Hello all,
I'm kind of new to CC, and I was wondering about my particular chances of gaining admission to a top 30 school. Just to give you a little bit about myself: I'm a sophomore (junior in credits) at the University of South Carolina, a double major in Biology and English, and am interested in going into medicine (probably academic) or into a research based career. My main reasons for transferring from South Carolina is that I feel out of place on campus and I feel as if the facilities here are a very true reflection of what I am paying for in terms of in-state tuition (~$15K a year). The political/social climate is also ultra conservative and at times tense (don't even get me started about how charged the campus was after elections). I also feel that the campus is way too large and impersonal for students to really get to know professors (19,000+ undergrads). I'm also not much of a party person (although I do like a party here and there) and in order to do research, one must compete with grad students for spots. SO, I'm looking to transfer to possibly Brown, UPenn, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt! Any African-American CCers who have made the successful transfer to a top school that can lend some advice as to whether the difficulty to transfer is about the same, harder, or a tad easier for a URM? Thanks!
Here are my stats:
HS
GPA: 3.89 UW
EC's: Marching Band (4 years, including Sec. Leader), Beta Club (3 years, Secretary), NHS (inducted as Junior), French NHS, National Society of High School Scholars, Science Club, ACT-SO (Senior Year, science research), AFJROTC (Second Highest Position in Chain of Command, Highest Ranking Black Female Officer ever in history of program, in charge of 400+ cadets, did a couple Officer Training Schools)
Awards: too many to list, but include: AP Scholar, ACT-SO Finalist and National Participant, attended National Youth Science Camp where only two from each state selected, Outstanding Student of America, Who's Who, National Honor Roll, etc.
Volunteer: over 100+ hours
SAT: 1880 out of 2400
SAT II's: Lit: 620 US History: 600 (took them cold, no preparation, and a about a year after taking courses)
*Note: At my particular high school, black students are generally given the cold shoulder in terms of black students wanting to aim higher than an in-state school. I once got a recruitment letter from Harvard, showed an English teacher whom I highly respected the letter, and she responded with, "I've never heard of them." Even though I went to school in a pretty small town, I still think everyone would at least know the name. I also had one of the highest SAT scores of my class (including relation to African Americans at my school). Do you think that this may hold any significance?
College
GPA:3.7
EC's: Residence Hall Association (secretary and rep), Freshman Pre-Med Community (Secretary), Black Pre-Medical Society, HOSA, MAPP (mentoring program for incoming minority students; will be mentor come fall), NAACP
Awards: Alpha Lambda Delta, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Multicultural Academic Award recipient, half-tuition scholarship, TOAST award (based on faculty recommendations), Dean's List
Volunteer: Worked at Food banks, blood drives, local zoo for Halloween, hospital this summer, etc.
Research: after a semester (and summer!) of speaking with PI, he finally granted me admission to work in his lab come fall! Only undergrad that will work on project.
P.S. Also, some perspectives of some of these campuses would be greatly appreciated (FA, prof. relationships, diversity, easiness in settling into a predominantly white campus, any incidents of racial tension, etc)!!
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