please chance me for my schools! EA to Harvard/Michigan. Also need help with major!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi All! I’m a senior who’s currently applying to quite a few schools. I would really appreciate a chance!

I plan on majoring in either: Neuroscience or Biophysics, I’m still not quite sure yet though.

I am applying early action to both Harvard and Michigan. I am applying to the Emory Scholars Program (really like it!), so that’s due 11/15 but it’s for RD. USC’s scholarship deadline is also early (12/1). The rest of the schools I’m applying to regular decision are: UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, UCI, Brown University, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, Rice University (Legacy, but little to no donations), Stanford University (lol), Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and UW Seattle.

I’m an asian male from SoCal. Both of my parents went to grad school.

GPA******************
-4.26 Weighted / 3.91 Unweighted- Kind of weak, made a few mistakes here and there. My graduating year was the first year in which pretty much all of our honors courses don’t give grade boosts, which is kind of lame, but that’s life

-Also, I took multivariable calculus at UCI. I got an A+.

AP********************
-5’s on World History, Computer Science, Calculus BC, Biology.
-4 on US History.
-I self-studied Environmental science too and received a 4 also.

Other Test info*************
-2250 on old SAT. 2290 superscore.
One sitting was (710R/740M/800W) 9 Essay
the other was (670R/780M/800W) 11 Essay

-35 on ACT (36E/36M/35R/33S)

-SAT Subject tests
800 Biology-M
780 Math II
720 US History

Senior Coursework*****
AP Comparative Govt. (AP Macro 2nd semester)
AP Physics C: Mech
AP Art History
AP Statistics
Regular English

Extra Curriculars*********
-Delegate in YMCA Youth and Government 10-12. It’s a model legislature and court based off california’s. I passed a proposal through the board of education as a panel member. I also won an award of ‘pollster of the year’ in my own delegation (150 members) for outstanding polling of the program’s members (approx. 4000 students)
-Cross Country and Track and Field, did it 9-11 and was JV. I was alright.
-Academic Decathlon 11-12. This year, I’m the treasurer. Our team kind of sucks since we don’t have it as a class and we don’t really have anyone that is an expert on the subject(s), but we have some kids that score pretty high individually.
-FBLA 10-12. just a regular member.
-Internship at a local tech company 11-12. They’re a security app that’s on a bunch of HS campuses nation-wide. I can’t say much but they’re also partnered with a fortune 500 company to keep workers safe and a very large (multinational) governmental organization. I do quality assurance there and work with the software engineers. I’ve created a master QA checklist for the company that the whole development department uses. I also help a little with customer interaction (calls and email checkups).
-League of Legends: since forever. Not sure how relevant this is, but I’m good at it. (peaked diamond IV/top 2% of North America). It’s also the subject of my CommonApp Essay, which I think is pretty good.
-Internship/Shadow under two different neurosurgeons 12: Both are/were head of their departments in their respective hospitals. I don’t think I’ll be getting a recommendation letter, but It was a great experience nonetheless. I get to take call and also help around the clinics and sit in on some surgeries.
-Speech & Debate 12: Only this year, and its mostly for fun; I’m only a member.
-Friday Night Club 10-12: We help special needs teens and young adults and engage in fun activities with them to help raise awareness of their situations.

Work Experience**********************
-Tutor: Math Tutor 11-12. My specialty is standardized math (ACT & SAT) and AP Calculus, but I also help in the lower divisions of math. 20$/hour, and I’ve had very good success with the students (ie. B’s to A’s/23 ACT Math to 28)

Awards*****************
-CSF 9-12
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-National Merit Commended Student (1 point of, fk California lol)
-Academic Letter with Honors (school award for 4.0 cumulative GPA)

Volunteering************
-160 hours of community service at a local nature preserve over the past 3 summers. I acted as a camp counselor for kids at summer camp and engaged them in nature and taught them about environmental responsibility.

What do you guys think I should choose for my major (if the competitiveness is significant, because I am in love with both), under the assumption that I’m pursuing an M.D after undergrad and what do you guys think my chances are of getting into these schools? My top (barring Harvard and Stanford, lmao) are the Emory Scholars Program, Johns Hopkins, and Penn.

Thank you so much for this! I know It’s a lot to read, so I really appreciate any feedback! I will also chance anyone who wants one for any reason or provide anything else!

2

You’re gonna get into michigan for sure. I think you have a chance at Harvard, but still, it’s a crapshoot even for qualified candidates.

3

Go for Neuroscience.
It is a great field! The fact that it’s interdisciplinary means you can get the best (and worst!) of various scientific disciplines. Confronting the mystery that is the brain makes you appreciate how sophisticated human and animal intelligence is, and how complex biological systems are. Brains are among the most complex systems we are aware of.
P.S: It is also much widely taken field as compared to Biophysics.

4

You can’t apply to both Michigan and Harvard early. Harvard has a single choice early action policy, which means that you can’t apply to any other schools’ EA cycle. If you do, you will be breaking Harvard’s rules and will most likely lose any chance of admittance.

5

@ap012199 Directly from Harvard website: “If you apply to Harvard under our Early Action program, you may also apply at the same time to any public college/university or to foreign universities but you are restricted from applying to other private universities’ Early Action and Early Decision programs.”

6

@ap012199 It’s a public school so it’s an exception to Harvard’s restrictive EA policies.

7

Oops my bad. Good luck!

8

@MichPerro I took the ACT last year, when the writing scale/grading system was messed up in some way, so I got a 23 for some reason.

I’ve taken 4 honors courses (all possible offered), and the 5 APs listed + the self study. Since I go to a public school i the classes selection and size are both pretty limited, so I did as much as I could (took all possible APs except for 1)

Yeah, I see that my list is all over the place (so many states), but I’d be more than happy to attend each one of the colleges that I listed (barring one that was more to please my parents).

Regarding my GPA - to be quite honest, it’s not low just among asians lol. I’m only top 10% of my class, which is mostly caucasians, (reports deciles) and about 30 students away from being valedictorian.

And thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

9

You honestly have a great shot at all of these schools, even harvard and stanford. You should definitely get into Michigan and your UC schools (I think at least - I’m not an expert on UCs). I also think you have a good chance at getting into Emory, Penn, and Johns Hopkins. Chance back?