Chanceme for rice, pomona, uc berkeley

butterfly1997
Fri, 18 Dec 2020 17:40:29 +0000

hi I’m here from the deferred thread that @ivyscholars started. I was deferred from Dartmouth for neuroscience and gender/sexuality studies as an Asian F. Seeing as Dartmouth only tends to accept 5-10% of deferred candidates, I don’t really see myself getting in (I’ll submit a letter of continued interest along with activity updates tho!)
I’m considering an ED 2 to pomona, while rice and uc berkeley are my top choices as well. I’ve already submitted my rice and berkeley apps and currently I’m working on pomona (did the interview, was meh). I’d love some advice! thank you

scores:
SAT: 1570 (R/W: 790, M: 780) essay: 16 oops!
SAT 2: World History 750, Math 750 yikes!
AP:
5’s in APWH, APUSH, Chinese, Lang
4’s in Biology, Calc AB, Gov, Physics 1
IB: 37/45 but I’m not submitting the score lol

UW GPA of 4.0 (my school doesn’t do weighted GPA)

senior courseload: AP Econ (micro and macro combined class), AP Chem, AP Stats, college-level English, chamber orchestra

ECs:
varsity XC, top 3 runner on girl’s team and helped team win regional award - wrote my personal statement about how XC helped me foster a growth mindset
HOSA (competitive medical events club) co-president of hs chapter with 3 years of officer experience (since 10th grade), did a lot of fundraiser planning and helped guide 80+ members to the state competition
chamber orchestra - auditioned into a more selective orchestra at my school, served as section leader, former violinist in highest level Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, did some volunteer work for gigs and retirement home concerts
founder and lead editor of a nonprofit organization that shares how athletes are coping in COVID-19 and strives to provide athletic opps and gear for underserved athletes
intern with local city government, working to provide outreach to marginalized communities and plan events like MLK celebration
published neuroscience research (poster) from UW lab, interned under a research scientist in pathology dept
volunteered 40 hours in local hospital before COVID
wrote blogs and educational event scripts for running nonprofit
freelance tutor and teaching assistant for children’s summer science program
officer and co-founder of hs chapter of operation smile, helped plan 5K fundraiser run

Awards:
1st place at state for sci-fi writing competition, advanced to internationals (covid hit so could not attend in person),
3rd place at state for HOSA event, advanced to internationals (covid hit so could not attend in person)
made All-Northwest Orchestra and All-State orchestra throughout HS
3rd place at state for Science Olympiad environmental chem
honorable mention for international poetry competition

Recs:
my recs did not go as planned since one of my teachers is very flaky and bailed on me! I had to replace him with my Chinese teacher who knows that I am high-achieving and collaborative, but my performance in her class was strong at best when compared to other students
my other rec was from my biology teacher who likes me and knows well about my involvement in HOSA, etc.
optional rec from my city government mentor who believed I was quite capable with research and outreach
(overall my recs were probably on the weaker side but it’s alright! I really should have asked my orchestra teacher)

I go to a very competitive public high school in WA and students from my school are already being accepted to ivies, stanford, georgetown etc. A legacy and a sibling legacy from my school have been accepted ED to Dartmouth this year, and there is a former student from my school who is taking a gap year and will have a spot in the Dartmouth class of 2025. any advice for the RD round? I’m also applying to washu, vanderbilt, cmc, usc, tufts, wellesley, and a few more