Hello,
I made a thread a few days ago but for some reason my sleep deprived brain decided to forget important details. So now without me leaving them out, what are my chances? I assume my chances won’t be much different but just in case, here is everything again, including the things I forgot to mention in my first post. Also, I’d like you guys to name me a few ‘matches’.
Harvard
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Johns Hopkins
UC Berkeley
My stats:
ACT: 35 (lost the point on the reading section)
SAT Mathematics Level 2: 790
SAT Biology Molecular: 750
SAT Physics: 800
SAT Chemistry: 800
SAT Literature: 700
GPA: 3.83/4.0 (grade 9: 4.0 grade 10: 3.5, grade 11: 4.0)
My classes:
IB diploma program + one certificate course, 5 HLs (literature, biology, physics, chemistry and math)
Extra curricular activities:
*Play guitar in a band
*Started a local youth science and culture web magazine, I write the ‘science and technology’ section
*Internship at tech firm (summer before grade 9)
*Internship at a uni (before grade 11) (biology)
*(will be doing) Internship at another uni (before grade 12) (physics)
*Started a few clubs at my school (both heavily physics related)
*Semi-professional 10m air rifle (MIT has a NCAA team so I definitely want to list this)
*I might have my biology paper published (heavy might though, I haven’t even finished it. My teacher and a PI I worked with said it’s a really good premise and it’ll probably get published if everything continues to go smoothly)
Other info:
Nationality: Canadian
Preferred major: biomedical engineering
Plans for future studies: med school
I will not be needing financial aid.
As you must know if you read this site, nobody can give you accurate information about the odds you’ll get into the top schools you list. Your credentials are well within the range for any of the schools you list-and you are a shoe in for none. Very few people are shoe in’s for the most competitive US schools. There are no weaknesses but getting into the most competitive schools isn’t about getting rid of weaknesses. It is about developing your strengths-as is life.
These are things you may think about. You want biomedical engineering. Why? What is important to you about that field? What direction might you take within biomedical engineering? How have your experiences so far set the stage for you to pursue that line of study? Is there continuity between your past experiences and your current goals? If not why not? If so, how? What evidence is there that you have pursued the opportunities available to you, especially those relevant to your planned course of study, at a level that is exceptional? You are obviously optimistic about your academic abilities and you have plans to publish. That is aspirational but what is actualized already? Do you have other examples of going above and beyond what is required of you?
These are not questions for you to answer on this forum. They are intended to help you (and others like you) to think about how your past and future experiences and accomplishments set the stage for what you will do in college. How can you conceptualize them in a coherent and cohesive manner so that you can pursue activities that add rather than detract from where you are now. When you do that, you are also bolstering your chances of gaining admission to the college you want to attend.