Reverse Chance / Chance Me (Rising Junior)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi,

I’m a rising junior and I’d like to know the position I am in now for applying to colleges. I’m working overtime for junior year to boost my resume. I have a few colleges in mind I want to apply to, but I also want to know if there are any I haven’t heard about that would be a good fit for me.

New Jersey (public school)
Asian Female

SAT I: 1530 (730 R/W, 800 M, 16/24 essay, planning to retake in October)
SAT II: 800 Bio M, 800 Math II
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.72 (our school doesn’t do unweighted)
Rank: School doesn’t do rankings, but probably top 5
APs: Chinese (5)
For junior year, I’m going to be taking APUSH, AP Lang, AP Calc BC, AP Comp Sci, and AP Physics 1

Extracurriculars:

  • Cross Country (expected all four years, varsity 10th grade)
  • Track (9, skipped 10th, will be doing 11th)
  • FRC Robotics (expected all four years, team won world championships 9th grade, leader of one of my team’s subdivisions, varsity 10th grade)
  • Clarinet for 7 years (expected 9 years, 9th grade North Jersey Region band, ABRSM Music Theory passed with distinction, ABRSM Clarinet grade 5 passed with Merit)
  • New Jersey Chemistry Olympics (expected 10, 11, 12th grade, this year won 2nd place and 3rd place doing two events)

Summer Activities:
CTY (7th grade, online course in 9th grade)
Boston University Summer Challenge (10th grade)

Future Plans:
Continuing on with my current extracurriculars (for example, in clarinet, auditioning and making it into more bands)
NHS (and with that, volunteering)
Hopefully win something at my regional science fair
I would get a job if I have time
Planning on making a website/blog (because I’ve been meaning to do this since I was in 5th grade)

Recs might be a tough spot since I have absolutely no clue which teachers I should have to write rec letters for me.

I’m also not entirely sure of what I’d like to major in, most likely something with biology or computer science, definitely something in the sciences. Some schools I am considering are Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, University of Rochester. Are these schools possible? What other schools should I add to this list?

Yeah, I know, I’m pretty boring.

Thanks.

2

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are good. Try getting more leadership in your ECs. Your stats put you in the running for basically every school out there. A 1530 is a great score on the SAT so you don’t really need to retake it unless you think you can score higher easily.

3

@doorrealthe Does XC captain count as leadership? Also, I don’t want just any school “out there,” are there any good fits or recommendations?
I also heard that top schools would want a 1550+ and a better essay.

4

Definitely! I think you are super competitive. Maybe see if you can shadow in the field you are loooking at and get them to write a rec!

Do you mind chancing me? Heres my link

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2091347-accelerated-dental-program-chances.html#latest

5

You’re certainly not in a tough spot yet as far as recs, as these often come from junior year teachers anyway. Just make sure to keep this in mind in the coming year, and take whatever opportunities you can to get to know the teachers you have the best rapport with, so that they can write about you in a multidimensional way.

You might think about applying to computational biology and/or informatics programs that combine your interests in bio and CS. That would take you a little out of the overcrowded mainstreams of premed bio and straight CS, and it would keep options open in both directions.

Examples:
https://bscb.cornell.edu/about/computational-biology/
https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/bioinformatics-computational-biology-bs
http://www.cbd.cmu.edu/education/bs-in-computational-biology/
https://bulletin.brown.edu/the-college/concentrations/csbi/
http://www.sas.rochester.edu/bio/undergraduate/bcb.html
https://www.bio.upenn.edu/undergraduate/concentrations/computational-and-mathematical-biology
https://science.rpi.edu/biology/programs/undergrad/bs-bioinformatics
http://biology.case.edu/undergraduate/bachelor-of-science-systems-biology/
https://www.biology.pitt.edu/undergraduate/academic-programs/bioinformatics
https://www.hmc.edu/mathematics/program/majors/mathematical-computational-biology-major/
http://engineering.tufts.edu/bioengineering/tracks/bioinformatics.htm
http://catalog.wm.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=15&poid=3053
https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/biological-sciences/undergraduate/programs/bioinformatics.html
https://ccib.camden.rutgers.edu/programs/undergraduate/
(okay, I’m probably overdoing the link thing… and of course you may want a traditional bio or cs major, or something else entirely…)

You’re doing great - there’s nothing wrong with a 1530 - that’s an excellent score - and you’re doing great in school and have well-rounded EC’s. Yes, they are normal EC’s, not stop-the-AO’s-dead-in-their-tracks distinctive stuff. You are “unhooked,” which means that it may be hard to stand out in the very-most-competitive applicant pools, even though you are certainly qualified. I wouldn’t hold my breath for you to get into schools like MIT or Stanford. (It could happen, but the odds are against it.) But I think you’re a great candidate for admission-with-merit at schools like Rochester, CWRU, Pitt, RPI and WPI. CMU… pretty good chance outside of CS, but within CS is reachier. Brown and the other no-merit-aid elites could be a bit of a long shot, but worth a try if you’re either fine with full-pay or eligible for need-based aid. Rutgers isn’t a bad in-state option at all.

You’re going to have plenty of great options. You’re already on the right track by looking at schools that are not all in the single-digit-admit-rate category. Keep exploring a range of options and looking for aspect of “fit” that go beyond rankings (like the music opportunities at Rochester, for example, and the project-based curriculum at WPI) and you’ll be in good shape to craft a balanced list a year from now.

6

With respect to schools with which you might not be particularly familiar, Amherst, Hamilton, Smith and Wesleyan would be a examples of a few to consider. In some ways, some of your current choices lean “tech” while your stated interests lean “sciences” (whether biology, CS, etc.). For exploring the sciences in particular, the aforementioned colleges would support your interests through excellent teaching, generally remarkable resources and flexible curricula.

7

Yes, XC head counts as leadership. By out there I meant you are competitive to apply to any school in the country. Consider other Ivies, maybe UCs, JHU, etc

8

@aquapt
Thank you so much for the reply and the long comprehensive selection of links. I’ve never actually considered combining bio and CS, as I didn’t really feel I would do well with both of them together, as strange as it sounds.

Good to know about the recs. But for the ECs, yeah I know they’re pretty generic, but is there any possible way I can even think about improving them at all? And those other colleges you listed, I was actually thinking about them so I guess I can add them to my list now. If my extracurriculars are more “outstanding” and my essays are excellent, would I have a better shot on the reaches like CMU, JHU, and Brown?

Honestly, the only single-digit admission rate school I’m looking into is Brown; all the others I have no interest to go to and I know I’m basically wasting my energy to try and get into all of them.