What are my chances for top programs/schools like Brown PLME, Harvard, Duke, Coumbia, etc. ?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

What are my chances for top programs/schools like Brown PLME, Harvard, Duke, Coumbia, etc. ?
What good schools should I apply to?

Asian
Female
Raleigh, NC
Small public/magnet early college high school
Middle Class
Hooks: none?

GPA/Test Scores:
W: 4.4/ UW: 3.6 (had a little trouble in school earlier b/c of some issues, but improved a lot)
Rank - school doesn’t rank
ACT - 26 (25E, 25M, 29R, 24S, 8/12W) (did my best even w/ accommodations… I don’t feel that standardized scores reflect me well at all)
SAT IIs - not so good… will not send…did not receive accommodations for testing which I need… :frowning:

Awards:
-Award of Excellence for Congress of Future Medical Leaders (National)
-several talent show awards (school)
-A and B Honor Roll all years (school)
-The Exceptional Work Ethic Award (school)
-Community Service Award PAA (state/regional)
-Spotlight on Students Award (state/regional)

Courseload:
9th - all honors classes
10th - all honors classes
11th - most honors classes, APUSH (only one AP offered), 4 classes at NC State University
12th - 1 honors class and 1 regular online class and the rest are NC State University Classes

Extracurriculars:
-Founded school volunteer club and set up school-wide event for NC Lung Cancer Initiative
-UNC Health Professions Recruitment Exposure Program Program (research, presentation)
-Founded International Organization (I led my project team to build a small library and future clinic along with a virtual app with 21st century resources for a poor village in Pakistan)
-Research at NC State University Genetics Lab (started my own project after helping lab in the summer… lab told me I will have a published paper soon… also I’m still working on my project)
-Volunteer at local hospital (I volunteered in the Women’s Birth Pavilion and Birthplace as well as the Surgical Services/ Day Surgery and PACU)
-About two weeks of physician shadowing if calculated
-Music: Singing for many, many years
-Played soccer for many years

Jobs/Work Experiences:
-some online jobs… nothing much

Summer Activities:
-Congress of Future Medical Leaders
-worked on my international organization
-volunteer at hospital
-research at genetics lab

Essays:
Common App -10/10 (I put in my best effort… worked on the essay for like a year)

Teacher Recommendations:
Honors English IV teacher - 10/10 (the best teacher I have ever had! extremely understanding and encouraging… and knows me extremely well)
Career Development coordinator/Honors Internship class teacher - 10/10 (also very understanding and encouraging… she sent me the recommendation… it was really good! )
Counselor Recommendation: 10/10 (very close to her… I know she wrote an amazing recommendation… i take her word for it!)
Additional recommendation: School principal: 10/10 (knows me really well and tells me that I have improved so much since the beginning of high school)

2

regardless of how good your extracurriculars are, you’re going to need better test scores to get into the schools you want. While yes, your ECs and essays may be good, and the rest of your application is strong, the schools youve chosen are very number-focused. Other people applying here may have ECs that are just as good or close to as good as yours, but much higher scores and gpas. I don’t think you’ll get in to any of those schools, maybe look elsewhere.

3

I’m afraid that I have to agree with the above poster. It all starts with academics and then other aspects are looked at - ECs, recs, essays etc. You haven’t demonstrated that you are able to perform at a high level and you are asking them to accept you on blind faith that you can. The problem is that they have thousands of others who have performed at a high level AND amazing ECs and everything else. If you want to go to med school, gpa and MCAT scores mean everything. You are better off trying to go to a state school or a non-top 30 school where you would have a better chance at achieving a high gpa. Premed at most top schools is brutal and I honestly don’t think you have the preparation to handle it. In any event, good luck with your applications! Hope you have match and safety schools on your list because the schools you’ve listed are incredible reaches.

