<p>That’s a good idea about the research abstract! Especially at some of my more science focused schools who would understand the science and be impressed by the caliber of the institute I’m working at. Thank you for the suggestion!</p>
<p>Check the admissions website for each specific college regarding the submission of “additional materials,” e.g., research papers, newspaper articles, writing samples, etc. FYI, the Stanford website instructs applicants NOT to submit such materials. If you have extraordinary talent in the arts, you can certainly submit that material through the Common App “Arts Supplement” upload option. Follow the rules when it comes to submitting application materials.</p>
<p>For the schools that allow such submissions…
I’d only recommend submitting scientific research as part of an application if you get your name on a peer-reviewed publication. Admissions officers understand that: (1) it’s uncommon for high school students to get their names on a peer-reviewed journal article and (2) it probably says a lot about the generosity of the research adviser (adding the student to the author line). My advice would be to describe your work with a great amount of humility. During an interview, the interviewer is sure to ask questions about the work. Be prepared to discuss the ins and outs of the work, including conceptual issues, relevance to the field, and details regarding the experimental protocols. Discuss your specific role in the research (only person doing the work…or you just contributed to one figure on the paper). Talk about how you and/or your adviser came up with the original scientific question. Describe any obstacles you faced and how you overcame them. Reveal who wrote the primary manuscript and how the adviser handled edits. These are the questions that I would ask if I were interviewing you. In fact, these are the questions typically asked during a grad school interview.</p>
<p>Good luck with everything. It appears that the Math section of the June SAT had a nice curve (-1 = 790). Relatively speaking, the June Math section must have been more difficult than the Math section for other test dates in recent history. Good job on taking advantage of it. :-)</p>
<p>I think as long as you write good essays for your applications you should be fine. Schools like Bowdoin you should have a good chance at getting accepted, but for MIT and some of the ivies it obviously won’t be as easy. but with your stats I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into MIT, Brown, etc so don’t worry too much, wherever you end up going you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>Thank you bartleby7 and xc2013. There’s a solid chance I’ll be contributing a large bit of research to my mentors paper, she’s looking to finish by the end of the summer. I’ll be spending 40 hours a week for 7 weeks on the project. Humility is one of my main concerns, I’ve never been much for bragging (Anonomyously on CC and among a few close friends and parents is the only place I’ll tell my SAT scores). The math section was really easy for me, but I believe it was harder for others because it was very conceptual and light on actual calculations. You had to see the “big picture”, which is my strong suit. I did get very lucky. I also have an excel document going that among other aspects of admission, lists supplemental material allowances. If I don’t get on the paper, I’ll talk about my summer as an EC and not submit the paper. xc2013, I know the ivies are effectively crapshoots, but being a girl hurts for the bowdoin app and helps for MIT, so it’s all sort of in the air. I’m going to write and perfect the essays and supplements this summer in my (albeit limited) free time, and I’ll have time during the school year as well due to how my schedule is working out (lots of independent study time). Here’s another question, my school has effectively run out of classes. I’m taking a community college stats and English class, and a TBD course at USD. I’m also taking a college level advanced bio through Stanford, and a high school level science that’ll be labeled engineering but will mostly be self study. I’m also going to take 5 or 6 AP tests on self study. Is this load tough enough?</p>
<p>Wow,</p>
<p>You should be extremely proud of yourself for what you have accomplished.</p>
<p>If you don’t get into school X, please don’t be hard on yourself. When you apply to extremely, extremely, extremely, selective schools, the admissions process can become a crap·shoot.</p>
<p>I don’t know who you are and I have no personal connection with you, but I would be upset if you didn’t get into Umich (which is were I go).</p>
<p>777Blue77, I try to keep the motto “love thy safety” always in mind. UCSD has a fantastic neuroscience program, one of the best in the world in that specific field. So considering I beat their SAT 75th percentile by 360 points and their GPA by .3 points, and their admissions is very formulaic (not to mention they’ll really appreciate my internship, because they’ll understand the prestige of Scripps since it’s so close) it’s a school that’s on the line between safety and match that I absolutely love. And I would probably be surprised if I didn’t get into UMich either, just considering the ridiculous legacy plus my stats beat all their 75th percentiles. And I’d be full price out of state tuition, which wouldn’t hurt in Michigan’s current economy. The only thing I don’t like would be their Neuroscience program doesn’t have it’s own department, it’s joint between biology and psychology, which means the program is new and not emphasized.</p>
<p>Yeah i think that the UCs that you had listed would all be matches, and Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz i would consider safeties for you. Also, you might have a good chance at MIT considering that you are a female. In my opinion you have a very good chance at most all of these universities but don’t take my word for it. UC Berkeley is also a really good neuroscience school but the rivalry between them and Stanford might put you off. ;)</p>
