Chance me for Dream School [Brown] and T20s! [4.0 GPA, 1560 SAT; biochemistry or neuroscience]

Chance Me / Match Me
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DREAM SCHOOL and going ed: brown

Demo: female, white, fairly competitive hs (ranked under top 300 national high schools so like pretty decent), no hooks

Intended major(s): biochem or neuro (only neuro bc I have done research in neuro, had bad migraines for a bit missed about 20% of sixth grade, researched the mutated gene that is thought to cause migraines, have a couple of neuro doctor mentors, wrote book on brain, genuinely really really love!!) and then coupled with a minor or double concentration in writing (have always adored writing, want to pursue in some aspect, think I could combine science and writing to have a difference in making scientific concepts more comprehensible to all). Genuinely am very passionate about both like a lot! If I do not pursue writing will definitely pursue it in ecs in college. will prob go for neuro and decide on career in med or research

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1560 (790m/770e)

UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.0uw/4.7w, no rank

Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc

School: 11 APS (Bio: 5, Chem, Physics, Environmental science, Lang, Lit, Calc AB, Calc BC, Econ, Spanish, CSP), 10 Honors, 1 academic. Not allowed to take any aps in 9th and only allowed to take 1 in 10th :frowning:

  • 3 additional courses (including an additional AP, so 12 aps total) taken to further learning through CTY Johns Hopkins program (AP Psych, epidemiology, forensics).
  • 3 more courses taken through Coursera because no offerings at school (neuroscience, genetics, and anatomy). taking three more rn
  • Interned at one of the most well known botanical gardens to learn more about science.
  • EMT course (passed with an A).
  • US History over summer (to maximize math and science courses I could take in school).

AWARDS:

  1. Congressional Award Gold Medal (>400 volunteer hrs, >200 running hours, >200 writing hours, journey shadowing doctors for >50 hrs).
  2. Girl Scout Gold Award - writing and published children’s book about the brain. will host community readings and lead classes about neuroscience in the elementary schools. will donate over 40 books to youth centers and libraries near me. >80 hours of service.
  3. Girl Scout Silver Award - during COVID created a program in which Girl Scouts could continue earning badges and meetings despite quarantine protocols. >50 hours of service.

Then some other minor “awards” like honors societies, a state-qualifying debate comp (but in 9th grade… i no longer do debate), second place in a biotech essay comp (submissions from 4 states) but did going into 9th, state-qualifier for tsa (10th), PGSS alternate :frowning: if I get off alternate might put tho because decently selective (~13% acceptance rate I think), “most happy" award in track this year (called something weird, but that is the idea), etc

May try to enter a couple writing comps before then to have a couple more impactful and recent awards…

EXTRACURRICULARS:

I genuinely love everything I do and could talk about it for forever.

  1. co-president of an international 501c3 writing competition nonprofit that receives over 200 submissions from all continents (and >15 countries) and reaches up to 70k people through marketing; started a science platform for kids to submit their work (since beginning of sophomore year). Have insta, TikTok, website, podcast, and newsletter platforms. Started middle of sophomore year.

  2. international 501c3 health nonprofit founder and president. post blogs to teach kids about health and medicine (over 300 posts by submissions). additionally have 18 international club chapters from 7 states and 6 countries (3 continents), will have raised more then $10k for our internationally known partner, affiliated w a t10, by college apps through our chapters and donations. Starting chapters at two t25 universities, trying to establish more at others. Also talking to two more people from 2 other countries (and one other continent) to start chapters. Have website and instagram platforms (reaching over 5k different users from 18 countries). Started summer going into junior year. Over 1k followers on Instagram. Selected for innovation internship with ivy league alumni. Started chapter at my school (founder and president), helped partner teens w doctor mentors and secured them shadowing opportunities.

  3. Founded and president of a biology club at school to redistribute resources only given to certain students. have over 130 members and 50 active members. host seminars with 4 professionals (including renowned doctor that worked with one of the people who discovered dna structure), four free dissections so far (since beginning of sophomore year). provide academic to ap bio classes with testing treats (during midterms, finals, ap exams, and national science day). established bulletin board at school to post all science opportunities. started resource hub for kids at my school (~600 enrolled students).

  4. Executive manager of school newspaper, started a science column to explore themes in science (head writer and editor), expanded distribution to whole district and local businesses, wrote over 26 articles (basically almost every edition since my first month of freshman year). Participated all four years of high school, heavily involved. Went from writer to small leadership role to exec board (4 selected) for 2 years (first to be a 2 year exec).

