The idea is that if they can’t raise the stats quickly, at least keep the yield stable. Places with extremely high stats that are trying to quickly climb the ranks by having extremely high stats and pumping up the yield, will admit many really high stats students who they think maybe won’t be admitted to more prestigious (perhaps lower stats schools) or may be admitted to schools where they can win a significant share of yield battles (schools of similar prestige and lower or similar stats). However, these schools usually have even bigger waitlist % than Emory as they will put many other folks who are high stats (and may be admitted to a higher prestige institution) on the wait-list. These schools also tend to pull more students from their waitlists than a school like Emory which admits and enrolls pretty much on target (meaning that Emory takes less risks in admissions or finds a way to admit great students without exactly the same stats as other places but are ultimately the same students academically and in terms of achievement, but without going head to head with the other schools who it will likely lose the yield battle to…Also, this scheme makes Emory much more sensitive to “fit” especially among domestic students).

You are near yield protection territory, but if your essays suggest that you may fit, you’ll have a solid shot. With that said, since Emory has made its supplemental essays a bit more challenging/interesting than before (the opposite of what most schools who desire more apps and higher stats…some who drop the supplement altogether), I’ve noticed that based on stats…Emory definitely appears more random than it was before just by reading on here and meeting some folks. Some, you would not have expected to get in and then their essay or EC’s/personality are featured by Emory at the beginning of the year and you kind of understand why. Point is, despite the 20+% admit rate, Emory is NOT the predictable shoe in or safety many applying speculate it is. The only thing I’ve noticed is that among high stats (top quartile and higher) applicants, it seems those checking the Emory scholar consideration box may have a slightly better chance (perhaps because it is an indirect way of saying: “I may at least consider coming if you throw money at me”). However, the self-nomination thing may have diminished any such value of checking it as now over 1/3 of applicants check it.

Idea is: Realize that this is all kind of a game for these schools. Cross your fingers but avoid feeling entitled to going to any such place, even Emory which is less selective (stats wise) than its peers.

5

@bernie12 Thanks for clearing this up. Do you know how competitive it is to get into Emory Scholars?

6

@therealdeal23 : Extremely (like 3-400 people get interviewed out of the 6-7000 and then 100 and something get selected for one of the big scholarships)…It used to be that being top 75% was a predictor. Now it isn’t. If they really like you. you may be able to get one of the smaller, but substantial specialty or generic scholarships (like a liberal arts scholarship) more easily than the Woodruff Scholarship. Many people who get into extremely top tier (HYP) schools are not offered an interview. Even those getting scholarships at near peers of Emory often don’t get interviewed. With that said, if you would even slightly consider Emory and need some help paying, I’d give it a shot. Can’t hurt to try. You never know.

7

@therealdeal23 : Also regardless of your chances, be sure to apply to places that are actually good at teaching in the natural sciences (where you have the background and awards). Some places only offer lots of research opps (which basically all elite privates and publics, especially those with a health care system do), but don’t do teaching in them anywhere near as well as other places. Avoid looking at the ranks and determining that higher ranked schools will be better at teaching than lower ranked ones. Unfortunately, I’ve found this often to NOT be the case (most places are known to be rigorous in a very generic way and there is no concerted effort to implement curricula or certain teaching styles in mass. Like at some schools, biology courses at all levels, intro., intermediate, advanced, is still primarily memorization based. Even interdisciplinary majors at some schools, like neuroscience, have most of the teachers stick to memorization as the focus instead of problem solving, but at some places there are clearly higher standards or more concerted efforts to have better/more modern course styles spread ore evenly across the curriculum). Some schools have much more of a teaching culture (Chicago, WUSTL, Emory, JHU, Rice, Duke…schools that have some center for STEM teaching OR have gotten several HHMI grants over the years that specifically deal with the STEM curriculum) than others (or have so much money that they can teach innovatively or more rigorously without it being a struggle…places like HYPMCt are in this camp and also often receive the funds I allude to), whereas some may flat out make you fall out of love with learning STEM in the classroom and are not particularly rigorous in subjects like chemistry (where most schools are), so if you strongly focused on the academic component of the schools as much as the non, seriously think about it. If you care more about the social, then you should pretty much aim for anywhere and you’ll be fine.

