Please chance on Vanderbilt, Cornell, Brown, and Cal!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Or.. what kind of schools do I have a decent shot at based on these stats alone?
I'd just like to know if I am a candidate for any top schools; I get pretty insecure when I go on these forums and see people with these outrageous standings. </p>

<p>I'm Asian but didn't specify my ethnicity. My last name gives it away though. I am in love </p>

<p>Freshman year... I got B's in electives and there were no honors/APs offered:
Geometry: A/A
Biology: A/A
English 9: A/A
Healthy/Geography: B+/A
PE: A/A
Beginning Art: A/B+</p>

<p>Sophomore year (took an early period class, and no APs offered)</p>

<p>Dance: A/B+
English: A/A
Trigonometry: A/A
Chem: A/A
Sociology: A/A
World History: A/A
Spanish: A/A</p>

<p>Ranked 3/~500 at my first HS</p>

<p>Junior (transferred to extremely competitive new school):</p>

<p>English Honors: A/A
Pre-Calculus: A/A
AP Biology: B/A
AP Physics B: B/B
Spanish: A/A
USH: A/A</p>

<p>It was hard to adjust to in the beginning due to the competitive environment; my grades suffered a bit. I took advantage of the many APs offered though!</p>

<p>Senior course load:
AP Stats: A
AP English: A
AP Calc BC: B
AP Chem: A
AP Econ: B+
Spanish: A</p>

<p>So my "grand" total GPA for soph and jun years:
~3.8 UW
~4.1 W
I wasn't allowed to take any advanced classes for the first 2 years of HS, otherwise it'd be higher</p>

<p>SAT: 2240
SAT II: Math 2: 740 and will take AP Bio, AP Phyz, or Chem later
ACT: 31
Rank at new school: at least top 15%, not sure?
AP exam scores so far (will take 5 more this year!):
AP Physics B: 4
AP Biology: 5</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Science/space center intern: explained exhibits to visitors, trained others and managed telescopes, enviroscience and planetarium show development projects (over 400 hours of commitment total)
Teams actively participated in: Environmental and Astronomy</p>

<p>Biotech lab research associate at 5 prime therapeutics company (a very professional and enriching experience)</p>

<p>After-school math tutor sophomore year</p>

<p>~50 hours of community service outside of work</p>

<p>2 summer enrichment classes at UC Berkeley ATDP</p>

<p>played badminton 2 years</p>

<p>Piano player for 12 years, quite experienced and played at school talent shows. Also hosted a sort of music ensemble at a retirement care home</p>

<p>Drama club 2 years
Mathletes club secretary
Assistant stage manager for school play</p>

<p>My parents divorced sophomore year so I moved and transferred schools. My mom has made extreme sacrifices for my education.<br>
My sister has had microcephaly and epilepsy her whole life and I've always been her caretaker. Mentioned a bit about everything in all my essays. </p>

<p>Please and thank you!! ^__^</p>

2

<p>Your EC’s and background are stellar, and your SAT’s are decent. Depending on how admissions officers view your high school, your gpa should be fine-ish as well, although your rank is a little disconcerting, but your right in saying that rank is subjective to the academic environment your in. </p>

<p>It depends on what state you live in, but I’d say given your stats and interesting story, your best shot is at cornell or brown. I don’t include vanderbilt because they seem to be more ACT and stat focused, and receive their fair share of asian applicants already given that it is a slightly more technical school than the others you listed. Cal is difficult to chance because I don’t know whether or not you are in-state. </p>

<p>In general, I think that you have a fairly strong application. Acing those essays will be key to your success since your stats can be viewed as sub-par at some of top schools, and my impression is that you won’t have a very difficult time in doing so. Keep working hard and I’m sure you’ll end up somewhere you love.</p>

3

<p>Thank you!!! :slight_smile: I am in state; I’ve been taking classes at Cal over the summer since freshmen year of high school. I like Berkeley a lot, and wouldn’t mind attending… But I want a more out-of-state experience, ya know? :smiley: I have some hope now, thanks!</p>

4

<p>Whoops… on top it cuts off after “I am in love” LOL… Awkward… anyway I am in love with the science field (all my ECs are oriented to science) and have applied to all schools for either bio-engineering or zoology. Cornell has an EXTREMELY competitive veterinary medicine program; that definitely lowers my chances, b/c that’s what I applied for. UCSD is my “safety/match” school.</p>

5

<p>More feedback please? :)</p>