  5. EMT - EMT certified, hoping to work over 100 hours by submissions. Completed >20 hours of shadowing, completed 40-module course with an A. Created online website resource hub for people trying to become an EMT. Inspired to try to start an AP Anatomy course at the high school (currently working to integrate). Started middle of junior year.

  6. Research - cold emailed over 20 research professors from universities to find opportunities. assisted an ivy league doctor with a literature review (published and listed in acknowledgments), wrote and published (in peer-reviewed academic journals) two review papers on migraines and hemophilia (under mentorship of T30 PhD student and T10 pharmaceutical company doctor). Additionally attending research program over the summer (~8% acceptance rate) where I will continue to research. Started all research beginning of junior year.

  7. Curriculum Council (started beginning of junior)- chosen by admin and staff as one in four (out of >1200) to represent student body in council of school board and admin. led an initiative to start a science research course at school (which will be implemented next year). Part of committee since beginning of junior year.

  8. Student government (all 4 years of hs) - chosen as one of fifteen (out of 350 in class) to be student rep, as one in ten (out of 350 in class) to directly advise the principal in event and school planning matters in Principal advisory committee, and as one in eight (out of ~1000) to be on the Student ambassador exec board. Participated in all three of them since 9th grade (4 years).

  9. three season varsity athlete. Have participated in every fall season of field hockey since second grade (11 seasons) and play for my high school and in middle school. Have additionally played field hockey in club for eight seasons (total of 19 seasons). Varsity defensive starter. Led clinics for youth to learn field hockey. Also, varsity track and field runner for spring and winter seasons (have participated all four years of high school, 8 seasons by the end of high school).

  10. service: do not know which to include,

Girl Scouts - earned Silver award and earning gold award. have earned over 150 service hours and over 50 badges. Girl Scout for ten years.

Service club - leadership in a club that raises over $100,000 for cancer research (small role)

other:

  • wrote and published a children’s book on how the brain works (read more in awards section)
  • Summers:

9th- intern at nationally renowned botanical gardens to learn more about science

10th- CTY summer course at Johns Hopkins (epidemiology), started health nonprofit

11th- 8% acceptance rate research program, working as emt

other schools:
harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, brown, duke, jhu, Williams, Amherst, uva, umich, and some other top schools

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Why is Brown the dream school? There are no dream schools - they all have bad profs, food, roomies, etc.

There’s many fantastic schools, many of which would likely serve you well.

You have a very strong record. Congrats…

Any financial constraints - i.e. if full pay are your parents willing to pay $400K for a degree that will likely lead to a low paying job or more school?

Your list is great but all reaches - there’s no reason it won’t be you but there’s no assurance you’ll get into one.

You’re missing THE MOST IMPORTANT school on your list - the assured and affordable - make sure you don’t miss that.

Best of luck.

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hi! thats just based off of me – I have a couple mentors at brown and through that I have gotten a feel of the campus. love the campus, rated to be happy campus (in comparison to other ivies), love the fact it encourages interdisciplinary work (writing and neuroscience), love location (close to NYC and Boston for networking, also in providence so a lot of cool things to do).

no financial constraints

thank you sm

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So most campuses want strong writing

Neuro is not a real major per se. It’s real but it’s interdisciplinary - so it’s a mesh of other majors.

If you like the open curriculum, a U Rochester might be a match for you - but you still need a safety.

Many kids have lists like yours and then they have an oh crap moment - I got in no where.

Pitt would be another - safety for you.

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yes, agreed. im going for a concentration on the premed route most likely. I am okay with safeties (already have some) but I am more focused on figuring out if my reach schools are semi reasonable to be applying to. hence why I only included my reach schools

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They are reasonable and you are well accomplished - but they are reaches.

The quant side will be equally important.

Good luck.

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thank you so much!

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They are reach schools even for you. So apply and see. With very low acceptance rates, there are no guarantees.

If you are happy to attend the safety schools on your list, then you are ok to apply to these reach schools with hopes for the best.

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yes, trust me I know. I do not expect to get into any of them I was just wondering if they are reasonable.

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I don’t see any.

@yevy0807?

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didn’t include them because only wanted to see if reaches were reasonable. for safeties: Pitt, uni of South Carolina, Charleston, etc

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All three safe and Pitt especially a fine choice. C of C has just a minor.

