Please chance me on UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth? (questbridge applicant)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello there, I’m going to be a rising senior. I’ll be applying for quest bridge. Some reach schools I’m thinking of applying are: Upenn, Columbia, Dartmouth (maybe Cornell). And I was wondering if you guys can chance me. Thank you!!!

Background:
Female
Asian
Low-income
School is average public
Live in MA if that matters lol

Majors considering:
Acturial science
Bioengineering
Computer science

So here’s my Stats:
Weighted GPA: 4.75
Unweighted GPA: 3.83 (had 3 B+ in junior year due to holding very tight part time job due to father’s health, I talked about it in app)
SAT: 1410 (770m/640 r/21 essay)(will retake in aug, been studying hard so score will rise)
ACT: 28 (will retake but I don’t think ill submit act)
Subject tests: bio M (590), math 2 (710), Chinese (taking in nov, prob high due to being fluent), literature (550). Will retake bio m and lit (yikes, I know, only took once for all)
Rank: 4/470
Recommendation letters: prob AP Research and AP Calc AB
**tbh as long as my sat is above 1400 and subject tests above 600, I’m kinda good lol (not perfect I know but I’m happy with it). I’m open to hear feedback on that :)))))

Here are the APs I’ve taken (I’ve only taken honors and ap, no IB in my school):
Sophomore: APUSH (2), AP Seminar (4)
Junior: AP Research (4), AP Calc AB (3), AP World (3), AP Language (4), AP Statistics (4), AP Physics I (1)
Senior: AP Calc BC, AP Environmental Science, AP Economics, AP Psychology, AP Literature, AP Government, AP Studio
Dual enrollment courses: Statistics, Micro Economics, Sociology, Human Bio, principals of marketing, contemporary math, intro to business
Online courses: VHS Health
No ap freshman year. I know scores not great XD

(Pretty average, nothing outstanding) Awards:
AP Capstone
National Honor Society
AP Scholar
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Art Award
Scholastic Art and Writing award silver key
Blue and Gold Recognition Art Award
High honors
nhs Leadership scholar

My extracurriculars (brief)

—Boston Alliance for Climate Education, National Action Fellowship, ACE Action Youth Leader (Advocate MA to become first state to divest state pensions from fossil fuels)
—MHS Science National Honor Society, MHS SNHS Co-Founder and Vice President
(Fundraised & constructed raised garden beds, assist Science on the Streets events)
—Relay for Life, signature fundraiser for American Cancer Society, President
(Fund and attend Tufts Overnight RFL walk)
—Boston Sunrise Movement Climate Change, Visual and Canvassing Team Activist
(Plan Dedication Day/time capsules for Gov Baker)
—Culture Connection, co-founder and President, affiliated with non-profit organization Chinese Culture Connection
(Canvassed door-to-door for Malden Campaign to elect 2017 city counselor, tutor Beebe elementary kids, fund low income families Chinese afterschool program)
—Interact International Service Rotary, Co-President and volunteer coordinator
(Held food drives for low-income families, assisted Cartoon Festival+Walk for hunger)

Some short programs I’ve done
—BioBuilder’s 2018 high school Apprenticeship Challenge Foundation at MIT, HSAC Cohort
—Bioinformatics Inquiry through Sequencing at Tufts University, Lab Apprentice

—iCREAT: introduction to Coding, Robotics, Electronics And Tech

Some minor activities (include in additional info section?)
—Zonta International Feminist Organization, art sector for newspaper
—Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Boston Adoption Center MSPCA Animal Action team
—National Honor Society, NHS active member

Work experience
-sell paintings online. I paint watercolor and digital. Donate 15% earning to natural resource defense. paint raw sketches at food markets
-internship at Boston University for synthetic biology, learned biobricks, microfluidics, etc
-held part time job at kung fu tea (28 hours a week) junior year (was very tight)
-held part time job at Chinese restaurant in sophomore (10 hr a week so not bad)

Essays:
1st: talked about Chinese restaurant my parents had, challenges as a child, grew very independent and mature very quickly, had to work hard for everything due to limited resources
2nd: talked about fascination of the art in humans, tying it to the significance of climate change

Woah, that was a lot to type. I tried to be detailed as possible, please let me know if I’m missing anything or if you guys want me to specify. Thank you so much for reading all of that

2

ah btw my school calculates GPA differently, so yeah lol. especially the unweighted lol. also, both my parents are immigrants. my mother never went to college, but my father had in China. (typical me, forgetting to add stuff XD

3

I would add test optional schools to your list such as UChicago and Wake Forest. As you mentioned, your standardized test scores are mediocre. Especially since most Asians use high test scores to burnish their applications.

You don’t need to report AP scores and SAT subject scores. I wouldn’t report them since they will hurt your application given your demographics.

4

@Hamurtle thanks for your feedback. Yeah I get that, my scores are a bit low compared to most asians out there. I will try to improve on it for future sittings. I might not report my ap test scores but for subject tests, I will retake them and report the 600+ ones.

5

@Hamurtle ah I forgot to add: yes, I’ll definitely apply to other schools as well. those are just a couple that I’m strongly considering. I do have a whole list of match and safeties schools as well. thanks once again :slight_smile:

6

Your reaches are very reachy if you can’t get your standardized test scores up. Glad to hear that you have a list of match and safeties. That’s where everyone should focus their time and attention!

7

@momofsenior1 yep thank you! I’ll do my best :slight_smile:

8

And for a potential BME or CompSci major, it would be ideal to get the Math 2 or Biology to 750+.

I wouldn’t bother with a Literature retake. Concentrate on the Bio M and retake Math 2.

9

@Hamurtle okie! I’ll definitely try to do more studying on those subjects. I’ll try to get my test scores higher. Thank you!

10

Are you sure about Columbia? Have you looked at what is involved in the Columbia Core?

11

@collegemom3717 I’m still looking into all the colleges but I am considering it. I heard they have good biomedical majors and computer science programs and I visited the campus before and I really like it. It may change though :slight_smile:

12

The Columbia Core is famous, and features

6 Core courses:

Literature Humanities
Contemporary Civilization
University Writing
Art Humanities
Music Humanities
Frontiers of Science

plus 4 distribution requirements (courses in science, the ‘Global Core’, language and PE)

You can find detail of each element here: https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/core

Suffice to say that the Core classes are mostly reading and writing heavy.

It will affect your college experience more than the campus does :slight_smile:

13

Just to point out, the Core is slightly different for engineering students. They take:
Lit Hum or Contemporary Civilization or 2 Global Core classes
Art Hum or Music Hum
University Writing
Econ UN1105

plus a few additional non-technical classes of their choice from an approved list.
http://bulletin.engineering.columbia.edu/liberal-arts-core-27-point-nontechnical-requirement

They do not have to take a foreign language, but do have to fulfill the PE requirement. Unlike Columbia College students, though, engineering students do not have to take the swim test. The urban legend rationale being that engineers can build a boat to cross the rivers surrounding Manhattan.