Hey Everyone! Before I start writing my essays for Emory I would like to know where I stand as a RD applicant. Are there any areas I need to work on?
Thanks in advance!
Here are my stats:
Asian Male
SAT (Superscore): 2230 (CR-670, M-770, W-790 Essay:10)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 750 Biology E, taking Chem in Oct.
ACT: 32 (Math:33, Reading: 28, Science: 35, English: 32) - Retaking in Sept.
NC GPA (Unweighted) - 3.96
NC GPA (Weighted) - 5.125
Class Rank: 7/631
Attend Top Public School in NC
Student in North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Online Program
Taking courses offered nowhere else in the country, which include Honors Medicinal Chemistry and Honors Bioinformatics
AP (7 AP’s taken):
Biology (4)
Calculus BC (5)
Statistics (4)
Human Geography (5)
US History (4)
Senior Year Courses:
AP Computer Science A
AP Physics II
AP US Government and Politics
AP Psychology
Calculus III (at NC State)
Honors Anatomy and Physiology
NCSSM Courses (Semester-Long Courses):
Honors Bioinformatics (Taken)
Honors Computational Chemistry
Honors Medicinal Chemistry
Major Awards: Winner of Genentech Emperor Science Award in Cancer Research, President’s Volunteer Service Award recipient, Selected and Completed NC Governor’s School in Mathematics, Junior Marshal (Top 35 Class Rank), Research Paper passed first set of edits for Harvard’s Journal of Emerging Investigators (should get accepted & published)
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Men’s Tennis Player (9-12)
Research Lab Assistant at UNC and Duke (11-12)
Key Club (9-12) / Executive Board Member (10-11)
Science Olympiad (9-12) / President (11-12)
National Technical and Spanish Honor Societies (11-12)
Quiz Bowl Team 9-12) / Co-Captain (10-12)
Tutoring Club (9-12) / President (10-12)
NC School of Science and Mathematics Ambassador (11-12)
NC School of Science and Mathematics SIDE Leader: Create and teach enrichments to K-12 students across NC (11-12)
UNC Hospitals Volunteer (11-12) 200+ Hours
Red Cross Volunteer (9-12) 50+ Hours
Teacher/Counselor Recommendations will be very good, as I know my them very well and interact with them daily.
@therealdeal23 Should be good, don’t know why you are not taking AP or dual enrollment chemistry. I have this feeling that honors medicinal may end up more like a biology oriented course. I would think you’d be admitted but it depends on how you write essays and convey what brings interest in Emory. I would take the Emory application very serious as it is one of the few schools that is not a crapshoot, yet has a better program in chemistry, neuro and biology than many places that are. It has stronger teaching and UG fellowship opportunities than many nearly ranked places in terms of undergraduate offerings for computational/quantitative life sciences mainly because these are areas that the institution is attempting to bring to eminence (so they have pretty serious UG training grants and programs). It would be a pretty strong place to attend if your other options do not work out. Don’t put yourself at risk by being overconfident in the application/treating it as a real safety. Lately they’ve been denying students with similar credentials (and better stats). Don’t write it off/underestimate it and with your interests, do not merely aim for higher ranked schools, be sure that they are good in the areas you are interested in. They can have higher ranks for reasons that are not academic or completely unrelated to your intellectual interests and you may end up being underwhelmed (especially when schools have different ranks but comparable reputations). Be really careful and do your research. Do not assume all schools are awesome in STEM and STEM education if you plan to continue that route. Their research reputation has little to do with the instruction and opps. you may receive (and your “match” or kind of reach schools will generally allbe solid research wise).
Like I saw you considering ND and Georgetown…I guess you really desire D-1 “rah rah” schools or a particular social vibe, because those two are not as strong as somewhere like Emory in terms of life science research especially in the areas you have exposure to. All they have in common is strong student bodies (I suppose GTown and Emory are both good at things like the social sciences for undergraduates, with GTown still having a big edge, but life science STEM at Emory is at another level it seems even for undergraduates). Maybe if you are aiming for engineering those two make more sense?
