Chance me: TX resident, 4.0 UW GPA, SAT 1570, 11th grade transfer to program [taking UNT college courses] [full pay; business or biology]

Chance Me / Match Me
, , , ,
1

Demographics
US Citizen
Texas
Traditional High School (9th-10th), Early College Residential Program (11th-12th)
Asian Male

Intended Major(s)
Business or Biology/Biochemistry

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.97 (9th-10th), 4.0 (11th)
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 5.94 (9th-10th), 4.0 (11th)
College GPA (for transfers): 4.0
Class Rank: 2 (9th-10th), N/A (11th)
ACT/SAT Scores: 1570 (800 Math, 770 EBRW)

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))
8 Honors Courses
6 AP Courses

  • AP Physics I: 4
  • AP Chemistry: 4
  • AP US History: 5
  • AP Human Geography: 5
  • AP CSP: 5
  • AP CSA: 5

Awards

  1. Carnegie Hall Symphony Orchestra
    • Chosen as 1/~30 first violins for an international orchestra, with members from 41
      states and nations around the world
  2. International Career Development Conference 2nd Place Grand Winner
  3. Business Professionals of America 1st Place State Winner; National Qualifier
  4. $4000 Summer Research Scholarship
  5. $1000 Summer Intern Program
  6. Science Olympiad State Tournament 2nd Place
  7. Science Bowl State Tournament 3rd Place
  8. UIL Number Sense 1st Place Team; 3rd Place Individual at Regionals
  9. 2x UNT Presidentā€™s List, 2x Superintendentā€™s Scholar
  10. AP Scholar with Distinction
  11. Chosen as 1/~13 district-wide award out of ~41,000 students
  12. Chosen as 1/~10 TED Talk Speakers out of ~30 applicants

(Unsure which 5 to choose for Common App)

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

  • Boys Varsity Team Right Side Hitter
  • Intramurals Mens 2nd Place

Frisbee Captain

Volunteering

  • HOPE President
  • Largest school club, manages ~200 members, raises ~$5000-6000 a year, collects ~350 units of blood through blood drives, ~3000 volunteer hours given

Tutoring

  • Tutoring head for Calculus I, Calculus II, USAChO
  • Tutored 2 eight session SAT Bootcamps for Schoolhouse.world

Violin

  • Performed at various nursing homes
  • Concertmaster of school orchestra
  • Qualified for university-level second orchestra

Research

  • Performed work in 3 research laboratories, 1 publication + 1 journal article forthcoming

DECA + BPA

  • Head of DECA and BPA competitions, responsible for ~80 chapter members and communication with state officers

Performances

  • Performed at various school cultural events, raising around ~$15000 total from all events

Journal Writing

  • ~40 article publications in online journal

Mu Alpha Theta Secretary

  • Responsible for the recruitment of about ~20 members, growing the chapter by about 80%, managed chapter to success at various regional and state tournaments

(Advice for how to word better and organize)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Essay: 7-8/10
LOR (Considering 4 recommendations, possibly 3)

    1. Calculus Professor (Know him well, best performer in class, tutoring head for his courses) (8/10)
    1. English Teacher (Favorite student, talks about me still) (9/10)
    1. Research Mentor (7/10)
    1. Violin Professor* (May not ask due to English being second language, excellent relationship however) (9/10)

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.)
N/A

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)

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability)

  • University of North Texas

  • Texas Tech University

  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)

  • UT Austin

  • University of Florida

  • University of Washington

  • Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Reach

  • Brown University

  • Columbia University

  • University of Pennsylvania

  • UNC - Chapel Hill

  • Duke University

  • University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2

Wow - this is a fantasy resume. Iā€™m speechless.

You may get into every school on your list.

Certainly your two safeties, UW, UF and what am I missing about UT - no class rank ?

Iā€™ve read a lot of impressive profiles but this one is off the charts.

Congrats and good luck.

3

Agree this is super impressive!

UT may ā€œonlyā€ be a likely because of no class rank or because of possible intended major of business. McCombs is likely (this is almost never true!) but not a guarantee.

4

Congratulations on your achievements.

I canā€™t chance you, but for awards those should only be academic. You can put the rest in additional information.

For LoRs, choose the calc and English teachersā€¦you want core subject teachers. You can also submit the other 2 recs to schools that accept them.

I would categorize Ga Tech as a reach simply because of a low OOS acceptance rate. You might cull the list some, as some of these schools are quite different. Have you visited or done virtual sessions at all?

What does NA in cost/budget mean? Does that mean you are not applying for financial aid? If you are applying for FA what is your budget?