<p>I’m actually just not a super huge berkley fan for other reasons then the rivalry, it’s a great school just not particularly for me. I’m not a fan of the location itself, and I like a more undergraduate focused environment (or at least a closer to equal focus). It has a great neuroscience graduate program, which I’ll look at in grad school, but it’s undergrad program isn’t as appealing to me. I’ll probably apply anyways, it’s just an extra $75 on the UC app with no extra work. And I’m considering SB and SC as safeties for sure. A few more safety options on the west or east coast (north of Maryland or so and near water) if anyone has suggestions would be appreciated, especially some that offer merit aid</p>
<p>Your credential looks good, but why you wait till Fall of senior year to take subject tests?</p>
<p>why even put this up. you are 100 points short of being the perfect applicant. congrats on the amazing stats, you must of worked really hard in high school and its about to pay off. You can basically go to school almost anywhere you want. good luck!</p>
<p>chance back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1519195-chance-me-lehigh-ed-couple-others-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1519195-chance-me-lehigh-ed-couple-others-will-chance-back.html</a></p>
<p>Billcsho, I was hit in a bad car accident before the march SAT, and was unable to take it. I had planned on my SAT 1’s being January,March, and May. Instead, I skipped the march test. When I got my 2250 back from the may test, I made the decision to try and boost the math score for a shot at MIT and Caltech. This way, I’m done with SAT, and can focus on subject tests for the October and November test dates. Because I’m self studying anyways, I’m not missing the end of year benefit. Jisaacs2215, I know perfect score students don’t get in all the time. I’m curious, where do you see me falling short? I know I missed the 10 points on the SAT, but besides that what should I work on?</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your car accident…</p>
<p>Your application should find itself in the “good enough to admit” pile at all of the top-tier colleges. It would be appropriate to position UC schools as safeties based on your numbers. I would be shocked if you didn’t get into Berkeley and UCLA (should you choose to apply to those schools). Based on your family’s economic situation, you may find that, for instance, it is cheaper for you to attend Harvard than any of the UCs. Things have changed in recent years, but when I was applying to colleges, I found that, taking into consideration the financial aid packages offered by the various schools (including merit awards, need-based grants, and loans), my cost of attendance at Harvard was lower than than my cost of attendance at Yale, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Princeton, and any of the UCs. Harvard offered, by far, the most generous financial aid package. My family paid more to send my younger sister to UCSB. YMMV.</p>
<p>Lab PI’s are always trying to publish something “at the end of the summer.” Don’t be a summer student who announces on Day 1 that she just wants to get on a paper. Frankly, I think it’s unrealistic for a student who puts in a few weeks of work to expect that sort of generosity from his/her PI. (And, yeah, it has everything to do with how generous your PI is.) I’ve worked with many high school and college students over a number of summers. The grad students and post-docs, who do the bulk of the work in the lab, tend not to like the presumptuous “glory-hounds” who attach themselves to a project with the sole purpose of getting on a paper. Show up on Day 1 ready to work hard, learn a lot, and help the team with whatever it is they want you to do. Be a team player. Volunteer to present a paper for journal club. Practice your presentations prior to giving them. In your down-time, read. Read everything. Read textbooks and review articles to help you understand the overall significance of your research and why you are approaching the scientific question in a particular way.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what to think of a magnet school that “runs out” of courses for its top students to take. That’s a shame. Fortunately, the San Diego area has several colleges that present excellent learning opportunities. I’d recommend that you take “real,” in-person courses at a local college (even if it’s a community college) with a good instructor rather than opting for the online variety. It’s important to understand that professors are still experimenting with the online medium…and that not all professors at Stanford are good teachers. Some suck. In my experience, the quality of online courses can be hit-or-miss…regardless of institution.</p>
<p>I think it’s a big mistake to apply only to schools that have “good” undergraduate neuroscience programs. A motivated student like yourself can acquire the fundamental skills of a good scientist at pretty much any college. Such skills can be used to ask questions in virtually any scientific discipline, including neuroscience. Take a hard look at all of the top-tier universities, big and small. Pay attention to the student body more than anything else. Surround yourself with smart, creative, highly motivated individuals hailing from all corners of the globe. You’ll find a great mix of those people at any of the top colleges.</p>
<p>I won’t even mention anything about the paper to my mentor, it was mentioned to me by another member of the lab. I don’t expect anything, and it’s her work not mine I’m only here to help.Being a glory hound is not my goal for this internship, I want to be as useful as I can and soak up as much information and experience as possible. I’m wiling to pipette the same solution into 96 wells thousands of times for seven weeks if that’s what needs to be done. As a lowly high school student, there’s so much I don’t know, so I just want to help however I can. </p>
