Rising Senior// Chance me

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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HS Junior/Rising Senior and Emory (in-state)
Chance me for Emory, Business or Pre-Med track (undecided) (in state for both)

Hook: First-generation Low-income Bangladeshi immigrant (South Asian)

Attend good school w/ decently competitive Magnet program

Current GPA:4.37 W(predicted ~4.44 at the end of 1st sem of senior year) 3.96 UW

SAT: 1460 – plan on retaking in August; aiming for 1500+

Took SAT II Math II, World History, German, waiting on scores, expecting 750-800 for all. Might take Physics and/or Biology later on

APs: Human Geo(5), Stat(4), German(4),World(4), waiting on Lang, Physics 1, APUSH, Calc BC (predicted all scores 4-5), and Comp Sci(almost definitely got a 1) Also am taking Lit, Discrete Math, and Intro to Philosophy at a community college

Senior Year Course load: Multivariable Calc, German 6 (post AP), AP Psych, AP Macro, APES, AP Bio, AP Euro

Extracurriculars + Awards: Quiz Team member for 3 years - National Tournament Qualifying Science Bowl - State/Regional Tournament Qualifying Math Team - 3 years Beta Club - 3 years Swim Team - 3 years Biology Olympiad - 1 year Planning to start a Linguistics Club next year to do NACLO Taking DSD II - German language fluency test next year

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@goofyguy00 : Please note that residency status (state) does not matter for private schools. Only UW GPA matters, and it is good. Also, if you do pre-health, do you still plan to go to the business school or do you have another major in mind (it need not be STEM. Just, unlike business, pre-med is not a major-you major in whatever you want and take STEM courses required by the med. schools as well as anything that helps you prepare for MCAT)?

Courseload looks great, though things like Human Geo, World (what the hell is “world history” anyway? Everything is world history which is exactly why no selective private I know of takes that credit), and Stats will not count for anything at Emory. If not forfeited, maybe they can go towards graduation credits, and you can only choose 4 AP credits so choose wisely. I would maybe leverage the math background and the physics to place out of physics 142 and instead take the calculus based series (if you take multivariable, you do not belong in a non-calculus based physics course). There are also some ways to use an AP biology credit without getting in trouble with medical schools. And for God sakes, if you end up at Emory, or some selective school with a foreign language requirement, please do not take German. Learn something else, especially if you go into business (you may want a global experience outside of Germany for example. Learn as much as you can. Maybe an Asian Language such as Japanese or Chinese)

Says you did 3 years bio olympiad, have you ever considered qualifying for IBO? That would make you more unique. What about things like ISEF. ECs are good but stereotypical and likely definitely wouldn’t stand out in RD (maybe not even ED). None of us can tell your chances other than plenty of people with your profile have gotten in and many more have not. At this point, you look good enough on paper that you shouldn’t be seeking our reassurance. It will be up to the adcoms and how you ultimately compare to this upcoming cycle of applicants which we nor they can know.

My only suggestion is that: If you can take any (even just one) of your EC passions to the next level (like international style competitions) in a way that shows a strong talent or passion in it, that may help or add something to write about. Starting a club as a senior…meh. Athletics is helpful especially if you did well. Any awards you are particularly proud of? Once you have the stats and the course load, it is really about what you can sell and the story you tell. Many people will have profiles similar to or better looking than the ones you just posted and chances are many, if not most will be denied so as strong as it is, there are definitely no guarantees. Pushing yourself beyond these standard clubs helps applicants stand out though.

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I got a 19 on last year’s USABO open exam, which is I think about 5 points from qualifying, with minimal studying. I’ve been studying and believe I can qualify for USABO, the AIME, and possibly USAPhO next year (early 2019) and, as a result, believe I can score 800s or very close to it on the Bio and Phys SAT IIs. There’s also NACLO for the Linguistics Club that I plan on starting and leading.

Pertaining to leadership, I have captained for my schools quiz team. I also pretty much only joined swim team in 10th grade for the PE credit, but I enjoyed it and hence did it again junior year and plan on doing it again next year. No athletic achievements besides the Most Improved Award sophomore year and lettering varsity the last two years (kinda weird, but lettering is based on commitment rather than ability at our school so the majority of the team usually letters).

