Chance an interesting case (me) for upper level research schools?

Chance Me / Match Me
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Okay, so before I start I want to say that I don’t want attention or sympathy or anything by saying this. I’m not playing the pity game, anything. Really.

Here’s the interesting case part: Second semester sophomore year (right around spring break) something tragic occurs, my dad gets admitted into a hospital for what was originally thought of as a stroke but was instead a sudden reappearance of melanoma which he had been diagnosed with a few years back, however, this time it was Stage 4, in his brain, and metastasizing quick, and he didn’t make it. Long story short, I missed a lot of school. I got back to school, and I truly didn’t really care. I didn’t want to make up tests, do homework, anything, really. I was more concerned with other things in my life, prioritizing my mom, and then taking over some aspects of my fathers business, a pool company, by helping out with just about everything except for the labor. This includes getting the permits for every pool being built, which started with me doing the annotated sketches for them, handling finances, invoicing, all the good stuff that comes with a business. Not too long after (6 months), my uncle, my father’s closest brother, passed from the same thing, rapidly metastasizing melanoma. All of this being said, my GPA took quite a plummet in my sophomore year, second semester. My second semester sophomore year GPA was a 3.5W and an 3.14UW. This brought down my cumulative GPA to 3.819W and 3.62UW. Thankfully, I’ve been able to recover partially from this, as my GPA is going back up, however, I’m just concerned about how this will all seem to colleges I want to apply to.

I’m now a rising senior. I completed my junior year with straight A’s in all of my classes for both semester, taking all advances classes except for English III. (Classes included are AP Chemistry, Honors History, Digital Electronics(which is a PLTW engineering class), AP Biology, Pre-Calculus), these are the highest level math/science classes I was allowed to take, and I even got a bit ambitious and skipped honors Bio to go straight into AP… I still ended with one of the top grades in my class though so oh well.

I go to a pretty decent high school, my class size is 400. No one really goes far in terms of colleges though, mostly just SLU, Missouri S&T, Mizzou, Missouri State, etc…

My GPA is now as follows: 4.04W, 3.744UW (top 11%, rank 44/400)

My senior course load is: AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Physics, Biomedical Innovations, Medical Interventions, AP Micro/Macroeconomics, then just general English electives to get the credits I need to graduate.

My ACT score is as follows: 35 superscored (35E, 34M, 34R, 36S, 30W), 33 single sitting (29E, 34M, 34R, 34S), but this one doesn’t have a writing score. I’ve gotten 3 33’s (I just never have studied so it’s pretty consistent idk), so I don’t really know which one I would submit if I don’t have the option to superscore… most of the schools I’m looking at do superscore ACT though.
PSAT: 1440/1520, index score: 215 (hopefully at least semifinalist)
New SAT: 1370 (680 R/W, 690M) essay: 6/5/6… pretty disappointed in this score but if I study for it and decide to retake it I should do fine I think, I don’t really think I’ll retake it.
AP Tests: Biology and Chemistry, expecting 4/5 for both, will be taking all of the AP Tests for the classes listed above.
SAT Subject Tests: Chemistry, Biology E, Math Level II, expecting around 800 for math, Chem/Bio 700+, idk

ECs: Not really anything too big, played baseball for 9th and 10th, I was a catcher so I guess theoretically that’s a leadership position but I’m not going to really dwell on it, and then National Science Honor Society for 11th and 12th, I don’t really know what else I’ll be doing next year. I know I’ll be participating in some city science competitions because of research I’m doing this summer

Work Experience: I worked at Panera for a year and 9 months, I was an associate trainer so that’s leadership I guess.

More importantly, this summer I’m working as an employee of Washington University in St. Louis as a lab assistant in one of the most respected researchers in orthopedics. We’re doing research for osteoarthritis, currently working on sustaining viable human iPSCs for testing (never really been done before at least without differentiation on the scale we’re doing). The researcher I am working under, along with all of his lab staff came from Duke. He was a biomedical engineering professor and is heavily decorated with awards, including Duke faculty awards. He’s got a long list of accolades so yeah… if you want to know more about that just ask but I don’t want to just put his name out for no reason, just one of those things. I’m the first ever high school student he’s worked with, so that’s kind of cool I guess. This could turn into a year-round job, but as of the summer it is full time, we don’t have official plans for me yet during the school year. I do plan on returning next summer to this but that won’t make it on an application anywhere.

What I want to major in is what I’m sure you might’ve guessed: Biomedical engineering or a field similar (dependent on college). I want to do research on melanoma (which is what my dad and uncle died from) if that’s available to me, but mainly just want to make an impact in research. I explained this pretty well in my essay I feel. (it’s not just the my dad died pity story that is extremely cliche for college admissions, it actually links it to what I want to do, I promise).

The schools I’m most interested in are: Northwestern (will most likely apply ED), WashU (probably wouldn’t have much of a hard time getting in due to background), Duke, UIUC (for bioengineering), Johns Hopkins, MIT, then of course the couple of Ivy’s, Harvard, Yale. This list isn’t definitive, I probably won’t apply for all the schools on this list, I might apply for some that aren’t on here, idk, if you have suggestions for what I want to do and my qualifications, go ahead, I’m open to that.

I think I’ll get some pretty good recommendations from the doctor who I’m working under (PI), the one with all the awards and stuff, along with the postdoc I’m working with (he’s got a pretty reputable name, too), they both like me a lot. I have a few teachers who really liked me, also (AP Biology, AP Physics, etc.) There’s also a chance of getting my name on a paper sometime in the near future, I doubt it’d be by the time of college applications though.

