Hey guys! I’m back again with a more complete list of schools that if you could chance me for I would be very grateful.
Just a reminder, I’m a Kansas junior at this point.My current prospects are, in no particular order:
K-State (scholarships, mainly)
Missouri (scholarships, and Medical Scholars Program)
Oklahoma (full-ride?)
Alabama
UNC
Duke
USC
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
I’m currently a junior and more than a little scared by the whole process, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Some things about me:
GPA (unweighted): 3.89
IB Coursework + AP US History
Will write an Extended Essay on the effect of the Pure Food and Drug Act on further American public health campaigns; I don’t know if that’s useful or not
National Merit Semifinalist (probably-- my PSAT score was a 234 in Kansas so I’m fairly safe there; will take the SAT in June)
33 ACT-- Might retake to try to get a 34 or above
3 years of Cross Country (Junior year I ran varsity)
3 years of Track
Student council representative sophomore and junior years; VP senior year
Drum Major of the Marching Band, junior and senior year (Band all four years)
Private Instrument lessons, freshman through at least junior year (not sure if I will continue into senior year)
NHS Junior and Senior Year
Participation in School Musicals for three years
Thespian
Eagle Scout
Will attend Kansas Boys’ State camp this summer and will work a job as well as spending time at the hospital
Service work at local hospital over the summer junior year (medicine is my passion)
Roughly 175 hours worth of volunteer work; should add 80 or more over the summer.
Worked two jobs in the summer of junior year
Good writing skills so the essay shouldn’t be too horrendous.
Active participation at my church’s youth group since 6th grade
That’s about it. I appreciate whatever feedback you have, and thanks for viewing this post!
I think the schools you are looking at create a nice combination of reaches and matches. Does your school do class rank? If so that’d be very helpful. I think Vanderbilt and Duke (and maybe UNC because of out of state) may be a reach, but most of the other schools are safeties, matches, or high matches! Good luck!
BTW I’ve ruled out USC, in its place are TCU, Arkansas, and Northwestern (one match, one safety, one reach I would think) so can you chance me for them too?
I definitely think you’ll be a national merit finalist!! Congrats on that PSAT, it’s phenomenal!!! That probably also means your SAT’s will be very high. I think you even have a good shot at some of your reaches (Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Duke) and maybe you should look into Rice? Great opportunities for pre-meds. EC’s are solid, and you’re well-rounded. Being a national merit finalist tends to be a pretty big deal to colleges, so you have really good chances and a nice list. Good luck!!
We have very similar extracurriculars, GPA, volunteer experience and summer activities and I would imagine that your school is also on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of rankings and scores like mine; I have lower test scores than you, but my guidance counselor has told me that schools like that would not be entirely out of reach. You should also look into the University of Virginia if you’re considering UNC and such
Thanks all! @macie42 I totally would look into Rice but at this point I think my parents have capped the number of schools I can look at at the ones I’m looking at right now. And my SAT was a 2150 cuz I’d been at a camp and up til midnight or one and waking up around 5:30 the entire week before so I wasn’t well rested, but I’m retaking the ACT in the hopes of getting a 34 at least (a 36 would be great but that science section kills me every time). Thank you for your very encouraging words! @pterosprite that’s excellent! I did consider UVA for quite some time but I’ve had a couple friends go there and the drinking culture is so pervasive that I don’t know if I could thrive there because I’ve never been in an environment like that, whereas I haven’t heard such crazy stories from people who are at some of these other schools (Duke, NW, etc. Even some of the local state schools aren’t so cray cray). Again, thank you all for your very kind and supportive posts; I’m getting my applications done now and we’ll see how this ends up going!