Dreams of a Glorious April [Obviously A Chances Thread]

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Posted a chances thread a long long while back. Thank you in advance for reading and giving your opinions. I'm a senior at Semi-Competitive School in MD (send 3-8 students to top schools each year). I really want to study both Neuroscience and Linguistics at whichever school I attend (Brown is my top choice)</p>

<p>[Schools]
Brown (PLME but I would love to go to Brown even if I wasn't selected for this)
UMCP
UVA
Columbia
Dartmouth
URochester (REMS)
JHU
Duke
Boston University (Accelerated Med)</p>

<p>[The Numbers]
Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.78/5.0 (Highest in the school)
Rank: 1/476 (that is unofficial, since we do not rank the counselor is putting top 1%)
SATI: 800M/790CR/760W (Single seating, 10th grade)
SATIIs: 800 Math2, 750 Lit, 740 Bio-M, 710 Chemistry (took this without AP Chemistry)
AP Scores: 5 Calc BC, 5 Eng. Language, 5 World History, 5 US Government, 5 Biology, 5 Statistics. (taking Eng. Lit, Psych, and Environmental Sci. this year)</p>

<p>[Subjective Stuff]
Teacher Recs: One is from my AP Biology/Biotechnology teacher. Her and I got along great and we still keep in touch via email (she changed schools after last year) on a regular basis. The other is from my AP Lang teacher and she told me herself it's one of the best she's ever written - lots of stories about me in class (I'm... interesting to teach) and other little things.</p>

<p>Interviews: They will be great. One of the best things going for me is my personality and charisma. I'm a loud, spontaneous, open person and I really hope that's the side of me that they see!</p>

<p>Personal Essay: Risky, bold, very original. I've shown it to a couple teachers and they all had similar reactions to it, they were blown away. Highlights the person that the school is getting, and NOT the stuff I've done. </p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Again, really good - she <3s me!</p>

<p>[Activities] key: (grades participated, position, hours per week)
NHS (11+12, Secretary, 4)***
Debate Team (9-12, Captain and President for 2 yrs, 4)
Forensics Team (9-12, President for 2 yrs, 4)
It's Academic! Team (9-12, Vice Pres-12 and Treasurer-11, 6)
Key Club (9-12, none, 2)
SADD (11+12, President, 3)
Environmental Club (11+12, President, 2)
Literary Magazine (9, none, its defunct now)
Young Republicans (11, none, stopped going because they're crazy)
Project Harvest (Something every Thanksgiving, volunteering to make meals for needy families in DC... exhausting)
Science Club (11+12, none yet, 1)
Math Honor Society (12-only grade eligible, none available, 1)</p>

<p>*** At my school it's a very select student organization, on average, the teacher committee admits only about 15 highly qualified sophomores and juniors every year. I was elected to Secretary of NHS in my first year in the organization. We hold 3-5 activities a week.***</p>

<p>[Awards/Honors/Societies]
* Maryland Distinguished Scholar (Academic) - Top 367 Seniors in state
* National Merit Semifinalist (dont know about finalist results yet - PSAT 233)
* AP Scholar with Distinction
* National Honor Society
* National Forensics League - Degree of Honor
* Math Honor Society
* County Finalist in Debate (2005)
* County Finalist in Extemperaneous Speech - Sixth in County (2006)
* Allworld Language Consultants Inc. Scholarship - 10th and 11th Grade
* Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award
* Selected to attend 1 Week Biomedical Science JumpStart course at UMCP - Worked with RNAi to silence GFP in transgenic C. elegans!!!!!
* Selected to attend "Holiday Lecture" on Evolution at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in December 2005 - 2 day affair, 100 students
* National Institutes of Health Researcher (11th and 12th Grade) - Sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This full-year internship (amounting to over 1400 laboratory hours) is given to 22 extremely qualified students after a rigorous selection process. The students conduct laboratory research at NIH after 4th period every day, and will present their findings to an audience of over 200 educators, scientists, and parents in May. </p>