I’m a white male, live in Missouri, income bracket is weird now since it’s single-parent house, with that being said over 180k were claimed in taxes last year because of weird financial situations but it’s closer to 120k or so, I’m not really worried about paying for college if that helps.

I can’t really think of anything else… sorry for such a long post. I just hope that what happened my sophomore year can make up a bit for my a bit below average GPA and lack of ECs.

Thanks.

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bump… I know it’s a long post I apologize

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bump :frowning: please

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You seem to have shown admirable maturity - handlign your father’s business like that. Your unweighted GPA is certainly not bad even with the big drop. With your good ACT score, and great predicted subject test scores - I would not shut myself out of any particular college just yet. If you have time, I would maybe recommend retaking the ACT to get a higher score within a sitting to boost your chances even more.

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@yikesyikesyikes thanks a lot, appreciate the input. I will keep that in mind. I’m not quite sure about the cutoff time for Early Decision ACT submission, as I didn’t really plan on taking again, but I will take that into consideration.

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I think if your GC explains the extenuating circumstances in his/her LOR, that will help a great deal. Your GPA is pretty good, all things considered, and the research position this summer will be a huge plus.

If you qualify for NMSF, there will be a qualifying SAT score - that hasn’t been announced yet. If it’s higher than 1370, you’d have to take the SAT again to move forward for NMF consideration.

I’m sure you know this, but Wash U places a lot of weight on demonstrated interest. Given that you’re local, make sure you do the formal tour, sign up for an interview, etc. Don’t overestimate your admissions chances - it has gotten increasingly competitive.

Keeping the family business afloat plus a long term food service job speaks volumes about your character.

Good luck! And don’t forget to apply to a couple of safeties.

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@mamaedefamilia any suggestions on safeties? I don’t really have many picked out as of now…

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If you haven’t already done so, sit down with your mom and talk about finances. Get a budget about what she feels she can pay and then run the numbers through some NPCs (net price calculators) to see if that number is realistic with respect to the level of award you might receive. If you will not qualify for need-based aid, then you will need to chase merit. With your stats, you will have many options. Here are some good places to start:

automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
nmfscholarships.yolasite.com

A safety is only a safety if you can afford it.

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@mamaedefamilia to be quite honest, my need-based aid for freshman year will be pretty much none because of the financial situation with my dad, selling his vehicles etc. caused my mom to forcefully claim a lot more in taxes then she should’ve on a regular year… less than if they were combined… but keep in mind it’s a single person household claiming around 200k, plus they ask inheritance and whatnot at least on the ones I’ve done so it’s needless to say that my aid for the first year won’t be much unless I talk directly to all the admissions counselors and explain the situation.

this all being said, my college education price tag doesn’t really have a limit, we can afford anywhere. this being said, I’m having a hard time deciding on safety schools because money isn’t an issue, and I want to get the best education I possibly can… I want to go wherever the best fit for me is and where I can do biomedical engineering and do undergrad research (preferably)

so that being said, if there’s any suggestions for any safety schools out there or any other comments on my chances at the schools listed I’d be more than happy to listen :slight_smile:

thanks

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any more opinions ?

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Your writing shows great maturity and willingness to step up. Get a sample Common app and look at the supplements for your targets, so you can get an idea of what’s asked. Also be sure to know what each college values and wants to see in your app, including in the writing.

It’s not the mere fact of inheriting, it’s where the money is when you file the forms, protected (eg, qualified retirement plans) or not (sitting in a bank account or other sorts of accessible investments.) You can play with the NPCs (Net Price Calculators) on the colleges’ websites.

Also, you have some nice experience with the research, but you didn’t mention school math-sci activities- or community service. You want to strategize now, to ensure your apps are strong.

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@lookingforward I’m a part of the National Science Honor Society at my school, there are no leadership positions in this group, it is very loosely organized and doesn’t have much structure. I will be in HOSA next year, but again, that is a newly developed club that has little structure. There is no math clubs or groups. Our district is in extreme debt and cut over 25 clubs to where we now have an extremely low amount of clubs or anything.

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You’ve already shown leadership qualities in how you stepped up in a crisis (and over a good period.) It’s more than titles. And honor societies don’t have the same pull, since getting in varies by hs and what they do ranges a lot. Are you using HOSA to do any community work? In Addl Info, you can briefly explain, if there were no math-sci activities, anything like academic decathlon or math or sci teams. But you want to balance this school issue with other experiences you did seek out.

I’m just talking about bettering your chances. I think you have a lot going for you. The research is good, the job responsibilities are good. Now you’re at a point where you can fine tune. Think about it.

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I think you’ve received some good advice in this thread and I want to tell you you are a very strong applicant and I wish you the best of luck. Don’t discount what you’ve done but also be aware many of these schools are very selective. Very few people could cakewalk into Wash U. I think you have a lot of options and I anticipate success for you this coming cycle. Good luck!

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@lookingforward, would it be fair to compensate with that for working a job? I started the week I turned 16 and never stopped or had gaps in the times I would work (didn’t take like months off when my dad passed, etc.), I found much more through this in terms of getting my mind off of the current issues of life and compensating as opposed to ~2 hrs/week at a school club. I don’t know if that is something that people often use to justify their lack of major-related ECs or ECs in general, just a thought though.

@superbowser12, I greatly appreciate that, thank you very much. I am aware these schools are very selective, but I have a lot of things I want to do in my life and this is a good first step so I’m doing what I can and hoping for the best. I’ve learned to be a lot more positive, or try to be, on my outlook of everything. :slight_smile:

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bump. any other opinions/ideas for schools to apply to? thanks!

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any more opinions? thanks