<p>Hi, I'm a rising senior at a decent but not great public high school in the suburbs of Chicago. I have a pretty low GPA and average ECs, but my test scores are decent and I've taken almost all honors and AP classes. I'm Mexican/South-American, and I will be the first in my family to go to college (or graduate high school for that matter). My dream school was BC, but after having a so-so first semester of Junior year (I got mono, but second semester went really well) and not-so-great test scores, I feel like I have no chance and need other options. I want to major in Chemistry and plan on going pre-med. My ultimate career goal is to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. What schools, preferably ones with strong science departments and good financial aid, would be best for me? Thanks in advance! </p>
<p>ACT: 26 (this was a state test, but I don't think I'm sending this anywhere)
SAT: 1990 CR-640 Math-640 Writing- 710
Subject Tests:
Math Level 2- 800
U.S. History- 780
Spanish- 700
(I plan on taking Chemistry and Literature in the fall; I got an 800 on Chem and a 730 on Literature practice tests out of the subject test blue book.)
GPA: 3.5 uw/4.0 weighted
Class Rank: just outside top 10% of about 450 students </p>
<p>Senior Year Courseload:
AP Stats
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Microeconomics/Macroeconomics
British Literature/Advanced Composition
This is the most rigorous schedule I could take because my school has modified block scheduling. We have nine periods a day, but we are required to take gym as a 45-minute "skinny" all year long. I haven't had a lunch or study hall since freshman year, and I won't have one my senior year either because of the scheduling system.</p>
<p>ECs/Volunteer Work:
Tutoring (at my high school and former middle school and elementary school)- 4 years
Medical Careers Club- 4 years (I hope to be an officer next year)
Viola- 9 years
Student Council- 3 years
National Honors Society- 2 years
"Estrellas" Club for high-achieving Hispanic women (It was new this year, and I will probably have a leadeship position next year since I'll be the only Senior)
Cross-Country- 2 years
Junior Board
Senior Board
200+ volunteering hours
Assisted with my school's science, technology, engineering, and math program for grades 8 and under for the past two summers (helped plan and teach chemistry and biology classes for older kids and helped plan and teach a food science class or younger kids)</p>
<p>And I'm shadowing a physician this summer (if that counts as something)</p>
<p>Leadership:
I started a tutoring program for my former middle school
I was President of Junior Board this year</p>
<p>Colleges of Interest:
BC (almost no chance of getting in I know)
Macalester (also a reach)
Bucknell
Lehigh
Lafayette
Grinnell
Wisconsin-Madison
Villanova
Penn State
St. Olaf
Tulane
Illinois Wesleyan
Minnesota- Twin Cities
UIUC (basically in from my school if you're in the top 25% of your class)</p>
<p>Wow, playing the viola for nine years? Awesome. I’ve only played the viola for about…six years. You started in elementary school? Wow. I couldn’t start until middle school.
Erm. Anyway.</p>
<p>Yes, shadowing a physician does count for something.</p>
<p>But that’s the only comment I’m going to make because I’m clueless about colleges with good financial aid. I guess most of them would actually be private colleges though.</p>
<p>Note that chemistry and biology do not have very good job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level. If interested in chemistry, you may want to consider chemical engineering for better job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level if you do not go to medical school.</p>
<p>BC -Reach
Macalester-Reach
Lehigh -low reach
Lafayette- Match
Grinnell - low reach
Wisconsin-Madison- match
Villanova - match
Penn State- safety
St. Olaf- safety
Tulane - low reach/ match
Illinois Wesleyan- match/ safety
Minnesota- Twin Cities - safety
UIUC- safety</p>
<p>Your GPA is kinda low. I would recommend retaking the SAT and aiming for a 2050<. Other schools to consider UPitt( great med), Ohio State( great med)</p>
<p>^isn’t penn state an ivy? how can it be a safety while those other colleges are reaches?</p>
<p>Penn state is not even close to ivy level. University of Pennsylvania is an ivy</p>
<p>kagami6918- Haha thank you! Yeah, I started playing in the third grade.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus- Thank you. I will consider that. The reason I’m leaning toward just majoring in Chem, rather than chemical engineering, is because although I’m naturally really good at science, I’m terrible at math; I just study really hard to get As in my math classes.</p>
<p>SeattleBulldog- Thanks. I think I’m going to focus on improving on the math section and retake the SAT in November. I’ve found that, along with writing, it’s the easiest section to improve on; I started with only a 540 in math and 640 in writing. Although my GPA is low, I’ve gotten straight As in every math and science course I’ve taken so far. It’s really my English and history grades that are mediocre (basically straight Bs), and not to make an excuse for my low uw GPA, but I got 2 C’s in AP English Lang. & Comp this year (79.5ish% both semesters, but my school doesn’t do + and -). In my defense, however, our teacher was pretty eccentric; we only wrote three essays the whole year, all our tests (90% of our grade 1st semester and 80% of our grade 2nd semester) were fill in the blank quote tests, and he blatantly told us that “AP tests are annoying because they disrupt class time and are in no way correlated to what we’re doing.” But thank you for chancing me at the schools I listed and suggesting other ones. I’ll check those out.</p>
<p>I don’t get how you get 800 on Math II yet not even get past 700 on SAT I math…</p>
<p>Yeah, well I’m really not smart; I’m just the hardest worker you’ll ever meet. My subject tests are really the best indicator of my abilities. Math is hard for me, but I always ace it regardless. I mean I did really well on the USH subject test, too, yet I got Bs in the class both semesters (83ish% 1st semester and 84ish% 2nd semester… only 2 people out of everyone in APUSH got an A, though). Meanwhile, my friend at my rival high school, which is supposedly better and is ranked way higher on USNWR, finished APUSH with a 112% and only got a 570 on the subject test and couldn’t even tell me what the Camp David Accords were.</p>