What are my chances? (GA Tech, Emory, Case Western, Columbia...)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Asian female from low-income public hs in GA; applied to Georgia Tech, Case Western, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Princeton, & Washington St. Louis; roughly <$40,000 for family of 3

Intended major: Biology, biochemistry

GPA: 4.13 W & 3.891 SAT: 1390; Essay: 19/24 Rank: 16/307

APs: Gov (3), APUS (4), Lang (4), Psych (5)

Currently dual-enrolled at local univ; last semester took Bio, Communication, Econ; this semester: Chem, Calc 1, English Comp II, & Spanish

ECs:

Poetry Club (9-10); Secretary

Environmental Club (9-12); Vice President all years

School Newspaper (11-12); Lead Writer all years

DECA Club (11-12); Secretary

FBLA Club (11-12); Reporter

Beta Club (11-12)

CDC Summer Camp
 (12)

Academy for Future Teachers Summer program
 (12)

Volunteer Researcher at GT Lab over the summer about salt-induced cell damage & DNA repair (12)

Currently interning at the same GT lab learning how to do lab techniques (12)

**Also participated in Emory’s Fly-In program (not really an EC but maybe Emory will factor that in?)

Awards:

2nd Place Hispanic Heritage Essay Contest (10)

2nd Place NHD State Level: Individual Documentary Category (10)

Best in Fair NHD Regional Level: Historical Research Paper Category (11)

Certificate of Merit (11)

AP Scholar with Honor
 (12)

Beauty Master Scholarship Recipient (12)

Will be published in university’s literary magazine in April (12)

Just curious to hear your thoughts :wink:

2

First of all, congratulations on your high school achievements.

Now, while your GPA is good, your SAT score is pretty low for the colleges on your list.

Princeton, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins are reaches/high reaches for anybody, and your SAT scores are in the bottom 25%, so I would say that you should only apply if you can do so for free.

WashU has a higher acceptance rate than the previous three, but your SAT scores are also in their bottom 25%

You are in-state for GTech, however, while your GPA and class rank are on the higher side of the mid 50% range, your SAT is in the bottom 25%. So I would consider it to be a reach for you. If you redo the SAT or try your hand at the ACT, and push your scores into the mid/upper 1400 range or get 32+ on ACT, it could move it to a low reach or a match.

You are within the ranges for Emory, but with a 15% acceptance rate they are a reach, especially since your SAT is still on the lower side.

None of those is anything less than a reach, and most are very high reaches.

I would recommend redoing the SAT or doing an ACT, since that will adversely affect your application to many good schools for which you are otherwise highly qualified.

I also recommend that you look at SAT optional colleges for matches and reaches, since that is the weakest part of your application.

PS. 1390 is NOT a bad SAT score - it is in the top 10%. However, for this list of colleges, they are looking for SAT scores which are in the top 1%-3%.