Hey Guys,
Please have mercy on me and my vile GPA. I am a junior and am interested in applying to Emory this summer.
Male, Asian
NJ, Top 10 Public HS
Prospective Major: Biological Sciences
Financial Aid: WHOOT YESS
I had a rip of depression from 6th grade onward and intense family dilemmas (nothing as serious as a death in the family), but my family has moved on from that together and we looking forward to the future 
GPA:
Freshman:
UW: 2.5 (you’re throwing up right now, I KNOW it)
W: 2.7
(3 Honors)
Pls 
Sophomore:
UW: 3.6
W: 3.7
(1 Honors - wasn’t allowed to take advanced classes )
I was pulling myself together at this point, slowly and steadily.
Junior:
UW: 3.8
W: 4.1
(4 APs and 1 Honors):
AP Calc AB
AP Lang
AP Bio
AP CompSci
My teachers have told me that the past terminal was the toughest of the year, and my Bio teacher is so impressed he wants to nominate me for Gov’s School!
Life is good right now, and I’ve stopped caring about grades…don’t get me wrong, I study hard, am highly motivated, review tests and ask questions, but I stopped looking at my averages until I have to. I just feel like looking at my grades is pointless and depressing…if that makes any sense xD
Senior year:
By senior year, I will have taken:
AP Calc AB
AP Calc C
AP Biology
AP Lang
AP CompSci
AP Physics
AP Chem
AP Lit
AP Statistics
AP Gov & Pol
AP Enviro Science
I am also taking the AP Psych test.
I predict my Senior year UWGPA to be around 3.7-3.8 and WGPA around 4.2…or maybe I’m fooling myself xD I don’t really care for the difficulty, I just want to take classes that I am interested in and that I will get the most out of. I bash myself for abusing the opportunities I had in 9th grade and how ignorant I was. I’ve somehow twisted myself into some convoluted philosophy…idk 
I just want to learn.
With all of this, my cumulative UWGPA would be 3.425, and my WGPA would be 3.675
Standardized Tests:
SAT: 2330 M [780] CR [750] W [800] Essay: 12 - First Attempt
I didn’t take any AP tests or Subject Tests yet.
ECs:
I did jacksquat in frosh and soph
FIRST Robotics: 3 years, Captain 1 year
Service Club for animals: Founded in Soph year - Founder and Pres 3 years
Academic League: 3 years, 2 yrs state champ
Elaborated Extra Activities:
-I called and contacted the county’s parks corps and spoke with the state’s Park Ranger. With them, I organized an environmental cleanup with school volunteers.
-Got in touch with the state parks again, and helped collaborate on a monitoring project for special, curative plant species. Got school volunteers to join.
- Called and contacted the State's Fish and Wildlife department and conversed with representatives for a week. I managed to arrange for a biologist to come to my school and give a school-wide presentation about endangered species within the state.
-Organized a school-wide fundraiser for endangered bear species
-Competitive Summer Research at Princeton University, where I studied evolutionary biology (I am applying for the Rutgers program this summer too)
PASSIONs:
As you can tell, I care about animals xD But besides biology, my main passion is writing.
Let me go into further detail:
I have been writing for a while, and have entered into numerous nationwide competitions - I didn’t win anything I am entering in more this year, but besides publishing in my school’s Literary Magazine, I’ve got squat.
However, I came across a program in NYC and was incredibly interested. Unfortunately, the minimum age was 18 (TWO YEARS come ON)
But, as you know, I am a persistent monkey who eats his time away calling and emailing people. And so I emailed them, only to get shut down by the director shortly thereafter. Of course, I didn’t give up. Amid my series of witty electronic responses, the director remarked that he saw some creativity in me, and he made the exception. So on a later, faithful day, I headed up to NYC with my family.
It was awkward. The second youngest person at the workshop was 36, and everyone there just so happened to be professionals. I, on the other hand, was a random 16 yr old who was good at begging.
But it was one of the best experiences of my life.
My goal:
I want to be a research scientist (PhD and all) - discover things; contribute to the world. I also want to write - scifi, lit fiction, genre fiction. I want to give back to Earth by conserving the rapidly dwindling endangered species. Wherever I end up for my undergrad, I know that there is more that matters…or maybe I’m just comforting myself?
I also plan on pouring myself into my essay.
Soooooo, how 'bout that ED Emory? ED has a 39%-40% admit rate, the last time I checked.
If it’s too much of a reach, what college should I ED too? - I really want to go to Emory because it is an amazing research institution, but I’ll concede to reality xD
My most realistic expectation is UIUC, but I’m a noob at this so your opinions definitely matter.
Thanks guys
(If there is any info you guys want please ask!)