Hey @bernie12, thanks for the feedback. I was also looking at Rice, Hopkins, Washu, UChicago, and Dartmouth. Where do you think Emory falls in that group for its natural science/research/pre-med focus?
hopkins & washington are the best. emory is good too ~15th rank
@KuntaKinteUC : Rank doesn’t matter…when it come to undergraduate education. VU ranks 15 yet teaching at the others including Emory is generally better in the natural sciences and chemistry because they’ve had specific initiatives and funds go toward teaching innovations in such departments. Two have/had centers for science education (WUSTL and Emory), and all of those have had consistent funding for STEM education and outreach initiatives from the HHMI. All have received 2014 grants for example, with Emory actually being the only one to get it to go directly toward curriculum development (chemistry specifically).
@therealdeal23 WUSTL, Emory, Rice, JHU, and Dartmouth are similar levels from what I’ve seen coursework wise. To discriminate, I need an idea of what discipline you may want, because natural science/research/pre-med focus is vague. There are many pathways through such an area. What is your interest.
If you want more quantitative biology/CS, then JHU, Rice, and Chicago are ideal as that scene is much more developed. For something like basically biology or chemistry, Emory, WUSTL, and Chicago have really strong teaching (we are assuming all are great at research). If you are into the more drug discover/pharmacology learning places, then of course JHU, Emory (this one is typically at or near the top), and WUSTL are excellent.
If you care about the size of your courses, especially at intro and intermediate levels, then Dartmouth and Emory are much more “cozy”.
Based on 3.96/32, I would call Emory a high match for you… maaaaybe a match, though Emory’s overall admit rate might be too low for even high-stat unhooked kids - like you - to believe they are a solid match.
The other schools you mentioned are also outstanding academically and even more selective than Emory.
Do you have a (true) match or two and a safety lined up as well? Make sure you like and can afford them.
To be clear: When you look at the course materials and even style of courses in the natural sciences at a place that has invested a lot into STEM teaching versus a place that doesn’t, the differences are rather obvious. Specifically, the ones that do have more instructors that use very active learning and also have many more instructors who have migrated away from memorization based courses toward more problem solving and research oriented courses. Schools without such efforts are predominantly lecture and departments like biology( unless you’re a tippy top like an HYPM level school and can fund your own changes) and even neuroscience have mostly traditional instructors that stick to content heavy courses (hint: basically regurgitation of large volumes of content taken in and less based on the experimental perspective). Even the chemistry departments at such places is different from the others with lots of STEM education funding.
Once in the upperechelon, rank can be gamed by getting tons of applications (marketing and other tactics), high scores, and quality of life things like nice dorms and stuff, and of course financial aid. It can have nothing to do with in school quality. Emory, at 21 or lower, for example still performs as well or better than WUSTL and VU in certain post-grad metrics/award counts (including the Rhodes Emory and Rice got last year) including elite prof. school placement. JHU has evidence of being stronger academically (maybe because of more successful engineering programs) as indicated by post-grad outcomes. Everything/everywhere else is just koolaid that you have bought for some reason.
They have to find what place actually has programs that fit their interest and actually teach well. These are pretty much good in different areas and approaches to life sciences (though JHU and Chicago are good all around I’d say, in terms of research offerings and course offerings/level).
Hey guys I bumped up my ACT to a 34 composite ( E: 35 M: 34 R: 34 S: 31) and a 35 superscore (E: 35 M: 34 R: 34 S: 35). How do my chances for Emory Scholars look like?
As random as everyone else’s, but you now stand more of a chance of piquing their interest, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Just apply and cross your fingers. Many scholars will have similar stats and/or better ECs and co-curriculars and like 5-7k apply just to scholars. Keep in mind that Emory only admits like 5k at most meaning that of course, a very solid chunk of scholar applicants (despite high stats leading them to apply) are being wait-listed or denied admission. Some years ago (2011 I think) Emory actually broke down its admit brackets and those who were in the top quartile ranges on the SAT and ACT sections appeared to only gain admission about 60-65% of the time. This is decently better than a coin flip, but still surprisingly imperfect. You have a much stronger chance of admission, but scholarship? Who knows. Again, just try. Maybe they’ll happen to see it for you at the moment they look at your materials.