Please Chance Me for HYPSM

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys! Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!

Personal Background Info:

  • Domestic Applicant (US Citizen)
  • Ethnically Chinese (Male)
  • Around 300k family income before tax
  • Not first-gen
  • Go to a very competitive suburban NJ school (~450-500 students in one graduating class)

Intended Major: Biological Sciences

Academic Statistics:
GPA (UW): 3.82
GPA (W): 4.51
SAT I: 1600 (out of 1600)
SAT II: 800 (Bio); 800 (Math 2); 800 (Chem)
APs Taken (score in (), predicted score in {}): Biology (5), Music Theory (4), Calc BC (5), APUSH {5}, Lang {4-5}, APES (5), Chinese (5), Physics 1 {5}, Chemistry {5}
Senior Year coursework (ALL APs, so I will drop the AP prefix): Physics C: E&M, Psychology, Spanish, Statistics, English Lit, Econ, Comp Sci A OR World History (Undecided yet, we can still make edits to schedules right now).

Academic Honors (Biology-Related)(listed of most important and prestigious in my opinion. Also excluded run-of-the-mill awards like AP scholar etc.):
USABO Finalist (top 20 in the nation)
USNCO Nationals Qualifier
NJSL (NJ Science League) #3 in the state in biology

Extracurriculars (Biology-Related) - only included major ones and not minor ones like placing 1st in a school math competition or something.

  • Started a non-profit in aiding children across the US to have better access to STEM education. Trying to partner up with local organizations and hold charity drives both physically and through a social media presence.
  • The CEO of a for-profit freelance writing business. I write for small online clients and also maintain my own blog. I blog about evolutionary biology and write scientific articles. I also have an interest in finance so sometimes I write about personal finance as well.
  • Have been doing research on my own for quite some time and recently found a Post-Doc mentor at a nearby university to guide me as well. I am planning on publishing my own paper in the near future, hopefully in a pretty prestigious journal!
  • Have taken both undergraduate and even some graduate-level biology courses in molecular biology, genetics, and botany.
    Accepted to a relatively prestigious summer program in biochemistry.

Extracurriculars/Awards (Non-Biology-Related):
NSE (National Spanish Exam) Gold Medalist (2 years)
FBLA States Qualifier (2 years) and National Qualifier (1 year)
JV Track + “Varsity” XC (I put varsity in “” because if I choke the pre-season time trials, the coach might drop me back down to JV).

All Leadership Positions:
NSHS (National Science Honor Society); Co-President
Save the Children (a service club); President
A current election for class officer of my grade (50/50 chance? I don’t know if I am going to make it)
A friend and I are trying to start a club started dedicated to biology senior year, nothing is for sure yet.

Volunteering:
Volunteered at a hospital for 30 hours
Will be volunteering again at another nearby medical center for 30-50 hours
Regular Key Club volunteering (20-ish hours)
Comment: Yeah, I wasn’t really that big on volunteering throughout high school lol, I will have done maybe around 100-120 hours by the time I apply.

Recommendation Letters + Essay (I don’t know if I should include this as this is my first time, so I will include just in case):

I asked my AP Calculus BC teacher. She picks favorites and she doesn’t care to show that she has favorites in the class. I was lucky enough to get on her good side. Rating: 9.5/10

I also asked my AP Biology teacher. I slacked a little while in her actual AP course but as I was the NSHS Co-President (she was the advisor) and I made USABO (first time in her teaching career and she has taught for 20 something years), I think she has recuperated from my previous year. Rating: 9.5/10

I plan on asking one more teacher, either choosing from Physics 1 or History. Both are probably going to be around an 8/10 (if I even going to ask them, probably not as Calc and Bio looks good enough already).

  • Just started writing my essay, I know my general direction but nothing other than that.

Schools desired: HYPSM-level schools + possibly John Hopkins for their amazing pre-med reputation. Also, obviously this goes without saying, I will be applying to safties with acceptance rates that are very high.