At Charleston, make sure to apply Honors (as U of SC) because you will likely get invited for the Charleston Fellows program - and it’s an awesome small cohort with fantastic extra nourishment.

Good luck

College of Charleston | Charleston Fellows

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What do you mean by reasonable? You are a strong candidate, you might get in to one or more of your reaches, but you also might not (which you seem to know)…

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Based on your affinity for Brown, some of these colleges also may be worth exploring:

As an opinion, Wesleyan, in particular, offers an atmosphere similar to that of Brown. Moreover, Wesleyan offers very strong biochemistry / molecular biology and neuroscience programs.

Regarding Amherst from your list, I believe it established the first undergraduate neuroscience major in the nation.

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A few things come to mind when I see “premed”.

One is that there are a huge number of universities which are very good for premed students. Given your exceptional academics up to now, you should be able to find solid safeties that would be very good choices. Your list of reaches are all also good choices for a premed student (assuming that finances are okay).

Also, medical school is expensive. If you are full pay at most of the schools on your list, and if you end up in medical school then the total cost of 8 years of university could very well be somewhere around about $900,000. I do know a small number of parents who could handle this with no debt and no major discomfort, but only a small number. If you are serious about premed, then you should budget for a full 8 years of university. It is also not clear that attending an expensive university (compared to an in-state public school, or a school that provides merit aid) is going to make a difference one way or the other in terms of impacting your chances of being accepted to medical school.

The third thing that comes to mind is that most students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. This is okay. There are lots of other options that make a lot of sense for many, many students. Some end up in medical related careers (such as biotech). Some end up doing something very different (law, computer science, …). Fortunately given that most universities are very good for premed students and are also very good for a wide range of other options, you will have plenty of time to figure this out.

I tend to say “you should budget for eight years” on the basis that you do not want finances to make medical school impractical. In the relatively likely case that you end up doing something else, the extra room in the budget is likely to end up being useful one way or another.

Writing well is a significant advantage in a very wide range of careers. For someone who works in computer science, or mathematics, or biotech, or law, or any one of a rather wide range of other areas being able to write well can be very helpful on the job. This should help you one way or another regardless of which career you end up with.

Looking at your excellent academic results up to now, the next thing that comes to mind is that you are a competitive applicant for any university in the US (not including very special purpose schools such as music conservatories). However, somewhere between 80% and 85% of applicants are competitive for the top universities in the US, such as your list of reaches. Thus you can’t do much more than apply and see what happens.

Your list of ECs is long. I find it hard to understand how you manage to do so much. I do understand that people vary in terms of how busy they like to keep themselves.

I see small schools (Williams, Amherst) on your list, and large schools (U.Michigan). You might want to think about which would be a good fit for you. You can do well with a degree from either a small or a large school, but finding a good fit is worth the effort. Your explanation of why you like Brown makes a lot of sense to me. It would not shock me if you are “one and done” quickly with an acceptance to Brown ED, but of course you cannot count on this.

Perhaps the three most important schools for you to think about are your ED school and your two safeties. You should make sure that you apply to at least one and preferably two safeties that you would be happy attending.

And I think that you are doing very well.

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Based on recent information from an admission professional, this figure may fall in the range of 60% to 65%.

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Deleted. Wrong thread!

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I think you are a strong applicant to the reaches on your list, but that doesn’t mean you will get in. Most do not. Apply, and see what happens. I would put a lot of thought into your safety and target schools as well. There are a lot of positives about being in an honors or special program at a lesser ranked school…so do your research. FYI- Pitt is an excellent choice and there is no shortage of highly accomplished students.

It looks like you are going into some kind of neuro or genetics type field…either medicine, research, or something else. A few thoughts:

  1. Medical or graduate school will be expensive. I would plan for 6-8 years of school, not 4. PhD programs are funded…and long.

  2. You have a long road ahead of you…and right now you don’t know what you don’t know…as the saying goes. For example- writing children’s books are one way to break complex scientific information down to levels that are easy to understand….but so is teaching! And teaching is looked at very highly for the types of programs/careers you are interested in- tutoring, being an SI for a prof, teaching in underserved communities etc.

  3. I would put the words “dream school” away, as you can accomplish your career goals from almost any school in the country.

And lastly…

  1. Congrats on your accomplishments and good luck!
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Congratulations on all of your accomplishments in high school so far. You have a strong profile and will be competitive for nearly any college in the country.