4

I really appreciate your advice, but I have to disagree with you on a few points. (Respectfully) I have never done chance threads before, but I thought that it would be good to try it out to get some positive and realistic advice from a few people. While I do agree with both of you that there are so many people with the ECs that are just as good as mine and also have higher scores and GPAs (which is positive/realistic advice) I have to call you both of you out on a couple of things. I don’t think it is very appropriate for both of you to say: “I don’t think you’ll get in to any of those schools” or even “I honestly don’t think you have the preparation to handle it.” Those are very ignorant responses for people as smart as you both. I’m not going to sit here and try to prove that I am prepared for such certain colleges and universities (although I’m already doing my premed courses a competitive university as a high school student) , however I do want to let you know that this is a form of degradation. How could you possibly say such things when you are not in control of the admission’s decisions? I’m sure you both have had amazing accomplishments and will be/or have been accepted to amazing colleges, but next time maybe consider the words you are using as it may hurt others. I’m looking out for myself and others!

And anyone who is reading this, just believe in yourself and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make it only because your standardized tests scores and otherwise are not high enough because that’s not who you are… that doesn’t determine if you will be successful in college or in the near future. And colleges can see through the numbers. Just be confident in who you are.

So I have to disagree with you both on that point… I do believe that I am a really good candidate for these schools and many people can stand by me on that -really basically everyone that knows me or met me, but that doesn’t matter. I mean if everyone knew who you were (by your name) and not anonymous, would you even make those degrading comments? No… probably not.

Again I say this all with good heart and no bad intentions. Next time consider the words you are saying and give more positive and realistic advice instead.

5

Truth be told, most top schools do not even look at your application if your test scores and GPA are too low. Anyone thats scores are below a predetermined numerical value are tossed in the wastebasket. I’m not saying it to be mean, but that has been the general consensus. And I have been speaking to admissions officers, namely from Brown, Dartmouth, Yale, Duke, and Columbia.

6

No… honestly that’s good advice. I didn’t know they actually did that. I appreciate your input so could I possibly contact some of these admissions officers? Can you send me the information in my inbox?

7

The main advice that I have to offer: find other places where you will be happy. Do not limit yourself to highly selective institutions. The name of the school does not guarantee happiness or success.You will achieve whatever you are motivated to achieve at any quality institution. With that being said, there are still ways to make yourself a more competitive candidate. If you have an opportunity to retake the ACT in December, I highly advice trying to aim for at least a 28. A high 20s, maybe a 30 would give you a much better chance at any of the schools you listed above. Working as hard as possible and submitting your first semester grades from senior year, including your theoretically higher GPA, will also help. Yes, these schools do consider applicants holistically, but scores are a massive part of that holistic review. Heart means a lot, but so does realism. I do not say this with bad intentions, but you need to be prepared to some extent to receive the small envelope instead of the big one, just as the thousands of other Ivy League applicants are.

8

Well I don’t know if you know what an early college is or how it works, but it is typically five years and mine is at a university so I have that as a backup or safety. Regardless, if I stayed, I would not have to pay for any classes and I would basically be like two years ahead than someone my age. It’s already guaranteed. So that’s why I’m just seeing where I get in. I have heard that the top institutions typically have better financial aid and since I’m one of a triplet, I would really need more aid. I actually do have other colleges like UNC-CH (basically colleges that would accept my credits) on my list. I just wanted to see where I stand and how I could possibly improve my chances. I honestly don’t have anything to loose.

9

I’m in a kind of early college myself. I would have enough credits to graduate with an associates after the end of my second semester; I’m around three years ahead of where I should be. I’ve had all of my requirements to graduate from high school done. Concerning financial aid, most top institutions do give aid but it depends primarily on your parents’ income and what they have saved. You would actually be better off at schools where you’d get merit money and financial aid, if you want my honest opinion. Ivies simply do not give merit scholarships. Yes, being a triplet could help you, but it really depends on how much your guardians make per year. You truthfully do stand at the lower end of the applicant pool. Improving your chances hinges upon this ACT on Saturday if you’re taking it and on improving your GPA before the semester ends. Admissions officers have thousands of applicants on their hands. They want to reduce their own workload as much as possible. I’ve been speaking to my regional officers. I’m further up North, so you’d likely have different officers. You can find them on each school’s respective website.

