<p>Hi. I have 14 schools I want to apply to, but I don't know whether I have decent chances of getting in at some of my schools. I'd like to save my money knowing that my chances of acceptance are very slim. I live in Pennsylvania and am in 11th grade. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>-Ranked 8/459, but will surely increase after this semester
-SAT: 710 verbal, 760 math
-SAT II: 790 writing, 780 math IIC, 720 biology-m (taking again in June)
-GPA: 3.9412
-AP courses: this year, Biology, European History, Statistics; next year, Chemsitry, Calculus BC, German, and maybe Psychology
-Tennis team since 9th grade (manager in 11th grade too)
-Started science club in 9th grade, and I coordinate the meetings, activities, and such
-German club, while it existed in 9th grade
-Math club and competitions this year (didn't win any, though)
-Volunteer tutor at elementary summer school for two summers (9th and 10th)
-Volunteer at hospital and adjoining nursing home (just starting)
-Internship full-time for two weeks this summer at the Fox Chase Caner Center
-Piano for 11 years
-Violin for 1 year
-I have solid writing, and one of my essays is finished, but it still needs some tweaking</p>
<p>I want to become a doctor, and I'm thinking of majoring in chemistry or neuroscience. These are the schools I'm looking at:
-Penn (will visit soon)
-Stanford
-Northwestern (visit soon)
-University of Chicago (visit soon and interview)
-Yale (visit soon)
-Johns Hopkins
-Brown (visit soon and interview)
-Columbia
-Amherst (visit soon)
-Brandeis
-Dartmouth
-Emory
-Boston Universtiy (went to informational meeting in Philadelphia)
-Wash U</p>
<p>Really, I have no legacies. Only my uncle went to Yale, and that is it. Basically, will I be really disappointed come next spring? Thanks for the help...</p>
<p>Yeah, my extracurricular activites are kind of weak. When starting high school, I didn't realize the importance of those activites come application time. No one advised me to do anything, so I guess that can partially explain my shortcomings. I'm hoping that my essays and interviews will compensate. My guidance counselor keeps telling me that I should apply to all of those schools, but I can't help but compare myself to my friends who excel in certain areas and think I am "inadequate." This is probably a stupid question, but is there anything noteworthy or outstanding that I can do with my last few months of pre-application time?</p>
<p>i would say focus on one of your ECs in an essay or include info. about it somewhere that makes it seem like it's the one you value most(even if it's not) and explain why it's important to you, how it's changed you, etc. ie: i never truly understood the importance of determination until i worked at the blah blah cancer center...</p>
<p>I agree that BU is a good matchschool. Everything else is questionable. It is very possible that you apply to all those schools and only get into one or two of them. I would cut a few of those schools and replace them with maybe 3 more good match schools and 1 safety. Your numbers are ok, but your EC's are weak....schools want leadership in a few activities, rather than membership in a whole bunch of things where you aren't really "making a difference"</p>
<p>First of all, don't say that you want to be a doctor. That won't help differentiate you at all from everyone else who will be going in as a pre-med. </p>
<p>Secondly, I would <em>strongly</em> advise adding more middle-tier and lower schools, and reducing the number of Ivies and super-selective schools. To be honest, it looks like you picked that list out of a top 20 ranking and then added BU as a safety. I would NOT go that route- come april next year you might only have one choice of a school to attend. </p>
<p>BU and Emory are matches, and so is Northwestern if your ECs improve by next fall. Do some more stuff this summer, whatever it is. Try to pull that 2-week internship into a full summer. Also, in my opinion you shouldn't bother visiting Yale or Brown unless you have money to blow- the admission offices of both places specifically say that it doesn't matter if you visit. </p>
<p>Well, I picked the schools based on their exceptional pre-med programs. I know what you mean, though. In fact, I expected pretty much everything everyone has just said. I will cut out some of those astronomical schools and replace them. Any recommendations as to which schools I should apply to instead? Also, I don't intend to be arrogant, but does starting the science club, being "president" of it, and planning everything for the meetings count as leadership?</p>
<p>do what you love. Who cares if your EC's are weak? You can have weak EC's. Heck watching TV is a EC. DO WHAT YOU LOVE MAN. FEEL THE RUMBLING OF THE DRUMBEAT RUMBLE, AND SO ON.....I started a Simpsons club and I never felt happier (do what you like!! "German club" is no fun, what do u do German things? How do explain that to a college admissions interviewer????)...well there was that one time when I got an A on that test....I'm no expert, thats my opinion</p>
<p>so you pretty much are the same person as me. I'm from philadelphia and i'm president of the german club, want to be a doctor, volunteer at a hospital, i've played piano for 12 years and i took pretty much the same classes as you. the only school on your list I applied to was hopkins and i got in but their pre-med program is pretty cut-throat and the school tries to weed people out of it because a huge portion of the school is pre-med. I'm going to cornell next year. what school do you go to?</p>
<p>I go to Souderton. You should look into Cornell. Or if you're interested in a pre-med guaruntee program or acclerated program u. of pittsburgh and penn state both have one. If you're into neuroscience or chemistry then i would really look at johns hopkins. I really loved it, their biology program is very narrowed in its variety of classes but other than that the school was great.</p>
<p>No offense, but thats where people w/ great stats **** me off. They think they are supposed to do what colleges want best. Well you know what, colleges want to see passion, not that you tried to do a million different clubs that have no meaning, except for the fact that you put it on your application just to look good. You want to apply pre-med? Well do you know how many people are ACTUALLY passionate about the medical field and ACTUALLY do something about it? Well let me tell you, there are a lot and thats what colleges look for. They want to see someone who did research because he/she actually IS interested in doing the research, not because he/she wanted did it to look good for colleges. The first thing colleges are going to ask themselves is...if you want to go into pre-med, what is driving the desire to make this decision? On your application, apart from the volunteer at a hospital, I can't see any passion for the medical field. Sorry if I put it bluntly, but this is reality. You seem to me to be another booksmart individual with no outside passion except to get into the best college. </p>
<p>My only advice, since you can't do anything about that now, is to just focus on one of your EC's that are somewhat related to the program you're applying to and explain how it brought about your desire to further that field, etc. Speak from the heart, not from what looks good on the surface. GL</p>
<p>Yeah I posted this thread back in May. Thank you for being so passionate about it. I'm not applying to any of those lofty schools (except for Brown) and have long ago realized how naive I was. Five months ago, somebody would say "college," and I'd immediately start thinking Ivy covered buildings. I know that's not my level, but I'm trying for one anyway.</p>
<p>6570882: Don't get me wrong! Apply to a few ivies because you never know, but my point is..don't have high expectations of getting in because when you don't you'll only be disappointed.</p>