Should I Reach for Ivy Schools? Please chance me for Rice, Northwestern, Tufts, Boston, Bucknell...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! If you have a moment, please consider my chance for these schools… thank you so much!

Also, please consider that I’m Korean. (Not North Korean, obvs. lol)
I’m a female who wants to major in biomedical engineering.

GPA uw: 4
w: 5

Old SAT - 2240
Reading: 720 Writing: 740 Math: 780

New SAT - 1480
R&W: 680 Math: 800

AP Bio - 4
AP Calc BC - 4
AP Calc AB (in BC) - 5
AP Chem - 5
AP Physics C - 4
AP Stats - 5
AP Psych - 5

SAT bio E - 750
SAT Chinese with listening - 770
SAT chem - 800
SAT math level 2 - 800

TOEFL - 112

ACTIVITIES:

  1. President of an international volunteer organization
  • Visit and provide supplies (rice, flour, eggs) to the elderly, clean up garbage in streets and hiking trails, help farmers harvest their fruits and crops, fund-raisers, spread Korean culture by teaching Chinese how to make kimchi (a traditional Korean side dish), tutor orphans English, teach Korean to Chinese children
  • Our volunteer organization was written about in newspapers and in TV. I was once interviewed for TV news
  1. Captain of the girls' soccer team - won championships
  2. President of science club (where we research studies, conduct experiments, join science fairs)
  3. Member of orphanage club (where I visited an orphanage every week and created activities & sent gifts)
  4. I also hosted a charity concert for this orphanage. In the concert I was the MC and I performed (singing & dancing)
  5. I participated in science fairs in which I studied how well certain plants can clean the fine dust in the air (a severe problem in China), how facial expressions can change emotions, and how electric magnetic waves affect plant growth.

Won second place in a science fair

  1. Model United Nations - I went to MUNisc as a delegate of UNHCR

AWARDS:

  1. numerous awards for being the top student in my class including for art, music, PE, chemistry, pre-calculus, physics, and so much more.
  2. an award for winning a poem competition.
  3. I have two awards from the volunteer organization. One of the is from the embassy of Qingdao (which is a famous city in China). These awards are regional.
  4. I got scholarship awards from my school from 9th to 12th grade.

ESSAYS:
I’m not sure if I have strong essays. They’re pretty interesting though. I talk about the tension I dealt with living as a foreigner.

Oh also, I’m pursuing for a need-based financial aid.

I’m thinking to apply to university of rochester, bucknell, and case western reserve universtiy…
I’m pretty confident I can get in to these three but should I reach for more difficult schools?

I know my new sat score is kinda low but my old sat score (I think) is good enough…

Thank you for taking your time to read my long post!!!

2

PS** I was employed to teach life science to a bunch of middle schoolers.

Also one activity I forgot to mention is that I teach an activity class - SAT math - in school

3

Hey! You definitely have a shot! Your SAT R&W is on the low side, but yes, your old SAT score is stronger. Your ECs are strong, but not over-the-top strong (national level awards). I would say that you will be fine in getting into Rochester and Case Western (I’m not too familiar with bucknar). I think maybe for RD, go for 1-2 reach schools (MIT, CalTech, etc.) If you focus on your essays, you might be able to get accepted at the really difficult schools!

4

:smiley: thank you so much for your reply! Hopefully my essays would be strong enough!

5

The jives are a low reach but I would definitely still apply, you still have a shot. Northwestern is also a low reach and the others seem to be matches or safeties. Good luck. Chance me back please

6

Yes the Ivies are reaches but they are reaches for basically everyone. I think you should apply. Make sure you write good essays for them and I could see you getting into a school like Cornell