Baylor University, UT Austin, and UT Dallas are my safety schools. (Brown, Columbia, and WashU are my reach schools)
I want to major in political science and/or neurobiology. (I know that we just have to have the pre req’s done for pre-med)
-I know Emory has a great neuroscience major and a good political science minor.
What vaguely are my chances of getting in? Are there any schools that I am not considering?
-SAT Score: 2130 (690 read, 730 math, 710 writing)
*planning to retake the new SAT
-GPA Unweighted: 3.69/4; Weighted 4.55; this is not very good, but I messed up in my math class freshman year, my rank was 127, and then I nearly halved that my junior year, where I stand at about rank 60 (top 10% of my class)
-planning on taking new SAT and SAT subject tests in math 2 and literature
-Officer of NEHS
-Officer of Red Cross
-playing in orchestra for 8 years, made all area-region this year
-participant of science fair for 13 years, got my twelve year award this year
-went to city science fair 3 times
-received a special award from Houston Academy of Medicine for my sci project
-volunteered 100+ hours at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine
-attendee of Youth Medical Summit in Rice University (hosted by Houston Health museum)
-tutored children for 2 years
-took 6 AP classes so far, got a 4/5 on all, going to take 4 more this coming year
-end of senior year, I would have taken 12 AP classes in high school.
-Presidential Award for Volunteering
I know Emory is great and they have a lot of opportunities for interning/researching on on-campus medical facilities. I also love the environment - much better than UT Austin (a little to widespread) for me.
**Also Emory has Scholars program, where they offer financial aid based on merit. The deadline is sooner than the regular decision but if I don’t get into this, do you know if that will have any impact on my holistic review?
Rice is a great university, but I don’t think I can get in based on my GPA. It’s also quite expensive, and I don’t know if my parents are willing to pay for that for undergrad, especially since for premed undergrad doesn’t really matter. I really want to go out of state (TX) and I think that Emory would be worth the price if I get in.
Huh, the GPA doesn’t help you for Emory either…the admits typically have like 3.8+.
What do you mean Emory has a good political science minor (as opposed to major)? Just say it has a great department because it does. Rice is cheaper than Emory and most other top privates for that matter.
Your chances for Emory are only “alright” depending on how you right essays because you’re at the median/average for SAT scores of Emory admits, but GPA is below that of an admit. ECs look like a stereotypical pre-health which will make you look a little dull if they read your app. at the wrong time and your essays are nothing special.
Chance threads here on CC are a fool’s errand. Except in extreme circumstances no one can give you any information that is useful in any way whatsoever.
My son’s at Emory. Had a 3.4 high school GPA (has a > 3.6 at Emory). A chance thread here would’ve told him to make other plans.
Most importantly, when you write the Emory essays for the app try (if possible) to make it clear that you’re sincerely interested in Emory and that you’ve done your homework regarding specific aspects of the school. Visit. Find a reason to make contact with your regional admissions rep, again to show your interest.
And best of luck.
It’s completely random. It is best to just write great essays if you are average or below mean in any category. Emory has yet to start just cherrypicking out just the high scorers yet so the OP has a chance, but they better take the app. seriously. Regardless, they should know that some of their conceptions are wrong.
@AsleepAtTheWheel : Interesting with your son. I think I’ve found that their is some evidence that Emory recruits students from more competitive or harder grading schools than those with seemingly identical or better student bodies. I compared to Georgia Tech and noticed that the amount of students in certain GPA brackets almost directly corresponded to the class rank tiers. At Emory, this is much less the case (lower GPAs, make for higher ranks than would be expected, much like the OP’s). In cases like Emory versus some “near peers”, Emory had an advantage over many of them with those in the top 10% having lower grades. I’m pretty sure those hailing from southern states are not responsible for this trend. However, it is a good thing for Emory, because while the SATs are not insanely high (though are still very high in a national context) and are low versus peers, the students clearly are used to working hard. It may explain why the STEM students and students in general complain less in cases that they have a difficult instructors. At some schools, there is just never ending (and in a comparative context, unwarranted) complaints about the oppression of the workload or exams as if they didn’t expect it. Emory has more of a “shut up and learn” environment. The students who don’t want the challenge simply avoid the instructor. Notice how you don’t see endless threads of some prospective student concerned about grade deflation on Emory’s CC forum despite grading in things like STEM being graded similar or harsher (of yes, places where you constantly see threads or comments about grade deflation…we know who some of these places are). The difference is that those who attend do not whine about it and often revere the most challenging instructors (many who teach extremely well).
@bernie12 – I was being a bit disingenuous. My son went to a private high school with grade deflation, so a 3.4 there is probably viewed differently than it would be at other high schools. And his SAT’s were 2340, with two perfect SAT II’s.
But he had essentially no EC’s and absolutely no ‘leadership’. When he answered the essay regarding “what will you bring to Emory and how will you contribute to the Emory community?” (paraphrased), he replied that he plans to play intramural sports, and what he will ‘bring to Emory’ is a mean behind-the-back dribble. In fact, his behind-the-back dribble isn’t even all that good, although it is good enough to keep the ball away from me when we play one on one.
That all said, it’s been a great ‘fit’ for him, and he has truly found a lot of wonderful people there. He’s done well there academically. So, admissions appears to have gotten it right.