African American High-Income student aiming for Ivy League [PA resident, 3.9 GPA, rank 1, 35 ACT, neuroscience maybe pre-med]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics (location, residency, HS type, legacy, US or Int’l, gender, etc)
Suburban PA/ Greater-Philadelphia, Public non-magnet high school, no legacy, female, Immigrant parents, African-American descent (Ethiopian), High-Income

Intended Major(s):
Neuroscience/Neurobiology (Maybe pre-med)
Minor in general chem?

*** UW/W GPA, Rank, and Test Scores**
UW GPA: 3.9/4.0 and W ~5.2/4.0
Rank: 1/492
Test scores: 35 ACT, SAT optional (did not take it)

*** Awards**
Public Speaking 1st National Place - TSA
Biotechnology National 2nd place – TSA
Debating 2nd place in Pennsylvania - TSA
American Society of Human Genetics Essay 1st Place winner (from 6000 essays worldwide)
FBLA 1st place public speaking in Pennsylvania
Class treasurer
Valedictorian

*** Extracurriculars (incl. summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)**
Yale Young Global Scholars Alum
2 year researcher/intern @ Drexel College of Medicine with Harvard Alum professor
Intern @ medicinal chem. biopharmaceutical firm for 3 years w/ PhD professionals
Neuroscience youth network - founder and executive manager of int’l neuroscience network for HSers founded with fellow students @ Brown pre college
TSA (3 years) - Worked with fellow students to develop projects to compete at the regional, state, and national levels (see above for awards)
Leukemia and Lymphoma society-- 1.5K raised individually for leukemia research and patient help
Orchestra - 10 year violinist, volunteer in helping students learn violin throughout HS
Community service – 100+ hours/year in volunteering misc.
NHS member
Brown PreCollege programs (2 neuroscience courses)

*** Essays/LORs/Other**
Essay written about how I lose a part of my identity when I straighten my hair and I ended up quitting sports and finding myself in neuroscience because of it
LOR- PI @ Drexel Uni (Harvard Alum), either my 2 year bio teacher or 2 year chem teacher

*** Cost Constraints / Budget**
None

School list:
Reaches:
All ivies, MIT, JHU
Targets/Hard-targets:
Villanova, Lehigh, NYU, Boston College, UMich (Ann-arbor)

  • I am a current junior aiming for t20s, if you could also give me pointers on how to improve my application/ what i should hone in on to maximize my chances over the next year I would greatly appreciate it!! Thank you so much in advance and let me know how you would chance me at my schools rn and also after improving my app!

Also not as big of a deal but I would appreciate any matches!!

  • Schools including Safety, Match, Reach (include ED/EA when applicable)
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You don’t have any sure things on your application list so far. I would spend some time finding two of those. You have plenty of reaches and targets.

WRT to improving your application…you are doing great. Keep it up.

But really…find a couple of sure things that you like that are affordable!

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Also, forgot to mention.

Will be taking a total of 15 AP classes by the end of high school (in 5 right now so I don’t have many scores to put on here but my record is pretty good as of the 3 I already took)

Also, I have a C in my French course of sophomore year because the class had to go virtual since the teacher left and there was a miscommunication with the course end-date which caused me to miss the turn in of my final (the rest of my transcript are perfect As with one A- in AP euro) how much of a disadvantage do we think this will put me at? Also, should I mention it in the additional info section or would it be worst to draw more attention towards it? I’ve read a couple places that this wouldn’t really impact my app. bc its a very random/inconsistent grade compared to the rest of my transcript (specially with a 4.0 in 5 and 6 APs) how accurate is this?

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Gotcha! Thank you so much!

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Adding…I would strongly suggest you read the thread I’m linking below. It’s an older thread but the message is the same. This was a VERY strong student, very strong. But he really didn’t have any sure things on his application list. No one expected that he would be shut out everywhere he applied, but that is what happened (and admissions have gotten harder over the years). The end of this student’s senior year in high school was really not fun. He took a gap year and did land on his feet.

But please read this…read all of this. You don’t want to have this happen to you.

No Acceptances: One Kid's Story - A year later...

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Will do. What kind of “sure things” would you recommend/suggest for me (if you have any ofc)?

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You have t provided enough information to give suggestions.

Location, rural/urban/suburban, size, cost constraints if any, distance from home if an issue, etc.

You can take the required courses for medical school admissions at just about any four year college (arts conservatories excluded).

What about Pitt? Apply early and you will have a decision pretty quickly.

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Suburban Pennsylvania, No cost constraints, distance from home shouldn’t be an issue for the most part (I would like to stay in the northeast/new england area if possible though)

Pitt is one of my safteys, yes.

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Congrats. You have a fantastic resume. I suspect but can’t be assured a Lehigh, for example, would come through. But as @thumper just told you, even with an incredible resume, there are no sure things.

One thing you can do is ensure your ethnicity is known - via activity or essay because with the recent Supreme Court decision, there’s no longer a box check that can identify diversity. But you can get it in other ways.

Not that it’s needed by the way but every advantage helps.

So pre med can be done anywhere literally and your GPA matters - not that you go to Dartmouth or Harvard - which by the way are very different. You want to apply to schools where you are comfortable so you can excel.

Two safeties for you are your instate publics - Pitt and Penn State. You can go for Honors at both as a supplement - but not a safety.

If you are pre med you also want to have access to shadowing if possible. Do all the Ivies ? I don’t know. But you know where you can shadow on campus ? Va Tech and Pitt is surrounded by opportunity.

Alabama has the McCullough Medical Scholars, Delaware the Medical Scholars and I’m sure there are other similar programs.

I’d add if LACs appeal, likely most everyone from 26-40ish is a match and below 40 a likely/safety with maybe one or two exceptions - Reed as an example.

Good thing your family is wealthy because with your list plus med school it’ll be $800k. But with your stats, lots of chances to save in the first four years to reduce that bill. But not with your list.

Great candidate. Best of luck.

Ps - I’m just reading your ‘desires’ now’ - Brandeis and Rochester may be good matches but if you decide since it’s 8 years of school to go less, let us know but Pitt would be fabulous. Also make sure to check curriculums - neuro programs do differ. Find the right one for you.

https://mccolloughscholars.as.ua.edu/

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For neuroscience in particular, look into Amherst.

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This is so helpful – Thank you so so much!

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I would suggest Temple as well. More access to medical places for shadowing etc than at Penn State.

You could add University of Delaware as another very likely school admit.

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Maybe add the University of Rochester. It is not a safety, more of a target …but a great school.

Maybe add Rutgers (you could make honors).

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Thank you!

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