<p>SAT: 2100 (700M | 690CR | 710WR)
GPA: 3.1 UW | 4.5 W
AP: Human Geo - 5, Psychology - 5, World History - 5, U.S. History - 5, Biology - 4, Spanish Lit. - 4, Eng. Lang. - 4
Senior Courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Stat, AP CS, AP Chem, AP U.S. Gov, AP Micro, AP English Lit, Contemporary Lit. Honors, Allied Health Honors (shadow surgeons and physicians)</p>
<p>ECS:
President, Best Buddies; President, Psychology Club; President/Founder, Social Activism Club; Webmaster, HOSA; Historian, SNHS.
-Started a vegetable garden at my school that provides produce to our school's cafeteria.
-Volunteer every weekend at a community garden
-Petitioned for and started a vegetarian meal program at my school
-Videographer/Founding member of a STEM summer camp at my school. Secured $52K in corporate grants for STEM program.
-Videographer for Summer Camp for Gifted Students
-Contribute poetry and photography to schools literary magazine. (featured on the front cover twice)</p>
<p>Honors:
-27th Place at the U.S. National Brain Bee
-1st Place 2 years in a row at the Miami Brain Bee
-Several regional awards in Poetry Out Loud and Extemporaneous Speaking in Spanish
-Won regional HOSA Competition and competed at the state level</p>
<p>Other:
-8.5/10 Recommendations (got them from teachers/administrators that love me)
-Common App essay talks about how I learned from an illness that I experienced during my first two years of high school and how it has affected the development of my character.
-Male
-Hispanic/African American (Afro-Cuban)
-Political Refugee (citizen thanks to wet foot dry foot policy)
-First Generation
-100k+ Income</p>
<p>Good stats, I think you have a great chance for ED1 @Wes. Remember one and done!, you should consider regular decision apps, you have good income so wont get the most aid, you may want to consider and compare offers, by doing ED1 you negate that. I see your stats giving you a chance at a top ranked college in the NE. If you retake the SAT and >2200, which I would have thought is possible, you may well have a good reg decision chance at a top 10 LAC. Have you considered Bowdoin or Amherst for ED1 or reg?</p>
<p>Thanks for your response, @Englishman. I have seriously considered both of those schools. Although I am very drawn to Amherst and Bowdoin I think that even if I applied ED they would still be nothing less than high reaches. Would you say that top LACs mentioned above may overlook a horrendous GPA in favor of SAT, ECs, and character?</p>
<p>Agreed. No I dont think the LAC #1-10 will overlook a low GPA, but holistically with very good SAT >2200, add to your good EC’s with a great essay and great recs, I think you are competitive and you have nothing to loose. ED1 I think is great if you are sure, but if you want to compare offers and I think you might well get a few, roll the dice and do regular but choose a reach reach for ED1 say either Bowdoin or Amherst, both are very very good schools and really up for 1st gen/science students. Good luck</p>
<p>You don’t really want to go to Amherst for science. Wesleyan has more interesting research going on and it’s an area where Amherst’s endowment strength has largely been a non-factor. Bowdoin has some attractive new facilities; but again, it lags behind Wesleyan in science overall. You probably should not be applying ED anywhere, but, I certainly wouldn’t lock myself into two colleges less well-known for STEM subjects unless there was a truly compelling reason to do so. Fit might be one reason, but, so far as I can see, you’d be just fine at Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Windmills- Have you looked at Vassar or Middlebury? Vassar’s new science building will be finished this year. It is impressive. Midd had an amazing new science building as well. I usually don’t offer chance opinions, but I’d be very, very surprised if you were not admitted to Vassar.</p>
<p>@circuitrider @CrewDad @Englishman
Today I had an alumni interview for Wesleyan. The format was very organic and conversational rather than being formal and impersonal. Our Wesleyan discussion included the following topics and many more: life, love, death, existence, artificial intelligence, computer programming, the politics of food, environmentalism and even this upcoming election. The interview really emphasized how great of a fit Wesleyan is for me.</p>
<p>I can now say with confidence and certainty that I will be applying there EDI! </p>
<p>Nevertheless, I will still be applying to Vassar and Haverford for RD! </p>
<p>Thanks for your input guys! I really appreciate the support! Big thumps up to all of you.</p>
<p>@Weeknd Are you asking Umass Amherst or Amherst College, two very different animals, @Circuitrider kindly showed the Merrill Science building at Amherst College, this is NOT Umass. My son’s roommate is a Pre-Med at Amherst College and he and his parents are very pleased thus far, but it’s really competitive to be admitted less than 13% this year, there are no graduate students to compete for profs time and no TA’s at Amherst College, I suspect UMass Amherst is likely different. @Circuitrider can best describe science at Wesleyan, I know only that we visited and DS11 is NOT science, but there appeared lots of opps and grad students @Wes. STEM at Amherst is strong and surprisingly popular with admittance to top grad programs more common than most colleges.</p>
</p>
</p>