Chance a junior for T20s [MI resident, 3.4 GPA, 1570 SAT, biology, pre-med]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics:

  • Gender: Male
  • Race/Ethnicity: Asian
  • Residence: Michigan

Intended Major(s): Biology (Intending to Study Medicine)

Academics:

  • Took a 4 Year Long in school STEM Biomedical Sciences Program, did labs every week, and had enhanced coursework: (Principles of Biomedical Science, Human Body Systems, Medical Interventions, and Biomedical Innovation)
  • GPA (UW/W): 3.4/3.65 (signifcant upward trend, 3.0, 3.3, 4.0)
    • W/O Freshmen Year UW/W: 3.5/3.8
  • Rank (or percentile): N/A

  • of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 2 Honors, 7 APs + 1 Self Study, 3 Dual Enrollment

    • AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP English Language and Composition, AP Chemistry (Self-Study)
  • Senior Year Course Load: 3 APs & 3 Dual Enrollment
    • AP Biology, AP English Language and Composition, AP Statistics
    • Basic Human Anatomy and Physiology, Calculus I, Calculus II
    • Biomedical Science

Standardized Testing:

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

  • SAT I: 1570
  • AP/IB: 4/5 all submitted APs

Extracurriculars/Activities:

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

  1. Research Poster and Paper on Biotechnology and Next Genome Sequencing - Research to detect how genetic variation could lead to inherited diseases. Also touched upon Nucleotide Hybridization. The Research Poster will compete in SefMed/ISEF, as well as IFoRE. The Research Paper is peer-edited by professors and will compete in JSHS.

  2. 11th and 12th grade, 10hrs/wk, 20wk/yr

  3. Biotechnology and Research Sequencing at the University of Michigan (501c3 research organization) - Explored Nucleotide Hybridization, and led group research linking it to a real-world disease. Analyzed related Thermodynamics, PCR, Advanced Linux, and mapping genomes. Presented a business plan on Biotechnology and Next Generation Sequencing Technology (showing how genetic variation could lead to disease).

  4. 11th and 12th grade, 20hrs/wk, 3wk/yr

  5. Co-Founder of Biomed Club (Only Student-Made Medical Club @ School) (4yrs) - Led in-school Biomedical-Based Medical Club focused on healthcare careers, connecting with licensed doctors and current medical students to inspire youth and teach them about the experience through the medical process. Expanded membership from 4 to 150 in 4 years by organizing talks for younger classmen about life as a doctor.

  6. 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grade, 8hrs/wk, 35wk/yr

  7. Shadowed Internal Medicine Physician at University of Michigan - Physician has won several awards in America’s top Physicians by Consumers Research Council, as well as is a part of the John Hopkins Delta Omega Honor Society. I worked in the Biomedical Lab analyzing samples and results for patients (in real-time). I shadowed the actual checkups as well.

  8. 11th and 12th grade, 30hrs/wk, 3wk/yr

  9. HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Competitor (all 50 states + 11 countries competed) (2yrs) - State Champion (1st out of 40 teams) in my 1st year, Only three teams are sent to ILC from Michigan, Qualified for ILC (International Leadership Conference), and placed Top 3 at ILC. Posted on 10+ nationwide news sites, as well as covered by the media. 260,000 members nationwide.

  10. 11th and 12th grade, 10hrs/wk, 30wk/yr

  11. Summer Volunteer connected w/Children’s Care Center (most vulnerable kids) - Instructed and taught children who have been impaired with neurological, social, and developmental challenges, as well as kids that have dealt with major trauma at a very young age to swim. Participated in a 3-week long program teaching them the basics of swimming.

  12. 11th, 12th grade, 8-10hrs/wk, 4wk/yr

  13. Swim Instructor at Swim School - Worked for ~1 year, over 400 hours of work, about 8-10 hours weekly on school weeks, and closer to 15 hours during summer, CPR and Lifeguard Certified. Had several classes, weekly, with kids with disabilities, such as Down Syndrome, Autism, and ADHD.

  14. 11th, 12th grade, 8-10hrs/wk, 40wk/yr

  15. Medical Student Shadowing and Cardiac Medicine Exploration at the University of Brown Alpert Medical School - Completed a Medical Interview, a Cardiopulmonary Physical Exam with a patient, reviewed different medical careers, learned about the pathophysiology of the heart, and completed an ethics course on heart transplants.

  16. 11th and 12th grade, 20hrs/wk, 4wk/yr

  17. Tutor Board - Nonprofit focused in middle schools to help struggling middle school students with tutoring. We have tutored in homeless shelters, libraries, as well as all 7 middle schools in our district, K-8th grade. We have also tutored at Child Care centers, affiliated with Rescue Mission Ministries.

  18. 11th, 12th grade, 5-6hrs/wk, 25wk/yr

  19. Ref Certified - Participated in overall 50+ hours of ref-related activities, played soccer for 13 years and competed in competitive/travel soccer for 10 years.

