Where Will Life Take Me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm having a bit of a dilemma choosing what colleges to apply for early action/decision and regular decision. Can some people suggest some schools which they think will would be a good fit for me? (reach, match, and safeties) </p>

<p>I realize that I may not particularly like some colleges, but I'm just looking for a ballpark range of what schools I have a decent chance at, and what schools I'm wasting my money on!</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>I am currently a rising senior from New York and will be applying for the Class of 2015.</p>

<p>Planning to major in Biological Engineering or related Engineering (ie. Chem)</p>

<p>[ul]
[li]Objective:[/li]SAT I: CR:770 M:740 W:700 TOTAL: 2210
SAT II: Math Level II 800, Biology M 710, Chinese 790, Taking Chemistry and retaking Biology in October
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.693
UC Weighted GPA (10-12): 4.333
Rank: School Does not Rank</p>

<p>[li]Course Load:[/li][/ul]
[ul]
[li]Format Class: Grade<a href="AP%20Score">/b</a> [New York State Regents Grade]</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Freshmen Year*[/li]Chinese 2: **A*
Concert Orchestra: A+
Honors Coordinated Science: A-
Honors English: B
Honors Geometry: A-
Honors Global Perspective: B+
Living Environment: A-
Math B (Algebra 2): A</p>

<p>[li]Sophomore Year[/li]A.P. European History: A<a href="5">/b</a>
A.P. Statistics: **A-<a href="5">/b</a>
Regents Chemistry: **A [100]
College Prep Writing: A
English II: A+
Health: A
Pre-Calculus: A
Science Research: A
Spanish I:** A-** [95]</p>

<p>[li]Junior Year[/li]A.P. Calculus BC: A-<a href="BC:%204/AB:%205">/b</a>
A.P. Chemistry: **B<a href="5">/b</a>
A.P. Composition: **A+<a href="5">/b</a> [100]
A.P. Computer Science: **B+<a href="3">/b</a> LOL
A.P. United States History: **A<a href="4">/b</a> [99]
Science Research: **A-
Spanish 2:** A-**</p>

<p>[li]**Senior Year*<a href="planned">/i</a>[/li]A.P. Physics B
A.P. Economics Macro/Micro
A.P. Government
A.P. Literature
Multivariable Calculus</p>

<p>[li]Graduating with 12 AP Exams/11 AP Courses</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Subjective:[/li]Extracurriculars: Varsity Track (10) , National Honor Society, Columbia University Science Honors Program, Mathletes, Chess Club
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteered at Local Church (60 Hours) Volunteered at Local Hospital (100 Hours)
Summer Activities: Molecular Biology research at local university (11) -- participated in numerous Science Research competitions at county, state, national level in 10th, 11th, 12th grade -- Siemens, Intel, etcetc
Awards and Honors: PSAT Commended Scholar (204), AP Scholar with Distinction, some Honorable Mentions at Science Research competitions (nothing big)</p>

<p>[li]Other[/li]State (if domestic applicant): New York City Area, NY
School Type: Public (Very Competitive: Top 50)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 250,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I only have negative hooks xD
[/ul]</p>

2

<p>Ever heard of the Ivy League? Well, that’s where you’re heading.</p>

<p>Take your pick.</p>

<ul>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>UPenn</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
</ul>

<p>Which one do you like the most?</p>

3

<p>haha thanks, but I think the chances of that slim : /</p>

<p>Any other suggestions? : )</p>

4

<p>while I agree with post #2 in principle, none of these are actually MATCHES for you. </p>

<p>The OK:
A couple of B grades in 9th grade are a minor thing, but two B grades in AP Science courses in the critical Junior year are worrying. B grades in HS are C-/D grades in highly selective colleges, except for Brown.</p>

<p>The Great: Your SATs, at 1510, are above the 25/75 ave. for all colleges in the US except for possibly Caltech. AFAIK, no selective colleges evaluate the Writing score fom the SAT. Your scores will tell your adcom that you’re a good standardized test taker, but then cause them to ask what is missing that caused the Bs in the two AP science courses.</p>

<p>The OK: Your ECs are OK. You haven’t risen to the very top in any of your ECs.</p>

