What are my chances: UPitt, Boston College, Tufts, Cornell, and others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys! I am a rising senior. I go an international school (but I am a permanent resident so not sure if that makes me an international applicant or a US applicant).
Anyways, I was wondering what my chances were at (can yall maybe label if the school is a reach/match/safety and recommend me more safety schools):
-Brown (I might apply ED)
-Tufts
-Boston College
-Cornell
-Columbia (my sister went there, does that help?)
-Rice
-UPitt
-UT Austin
-UC San Diego
-Johns Hopkins
-Williams College
-Amherst

Intended major: Biology (I want to be a doctor)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Family income: not sure but I am hoping to get financial aid because I don’t want to burden my parents with college fees

GPA: 4.0 without weight, 4.4 weighted (my school only lets me take 3 APS) ACT: 34 Composite (one sitting), essay: 8 (I know pretty low) SAT2: BIO-M 780 , Math 2C- pending on score, I took physics but pretty sure I bombed it LOL AP: -AP Bio (4), AP Calc BC (5), AP Physics 1 (4), AP WH (5) Next year AP Course Load: AP Chinese, AP CHEM, AP STATS, AP LANG (I begged my counselor to let me take 4 AP courses).

: I feel like this is my weakness!!!

NHS (10,11,12) NHS President (12)

Korea Business Club (9,10,11): My team won 2nd place in the KAIAC Korea Business Competition (its sort of like FBLA but for international school in Korea)

Cooking Club Co-President (10,11,12): We cater food for school events (dinners, holidays, etc). I proposed an idea to run a school cafe and it might be approved (pending).

Elementary Math TA (11): my AP Cal teacher invited me to assist her in her elementary math club/afterschool class.

Korea Science Olympiad 1st Place: our school’s olympiad team won 1st place in the Korea Science Olympiad.

Research/Lab work: Lab Job Shadow/Intern at a cancer-research biology lab at a major university in Korea, Research participant (me and a few other classmates did research about sleep and how it effects health) --> the research paper will be published.

Volunteer at Soup Kitchen (app. 100 hrs). I also plan on hosting an all school event to help the homeless.

- AP Cal teacher: She likes me and she's quite picky with who she likes. She asked me to assist her for her math club/afterschool math class and she actually told me that she carefully thought about who should assist her and invited me (she emphasized on the "invitation only" thing). She also told me that for the previous graduating classes, she was quite exclusive when writing recommendation letters.
  • AP World History teacher: I was one of the most active participants in his Honors US History class and AP WH class. He wrote that in my yearbook. I am pretty sure he will write me a great letter because we had such a great teacher-student relationship and I LOVED his class.

I think both recommendation letters will be pretty good. :slight_smile:

- I am not a GREAT writer but I have an idea of what I want to write about. I sent a copy of my rough draft to my counselor to look over and she said that she loved the idea but there are still gaps that might confuse the reader.
2

You have a good shot at the ivies, but they are so selective that no one is safe. Your ECs are very strong. Your greatest weakness is probably writing, and you can show your writing skills in your essay. Bio is one of the hardest majors to be accepted to, especially if you want to be a doctor. You can boost your chances at some of these colleges by stating a less common major (e.g. philosophy) and switching (if the college allows it). I would say your chances are:
-Brown (with ED): 25%
-Tufts: 40%
-Boston College: 70%
-Cornell: 25%
-Columbia: your sister going there does help, 25%
-Rice: 25%
-UPitt: 90%
-UT Austin: 80%
-UC San Diego: 60%
-Johns Hopkins: (very hard for medical) 15%
-Williams College: 20%
-Amherst: 25%

3

What do you think her Columbia chance would be w/o her sister going there?

4

Her sister going there does help, but will not guarantee acceptance, probably about 15-20%. Columbia has a 6% acceptance rate.

5

Right. Thanks!

6

Thanks so much :smiley:

7

just curious but what would my chances be if I applied to Columbia ED? Would I have a better chance because of legacy + ED commitment?

8

@rockingstar Statistically, Columbia has a higher ED acceptance rate than RD acceptance rate. Being a legacy does help your chances, but only slightly.

9

How would you run a school cafe if you go the the school?

10

Your GPA is right on point and your ACT is strong. The 8 for your essay doesn’t matter as much, honestly. SAT II scores are on par and your ECs are certainly not weak! Definitely strong enough and competitive.

Biology is a very difficult major to be accepted into, all STEM majors are. I agree with the other users that you should apply as something else while being as close to honest as possible. Maybe Environmental Science as an idea, Anthropology, or Business. Then change the major once you’re in; you don’t have to declare a major until end of Sophomore year anyway.

With all that in mind, your chances are good. But the ivies are very competitive and reject many highly qualified students all the time unfortunately. I would say most of the schools you listed are medium reaches / low targets.

An important part of the college process is developing a list of schools you’re interested in and that would be interested in you. From your list, Brown, Tufts, and Boston College make sense together since they’re liberal, holistic, and small. You’ll have a very different experience at Brown than Columbia, for example, even though Columbia is very liberal, because Columbia has strict pre requisites while Brown has a completely open curriculum. Williams, Amherst, and Cornell are great schools, but very preppy, slightly more conservative, and a bit more stiff.

If you like Brown, you should consider Wesleyan University, Hamilton College, and Kenyon College. They’re all smaller, liberal arts, with challenging but more holistic academics.

11

thank you!