<p>Interesting about Harvard’s financial aid, because they’re purely need based and use the profile I presumed my divorced family’s combined 140k or so would mean an EFC around 30k a year, which we just can’t afford. The UCs FAFSA only approach means only 50k of parental income is counted, making the EFC around 10k a year which is doable. Really anything above 20k a year or so wouldn’t be worth it for us, because it would mean a lot of debt or them giving up retirement money and I can’t let my parents do that. </p>
<p>My charter school is small, and emphasizes mixing academic levels, so the top students bring up the bottom students. This has helped my teaching skills, but does mean no APs. It’s project based and has prepared me well with a lot of intangible life skills, like presentation abilities, group work dynamics, and interacting with people at all different knowledge levels. I’m taking two community college classes and one class at USD next year. I think you might misunderstand the Stanford Online High School ]. It’s a full WASC accredited, diploma granting high school with students from around the globe. We send kids to ivies and ivy equivalents every year out of a graduating class of about 100 kids. Many kids attend there full time, I just happen to be a part time student. The application process is essentially the stanford app, with an admittance rate that’s low. Nearly all teachers have PhDs, and in my experience they have been exceptional. It’s a lot of synchronous based discussions in an online environment, not a do-it-yourself type class like MIT’s opencourse. If you’re curious, you can learn more at [Stanford</a> University Online High School](<a href=“http://ohs.stanford.edu/]Stanford”>http://ohs.stanford.edu/)</p>
<p>I’ll also keep that in mind about neuroscience programs. Any of these schools have ridiculously great biology programs, so it does become about the people I’ll be with for four years of my life and the environment I’ll be in for that time. That’s why I’ve ruled out Columbia and Dartmouth (not a fan of being right in the city or too far away from a city) but still am considering Harvard, Brown, and UPenn. </p>
<p>Thank you all for your great advice.</p>
<p>Stanford (applying under Restrictive Early Action): Reach
Brown: Low Reach/ Reach
Penn: Low Reach/ Reach
Caltech: Reach
MIT: Reach
UCSD: Low Match
UCLA: Match/ High Match
UCSC: Match
UCSB: High Match
UMich: Match</p>
<p>Overall (and as I am sure that you know), you have an outstanding application. Nothing weak whatsoever. I’m confident that you will get into all of the UC’s. It is possible that many are safety or low matches (and I put match), but know that I am still sure you will get into them. Stanford is still super competitive SCEA, but I’d say you are about 50-50. Brown and UPenn are definite possibilities. Just apply, because we both know that you’ll have an excellent shot. Do note that I didn’t do some colleges that I know little about.</p>
<p>Yes, Harvard’s financial aid package is need-based. That’s just the way all the numbers worked out for my family situation. Yours will be different. I’ve known a handful of students in recent years who opted to matriculate at one of the UCs instead of East Coast private schools (including Ivy League schools) based on economic reasons. If you qualify for a Cal Grant (criteria have changed slightly over the years), that can certainly make the UC schools an attractive value. Just depends on your specific financial situation.</p>
<p>Regarding pipetting…
They have these wonderful things called multichannel pipets. ;^)</p>
<p>I didn’t know much about the SOHS and assumed that it was similar to MIT’s offering. SOHS looks like an interesting approach to online schooling. Still rather new…and there are just certain limitations to the whole online learning experience.</p>
<p>Ah, OK. Your school isn’t a magnet; it’s a charter school. There are a lot of excellent public schools in the San Diego area that offer IB and AP programs. It’s a shame that High Tech High doesn’t offer those college-level courses as well. At least you guys have a great robotics team (The Holy Cows). The IS program at SDHS is quite good (and centrally located if you live in the downtown area), although the math and science departments there leave much to be desired, in my opinion. Arguably, the strongest math curriculum in the area can be found at Bishop’s (enriched math track)…but that’s an expensive private school.</p>
<p>Sometimes the multichannel pipettes can be even worse when the tips don’t stick all the way and you only get 50 ul of fluid in one of your 12 tips when you were going for 100 and have to redo the entire thing :). I’m relatively happy with my school, we have a pretty good reputation among colleges for our graduates having soft skills many students lack. They’re trying to start with some community college offerings (stats and english) plus they have a partnership with USD that allows me to take a class for $25, I’ll be taking all three this year. I’m making up for it with a lot of self study, and they’ve been flexible to accommodate my needs. I agree about SDHS, and I’ve never really been one for ultra traditional schooling. And Bishops and Francis Parker are both great schools in the area, but the price tag was just too high for my parents to swallow. We’ll just have to see how it works out, I’m sure I’ll be happy no matter where I end up.</p>
<p>I always make sure that each tip on the multichannel pipet is properly seated prior to sucking up any liquid. Pipet slowly, methodically, and smoothly. Touch the tip to the side of each well prior to ejecting. Make sure you dispense all of the liquid from each tip. Try not to create any bubbles. I can’t tell you how many kids #$%& up something as basic as pipetting, particularly when dealing with the small volumes used in PCRs.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of other “tips”…
[ul][<em>]It can be helpful to arrange your tips in the tip box to mirror the wells to which you’ll be adding liquid (especially helpful for 96-well plates).