<p>I’m not meaning to be critical, just realistic. I think you match well to schools in the, say 20-30 range in the USNWR rankings, and have a >50% chance of geting into one of the 10-20 ranked colleges if you apply to most of them. Just remember than schools in the Top 10, and to some extent in the Top 20, turn away applicants with 1510, great ECs, who have never seen a B in their life … and those two Bs are in core subjects to your intended college major. Had they been in APUSH or English, different story, but they weren’t.</p>

<hr>

<p>As to where Life will take you, which was your original question, Life won’t take you anywhere, nor will any diploma. You get places in life through a combination of effort, creativity, personableness, moral character, persistence, and a little serendipity.</p>

5

<p>I’d say the key to whether top schools will happen is rank. Schools that don’t officially rank give colleges grade distribution data so they can rank the applicant. To have a fair shot at ivies, being Asian and from NY, he’d have to be near they very top of his class.</p>

6

<p>If money isn’t a problem, I would definitely apply to UC San Diego (Bio Engineering) and UC Berkeley (any engineering). Both are excellent in those fields and would be a good option for you.</p>

7

<p>“AFAIK, no selective colleges evaluate the Writing score fom the SAT”</p>

<p>What makes you believe this?</p>

8

<p>It all depends on what you are looking for. Big city or small town? large university or LAC? Expensive and prestigious or state school with aid? Major? Looking towards graduate school or entry level position? Shooting for white-collar or blue-collar?</p>

<p>You need to make these decisions to narrow down the long list of schools you can get into.</p>

9

<p>cherokee – re the Writing Score – I have read many, many times that they prefer to make an assessment of an applicant’s writing ability through reading the essays the applicant provides.</p>

<p>Also, the Writing component is so new that colleges don’t yet have a read on whether or how much it is predictive of college success. The Writing test doesn’t seem to provide anything relevant to those schools whose adcoms actually read the essays.</p>

<p>Here is an older article on this: <a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/20/many_colleges_ignore_sat_writing_test/[/url]”>http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/20/many_colleges_ignore_sat_writing_test/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This will obviously vary by school. However, Stanford’s Common Data Set shows the follow, in Section C8c:</p>

<p>"C. Please indicate how your institution will use the SAT or ACT essay component: </p>

<p>Stanford is not using essay component. "</p>

10

<p>the link to Stanford’s CDS is: [Stanford</a> University: Common Data Set 2009-2010](<a href=“http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/cds_2009.html]Stanford”>http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/cds_2009.html)</p>

<p>P.S. I checked the common data set for two other schools much lower in the ranking heirarchy:</p>

<p>UCLA, #25 in the National Uni, does not count the Essay in admissions.
University of San Diego: #94 National Uni, does not count the Essay in admissions
Loyola University of New Orleans: #7 Regional Uni - South, ditto.</p>

11

<p>Harvard uses it for admission, placement and advising.
<a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>OP, you have great stats and your family has very good income. Have you asked what they can afford to pay? Someone mentioned UCs earlier which will cost you $50K/year. Will they pay that? You could probably get a full tuition scholarship at Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Tulane. Check out Case Western.</p>

12

<p>I guess I have a pretty good idea of where to apply, but for the purposes of this thread, let’s not talk about the money part. haha </p>

<p>Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions and comments! If anyone else wants to add anything please feel free : )</p>

13

<p>I agree about the money part. Even if your parents are willing to pay full freight, having a lot of it paid for is great.</p>

<p>You have so many option because of your stats, you should answer the following, which will help narrow the list. What would be your preference in terms of:</p>

<p>1) Size of school
2) Location (Urban vs. rural)
3) Geography (are there parts of the country you prefer or some you will not consider)
4) Weather (prefer warm or snow)
5) Sports (looking for competitve Div. 1 or don’t care)
6) Greek scene (thinking about joining or want to avoid even a whiff of it)
7) Anything else that you might think is important to you personally (you ride horse, like rock climbing, active arts scene, whatever).</p>

<p>Remember, academics are not the whole picture. This is a place that will be 4 years of your life, four years where you will have more freedom to explore than perhaps any other time. Therefore these kinds of factors are important. Matching them up with schools that meet your academic profile enhances the probability you will get suggestions that really fit.</p>

