Which reach schools do I have the best chance at?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Which ones do I have the best chance at? And which should I take off my list? Thanks</p>

<ol>
<li>Stanford University

<ol>
<li>University of Southern California</li>
<li>The University of Chicago</li>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis</li>
<li>Duke University</li>
<li>Cornell University</li>
<li>Northwestern University</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>

<hr>

<p>Some background:</p>

<p>*GPA: Unweighted-- 4.0 Weighted--4.162 (rank 7/392; top 1.8%)
*ACT: 29 (I know, I know, this is on the lower end (but it’s better than my SAT). I am taking the ACT again in a week and am aiming for 31+)).
*Essays: have started with brainstorming and hope they’ll be great!</p>

<p>*Financial Situation: struggling
*Race: Asian and Pacific Islander</p>

<p>*Freshman Classes: Biology, Spanish II, Adv. Algebra, English 9, World History, Wellness, Weight Training, Web Design I</p>

<p>*Sophomore Classes: Chemistry, Spanish III, Pre-Calculus, English 10, US History, Geology, Marine Biology</p>

<p>*Junior Classes: AP Chemistry (score: 4), AP Calculus AB (score: 5), AP Government (score: 3), English 11, Honors Spanish IV, Honors Physics</p>

<p>*Senior Classes: AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP Spanish V, English 12, Web Design II, World History II</p>

<p><em>Extracurriculars</em>: </p>

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<p>(Freshman-9th)
Honorable Mention in Microbiology at the district science fair, qualified for statewide science fair </p>

<p>(Sophomore-10th)
1st place in Microbiology at the district science fair, Award for Best Representation of Field Knowledge, 2nd place in Microbiology at the statewide science fair, Award for Best Use of SI, qualified as student observer at the Intel-International Science and Engineering Fair </p>

<p>(Junior-11th)
1st place in Microbiology at the district science fair, Best In vitro Project Award, Scholarship to Oregon State University-$2000 for 4 years, Best in Fair at the district science fair (11), 1st place in Microbiology at the statewide science fair, Scholarship to University of Oregon-$5500 for 4 years, Best in Fair at the statewide science fair, </p>

<p>*3rd place in Microbiology at the Intel-International Science and Engineering Fair</p>

<p>*Will also be applying to Siemens and Intel STS competitions this fall.</p>

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<p>*Career Interests: Pre-Medicine; Major in Biology related studies, preferably Microbiology & Immunology, or Biomedical Engineering</p>

<p>*Personality: Reserved, humble, studious, hard-working, conservative, diligent, self-motivated, and meticulous</p>

2

<p>Your ACT is really on the low side, so you should definitely bring that up.</p>

<p>I’d say that all of these schools are reaches for you. Cornell and USC are the ones that will most likely accept you, as they are generally easier for everybody. Stanford will be a huge reach.</p>

3

<p>WUSTL, USC, maybe Cornell. Stanford will be too difficult.</p>

4

<p>I think WUSTL is nearly as hard to get into as Stanford. The mid 50% ACT scores are 32-34.</p>