Below are my guesses as to your chances might be at the schools you’ve mentioned:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • College of Charleston (SC)

  • U. of Pittsburgh (PA ): Apply early (like August) for a quick response

  • U. of South Carolina

Likely (60-79%)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Brown

  • Harvard

  • Yale

  • Dartmouth

  • Brown

  • Duke

  • Johns Hopkins

  • Williams

  • Amherst

  • UVA

  • UMich

  • Other top schools

By my count you have 11 schools in the low probability bucket plus “other top schools” which I’m guessing all have admit rates below 20%. The schools in this bucket tend to have many additional supplements that they will expect to be completed at a very high level, some of which don’t become evident until after you’ve submitted what you thought was everything and then you see another essay prompt in your application checklist in the school’s portal.

Right now, let’s say that these schools have an average of about 5 extra writing prompts beyond the Common App essay (and I think at least one of them has 7). That means you’re looking at around 55+ extra writing assignments for the low probability schools. Do you think you’ll be able to do that many individualized writing assignments to a high degree of quality, at the same time as you’re engaging in all of your extracurriculars and taking your planned courseload senior year? If not, I would strongly recommend considering which schools are your favorites and then culling the list to a number that you think you can complete well.

In looking at your list of schools, I think I see a pattern (like urban schools) and then I see Dartmouth and Williams. Or I see a lot of schools with athletic enthusiasm and then I see College of Charleston. What is it that you want out of your college experience?

Some questions you may want to think about:

  • What size classes do you prefer?
  • What size school do you prefer?
  • How do you feel about urban/suburban/small town/rural schools?
  • How do you feel about big enthusiasm for intercollegiate sports?
  • How do you feel about Greek life?
  • Are there particular places where you would like to be (or like to avoid)?
  • Are there any climate issues (like the amount of daylight) that are important in your decision-making?
  • Are there any particular interests you want to pursue beyond the academic majors you’ve mentioned?
  • Are there any other factors that will be affecting your decision?

Lastly, if your only choices were those in your extremely likely bucket, would you be happy to put your enrollment deposit down and look forward to spending 4 years at those schools? Or do you think you would be trying to figure out other last-minute options that are available, or start thinking about transferring, or how quickly you can rush through college and move on to the next phase of your life? If you would not be happy and looking forward to attending a college for four years, then it shouldn’t be on your list.

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As others are saying, with your qualifications any Reach is “reasonable”, but that doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to get into one.

Personally, I would suggest you have far too many Reaches, and I don’t particularly understand why that list. You listed 10, and said there were more, and they cover a range of small independent colleges, mid-size private universities, and large public universities. Some of those I would consider broadly similar to Brown, others a lot less so, so off hand I don’t see any particular reason why you chose that particular list.

So I think you might benefit from some reflection on what you really want in a college experience, and then a more tailored list based on the colleges best for that sort of experience while also being particularly good for your current academic interests.

Like, people I know with your sorts of interests who like Brown might well also apply to Yale and Amherst, but then they tend to start looking at non-Northeast reach universities like Emory, Vanderbilt, WUSTL, maybe Rice, and so on. These are strong in Bio/Neuro, but have an overall experience sort of along the lines of a Brown or Yale.

For other independent colleges, definitely Vassar, and maybe Wellesley if you are interested in a women’s college, Wesleyan if you are interested in the behavioral side of Neuroscience and/or molecular Biochem, and so on.

If you think this way when choosing colleges for your list, you will then be able to explain all that in essays and interviews and such, maximizing your chances of actually being admitted to one or more of your Reaches. And of those Reaches actually being great options for you.

The other thing is you say you have “safeties”, which is fine, but what about Targets? These are colleges that are more selective than what can count as a “safety” or what I would call a Likely, but are less selective than the sorts of Reaches you named. For high numbers kids, these can provide one or more great options in case none of the Reaches work out, and sometimes they actually end up being the choice of the kid even if they do get into some Reaches.

Like, in our feederish HS, people with your sorts of credentials and your interests would typically be looking at universities like Rochester, Case Western, and William & Mary. Savvy pre-med kids will often pick universities like this even if they could get into a higher ranked college because they can hit the sweet spot in terms of at least somewhat lower costs (sometimes thanks to merit, or just being less expensive in the case of William & Mary), more accessible research opportunities, and so on.

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