Rice, JHU, Emory...

<p>I'd love it if you'd chance me.</p>

<p>Ethnicity: White
Income Bracket: parents divorced, primary household income <30k
(considering applying through Questbridge)
High School: large competitive public school that opened in 2008 (I'll be the first class to go all 4 years)
Intended Major: Neuroscience or Biology</p>

<p>1) GPA (as of 1st semester maybe? I dont know):
UW - 3.96
W - 4.26
Because I have no urge to type all of my classes and grades out,
<a href="http://i52.tinypic.com/2941hn8.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://i52.tinypic.com/2941hn8.jpg&lt;/a>
here ya go.</p>

<p>2) Rank: 14/543</p>

<p>3) 9 AP classes when I graduate - 3 Junior year, 6 Senior year
(Lit (A), Calculus AB (B), Calculus BC (A), Psychology, Biology, Lang, Human Geo, Euro, Stats)</p>

<p>4) ACT: 32 Comp both times, 33 superscore
first time - Eng:35, Math:31, Sci:28, Reading:32.
second time - Eng:34, Math:29, Sci:32, Reading:34.
(will find out my SAT score on Thursday.)</p>

<p>5) Volunteering
-Mission trip to Bronx '09
-Mission trip to Boston '10
-Salvation Army every week
-Big Sister (Big Brothers/Big Sisters)
-2-4 hours a week helping at an urban garden/farm downtown
-I'm trying to see if I can set up being able to volunteer at a Pet Shelter in August that will last until May. (10+ hours a month)
(Because of my Bronx trip, my main focus is volunteering for the underpriviledged/homeless)</p>

<p>5) EC's and random things:
-Two Duke TIP summer studies (one for Art and Architecture, the other for Clinical Psychology)
-Questbridge College Prep Scholar, attended the Yale conference
-TSA (Technology Student Association). I've placed in the top 3 at Regionals, State, and Nationals 16 times, was president as an 8th grader if that matters haha.
-National Honor Society (possible officer senior year)
-Math and biology tutor (tutor math at a tutoring place downtown... sort of like Sylvan?)
-Leo Club (possible officer senior year)
-Science Club
-STEM Girls Sorority (too weird to explain lol)
-first ever Student of the Month (HEY, I AM PROUD.)
-Awards for all A's, minus one semester. </p>

<p>Question:
I transferred to my high school because the school I'm supposed to go is MUCH older and does not offer anything (kids from that school come to mine to take classes because they aren't offered there, etc). My mom is a single working parent, so I was never able to stay after or go early to participate in ECs, as there is no bus for transfer students and I therefore had to rely on rides from other parents picking up their kids in my neighborhood, my mom's tight schedule, etc. Once I got a car, I became the one picking up 4 kids every day (only 1 of whom is related to me) because they didn't have rides home. Basically, I still can't really stay after school, otherwise all of them would be stranded. This is why I focus on volunteering, which is later in the day/on the weekends.
Would it be viable to explain this (in much less detail haha) on college apps where it says "ECs"?
I don't want to look like I don't do ECs because I'm lazy. That's not and has never been the case.</p>

<p>shamefully bumping</p>

<p>You got a good shot at those schools because of decent academics. ECs aren’t anything great, but they may be fine for schools like Emory. That said, Rice and JHU are still reaches mainly because of ECs, but try to explain your predicament, and you may have a better consideration.</p>