<p>The research I'm doing btw..."The development of radioligands for detection of amyloid-</p>

2

<p>Gah, you've got a good shot at all of them, even the med programs.</p>

<p>Those top academic scores + research will help you with the medical stuff.</p>

<p>Will you publish the results of your research before admission time?</p>

3

<p>Gah, you've got a good shot at all of them, even the med programs.</p>

<p>Those top academic scores + research will help you with the medical stuff.</p>

<p>Will you publish the results of your research before admission time?</p>

4

<p>I'm a contributor on something my mentor is publishing, but the research I am conducting prolly won't be published (I believe it may be part of the contract...) however I am hoping to stay on for my senior summer to continue it.</p>

<p>It's quite cool because the FES-IMPY radiotracer has already been created and effective but they cant submit the drug to FDA without molecular analysis, which cant be done on the radioactive molecule. So I have to create a reference nonradioactive compound... which has been hell so far (think I made a good break yesterday though!) and if I can (lots of method development, but thats what 1400 hours are for!) it would be awesome and go on the market. As soon as I hit 18 I will be doing some radiochemistry too!</p>

<p>This was a thinly veiled bump.</p>

5

<p>Does anybody else have an opinion?</p>

6

<p>I'd love some other opinions!</p>

7

<p>You should be fine for all of the schools. Your numbers are impressive as it gets</p>

8

<p>apply ED to Brown (that is if you dont need huge financial aide)</p>

<p>your chances look solid</p>

9

<p>Thanks. And I didn't ED because financial aid was an important factor</p>

10

<p>good stats, but you don't really show much dedication to your clubs</p>

11

<p>Ummm...</p>

<p>Wait a sec how does that not show dedication?</p>

<p>4 clubs for all 4 years and I'm a leader in three (Woulda been in the other but too busy to run for office).</p>

<p>It's academic practices everyday at lunch. I ALSO balance with other club metings at lunch and afterschool.</p>

<p>How many hours do you possibly think I have everyday to give to school? And how manyhours do you think are necessary?</p>

<p>Young Republicans clashes with my ideologies and Lit Mag is GONE now. Are you forgetting that I have a 20 hour a week committment to do research at NIH? Real research, not reading papers or whatever. Would you like me to explain?</p>

<p>Yes. I'm getting defensive here because I honestly don't see how you can back up your claim.</p>

12

<p>Chill out.</p>

13

<p>what I'm saying is that your EC's don't show a strong concentration in one area. anyone can join as many clubs as possible and run for president. like your young republicans club and science club.</p>

<p>maybe i just don't see the theme threading through your list of EC's, i don't know. im just saying that at first sight it kinda looks like a laundry list.</p>

14

<p>Based on your response to criticism, it seems that you created this thread mainly to brag. You have a great shot at all of your schools, and I'm sure you know that.</p>

15

<p>Okay, that makes sense PK. Um.... but the thing about young republicans was that it was the first year for it and we really wanted something to temper the strong stronggg liberal tendencies of both students and faculty at the school. However I quickly realized that the organization didn't try to make friends (really really conservative). It wasn't what I thought it would be so I left after a year. I'm interested in science... I have taken a LOT of science classes (most of them really) at high school and have a science internship. So it's not random. Just not a theme.</p>

<p>I dont know but I just think that focusing on one thing in high school is sorta.. well dumb. Maybe I was misguided but I just enjoy helping others (lots of those clubs are service) and communication (politics, public speaking stuff). I wasn't really like 'oh i need to join medical club A B and C if I want to go to college'</p>

<p>And ummm factorr...</p>

<p>Right. I want to brag to people I dont know. </p>

<p>And honestly no I wasn't sure about my shot at all of the schools, more specifically Duke, JHU, and Columbia. I mean, I know that the medschools are ridiculously hard for anybody so I didn't need somebody to ... I guess give my self esteem a boost.</p>