8

i know that school and it is very impressive where they send their kids. For WASHU demonstrated interest is very important, have you visited/interview or anything else? your stats look very impressive

9

@topschoolsapplicant Thanks for the feedback. Do you recommend visiting and scheduling an interview this summer? I have not visited yet.

10

Definitely if you can you should

11

From what I see you should be a competitive applicant for Georgetown. Your well above their averages but they still defer people with your stats all the time. You should feel better about your chances than most Georgetown applicants but you definitely shouldn’t expect to be admitted (like every other applicant).

I’d appreciate it if you could chance me back!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1906475-chance-me-for-georgetown-nyu-stern-bc-villanova-and-others.html

12

You seem well qualified of USC. I also recommend reading through this thread on the topic…

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1558825-what-are-my-chances-read-this-first.html#latest

Good luck…

13

Not sure why the above poster chanced you and then asked you to chance him or her… If you can’t evaluate your own chances within the same context as you just evaluated the OP’s, then why would you do so? Always puzzles me why the ‘chance me and I’ll chance you back’ thing exists on CC. Terribly illogical if you ask me.

But ANYWAY – you can’t get rejected EA, as you likely know. It’s either accepted or deferred. I think you have an excellent shot, personally. As an Asian male applicant, your scores may technically be “low” for your demographic at the elite schools, but any place will still certainly evaluate you as a qualified candidate academically (a 2230/32 is definitely past the threshold I feel).

Your ECs look rather impressive to me, just from the surface at least. Make your essays and the narrative of your collective application sincere and cohesive, and you will be in excellent shape. I could see this decision going either way, but I really feel you have an excellent shot. I’d send your SAT I instead of your ACT if it were me, simply because it’s the stronger of the two scores, but sending both would be fine too.

Good luck to you!

14

WOW, really excellent stats and activities/achievements!!
The rest depends on what school you’re applying to, your essays, your letters of rec, what Cornell is looking for to round out the class, and other things we may not know about since we’re not on the admissions committee. But from what I can see your chances look very good. Are you applying early anywhere?

15

@Renomamma I am also applying to Duke, UNC, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, WashU, Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Dartmouth.

16

I think you’re pretty solid on the scores and all, and your EC’s are great too, lots of leadership. Your ACT/SAT could be higher, and I’m not sure does Dartmouth superscore?? I don’t know but regardless, nobody can really tell, you know, because so many students with 4.0’s and great SAT’s and all that get rejected. It’s honestly very subjective to the admissions counselors and whether they think you’d be a good fit in their school. Your essay is also crucially important, and could make or break your admission, along with other supplements and recommendations. Remember- Ivies are reaches for everyone. There are so many qualified applicants applying and a lot will get rejected, and the best bet is to set your expectations low because you don’t want to have too much hope and then get really let down. All being said, you’re a qualified applicant and they’d be lucky to have you, but not everyone gets admitted and that’s life

17

Best of luck! Are you applying ED anywhere? I think Georgetown might have EA (nonbinding). Early applications can really help chances as well. Also, Cornell lets you apply to other colleges EA if you apply there ED (most don’t allow that).

18

@Renomamma FYI, almost all schools that have Early Decision allow EA apps to other schools. Penn is the only one I know of that restricts its ED applicants from submitting EA applications to other private schools.

19

Thanks T26E4. Stanford doesn’t (they have SCEA) , i believe Brown and Yale and several others that friends applied to; I don’t recall which now. When my daughter applied ED to Cornell and EA to several others, most of her friends who were applying ED to other colleges couldn’t do that. Even her school counselor questioned her ability to do that since many/most could not.

20

@Renomamma I can’t apply anywhere ED since I am applying for Morehead Cain Scholarship.