Match me: HS Junior, URM - Unsure STEM Major - Average ECs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • US citizen.
  • Northeatern.
  • Very VERY competitive (Top 30 ranked nationally) Public Magnet.
  • Female.
  • URM.

Intended Major(s)
Unsure about my major, I will probably apply as Biology or Biochemistry major.
I’m a rising Senior (next fall!).

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4 GPA. I got all As and A+.
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank, but very probably top 1-5%? My high school is very competitive and send lots of kids each year to T15 colleges (think 10-15% of the graduating class)
  • SAT Scores: 1570 / ACT score: 35.

Coursework
*8 APs already: 5 for all of them including the science APs (Chem/Phy/Calc/Bio). 6 APs senior year. It’s the thoughest curriculum offered at my school. I didn’t take dual enrollment classes but all my other classes are honor classes.

Awards
Nothing that stands-out and don’t want to go into too much details for privacy reasons.
I’m part of school teams that were state champions in one varsity sport and for a STEM club competition.

Extracurriculars
Founder of women in Science club at my school - matched girls with PHDs to do research at my local Uni.
Leadership position in 2 clubs and one varsity sport (all elected). I was reponsible of the management of 2 clubs: contacting teachers, organizing trips, recruiting, fundraising etc.
Founded a SM business (SM promoting and influencer management) - made 100k over 3 years - did all the strategy/promotion/networking/website etc. I spent lots of time on this business and saved a bunch for my own college fund.
Research at a selective summer program - wrote a paper which will be published in a mid maybe low-impact journal to be very honest.
Lots of volunteering experience linked to the country where I was born - translation for new migrants, fund-raising, tutoring etc. Nothing that stands out, but it’s important for me and a big part of my identity and life.
Some other school related activities.
I know my ECs are not amazing but I’m passionate about them and I tried to take advantage of the opportunities the best I could, for example I didn’t know we could do research as high-schoolers before my sophomore year. I learned about it from the school emails. Parents are supportive but not pushy at all. I’m independent/self-motivated and I hope to show it in my essays.

Essays/LORs/Other
Not yet!

Cost Constraints / Budget
Parents are upper middle class and ready to help. I also saved 150k+ by myself (and donation from grandparents).

Schools

  • Safety? Was thinking Northwestern, Duke??? Stony brook?
  • Likely? I matched Columbia and NYU as “match” from a letter I received (school district). Not sure if it means something.
  • Reach? My dream schools would be MIT or Stanford. But I don’t know if my ECs are good enough.

I see lots of very impressive profile here. I don’t have any Olympiad golds, to be very honest I wasn’t into the vibe at those clubs and wanted to join clubs with my friends and do something with community impact. So my ECs are very “light” in STEM, except for my research experience. Again I didn’t have counselling from my parents/I was born outside of the Us and they are not very knowledgeable of the US college system. But it’s too late to do something anyway! My stats are good though (I believe!).

Would love to match with more STEM schools! I don’t want to apply to more than 15 colleges.

2

Your safeties (Northwestern & Duke) are not safeties in themselves.
Additionally you need to ED into them for them to be viable.
Columbia is not a match. It is possible if you ED into it.

3

Hmmm - Northwestern and Duke, nor Columbia and NYU - high reaches for all.

Stony Brook is a safety.

You can also leverage your stats into huge merit aid at other schools and save your $$.

Let us know if you want to know what those are.

4

Congratulations on all of your accomplishments. You have prepared yourself well to succeed in college. You certainly have a shot at all the schools on your list, but all of them would be reaches, except for Stony Brook, which would probably be a safety.

If you need help in thinking of additional schools to apply to, let us know what you’re hoping to get out of your college experience. Would you prefer a small, medium, or large school? Are there geographical areas you would prefer to be in (or prefer to avoid)? What is the budget/year? Do you thrive in a competitive or intense atmosphere, or do you prefer something more collaborative or a bit more relaxed? How important is an enthusiastic fan base in intercollegiate sports to you? How do you feel about Greek life? Are there any particular interests that you’d like to pursue in college? Any information you can provide can help posters to provide some more targeted suggestions for you.

1 Like
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I’m not into sport or greek life.
I would love to get the best education possible - teacher, labs, research opportunities - this would be my focus.

As for Columbia and NYU, I didn’t “match” them, it was recommended to me by my school district as “matches”. My counselor told me Cornell would be a match too considering the profiles she had in the past.
I’m trying to fill up my list with some schools to research between Stony Brook → reach like MIT.

Money is not an issue, but I’d love to hear more about scholarships. I know UCs don’t give scholarships to out of state? Maybe worth try other LACs like UMichigan?

Thanks for your help!

6

Thanks! ED are binding - meaning I need to attend and pay? There is no way to opt out right? It’s what I understood?

7

ED is binding unless your family can’t afford the tuition. Typically this happens if there’s a difference in what you expected for financial aid vs what the school gave. That shouldn’t happen often if you run the NPC for each school. If you ED you should already have a fair idea what the school should cost.

I’m a big believer in applying to your state flagship(s). It never hurts to have a backup plan. Some state flagship honors programs are on-par with T20 schools.

If med school is on the table, keeping your undergrad costs down are a plus.

Finding reaches is easy. I would think Penn or JHU would be on your list. If med school is a possibility then look at Pitt and CWRU. Good luck.

9

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