URM Chances for Top School

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Well I'm an African-American, with an African Parentage (Parents and entire family are from Ethiopia). Of course I've been living in America my entire life, so you wouldn't be able to distinguish my lineage easily.</p>

<p>I am interested in taking Biochemistry for my undergrad.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I have not shown as much significance among other students, both grade wise and level wise. The only remarkable thing about me is my talents in instrumental music and math.</p>

<p>I was wondering what my chances were for a "top" school with these stats.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.68 UW/ 3.8 W</p>

<p>SAT I: 800 Math, 700 CR, 710 Writing</p>

<p>SAT II Chem: 720</p>

<p>(I plan on getting a 730-800 on the Math SAT II, Level II.)</p>

<p>Rank: 30/110</p>

<p>Sports: Varsity Tennis 2 years</p>

<p>Music: Principal Chair for trumpet, since my freshman year, and this was among plenty of seniors and upper classmen.</p>

<p>Activities outside of school: Shaolin Kung Fu, Model Rocketry</p>

<p>I am a Junior at your average, and the classes I am taking are not as advanced they should be. Overall though, I plan on making up for it by self-studying Physics, the summer before my senior year, take the state exam and SAT II. That way, I can jump to AP Physics.</p>

<p>Also during the summer, I plan on taking Pre Calc at a local college, since I was never placed in the AP class in my grade.</p>

<p>Not to mention I have made plenty of phone calls, and starting the day after I finish the school year, I will be engaging in neuroscience research at New York Medical College for about 7-8 hours a day.</p>

<p>By the end of my senior year, I'll have taken AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Literature, and AP Computer Science. That's only 4 AP courses.</p>

<p>I am not as elite as I should be, however, I was wondering since I am an URM, if I would have any chances of entering these schools.</p>

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Brown
John Hopkins
Harvard
Georgetown University
Tufts
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>If I am in way over my head, please let me know.</p>

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<p>Just my opinion, and what the heck do I know? I'm just a parent; nothing official.</p>

<p>That said, I think you've got a good shot at Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon. I think the top top schools like MIT and the Ivies will want to see a higher GPA. Nevertheless, I don't think you're out of the running. </p>

<p>I do think, however, you should expand your list of possible schools to include University of Michigan, Emery, Rice, Northwestern, and maybe some of the LACs -- AWS, Bowdoin, Middlebury.</p>

<p>Your interesting heritage and your music and neuroscience interests make you stand apart. Your scores are terrific -- certainly worthy of any Ivy. So I think you've got a good shot at some really good schools, if you can get your GPA higher or have a terrific second semester Junior/first semester Senior years.</p>

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<p>Thank you. Your feedback really helps. I do plan on following through with increasing my GPA.</p>

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<p>funny how you put your ethnicity on your topic.</p>

<p>Many CC threads dont, then ppl ask for it, and then get into the big argument of Affirmative action and ppl saying ignorant and subjective stuff. </p>

<p>and also, youare a pretty solid student.</p>

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<p>I say your a good student......do you go to a private school? 110 kids in your entire class? Isn't that small? I think you have a shot, but like someone else said expand your list. I can also tell your a naruto fan.</p>

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<p>I go to a very small public school. That's the bad thing. A majority of the kids in my grade are incredibly competitive, while I ended up slacking off for a semester. And yes, I am a Naruto fan, but I doubt that'll help my chances haha.</p>

<p>I also forgot to mention I was on the school's Math Team since my freshman year. I'm not captain, and I doubt I will be for my senior year. However, there are 4 groups total on the team, Team A, which is the team that actually competes against other schools, and teams B, C, and D. I've been in Team A for three years, so that should help.</p>

<p>Also, I'm going to expand my list asap.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I also forgot to mention I was on the school's Math Team since my freshman year. I'm not captain, and I doubt I will be for my senior year.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>...because I'm the team captain :)</p>

<p>BTW Mikyas, it seems I'm the only one making NYSML this year...they're only taking 33 kids to the competition O_O</p>

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<p>You're saying only one kid from our school can participate? Damnit...</p>

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<p>If you're interested in BioChem and related fields, take a look at Washington University in St. Louis. It's a top 15 school, on par with Columbia, Dartmouth, U of Chicago, Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, and Johns Hopkins, it's got a superb BioChem program, and one of the top Med schools in the country. Also - and this is no small thing - most of the kids who go there love it.</p>

<p>It'd be a low reach for you, given your current stats, but not out of the question because your SATs are strong. Get your GPA up a bit, and you'd be pretty competitive there.</p>

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<p>I think Washington U being top 15 shows the flaws in that USNWR ranking system. However it is a top tier institution that for some reason no one knows about. I don't like your comparison though because all those schools are so different. However their BioChem program is top notch...no question.</p>

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<p>Top colleges look at URMs in context, so if you are low income, provide inner city diversity, etc. it helps more than being from a strong high school, So if you're poor, worked 30 hrs. week tohelp feed your family and went to a school that offers nothing, maybe. Otherwise, your rank makes top colleges hard, they reject 75% of URM applicants.</p>

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<p>Even so, a 1/4 acceptance rate is good enough for me. The odds may be piled up against me, but I will not give up hope...</p>

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<p>You have a chance every where but not MIT nor Harvard sorry !!!!!!!!!! but then again who applies next year makes a huge difference</p>

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<p>Well sorry if I'm being a bit too annoyingly persistent on this, but can someone give me an overall percent chance of getting an acceptance letter from the colleges I listed, as well as:</p>

<p>University of Michigan
Rice</p>

<p>Can you also calculate it as if I had a great interview and also sent an ideally perfect essay. The reason I want those considered in to a calculation is because I am hoping that they may somehow compensate for my insufficient ranking and GPA.</p>

<p>I would really appreciate it if someone could do this for me.</p>

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<p>id give percentages but URM's make it difficult. but keep in mind that 25% of the URM POOL get in to top schools, and its a much weaker pool</p>

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<p>wow mikyas, does everyone at ur school watch anime? haha uchiha and piccolo</p>

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<p>No just a few people. Anyway, thanks for everyone's help so far.</p>

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<p>i think you've got a good chance at tufts, alrite chances at mit, brown, jhu....and harvard is...well, harvard. That being said, i wouldn't be surprised if you got into at least two of the schools you named. </p>

<p>but dude, sasuke sucks. change it to kakashi or somethin', he's the man.</p>

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<p>Yeah, Kakashi is the man. </p>

<p></p>

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<p>you are a "better" applicant than i am grades/SAT wise and i've been admitted to some of the same caliber schools you are applying. The only reason i am saying this is because i am an URM as well. Look at my threads and compare yourself to me... you seem like an unique cat</p>