you guys helped me make a list! now chance it!

Applying to College
1

<p>i'm curious! haha. also, if you think i should add any more schools (safeties--etc), please suggest. or if you think i should cut out some of these schools, that would be cool too. i'm interested in biochem & neurosci right now--and looking to go to med school afterwards.</p>

<p>THE LIST!
amherst, carnegie mellon, cornell, duke, jhu, northwestern, princeton, tufts, university of chicago, upenn, uva, william & mary, yale</p>

<p>THE STATISTICS!</p>

<p>freshman (honors chemistry, adv honors english 1, honors french 2, honors algebra 2, honors world history)
sophomore (ap calc ab (but took bc exam), adv honors english 2, ap us history 1, ap biology, honors anatomy and physiology)
junior (ap us government and politics, ap statistics, ap english 3, ap chemistry, ap physics c)
senior (to be taken) (ap macoeconomics, ap psychology, ap euro history, ap english 4)</p>

<p>gpa/class/etc-
101.5 (W), ~93 (UW)
"no" class rank, but at least top 30 out of a class of ~650. (that's top 5%)
maybe to offset relatively low gpa, my classes are harder than everyone else's.</p>

<p>standardized tests-
sat i: 2220, 750 (m), 740 (v), 730 (w)
sat ii: 710 (bio), 710 (math ii), 730 (lit)
ap exams: BC calc - 4 (5, AB subscore), bio - 5
probable grades for ap exams taken this year: us gov & poli - 4/5, stat - 4/5, chem - 5, physics mechanics - 5, physics e&m - 3 if i'm lucky.</p>

<p>ec-
varsity tennis, 4 years, captain
science club, 4 years, regional olympiad placements
asian-american club, 2 years
NJ governor's school of sciences, (students apply, 100 taken--you don't "pay" to get in ;))
conference honors band, 3 years (Bb clarinet)
drexel uni visiting scholar, 4 years (basically every quarter there i get a free class)
founded annual toy raffle (2 years), over $10k in toys for salvation army each year
~ 8 hours a week tutoring..ever week..
~ active in local township politics
~ maybe some other bs-y stuff</p>

<p>academic awards?-
honor student (all As + Bs) throughout high school
academic achievement in ap stat + ap chem (given to 2 kids with highest grade in that class)</p>

<p>other-
female. asian (flip/viet). public high school in south jersey. less well-off than peers. if there's anything else, don't hesitate to ask. </p>

<p>Thank you! :) What I'm worried most about is my EC and my UW GPA.</p>

2

<p>Your senior schedule looks lightweight. Only 4 major courses? Most people seem to take AP Euro as sophomores, and AP Psych has a reputation of being an easy class. I don't think you have much chance at Princeton or Yale (though you may as well apply). There's nothing in your profile except high grades that suggests a good fit for the U of Chicago. Consider Case Western as a safety?</p>

3

<p>Why Amherst and no other LAC's?</p>

<p>If you do add Case think about applying "pre-professional". It gives you a leg up for admission to med school. But you have to apply (non-binding) early. You will probably get a good offer for merit aid at Case with your scores.</p>

<p>Why did you pass on Wash U, Northwestern, and Emory all have strong pre-med programs?</p>

4

<p>High Reach:
Princeton, Yale</p>

<p>Reach:
Penn
Duke
Amherst</p>

<p>Low Reach/High Match:
Northwestern
UChicago
Tufts
JHU
Cornell</p>

<p>Match:
CMU
UVA</p>

<p>Low Match/Safety:
William & Mary</p>

5

<p>the thing about my senior year is that there really are no more classes for me to take--i've taken all the ap sciences and ap maths that my school has to offer--and for that matter--all the maths and sciences. i've also been discussing with drexel the possibility of me taking some classes there while i'm also taking high school classes.</p>

<p>i don't know exactly what schools have really strong pre-med. i've asked around here and with people i know and have gotten some opinions, so i've missed some things. thanks for the help, guys!</p>

<p>and re ap euro as sophomores--my school has it so that world hist is a freshman course (no ap offered) and then us history is split up into two years--sophomore and junior. due to a conflict this year as a junior (ap chem and ap physics--or ap us history) i didn't take it. and so euro, here, is basically a senior class.</p>

6

<p>You must be very bright to have been accepted into NJ Governor School for Science. Many NJ governor alums got into Princeton this year. It stands out even more because you are a girl. Many schools are looking for female math/science students, I would play that up. I don't think Duke or Cornell would be that big of a reach for you, especially if you apply ED. Your ECs look fine. They are not your typical asian ECs - violin, piano (I am asian, so I know). You seem to be very involved with your community, which is good. Are you a first generation? Did your parents go to colleges here?</p>