10

I’m sorry if you were offended by my comments but you asked what your chances were and I gave you my honest opinion so that you would consider widening your college search. You are, of course, free to disregard my opinion and apply to wherever you think appropriate. Hopefully, you will prove me wrong.

FWIW, Duke has publicly stated that they eliminate about half of the applications right off the bat. You can draw your own conclusions from that statement about how “holistic” the process is if the first cut is purely numerically based.

I believe my comments are realistic but I agree they weren’t very positive with respect to your chances of getting into super elite colleges. However, I do stand by my realistic and positive comments that if your end goal is medical school, there are many other paths available to you that will achieve that purpose.

Again, best of luck with your college endeavors.

11

@bsbamd - interesting that you would ask for people’s opinions via a chance me thread and then get offended when they give you one. Per your reply in the Harvard EA thread, I believe you applied there EA, right? You should be receiving the decision in about a week. Good luck.

12

@MedSciBud I’m not getting offended (respectfully… as I said) … I’m just saying that they can’t say that “I’m not prepared for certain schools” when I know how prepared I am. As a person, standardized tests do not reflect who I am personally. It’s not a matter of being offended… I expected chance threads to be more of a thing where people help you out.

I mean if you had read my top two questions which were:

What are my chances for top programs/schools like Brown PLME, Harvard, Duke, Coumbia, etc. ?
What good schools should I apply to?

It’s not only Harvard I was talking about. I was asking about top schools in general, expecting that I would get advice on ways to improve. I honestly didn’t expect it to be “I don’t think you will get into those schools” because honestly, I believe the only people that can reject me are the admission officers and the colleges themselves. Also no one even bothered to answer the second question.

Again I take no offense to anything they said. I was saying that they could have said it in a more positive way.

Also, @Multiverse7 I totally agree that there are other paths to go to medical school. Your response is very realistic and positive at the same time. I appreciate that you understand what I was trying to say. Also, since I live in the Triangle, I did talk to a Duke admissions officer recently and she said that everything was truly holistic. I also talked to a Harvard admission officers and she was extremely sweet. She told me the same thing. I had a discussion with them and they said to just keep doing what you are doing. They said to do what you love and they will take everything into consideration even if the test scores are low. Although, it is most likely true that they do have some type of numerical cutoff.

13

@ezlbio Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate the info… Honestly, I’m thinking to retake the ACT one more time. I know I can do really good, but I’m not sure if it will be to late if I take it in February. The registeration for the December 10 ACT has passed so I don’t think I can register for it.

14

I think that the first commenters were pretty realistic about your chances. @Multiverse7 even stated advice about which schools to apply to and to research into regarding your fields of interest.

15

I understand how you may feel right now. If it is any consolation I have had a similar moment as you are having right now and it is difficult being judged for your worth just by your numbers etc. However, that is just the way admissions works right now. At Columbia over 50% of student have had prior research experience and the bottom quartile of ACTs (including recruited athletes) is still at 31 (this is the same for all top 20-ish schools). I would strongly implore you to retake your ACT because with a mediocre GPA as well your application will be thrown out and never seen before the actually admissions board. I understand it’s hard, but we are all just trying to help.

16

I would not put much stock in admissions officers at Duke, Harvard, etc, encouraging you to apply. They have a vested interest in boosting the number of applications and lowering the acceptance rate.

17

I didn’t realize you already applied SCEA to Harvard. This must be a very stressful time for you along with the other applicants. Good luck to you!

18

Look closely at the the other NC public colleges and maybe apply to a few more that are a step up from the one where you’re taking classes now.

Research test optional LAC’s

You might get your foot in the door by applying EDII (if available) to one of the Seven Sisters http://www.theprospect.net/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-seven-sisters-schools-56280

Don’t spend too much of your valuable time applying to schools with sub 15% acceptance where your test scores are below their lower 25% range.

Best of luck with your applications!

19

Yes, I pm’d her to look at test optional schools as well. She has a lot going for her EC wise but her test scores and grades are an obstacle for the super elites. She will do well at schools like Wesleyan if she can get in.

20

There are plenty of sad stories here in April when students are denied from every school in which they applied. Make sure you apply to your local state university just to be sure.