Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian
Residing in New England
High School Type: Public
Prospective Major: Science (bio)
Prospective Minor: Communications
GPA: 4.28 (weighted)
Course load: As rigorous as school offers (honors and APs), straight As
Top 5%
ACT: 34 composite
SAT II Biology M: 800
SAT II Math 2: 800
Extracurricular/Leadership:
-Lab internship at medical school (2 summers)
-Local magazine reporter
-Officer roles and co-founder in a few programs
-Debate team
-Math team
-Personal art portfolio (not on exhibit)
-Lots of local volunteering and community services
Awards/Honors:
-National Honor Society
-National Merit Scholarship
-Won 1st place in regional science competition
-Numerous writing awards
Recs: Strong
I am seriously considering ED for one of the following:
1). Dartmouth
2). Cornell
3). UPenn
I realize that all of these are reaches. But what are my chances for each (please specify low reach, high reach etc)? Or should I not even try for these schools and apply to the next-tier schools? Thank you.
Colleges focus more on unweighted average because some schools method of weighting are so ridiculous. So it would help to know your unweighted average and you show very little leadership which might hurt you. But I like your odds because everything else is excellent
@diplomill Cornell is never a match, even for the strongest applicants.
@screenname22 Your profile looks a lot like a few friends that I have which have gotten in these schools before. Although it isn’t a sure thing, I think you could probably get into at least one of the Ivies. Since your going to major in biology, you should try WUSTL. It’s a low reach for you and has the number one premed/biology program in the country.
@diplomill I’m not too concerned on the GPA side because I know that I have one of the highest in my school. That said, you bring up some really good points on the EC side. Thanks for your input!
@viphan Thank you for chancing me…I knew these schools would be reaches but wasn’t sure to what degree. My senior year courses are rigorous with all honors of APs. I will be taking a lit or history SAT II in the upcoming months as well.
@qpqpqp…there is no premed at WUSTL, and to say their Bio is #1 in the country is, well ****. Please cite your source. Even if it was to be true, not everybody wants to go to a cutthroat school.
You are unhooked, Asian and from the Northeast. The worst combination unfortunately. I have a few questions/critiques:
Why did you not take the SAT. Coming from New England, this is almost a given. Did you score low on SAT I? If so colleges will want to know why.
You are interested in biology - but exactly what? Pre-med, or general biology? Keep in mind that getting in as a pre-med is a bit more difficult than other fields within biology. Most schools don’t have predefined pre-med major as a track, they do like to balance the students who are interested in human biology vs other types of biology.
Your ECs seem to show a great balance. You would stand out from peers at your high school. But you have no ECs/awards of national or international prominence. Keep in mind that just about everyone you will be competing against will have similar stats as you. You don’t have that WOW factor in the stats above.
1). I took the SAT in March and am waiting for those scores. After referring to my PSAT 10th grade and Plan ACT 10th grade scores, I realized that I had done significantly better on the latter. I assumed that the ACT “fit” me better. After taking the PSAT again in 11th grade, I realized that I wasn’t terrible at the SATs either. I took the actual one last month.
2). I am interested in both pre-med and general bio and as a high school student, I think it is difficult to walk into a school knowing exactly what to major in. Would one track provide a slight advantage over the other?
3). You have a very good point–I have a very generic profile and at this point, I do not think there is much that I can do about it.
