RD:
Harvard (lol no ragrets)
Yale
Princeton
Dartmouth
Columbia
Cornell
Hopkins
Georgetown (Healthcare Management)
Carnegie (Business)
NYU (Stern)
Rensselaer
Lehigh (IBE/Business)
GPA Unweighted: 3.75 ish (VERY STRONG Upward Trend, 3.6, 3.7, 3.9) in hardest classes (all honor/AP)
-School Does not Give weighted
Rank: Top 10%
ACT: 35
SAT 1: 2310
SAT 2’s: Math, Bio, Chem all around 750
APs Taken: I maxed out what my school made possible. Only AP Scholar in my grade.
Extracurriculars:
HOSA (President, bunch of awards ranging from regionals to nationals)
National Staff Officer for an Organization
State Officer for Another
(Will not name the 2, makes me very easily identifiable)
Physics Club (Pres)
Model UN (Various awards)
Math Team (co-President)
NHS
Chinese Honor Society (coPres)
Math Honor Society
Varsity Tennis league honors and division titles
Concert Band-1st Flute
Columbia SHP
Piano- a few awards
a bunch of other random ECs that aren’t too relevant
Volunteer Service:
Total about 300 hours, 2 national service awards.
Employment/Experience:
Intern at the UN
Paid Intern at the National Institutes of Health
Intern at Top 3 in country Neurosurgery Clinic
Essays: 8/10 on average
Recommendations: 9/10
Asian American Female
Income 250k so no FA
Applying for a mix of neuroscience and business programs
Your stats are very impressive! Your extracurriculars, ACT, and SAT will help with admission to almost all of your schools. I would say Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are your only high reaches, only because they are for everyone. Your GPA seems low at first glance for the schools you’re applying to, but with explanation it is really reasonable.
You are definitely a strong candidate for all of your schools, but top IVYs are going to be hard to get into just because they are for everyone.
You will most likely be admitted to 8-10/15!
Good luck!
You most likely will get into most except for Hawvawd, Yale, and Princeton. Those are reaches for everyone without connections though. You still have a good chance.
I think that you will be accepted to Penn-Wharton ED. It is binding (no FA issues), so the others will not matter. Good luck, it is a great university!
Your Internships are very strong and will help you a lot. Are you going to submit an additional rec from any of those internships? That would be the icing on the cake. Well, more than that - it will help even more, (i’d say a considerable amount).
I think you have a good shot at Wharton ED if you keep your upward trend, your math II was above 750 (the higher the better), and have good recs. Your rigorous courseload certainly helps and shows Wharton you can handle tough work.
Also are you in PA and/or in the philadelphia region - because that can help your chances slightly too.
UChicago EA you also have a decent shot at with your internships. The essays are crucial again for distinguishing yourself again.
For HPY, its a whole different story…
You’d be like most other people with good credentials and giving it a shot (those internships would still help but now theres quite a lot more kids who did insane internships and are applying to HPY). What can help you distinguish yourself is a exceptional essay. Exceptional. Nothing less.
The others in RD you’d definitely have a good shot at. From the ivies, you have a decent chance at Dartmouth and Cornell (idk about columbia). JHU good shot as long as have good recs and essays.
Of course, theres no guarantees. You are applying to the top of the top schools.
Chance me? I’m also doing EA Uchicago and ED Penn (dual degree LSM first choice, CAS second choice).
I wouldn’t go Wharton ED unless you have a strong hook. Penn, and especially Wharton, shows a lot of preference towards legacies, athletes,or other hook applicants during the ED process which results in a mass of qualified applicants like yourself either being denied or deferred.
You are on the border of having too many ECs and activities. You need to make sure that your application presents a clear and coherent narrative of who you are and what you want to do. If you can do that, you are potentially a strong applicant. Otherwise you risk coming across as too diffuse.
@renaissancedad I definitely focused my common app around the ECs that were actually most relevant. I cut off anything that made it seem incoherent, and I focused on “politically aware scientist”
@mat324 well, it’s rather late to change my mind now. Anyways, I think that situation applies for just about any ED.
^ I think “politically aware scientist” is a good way to go. As long as you keep to a coherent narrative, I think you’ll do fine. Your combination of academic and EC credentials is quite strong, as long as you avoid coming across as diffuse and unfocused. You’ve obviously put in a huge amount of work and achieved at a high level in several areas. Congratulations.
I also applaud the “too late to change my mind now” philosophy. At this point, you (and any other ED/EA applicant) should be fine-tuning any last minute details, not questioning your strategy or making major changes to your overall packaging approach. Don’t second-guess yourself.
