Chances + help with match schools

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Of course, I’m looking to have my chances evaluated. But I’m also looking to find some match schools. Help??</p>

<p>Chinese female
School: Florida public school
GPA: 4.0 UW
Rank: 2/488</p>

<p>SATs: 770 M/740 CR/750 W end of soph year (I plan to retest in Oct)
SAT IIs: 770 Math IIc, 800 Eng Lit. I plan to take the Math IIc in NOv.</p>

<p>Curriculum:
International Baccalaureate (9th and 10th grade were preIB curriculum) - I’ve tested one SL subject thus far and gotten a 6. Senior year will be 5 IB courses, AP stats, and Anatomy and Physiology Honors</p>

<p>APs (should I send these??):
Lang: 4
Lit: 5
Calc AB: 5</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Honors:
-Summer research program at the University of Florida for 7 wks, awards for research paper and presentation
-Summer research program at Florida State University for 6 wks
-Regional science fair and Florida state science fair. 1st at the former, 4th at the latter in my category. Also won awards there from the Air Force, the Association of Women Geoscientists, and the EFA. I plan to attach my research abstracts as app supplements.
-Model UN: 4 yrs, past Research Coordinator, past Undersecretary-General, current President. Several local awards and a state level award.
-Debate: 4 yrs, several local awards, National Forensic League Degree of Excellence
-Hospice: 4 yrs, current President. Lots of hours from volunteering, including time at a children’s bereavement camp and various fundraising endeavors
-Cancer Support Group: 2 yrs, co-initiators/organizers for our first Relay for Life team this year that raised $3000+ through bake sales, jewelry I made, etc.
-Race for the Cure 2006: Registration committee member, which includes organizing drives to get new participants and handling runner/cancer surviver registration.
-Great Explorations Children’s Museum summer camp counselor (80+ hrs)
-The Science Center summer classes teacher’s assistant (80+ hrs)
-Academic team: 3 yrs, 2nd place team at county finals. Captain for 2 yrs of National Oceans Science Bowl team
-Juniorettes (local girl’s volunteer group, part of Woman’s Club): 2 yrs, Treasurer, newsletter Editor, Public Affairs department chair. Also public affairs department chair for Juniorettes state board. Lots of really interesting volunteer projects (at least, IMO).
-Florida Department of Financial Services essay contest winner
-Mu Alpha Theta: past Treasurer, a few awards at lower levels of math.</p>

<p>I’m also a part of NHS, French Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Environmental club, and French club, but I’m not putting those on the app as I do less than 10 hrs of service for each, so it’s not worth it. I will be starting as a Big Sister in the fall though, so I may include that in my app.</p>

<p>I will also be sending a supplement rec from my Juniorettes advisor, which should be a glowing one, along with my research abstracts.</p>

<p>List of schools thus far:
-UF (safety)
-WUSTL
-Penn (Wharton)
-Dartmouth
-UChicago
-Princeton or Brown or Yale ( I can’t decide, help?)
-Williams or Swarthmore
-??? Possibly Duke, Northwestern, Cornell or Berkeley.</p>

<p>Oh, and I should probably mention that I’m applying as an econ major to those schools that require me to apply to one of their colleges. For the others, I was thinking of just going undeclared. Or as a science major. AAGGGGGHHHH.
Mmm… yeah, I’m a mess. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>hanolulu:</p>

<p>UCB: Match (out of state)</p>

3

<p>I am considering Berkeley vs. Duke and Northwestern. The only thing I fear about UCB is not getting in because I’m out of state.</p>

4

<p>Okay, first of all you seem to be very unclear on where you want to apply–but the good news is that you will be competitive no matter where you apply–so let’s consider your options.</p>

<p>If you want to major in business, you should consider Penn (Wharton)–the best undergraduate business school in the country, and WUSL and Cornell–both of which also have great business schools. UC Berkeley has a business school, but you have to wait until sophomore year to apply to it. Florida’s business school can be your safety.</p>

<p>Here’s a link to consider: </p>

<p><a href=“Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Businessweek - Bloomberg;

<p>If you want to go into Economics, consider the following schools (in-order):
Univ of Chicago, Yale, Duke, Williams or Dartmouth</p>

<p>(University of Chicago has been considered the top Econ school in the country for the past 20 years or so)</p>

<p>If you plan to go into sciences, go to (in-order):
Princeton, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Duke, Yale, Brown or Swarthmore</p>

<p>(all of these schools are excellent in the sciences–certain schools are better in certain things–for example, UC Berkeley is one of the top nuclear engineering schools, Swarthmore is excellent in Biology, etc.)</p>

<p>My view is that you should consider your major carefully because this will help.</p>

<p>Next consider how structured you want things. Brown and Chicago are less structured–Penn (Wharton) is extremely structured. Read up on the schools in the threads on here to see how the schools differ. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>i’m sorry Calcruzer, but I know that Chicago is actually one of the more structured schools in the nation.</p>

<p>the school is famous for its Core Curriculum, which at one point demanded 21 core quarter-courses to be completed in order for one to graduate. this requirement was relaxed to 15 courses, I think in the late 90s. check this link out:</p>

<p><a href=“http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=396[/url]”>http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=396&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>brown, however, has no core requirement whatsoever. both has its own appeal… and, i actually had a hard time picking between the two. I loved the idea of experiencing a set of proven, rigorous curriculum – while at the same time I wanted to create an education that suits me best.</p>

<p>hanolulu, the schools that you have mentioned are all excellent. and i second Calcruzer’s sentiments that you should be confident in applying to any school. in terms of specific departments’ strengths, I agree that Chicago is tops in Econ & Wharton offers the best undergraduate business education. but there is more than just academics to college life. try visiting those colleges, that might help you a bit. =)</p>

6

<p>my advice: given your overall accomplishment, and given that you’re pretty torn about what path to take, i would apply early to princeton. they have so so so much to offer, they really focus on and nurture the undergrads (because they dont have grad schools) and you will take courses there that will blow your mind and will set you on the right path.</p>

7

<p>AND i would advise AGAINST applying as an econ major — colleges get a million bazillion econ major applicants every year. focus, in your application, on your committment to the sciences, and pick an obscure science offering to put as your major on your application. this doesn’t have ANY impact on what major you choose once you’re on campus, but it will give you an edge in the admissions process</p>

8

<p>Look at Harvey Mudd, its one of the top science schools in the nation.</p>