NYU, Cornell, Columbia, HYPS, U. Rochester

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Chances at:
NYU, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, University of Rochester</p>

<p>Asian-American female, rising senior
Competitive suburban high school in NY</p>

<p>SAT I: Math 760, Writing 800, Reading 800, Composite 1560/2360
SAT II: Bio 790, US 730, taking 3 or 4 more in October
AP: US 5, Euro 5, Bio 5, Psych 5, (Chem 3- not including on apps)</p>

<p>GPA 3.9 UW
No weighted GPA or rank at my school, although I am taking/ will take the most AP’s out of my class- 11 by senior year
A’s 9-11 except for two B+’s this year in AP Bio and AP Chem- I overachieved and took both when I should have taken only one, and unsurprisingly, both grades suffered. How much will these grades hurt me if I post high SAT II scores in both?</p>

<p>EC’s
Research: (9-12) at University of Rochester. Experience in microbiology, DNA engineering. Research in ovarian cancer (hired by outside company) and in diabetes type II and its link to obesity, primarily using liver cells. Abstracts, latter research will likely be published in scientific journals.
Newspaper: (10-12) EIC of newspaper, internship at local newspaper (5 students out of county).
MUN: (9-12) president, numerous awards, chaired committees.
Dance: (9-12) 6 years, numerous awards, qualified for nationals.
NHS: (12) only offered for seniors at my school. Will chair Habit for Humanity project (I’ve been on several Habitat builds).
Piano: (9-12) just like every other Asian, 10 years, highest honors at NYSSMA (state music festival).</p>

<p>RECS
1. APUSH teacher, will focus on my writing and speaking skills and personality. Will probably be outstanding
2. AP Bio teachers, will focus on my outside research since it tied into our curriculum. Will probably be very good
3. Optional, from my lab director. </p>

<p>AWARDS, HONORS
Honor Roll all six semesters of high school
National Merit (Semi-)Finalist (made the cut-off for my state)
American Chemical Society award
Mount Holyoke book award
AP Scholar with Distinction
Business and Marketing Honor Society of NY (may not include on app)</p>

<p>Thanks for any feedback! Comments about areas I should work on, or recommendations for more safeties and matches (and whether I need more), are especially appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I am no expert in admissions, but I just wanted to tell you that if your research is indeed published, it is A BIG DEAL. A guy from my, albeit good, school got accepted to H,Y,S with a good-but-not-good-by-ivy-standards average and SATs. Just thought of raising your spirits and if you can put that extra effort into getting your research published, by all means do.</p>

3

<p>Oh, if that post came off sounding as if your average and SATs are not up to Ivy Standards, sorry, that is not what I meant at all. Both your gpa and SAT are great.</p>

4

<p>Well, obviously you are looking quite good for most places--but as worth2try said--a hook like having a published research paper on DNA engineering would put you over the top.</p>

<p>As it is, you'll get in at one of these Ivies--the question is which one(s).</p>

<p>NYU and Rochester I presume are your safeties.</p>

5

<p>Worth2try and calcruzer: thanks for your comments and advice! I'm definitely going to work extra-hard to try to get my research published.</p>