Regarding my SAT scores, I had scored a 1520 on my first practice test and had been doing pretty well on the Khan Academy daily practices (missing at most 1-2 out of 13 on reading sections and fewer on the writing). I definitely believe I’m capable of a 1500+ (maybe a 1530+ if I prepare the rest of summer).

I was also thinking about taking linear algebra online along with multivariable (which is a pretty chill class at our school, essentially being a reward for the juniors who took BC).

I know this is on the Emory forum but…
I was also wondering if, in the best case scenario (4.45 GPA, ~1540 SAT, with some olympiad qualifications), I would maybe have a shot at some top-tiers, seeing that I’m a first-generation college student, low-income (~$35,000 household of 5), and moved to the US from rural Bangladesh as a young child, which I plan to include in my essay (downside being that I’m Asian). Maybe I’m being a bit too optimistic.

I was also curious about any good/recommended majors if I want to pursue psychiatry.

Many thanks if you took time out of your day to read and respond to this! Your help is greatly appreciated!

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@goofyguy00 : I think my point is that: Emory can care less if you: "believe I can score 800s or very close to it on the Bio and Phys SAT IIs. " because those are just other multiple choice exams which you have a proven success with already. Something like the international olympiads are more than just a multiple choice exam (and even the written portion of it is more rigorous than the others including lots more analytical thinking) and have an experimental component which is far more important for anyone who may do research or practice science ever.

Emory will barely care about your already high SAT, so no need to talk about it further. I think many other highly selective schools and very stats sensitive selective schools (say Georgia Tech) care more, so increase it for them. Getting 1500+ is not some magical threshold that will make adcoms look at you differently. Half of the admits had below it last cycle (there were maybe 5.1k admits out of 27-28k applicants…so surely there were enough applicants with 1500 scores and they weren’t selected). Work on other components of the application. Get to the point where you understand that it will not come down to your stats at this point.

I find that you are discussing your stats and accomplishments like they are part of some formula. Stop that. You shouldn’t view them that way.

And this attitude: “I was also thinking about taking linear algebra online along with multivariable (which is a pretty chill class at our school, essentially being a reward for the juniors who took BC” has to go. Don’t tell us it is “chill”. Selective schools want you to take quality courses that have very solid rigor and would be comparable to a standard or challenging version of the course at the school in which you seek admission. If you go in saying “it’s chill at our school”…that tells me that it likely isn’t that good and feeds into what I just said. You do not want give off this feeling that you compiled a somewhat formulaic and good looking list of ECs and classes so that you took things because they made you look great (like taking a “chill” MV and linear course at your school. You get the high level course work and an easy grade. Don’t tell us things like that). Honestly it may look better if you taught yourself linear algebra and perhaps discussed it in an essay. At this point it really is about the story you tell, so please think about things that give you a story to tell especially if you plan to answer “what motivates you to learn”…you will want a seemingly sincere answer there that may show off some sort of non-contrived intrinsinc motivation.

As for major: Let us not be ridiculous and start looking forward towards medical specialties. Do whatever interests for undergraduate studies. In medical school, if you decide to go, you will pass a pre-clinical sciences curriculum before getting to your clinical rotations. There is no need to use coursework to prepare for that far down the road as getting into something like medical school is challenging enough. You may, however, explore if you would like that specialty through your shadowing and volunteering during undergrad. If you envision yourself as liking something like neuroscience, the NBB major is available and so are many clinically/application/science oriented courses in psychology that are available to you as both a psychology major AND an NBB major, but I by no means recommend them because of some distant relationship to psychiatry. They are excellent because they provide lots of well run courses and a level of training if you seek it. Your choice of major should keep interest and quality in mind.

I am a little confused. Emory would be considered in the top tiers. Do you mean other top tiers or HYPM level? Who knows? You just apply. Most likely not (the % of admissions is so low at those places), but hardly anyone, including most who received an admission offer deserved to be there much more or even at all versus many of the denied applicants. I would honestly treat Emory like you would treat them and expect nothing. Do not expect the story about your background to work if you cannot sell or write well about a genuine passion to learn or contribute something unique or cool to either those schools or the community. If you think it will be hard to do that, I would apply to elites with no supplements or simple supplements who do tend to be stats oriented. You can figure who these are for yourself as I don’t feel like offending by name dropping.

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Thank you for the much needed eye-opener. I’ll try not to focus on superficial things and put my energy towards what actually matters.