2

You certainly have the profile for acceptance to the top schools. I cannot assess the impact of your research but your accomplishments are impressive. You certainly are HYP et al material. It all comes down to how any others like you are applying to these schools. Sometimes it comes down to luck. When you are talking low single digit acceptance rates, no one is a slam dunk at such schools.

I think you’d have an excellent chance to get accepted to JHU ED. But then you would not have the opportunity to see how HYP apps will pan out. Do you have s favorite school in the bunch? If so, I suggest you apply early to that one. HPY are SCEA, I believe, so you can only apply to one of these schools early.

3

You have an excellent profile and have a shot at any school. However, acceptances at the top tier colleges are in the single digits and should be considered as reaches for any unhooked applicant. You mentioned you will also apply to safety schools, but I’d also focus on finding some of those excellent but slightly less selective schools as well (some ideas might be URochester, UMichigan).

As an additional piece of advice, I would not get a third teacher recommendation. Colleges do not want more than two teacher recommendations as they become repetitive. And in your case if the third LOR isn’t quite as strong it could dilute your application. If you do send an additional LOR it should be from a person who knows you outside of the classroom and can speak to a different type of skill set you have (ex. a clergy, employer (perhaps your post-doc mentor), advisor for a club you are involved in etc.).

4

bump

5

This is your second Chance Me thread. What else are you looking for?

6

Asian Male, applying for an over represented major like BIO, from an over represented state is not a good mix. Your stats are good, which you already know.

What is your estimated class rank? Even if your school doesn’t rank, colleges will be able to estimate based on past history of applicants. If you are near the top 1-3 students then you will have a decent chance one of the top 20 ED schools.

Applying SCEA to HYP would be a long-shot. Reason is that ORM admits to HYP have some sort of international recognition or amazing talent (Terence Tao for example). You have a very strong EC profile, but not enough to wow them.

If your ultimate goal is medical school, then you might be better off at a small liberal arts college. Big fish, little pond theory.

7

Asian male from New Jersey with high test scores and few national level awards as a STEM major is going to be the highest of reaches at schools with a sub 10% acceptance rate

If Hopkins is on your radar, consider Rice, Vanderbilt, and WashU instead of all HYPSM. Take out the real reach schools and replace them with the 3 I mentioned. Better chances at them than HYPS.

Emory might be worth an application as well. Within the Top 25 and more of a target.

8

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1525399-if-you-are-asking-for-your-chances-to-ivies-and-other-top-schools.html

Pick your favorite HYPSM and apply SCEA. But then create a list of other schools that don’t receive tsunamis of applications. The College Board BigFuture site is a convenient way to search and compare: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org

9

Ideally you have a chance at every school but we don’t live in an ideal world. You are an affluent Asian from a competitive suburban school, it’s a tough category. Also you are full pay so no aid.

If paying $80K every year is too much of a burden for your family than consider Vandy, JHU, Rice, Duke, Northwestern for a shot at merit and better chances of acceptances.

10

Not to comment too specifically about OP’s chances, but the vast majority of USABO national finalists end up at HYPSM.

11

Johns Hopkins doesn’t have an amazing pre-med program. They are a great school that has great science programs and a great medical school and thus many people think they have a great pre-med program.

12

While HYPSM are reaches for anyone excluding true development cases and recruited athletes, OP’s chances based on the posted stats, EC’s and recognition are well in excess of 10%. I have been consistently told by senior Yale AO’s that about 10,000 applications each year are truly competitive (I would assume the same for HPSM) of which 6,000 make it to Committee. I can’t imagine the OP not being in the 10,000 group which numerically takes his chances to over 21% at least for Yale. The differentiators will be in the LoR’s and essays. The national recognition is also much better than the average high achieving applicants imo.

Totally agree with @damon30 , pick your favorite HYPSM and apply early. Have backups in place. Also make judicious use of EA/rolling admissions opportunities, especially for highly regarded honors programs. The SCEA schools generally allow EA applications at any public university and rolling admission anywhere as long as it is not binding. Be aware that MIT requires a STEM and a Humanities LoR.

Good luck!

13

No one can chance you for Ivies. No one.