14

<p>your stats are prettyyyy much identical to mine (i did science research, columbia science honors, little higher SAT/GPA, upper class from competitive NY public school) I hate to throw this out there but where we are from is a true hindrance in the college admissions process. I applied early to yale and was deferred, waitlisted, then rejected. The only ivy i got into was columbia (didnt apply to cornell because i dont think its a real ivy, sorry). I got in everywhere else I applied (northwestern duke hopkins uchicago emory tufts nyu) and ended up going to northwestern which was really really great (midwestern schools are definitely underrated on the east coast)…but yeah, i know your stats (and mine) would be shoo-ins at ivies if we applied literally from almost anywhere else…but just being realistic from my experience, being from where we are from and not being black or hispanic or poor really really screws us. apply everywhere though, you never know if youll have better luck than i did! (i didnt end up being a semi finialist in Intel so if you are thatll get you into the ivies…i did end up winning awards at JSHS and LISEF but those were way after apps were due). </p>

<p>btw going to northwestern was a blessing in disguise, it guided me from something i really though i wanted to do, made me realize i didnt, and landed me at hopkins getting my phd in bioethics so even if you dont go ivy you will still be able to figure out where life is gonna take you. good luck!</p>

15

<p>@fallenchemist: I definitely agree with you. Money is an extremely important factor for any income but I think that it’s more important to look at the actual colleges first and THEN compare their financial aid, tuition, etc. But to answer the questions~</p>

<ol>
<li>Size of School: Large to Supersized </li>
<li>Location: Doesn’t matter :stuck_out_tongue: Just a big campus~</li>
<li>Geography: Northeast, Midwest (ie. Michigan or Illinois), West</li>
<li>Weather: Doesn’t matter – there are pros and cons for every climate</li>
<li>Sports: Don’t care</li>
<li>Greek scene: What’s that? jk Don’t care</li>
<li>Anything else: Good food!!, good dorms, Academics, prestige, extracurricular opportunities (ie. research, study abroad), Good professors (who can actually teach)</li>
</ol>

<p>Thats about it haha </p>

<p>@thewayitis: wow just saw your post – amazing story! yea, us asians in the northeast are at a pretty big disadvantage. I was thinking along the same lines as you in that if I apply to a billion colleges, I would at least get a school that I liked or would like in the future. However that came out to something like twenty to thirty schools so I was hoping to limit that number. After hearing your story, I feel encouraged to apply to more schools I am interested in and hope for the best!</p>

<p>Thanks so much for sharing!</p>

16

<p>Make sure you apply to a safety on your list (one you are willing to attend and can afford). There is an old thread on CC about a student with similar stats and accomplishments to yours who was rejected every place he applied and had to take a gap year.</p>

17

<p>OK, seems to me you should look at Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins. You can apply to one or two of your state schools for safeties, or apply to a couple of southern schools like Tulane or Clemson where you are nearly sure to get in and Tulane at least has an excellent Biomed Eng program, although you should have no problems at a couple of the ones I mentioned. There are a lot of other great schools, but since you want Northeast, Midwest or West, I left out the Southeast. They all have research opps and study abroad, that is pretty much a given these days. You can research the dorms and food either on here or other sources. Academics will be great at all of them, and as far as profs that can teach, they all have many that can and some that can’t.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

18

<p>definitely look at Clemson! Let me know if you have any questions about the school!</p>

19

<p>OP – I would not ordinarily advise applying to 15 or so schools… maybe 8-10, but the B grades in AP science courses this past year makes you a gamble to the top schools, despite your 1510 SATs and high Subject scores.</p>

<p>In your case, the more the better… just remember each school deserves at least 10 hours of reseach so you can legitimately write about why that school is a good fit for you, plus each additional school will cost you another around $80 - 100 when you count all costs (application fee, sending test scores, etc.)</p>

<p>And I reiterate, you MUST come up with an essay that answers the question: Wow, top 0.5% test scores, terrible GPA – what happened?? a) lazy, b) ADHD, c) nonconformist, d) cheated on the SATs, e) living on the streets, f) other</p>

20

<p>What?? 3.7 UW is a terrible GPA?? Since when? In his entire high school career he has 2 B’s and 2 B+'s, the rest A’s and A-'s. I think you have this OP confused with another.</p>