D (Asian) is a rising senior now. She wants to pursue Cognitive Science/Neuroscience major to eventually become a physician.
She goes to prestigious CA public school (ranked top open to all public school in CA per US WorldNews). School doesn’t dole out As easily when we asked Counselor about couple of Bs in each Soph/Junior yr sems in Honors/AP courses with counselor.
Has taken about 4 APs thru Junior year and would be about 8 or 9 by senior year (I think school offers a max of 9 but some kids take more outside of school in this uber competitive school).
According to some UC GPA calculation website she showed me, her GPA UW is 3.65, W 4.42, 3.95 UW Capped.
But according to school records, it’s 3.69 UW, 4.44 W.
New SAT is 1470 (out of 1600).
Collegeboard AP exam score - APEuro 5 (out of 5). 3 other AP results awaited.
Girl Scout Silver & Gold Award, Emerging Leader program
Started Medical related club in school and organized events
Has been volunteering at Hospital
Selected into a competitive Medical Camp program organized by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Camp CHLA).
Selected into a competitive Medical Professional shadowing program organized by LA Pediatric society (Eve & Gene Black)
PEP Squad/Cheer in 3 years; Was a captain in one of the years (Senior year, she’s not doing cheer because she doesn’t have space in her curriculum)
Dancer outside school (was part of a dance company and won some awards for solo and group in smaller regional tournaments)
She’s going to apply to UCs. She doesn’t mind studying far from LA. She has softer personality and fears fiercely competitive schools but loves large urban schools (think West wood, CA). She says I want to study what I want to study in peace rather than watch my back all the time.
I have a hard time convincing her to apply to at least to one of the elite schools like UPenn, Brown, Duke, NorthWestern. So far, it’s BU, NE, CWRU, UW, USC, UCs and safety schools like Santa Clara U, SDSU, CalPoly SLO.
Does anyone have any suggestions or knows if she has a chance at colleges in the US News or Forbes Top 20 schools?
I would suggest taking another SAT to get the score around 1500+.
I think your daughter has a good mix of schools based on her grades and interests. And she has a good attitude-she should study what she likes instead of being forced into a cookie cutter.
I can relate as an Asian parent whose son wanted to be left in peace to study what he liked. And it worked-he will be attending Washington University in St. Louis starting in August. I would suggest WashU as a Top-20 school for your daughter to consider as they have a good Neuroscience major-I believe the major is called Psychology-Neuroscience-Philosophy (PNP) and WashU has a Top-10 medical school.
Also for college essays, your daughter should write about her Girl Scout experiences. Scouting is not an activity that most Asian parents have their kids do. My son is an Eagle Scout so I know what that is all about and I think that it’s harder for a Girl Scout to earn all 3 levels than it is for a Boy Scout to earn Eagle.
Although it would be a little bit of a reach, Brown fits the profile of a more relaxed yet highly academic school. She might even be interested in a couple top liberal arts schools, but I know you mentioned she prefers the environment of a big school.
It sounds like she really knows what she wants in a school, which is great. Her current list of schools is well-matched to her profile and has a solid mix of acceptance rates within it.
Congrats! She’s done a great job with a challenging workload.
@perplex1 I’m a parent of a “high-stats” (3.9UW/4.8W, 34ACT) student who chose to apply to only one school ED—a school in the same “tier” as your daughter is focusing on. My girl made that decision after visiting upwards of 20 schools, including a lot of the “elites” that are usually the dream schools of kids with good grades, test scores, etc. Even better, she got a nice merit award that means there will money left over for post-graduate education, which is definitely something she has plans for. And, as a rising junior, she has not regretted her decision—there are opportunities both in and out of the classroom, her classmates are smart and accomplished, and she’s getting a great education.
If it’s not important to your daughter, why do you think it’s necessary for her to apply to the more popular universities? My advice would be that unless there is a compelling reason to add an “elite” school to the list, she’s doing a good job of identifying excellent schools that fit her needs and her wants, both.
The SAT score is going to lessen her chances. She should retake, or try the ACT.
thank you all for the suggestions and encouragement.
I think your daughter has a nice mix of schools. If it’s not important to her to apply to these “elite” schools, then I would leave it. She does not need an “elite” school to get outstanding opportunities.
@perplex1 would your daughter consider schools in the South/Southeast? Emory, Tulane, and Wake Forest are Top 20-35 schools that have excellent pre-med programs and top-tier medical schools. Culturally they are different from what most Asian parents may be used to, but sometimes it’s good to leave one’s comfort zone.
Emory and Tulane may fit your daughter since they are located in major urban centers (New Orleans/Atlanta) and her grades make her a viable candidate for admission. Wake Forest is in a smaller town, but it’s test optional if your daughter doesn’t wish to submit test scores. Also I don’t think those schools have that many Asian students, so they are interested in increasing that demographic.
If her ultimate goal is medical school, then going to a top tier school won’t necessarily help much. In fact getting as high of an undergraduate GPA as possible should be the primary goal (along with high MCAT scores).
It sounds like you are a california resident. Also keep in mind that getting into the UC medical schools has intense competition. Overall it sounds like your daughter’s strategy of going for less competitive colleges is a good idea. She has a better chance of standing out.
While she is in college have a good look at the private medical schools (Loyola, Chicago Med, Tufts, Tulane, NY Med, etc) that accept a lot of out of state california students.