<p>Just wanted opinions...</p>

16

<p>just wondering, do you have any other community service at all? to be honest, you can be the most spontaneous, open, person, but if you spend all your time doing research in a lab somewhere or participating in math and science clubs it doesnt show a lot of community connection. working with people, not just profs and lab people, is key for later stuff in life and you have maybe SADD (just wondering how is it 3 hours a week all year, im ignorant with respect to the program so please excuse my question, but from my perspective its a reasonable one i think) and the Project Harvest, which is once a year, but otherwise it seeks like youre working on math/sci all the time. </p>

<p>sorry to be somewhat rude, im not trying to belittle anything youve done at all, i think youre app is solid, but just wondering about that particular thing. otherwise, great job in high school and good luck with colleges!</p>

17

<p>Well. I don't do much in the math club. Hence 1hr a week!</p>

<p>Science club really doesnt do much either...</p>

<p>Environmental club is community service -> monitoring energy usage levels, convincing the school and local businesses to use more environmentally friendly materials, bringing guest speakers, we're running this project where we change out all the school's lightbulbs. We're also cooporating with local environmental organizations for planting trees... filming a video that will air on local TV.</p>

<p>I've only done the research bit my senior year.</p>

<p>NHS is a LOT of community service, it takes up so much of my time. It's actually pretty much only community service... blood drive two weeks from now! </p>

<p>Not 3 hrs a week all year. I'm just averaging things out over the year. It was 2ish this week ... so it's not a bad estimate really.</p>

<p>Working with people... ummm... yeah. It's Academic is teamwork. Ugh I dont really like to justify myself because it just makes you all think I'm trying to brag/I take criticism poorly. I just don't like people saying something without letting me give my piece.</p>

<p>What I find really funny is that while you courtjestr19 see a trend/theme of focus on science, the previous poster said that he sees no theme and it's kind of random. These are the major things I've done... I mean, you're not the adcom so I dont really have to say what exactly I do in each that shows that I do indeed interact with people a lot (I <3 to talk and communicate... dude, that's not a problem at all for me).</p>

<p>This is just silly :P</p>

18

<p>I mean, you're not the adcom so I dont really have to say what exactly I do in each that shows that I do indeed interact with people a lot (I <3 to talk and communicate... dude, that's not a problem at all for me).</p>

<p>This is just silly :P</p>

<p>.... why would you ask for your chances then...</p>

<p>Anyway.
You've got great shots at all of the schools you've listed.
Excellent GPA, SAT. Seriously anyone would be envious.
Okay it is a bit true that your ECs might not show a common theme, but
your research works really show that you care a lot about medicine/science
so don't worry.</p>

<p>As long as you write a wonderful essay, you'll be fine! </p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

19

<p>hence my apologies, lol</p>

<p>there definately is a theme, its math/sci, thats not too hard to see</p>

<p>and yeah i missed honor society, probably because i think of our own which is a joke, so yeah sorry about that. but also remember youre putting up stats and asking for criticism and i just said what it seemed like to me, hey if thats a strong point of yours, dont listen to what i say at all, im not going to hunt you down lol. im just some random senior for all you know that doesnt know anything. but again, i apologize for seeming judgmental, which i assure you im not trying to do at all, you just wanted other peoples takes, which hey i attempted. </p>

<p>sorry :(</p>

20

<p>I should state the quote you took was intended to mean that I didn't feel liek writing a paragraph for each of my activities out for you guys is all.</p>

<p>Hahaaa.... The ECs thing I'm just laughing about at this point.</p>

<p>Nothing I can change now.</p>

<p>oh no. Community College here I come! Just kidding guys, it's just interesting. </p>

<p>I really wasn't asking for any compliments on my scores... I know they're slightly above the middle 50% of most of the schools I'm looking at... but thanks I guess.</p>

<p>This is just getting to be a mess...nobobdy post here no more!</p>