  20. 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grade, 2hrs/wk, 13wk/yr (for reffing)

  21. 9th, 10th grade, 8hrs/wk, 35wk/yr (for soccer)

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

  1. (Placed 1st out of 40 Teams) in State HOSA Competitive Event (State) & one of 3 teams in Michigan sent to ILC
  2. Top 3 Place at International Leadership Conference Competition in HOSA Competitive Event (International)
  3. AP Scholar w/ Distinction - Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams
  4. Econ School Award - 5s on Both AP Exams
  5. Honor Roll

Letters of Recommendation

  1. Medical Interventions (Biomed STEM Academy) - Had an A in both semesters, contributed to class by asking and answering questions, as well as making a study guide for each unit for future use by the teacher.
  2. APES - A both semesters, answered and asked questions, helped other students during labs as well and scored the highest on the Environmental Justice Project (1/90). Also got a 5 on the AP Exam.

Colleges

UPenn, UMich, Duke, JHU, Stanford, WashU, Brown, Northwestern, MSU, Wayne State, UNC, Georgetown, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, UC - Berkeley, NYU, USC, UChicago, Boston University, UCLA

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First question: what’s your budget?

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Thats not a problem

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I see mostly reaches, I think you need more likelies and safeties. My nephew with a 35 act got one acceptance, that’s where he is (Pitt). He did get off 2 wait lists but he was DONE.

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So GPAs that improved a lot junior year are tricky because the most selective privates and OOS publics get plenty of people with fantastic qualifications who got great grades all three years of HS so far, and as they are rejecting a bunch of those people they tend to really need a good reason to admit an exception. Which happens sometimes but it usually isn’t something I think you can count on them doing.

So to me, it seems like you have not given yourself a lot of alternatives to MSU (I assume that is Michigan State) and Wayne State if none of those reaches work out. Which is fine if you are OK with that being a possible outcome, as you might be since they are both good colleges and suitable for pre-med.

But there is in fact a range (and variety) of colleges in between Wayne/MSU and all those reaches in terms of selectivity, and a few applications in that range would potentially give you more offers to consider.

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Would you say UMich instate is a likely or still a reach?

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Tagging @Knowsstuff and @sushiritto, our resident UMich experts.

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I don’t think these reaches are realistic with your GPA, although your upward trend is a positive. Your ECs seem great but won’t overcome the GPA. Are you ok going to MSU or Wayne State, if those were your only options?

Do you have any foreign language classes? Thru what year?

Have you taken physics?

Does your school have a history of sending students to highly rejective schools? You wrote N/A for rank, but where do you think your GPA places you in your class in terms of decile?

Are you interested in liberal arts colleges at all?

Calculate your UC GPAs here: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Does this mean that your family can afford to be full pay at all of these schools, some of which are $90K+?

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Does your school use Scoir or Naviance? If so, take a look at those scattergrams to help you categorize schools. Also ask your HS counselor…how do they categorize U. Mich for you?

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I think your list is very reach heavy. I also think you should research safety and target schools very carefully and add a few more (unless the 2 you mentioned are true safeties and you are happy).

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Are Wayne State and MSU your sure thing colleges? If you are happy with those choices…fine.

But there are a LOT of colleges between you lengthy list of reach schools, and your two safety schools.

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They dont use scoir or naviance unfortunately, what do you mean by categorize UMich?

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UC GPA’s especially unweighted and fully weighted for UC Berkeley and UCLA?

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Note: OOS Honors do not get the extra honors point weighting in the UC GPA calculation and DE courses must be UC Transferrable.

Also the UC’s are test blind so your excellent SAT score will not be considered for admissions and scholarships so these schools will be GPA focused.

UCLA is a Reach with 11% admit rate for Life Science majors and a 8.6% admit rate for OOS applicants.

GPA 25th - 75th percentile for admitted applicants was an
Unweighted UC GPA: 3.90-4.00 and a Fully weighted UC GPA: 4.40-4.74 (Life Science College of L&S)

UC Berkeley is a Reach with an overall admit rate of 12.9% for the College of Letters and Sciences.
GPA 25-75th percentile for admitted applicants was an Unweighted UC GPA: 3.89-4.00 and Fully weighted UC GPA. 4.28-4.62.

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By categorizing I mean whether the school is a reach, target/match, highly likely, safety. Your HS counselor will know better than us. Does your HS send any/many/some/no students with 3.5 GPAs to Michigan? That is what you need to know from your HS counselor.

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Yeah I’d be alright going to MSU, it would be a bit annoying though, considering I think my SAT and ECs are deserving for higher then MSU
I took 3 language courses, 2 during middle school though (those are counted for language credits)
Yes I took physics freshmen year (non AP)
Top 10-15% for rank (our school does weighted), Maybe 5 per year to highly rejective (alot of our students go to UMich/MSU though)
I am not interested in liberal arts

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They send some to many students with around a 3.5uw to umich I’m pretty sure

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Yeah, my parents would be able to afford full pay

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GPA is more important in holistic admissions than SAT and ECs. I am not saying to not apply to reaches, but would encourage you to lower your expectations and choose 4 reaches or so. If you have premed aspirations, you want to be among the top 25% (at least) of students at whatever college you attend.

You might look at some smaller schools like Richmond and Bucknell, even Lehigh…there’s no downside to doing virtual admissions sessions to check those schools out. Good luck to you.

ETA: Just to be clear, for foreign language, you completed year 3 of a language, and just one year was in high school?

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Yes

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Honestly, I’m not sure what I was thinking considering to apply to this many reaches, but with instate being around 40-45%, I expected to get into UMich, but I feel heavily discouraged now tbh.