Chance/match me - undecided premed or engineering. Transferred to Texas Academy of Math and Sciences (TAMS) in 10th grade. 4.0 GPA, 1570 SAT

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • Texas Resident
  • Suburban, large high school; transferred to small selective pre-college program
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional):
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): None

Intended Major(s)
Pre-med, Engineering, Biology (undecided)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.94 (old high school), 4.0 (TAMS)
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 5.94 (old high school), 4.0 (TAMS)
  • College GPA (for transfers): 4.0
  • Class Rank: 2 (old high school), unranked (TAMS)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: none/1570

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))

  • 6 AP Classes (AP Chemistry: 4, AP CSP: 5, AP CSA: 5, AP Physics 1: 4, APUSH: 5, APHUG: 5)
  • All other courses were Honors/Pre-AP
  • 2 years of both Spanish and French
  • Math level: Calculus 1/2
  • Will have taken 60-70 hours of college credit classes from TAMS by the end of senior year, primarily focused on STEM/pre-med. These credits will mostly fully transfer in-state, with some transferring if out of state.

Awards

  • Carnegie Hall Honors Performance Series
  • Science Olympiad 2nd Place Individual State
  • BPA 1st Place Regionals
  • Math UIL Regional Number Sense 2nd Place
  • TMEA Region Top 10 in the Region for three years

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

  • Carter Blood Care Junior Blood Drive Coordinator (raised 102 units of blood)
  • Nursing Home Aide
  • Shadowed radiation oncologist/other radiation oncology specialists at Houston Methodist
  • 100+ volunteer hours
  • Paid summer internship at UHCL helping a professor to manage a STEM/coding summer camp
  • Science Olympiad, AMC, BPA competitions (made state competitions and placed for most)
  • Violin
  • Organized a benefit concert and raised $5000
  • Served as a SAT Math and chemistry tutor online
  • Aided elementary school kids in learning STEM concepts
  • TEDx Talk
  • Math Club Secretary (recruited 20 new members)
  • Earth Club (collected recycled materials around the school)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Unwritten - currently a junior.

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Full Aid - $70,000 a year

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Will likely go for scholarships
  • Likely/Safety: Most Texas Public State Schools
  • Reach: Unsure where, haven’t researched much yet, but probably lower admission schools.
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I’m confused. Are you still in high school and planning to apply as a freshman? Or are you in college and planning to apply as a transfer student?

Are the college courses you are taking dual enrollment classes?

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Yes, I am currently the equivalent of a high school junior. However, I am technically a “first-year” at the TAMS Program. It is not dual enrollment - it is essentially pre-college.

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Not having a class rank can make it difficult to assume admission for many Texas public universities.

Also, some of the most desired Texas public universities are particularly popular and selective for engineering majors, so those with class rank based automatic admission are not necessarily assured of those majors.

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What does this mean? Do you need full aid and/or scholarships in order to attend or are your parents able to fund $70K/yr?

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I’m curious about the cost too. But with everything you wrote is makes you an exemplary student. I’m guessing you need full aid - which at many schools is far more than $70k btw. Even in state may not be free.

But given your exemplary background, if the schools agree you need full coverage they might want you. Will wait for the answer on finances.

My comment to add here is you go to a special school. The counselor there will be best equipped to let you know where you will fit in academically. They know from past students.

A school like Prarie View or Troy might give you a full ride based on merit. Or an MIT based on need.

Is an MIT (or BU or USC or Northwestern or Rucr or Miami) possible - on paper you are a stud but it’s your counselor that will better be able to make that determination than folks here in my opinion.

Good luck

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Did you take the PSAT, and if so, do you have the results?

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I’ll just add and others can speak more expertly to it - but if med school is possible - the hs gained college credits may not have value.

Others can comment if I’m wrong (or right). And even the APs may not matter at some schools although they do matter for having a rigorous schedule (I’m just talking about credits earned toward a degree).

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Medical schools may devalue premed college courses taken at other than four year colleges, but may also frown on repeating previously taken college courses or AP credit.

That can mean some tricky choices in course selection for a frosh premed with community college and/or AP credit in premed subjects.

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National merit? You can go anywhere for premed. Probably your best bet is in state public or high nerit money alabama or tulsa, followed by public med school in texas.

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First, congratulations on all that you’ve done - you have excellent academics and a very good set of other accomplishments.

How does that work with the auto admissions to the different public universities in Texas? If you are unable to qualify for auto admission to public universities which admit based on class rank (like UT Austin), they are not safeties (I know that some auto admit based on GPA and test score).

That is your main issue. While colleges with admission rates of under 20% are reaches for everybody, including you, based on your profile they would be possibilities, and you probably would be accepted to at least one or two. Most other colleges would be matches, likelies, or safeties, though engineering tends to have lower acceptance rates.

Your problem really is which colleges will be affordable.

For reaches, look at colleges which are full need met (Prepscholar has a list). Most will be reaches, but they will be affordable. Some. like Case Western Reserve or Lafayette college (if you prefer a s smaller college), will be closer to matches, even though they have a 30%-35% acceptance rates. You would likely need to apply ED, though.

Except for colleges that provide automatic merit for students with high GPAs (like Arizona State), no out of state public university would be affordable. However, you may be able to dicker. Your academic profile is such that some would find money to ensure that you attend their college. But those would be colleges with higher acceptance rates.

Otherwise, your best bet is either high acceptance private colleges which provide a good amount of merit aid, or the low acceptance private colleges which are full need met.

However, always make sure that the amount of financial aid that the colleges believes meets your full need will actually meet your full need.

Good luck

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