7

<p>really? i'm glad. several students from my school got into princeton this year (not something that typically happens--i think last year we had zero?). my ED choice at the moment happens to be upenn, but i'm still debating that. i've only really started to research schools in the last couple of weeks and i've talked to my mother about it, but we're going to sit down and have a serious discussion--soon! </p>

<p>my parents were born overseas but both moved here at young ages, so yeah, they did go to school here. to put it bluntly, we're rather whitewashed. in terms of what they expect from me, it's not the stereotypical asian "GET AN A+ OR WE'RE NOT FEEDING YOU" (they know me too well--i'd find some other way of eating :D), but they want me to be balanced and to stand out (i mean, come on, asian female, you kind of have to)--which i think is more stereotypical of what one would call the american family? i hope i make sense.</p>

<p>thank you!</p>

8

<p>If your heart is set on pre-med, realize that UChicago has a whole other set of demands in its Core Curriculum. That's not to say that pre-med is impossible, but rather I think that going to Chicago and doing premed (challenging wherever you go), a challenging core plus a challenging major means your options for electives narrows considerably and your involvement in academics must be high.</p>

<p>That said, Chicago's an excellent school. Good luck on your college apps!</p>

9

<p>oh, thanks for the info on uchicago. i should probably look at the core requirements for other schools then. :) especially if i look deeper there and find out that it's not as good a match for me as some other schools, i'll take it off my list or make it lower priority. thanks!</p>

10

<p>bumped, your profile will make you a person of interest to every school in America, including the super reaches. There are no guarantees of course and how you present yourself in the subjective parts of your application -- essays, recommendations, resume -- will have a major impact.</p>

<p>In spite of your credentials, you still need a true safety and I don't see one on this list, even though W&M is not as selective as the others. Since you seem to be leaning toward big, you might think about applying to UMich early in the Fall under their rolling admissions procedure. If admitted, you'll have an ace in your pocket and could concentrate on the matches.</p>

<p>I would also comment that Amherst seems the oddfellow here. Why just one LAC? Seems you should have a few more (or none if that environment and style of teaching doesn't appeal). Your combination of sports & music plus being Asian would be a strong draw for Williams. Very good med school placement there too. As a general statement, it's my impression that Asian Americans have an advantage at the rural LACs -- like Williams, Hamilton, Grinnell, Kenyon -- because they have a harder time recruiting them than the urban or bigname schools do.</p>

<p>Have you had a chance to visit these schools? They are all excellent colleges but represent a wide range of environment. Since you're just embarking on your search there's nothing wrong with that, but after you've researched further you'll be able to focus more on the type of atmosphere that best suits you.</p>

<p>Lastly (this should really be firstly) what is your financial situation? Full paid or will you require aid? If the latter, will your family qualify for need based aid or are you expecting some additional merit aid? This is the most important factor in devising your list.</p>

11

<p>wow, thanks for the long and detailed reply. my recommendations should be really nice--especially my chemistry teacher's. i'm not quite sure who the second rec should be from (english? or statistics? or even physics?). with my english teacher i'm assured a good essay with really strong writing skills. but my statistics and physics teachers like me more--but i'm not sure how they'll be able to put it into words (i'm paranoid because my guidance counselor has already written his letter of rec for me and it's absolutely TERRIBLE--he made me correct it himself but there's only so much i could do without "maybe you should let me write it and you can sign it :D"--..perhaps exaggerated, but you know). i also plan on working on my essays as soon as school ends (tuesday)! my next door neighbors are retired english teacher and i hope they know that we're going to be spending a lot of time together. hahaha.</p>

<p>i didn't add them onto the list, but my safeties are currently drexel university and rutgers new brunswick. i have no problem getting into either (drexel because i've taken classes there since the 7th or 8th grade) and rutgers because it's in state. and both have rolling admissions. and drexel has the 7 year med program though i hear it's less prestigious than others.</p>

<p>i think i will probably take some schools off my list and add more LACs or visit one this summer--i DON'T know what type of environment i will like so that's why my list has a lot of variety. </p>

<p>i will definitely need aid, and my family does qualify for need based aid. </p>

<p>again thanks a lot! i hope i didn't ramble too much answering your questions or replying.</p>

12

<p>bump bump bump?</p>

<p>if anyone has any more advice, it'd be great. but you have have helped a lot! (thanks!!)</p>

13

<p>I would definitely recommend that you find a college where you can take a fifth substantial class senior year, or you can look into online classes like EPGY.</p>