Average silicon valley kid thinks he will get into reaches. Chemistry major. [UW 4.0, 1510 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • CA resident
  • Public HS Non feeder
  • Male
  • Top 10% of class

Intended Major(s)

  • Chemistry

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.67
  • Class Rank: top 10%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1510 SAT

HS coursework
7 APS tests, all 5s(AP Chem AP Lang AP CSA AP Calc BC AP Euro AP CSP AP Calc BC)

  • English: Honors 9,10, Lang and Lit
  • Math: Up to Calc BC + AP Stats
  • Science: Reg Bio, Honors Chem, AP Chem, AP Phys C mech, AP Phys C E&M, APES
  • History and social studies: AP Euro, AP Gov, AP Macro, US History
  • Language other than English: ~ AP Japanese
  • Visual or performing arts: Intro to Art
  • Other academic courses: AP CSA, AP CSP

College Coursework

  • Organic Chem (Semester 1), Linear Algebra

Awards

  • PVSA Gold
  • Small HS research award
  • Some other small volunteer awards
  • Junior Honor Court

Extracurriculars

  • Taekwondo (6yrs)
    • Two silvers in local competitions
    • Worked as referee for local comps(3 yrs)
  • Choir (11 years)
    • Section leader
    • Various choir camp leadership positions
    • Toured Canada, Taiwan
      • made it onto Taiwanese Newspaper!
  • Acapella (2 years)
    • Vice President in Senior year
  • Volunteering as teacher’s assistant in Korean Schools (3.5 yrs)
  • Nonprofit cofounder (4 months)
    • Hosted guest speaker event with 15 attendees
  • Volunteer english tutor (2 yrs)
  • Library intern (3 months)
  • Photography team for SV Pride
  • COSMOS
  • (Current) trying to found chemistry club at HS

Essays/LORs/Other

  • LORS should be solid, teachers like me and I showed initiative inside/outside the classroom

Schools
Reach:

  • Northwestern (ED)
  • BU
  • Tufts
  • Cornell
  • USC
  • UMich
  • UChicago
  • UCSD
  • UCD
  • UCSB
  • UCLA
  • UCI

Match:

  • Rochester
  • Case Western
  • UW Madison
  • Brandeis

Safety:

  • Loyola
  • U Denver
  • CSU schools
2

Anything is possible and the student can get in anywhere. Of course, the UCs won’t see the SAT.

Case - may be a reach - it’s a tough one. Make sure to demonstrate interest. Brandeis and Rochester, if full pay, are likely.

Is Loyola Chicago or LMU?

U Denver is very safe.

For chem, surprised not to see UMN, UIUC, and/or Delaware on there.

I don’t see any budget listed - are you full pay?

The student can get into every school on the list. Will they - I can’t say as it’s unpredictable.

But fine record.

Good luck.

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Assuming those are all affordable for you and your family, your list looks great to me.

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4

Congratulations on a great academic record and profile.

Can you calculate out your 3 UC GPA’s: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Which CSU’s do you have as Safety/Very Likely schools?

5

Seconding these schools since this is a student who might be interested in getting out of CA for 4 years. Delaware is especially underappreciated for Chem & ChemE.

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Would most likely be offered $17,000 a year in merit.

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