[</em>]For a given pipetting session, keep count of your dirty tips and/or eject them into a separate container. It’s so easy to get distracted halfway through a 96-well plate and not know where you are…particularly if you are dispensing small amounts of liquid. If you keep your “used” tips, you can count them and work backward to figure out how many wells you’ve already filled.[/ul]</p>
<p>Geesh! At $25 per class, you should really be taking advantage of the USD deal. 
</p>
<p>If you aren’t already involved with the [URL=“<a href=“http://www.sdawis.org%22%5Dlocal”>www.sdawis.org”]local</a> chapter of AWIS<a href=“Association%20for%20Women%20In%20Science”>/URL</a>, you might want to look into it. In past years, lots of helpful female scientists were quite active in the organization.</p>
<p>Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>Your credentials are excellent. I’m also considering neuroscience, and I find your extensive research and capacity to show leadership as both a people person and a young scientist nothing short of amazing. Obviously Stanford/Mit are a toss up, buy you are one of the most qualified applicants I’ve ever seen, and you have as good a shot as anyone. Look up what they look for in students so you can gear your stellar essays towards the respective schools a bit if you’d like. By the way, every UC would be foolish not to accept you. Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1518818-chance-me-top-universities-low-income-urm.html#post16087021[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1518818-chance-me-top-universities-low-income-urm.html#post16087021</a></p>
<p>I’ll categorize them, but that doesn’t help much so I’ll comment on them afterwards.
Stanford (applying under Restrictive Early Action): Reach
Brown: Low Reach
Penn: Low Reach
Caltech: Reach
MIT: Reach
Harvey Mudd: Low Reach/High Match
UMich: Match
All UCs apart from Berkeley and LA: Safety
UCLA: Match
Berkeley: High Match</p>
<p>Your SATs are, obviously, amazing and your GPA is excellent as well. Your extracurriculars are detailed, committed, and impressive. In short, you could not put together a more impressive application. Now let’s look at the stuff outside of your control.</p>
<p>Since your major is very close to the medical field, even if you don’t want to become a doctor, I suggest you keep the options open. In any case, schools with excellent medical programs will also tend to have better facilities for neurobiology.</p>
<p>Certain schools on your list are just set at “Reach” status due to their admit rate. Although Stanford has a ridiculously low admit rate, your California residency helps a lot (Stanford seems to prefer west coasters, since Ivies compete with them over east coasters). Your SCEA application will also boost your chances. Good luck at Stanford, I won’t be surprised if you are admitted.</p>
<p>You also have an advantage at Caltech and UCs because of your location. Caltech is not the best choice, though, for pre-meds, so I don’t know if they should pick you/you should pick them.</p>
<p>Berkeley seems to have a reverse in-state advantage; it seems to be harder for Californians to get in, based on my limited experience. So it’s fine that you haven’t listed it.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is a hardcore engineering school, I’m not sure you’re a fit for it. That may or may not hamper your chances. Same with MIT, though MIT is still more diverse.</p>
<p>Brown’s relatively easy grading policy will help a lot for med school admission, and it has a great neuroscience program. Penn is a good choice for the medical field too.</p>
<p>Chance back?:<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1508837-chance-princeton-upenn-jerome-fisher-ivies-etc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1508837-chance-princeton-upenn-jerome-fisher-ivies-etc.html</a></p>
<p>I know the tech schools aren’t quite a perfect fit for a bio major, but their science programs are all still fantastic. Also, as a girl, I probably have a better shot at Harvey Mudd over Pomona, and a better shot at MIT over Harvard (keeping in mind that they’re all long shots). In my perfect universe, I’d probably go to Stanford, Pomona, Brown, or UPenn. But if I get in to MIT and not Stanford, then I’m perfectly happy with that. I just want the best education I can get, at a not-ridiculous price, in an environment of engaged, curious, bright, and hardworking people. Preferably near a city and a body of water :)</p>