Lastly, not sure which major you are applying to by school, but if there is a ā€˜why this majorā€™ essay, make sure that you do that well/answer the question with supporting detail of why that school is a good fit for that major.

Good luck.

2 Likes
5

N/A means ā€œnot applicableā€ (your parents are willing to pay list price which may exceed $90k per year at some private schools) or ā€œnot availableā€ (your parents have not told you what the budget is)?

6

I hope you donā€™t mindā€¦but if you started your new program in 11th grade, you were an 11th grade transferā€¦so I changed your subject title.

You are attending an early college program? Please describe what that means in terms of college credits for YOUR program. This varies.

Also, the college counselors at this program should be able to give you some good advice.

7

Also, you wrote this in your previous thread:

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

Does this mean your family can PAY $70,000 a year, or that this is the amount of aid you need?

4 Likes
8

My parents will be able to pay $70,000 a year, but I will still apply for various scholarships. I will likely be ineligible for need-based financial aid.

9

The program is called the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, where I take UNT college credits. These credits will fully transfer in-state to most colleges, and sometimes out-of-state depending on the uiversity.

1 Like
10

Super impressive resume. Are you considering ED anywhere? Also intrigued by how you developed your list of reaches - Duke and UNC seem like real outliers in terms of vibe. Or are you planning to apply for Robertson?

11

That leaves a sizable gap at some schools of around $20Kish per year.

Itā€™s ok to seek outside scholarships of course, but not many will bridge that gap for 4 years. Have you run the NPCs at the Ivies to see if you would get any need based aid at all?

3 Likes
12

Congratulations on your achievements! You are an incredibly impressive student.

I want to let you know that given your budget and probable ineligibility for FA, some of the schools on your list might not be affordable.

2 Likes
13

I have - I will not receive any aid.

1 Like
14

I am considering ED to Brown, but I am unsure if it is worth the shot given my chances. Duke and UNC are on the list, as Chapel Hill and Durham were regions that I had visited and my family was considering a move to, and I enjoyed it a lot.

1 Like
15

My D was an OOS student at UNC (biology/chemistry). I would be happy to answer any questions.

1 Like
16

I donā€™t understand applying ED to a school that isnā€™t affordable without getting $20K in external scholarships, for 4 years.

What scholarships are you considering applying for?

2 Likes
17

Thank you for the clarification about your budget. I do agree, some schools wonā€™t be affordable if you donā€™t qualify for need based aid, and at some you have great potential for merit aid, but itā€™s highly competitive. Here are my OPINIONSā€¦hoping some others will verify my accuracy.

Safety (certain admission and affordability)
University of North Texas should be very affordable and I agree, you will be admitted
Texas Tech University agree. You will be admitted, and affordable
Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
UT Austin my gut feeling is you will be admitted, and if so, it will be affordable.
University of Florida very probable and affordable admit.
University of Washington tough admit for OOS students but possible
Georgia Institute of Technology very tough admit for OOS students and might not be affordable

Reach
Brown University No merit aid offered and $70,000 a year will not cover the COA

Columbia University no merit offered and $70,000 will not cover the COA
University of Pennsylvania no merit offered and $70,000 will not cover the COA
UNC - Chapel Hill tough admit for OOS students. Some VERY competitive merit aid offered

*Duke University VERY competitive merit aid offered. Otherwise cost will be an issue
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor VERY a limited and competitive merit aid but otherwiseā€¦not likely to be affordable

4 Likes
18

I took your first note to mean you can afford anywhere.

If you have a $70k budget and will not receive need aid, you need to redo your list and certainly not ED to Brown, let alone not even apply to Brown. Plus Brown says this - Please do not assume that your admission chances are improved by applying under the Early Decision plan. The Board of Admission makes the same decisions under Early Decision that it would under the Regular Decision plan.

So your first note is wrong. You need to remove Brown, Columbia, and Penn and Michigan and Duke become highly unlikely.

Outside scholarships to this gap level, especially with no need, are near impossible. If you bo business, Indiana would make great sense.

Edit - I see youā€™re already being told this.

I will say UW Foster or biochem are both safeties in my mind, even with the # of Foster spots limited. You are just too good.

Good luck.

19

I apologize - there was a miscommunication between my parents and I. They are willing and able to pay full cost for all the schools I am applying for.

8 Likes
20

That is terrific! What a wonderful gift your parents are giving you. Please please give them a huge thank you and a big hug. Some families wonā€™t pay the full cost of attendance anywhere even if they can. This is a great gift to you.

In that caseā€¦I think you have a great list of varied schools in terms of admissions. And a great chance of acceptance to many on your list.

2 Likes