I’m planning to apply ED II to Vanderbilt as a chemistry major
Statistics:
SAT I (breakdown): 700 (CR) 800 (Math) 730 (Writing)
ACT: 33 (Comp.) 30 (English) 30 (English + Writing) 36 (Math) 33 (Reading) 31 (Science)
SAT II: 800 (Math II) 800 (Physics)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.5
UC GPA: 4.45
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): NA
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Language (4) AP Calculus BC (5) AP Calculus AB (5) AP Statistics (5) AP World History (4) AP Macroeconomics (4) AP Biology (4) AP Chemistry (5) AP Physics C Mech (5) AP Physics C E&M (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, TA at AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Chinese, Wind Ensemble, Team Sports, Advanced General Chemistry (College Level), and Organic Chemistry (College Level)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, UW Madison music scholarship.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (on the CommonApp):
SYS Community Service for 4 years, FRC Robotics team for 4 years, High school music band for 4 years, Team Captain of my high school’s math team, Member of National Flute Association for 2 years, High school musical for 2 years, Research Assistant in computer science for Siemens Research Competition, Volunteering at UW Health Center, and Research Assistant in Biology for Intel Competition.
Job/Work Experience:
Employed at an Italian Restaurant as an assistant chef. Worked as a service associate at a local costume shop.
Volunteer/Community service:
SYS Community Service for 4 years and UW Health Center on my senior year.
Summer Activities:
Research Assistant in Computer Science & UW Madison Music Clinic.
Essays:
The Common APP essay is 8/10 and Supplemental is 8/10
Teacher Recommendation: Both recommendations are 9/10
Counselor Rec: 10/10
Additional Rec:NA
Interview: NA
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): Wisconsin
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Publinc
Ethnicity: Korean-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Over $100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): NA
Reflection
Strengths: Rigorous Academic Curriculums, decent test scores, and strong essays that truly reflect my interest.
Weaknesses: Leadership, not extremely high test scores, and award
I think you’re competitive, but nothing sticks out. As for whether it will help you - at my regional session, they said the ED II acceptance rate is the same as the RD acceptance rate, but the only stat reported officially is the overall ED admit rate (22.5%) which is much higher than the RD admit rate (9.5%) so take what I was told with a grain of salt. However, it also seems to me that ED 2 will have a lot of Ivy rejects with very high scores and great ECs and whatnot, making you possibly seem more on the lower end of applicants in that pool.
You have a good chance at Vanderbilt, since you are from WS. I would consider Duke or Emory, you honestly have an equal or better cahnce at Duke or Emory which are more prestigous than Vanderbilt
You’re “qualified,” but so are 40-50% of applicants, and only 13% get in. Once you’re past a certain level stat-wise and EC-wise, it’s hard to say much beyond “it’s worth applying.”
It will boost your chances if you don’t use the royal “we” in your essays.
@collegebobollege It’s equally as prestigious, and in some areas it is better. Also, in some aspects, the location of Emory is more preferable. It’s all personal preference. Sorry, if it offended you.
@em1998 that’s just incorrect based on the standard measures of “prestigiousness”. US News ranks Vanderbilt 15th and Emory 21st, while Forbes ranks Vanderbilt 47th and Emory 79th. Not to mention Vanderbilt is much harder to get into (almost double as hard if I remember correctly). Emory may have stronger programs in some areas and is certainly a better fit for some people, but I believe your idea of “prestigious” is incorrect. As a side note, I find Vanderbilt’s location to be preferable in basically all respect so that point is simply one of personal preference and has absolutely nothing to do with prestige. I’m not offended - I have no reason to be - but the information you just gave (including suggesting that Duke would be easier to get into than Vanderbilt) is simply incorrect and I felt it warranted correction. Emory is a great school, but it is not as prestigious as Duke or Vanderbilt.