<p>I’ve noticed that there are tons and tons of threads asking about the chances of getting into some ivy-league or the equivilent for Pre-Med, but I have a few questions that aren’t answered yet for me. First of all, I’m in love with Carnegie Mellon, and I desperately want to get into it. My parents work there and I’ve grown up there through camps and other activities like the Spring Festival. I want it to be my first choice (the pre-med college specifically is Mellon College of Science, more well known as MCS). Currently though, I’m in a bit of a dilemma. These are my grades so far (dilemma explained below this):
Written as: Class---Letter Grade Semester1/Semester2 (corresponding GPAs)</p>
<p>Freshman Year:
Honors Algebra 2---A/A (4.5/4.5)
Honors English 9---B/A (4/4.5)
Honors Chemistry---A/A (4.5/4.5)
History of Western Cultures (req., Sem1), Civics (req., Sem2)---A/A (4/4)
CISCO1 (Sem1), TV Productions (Sem2)---A/A (4/4)
Dance1 (Sem1, instead of Gym), Business Info Tech (required, Sem2)---A/A (4/4)
Spanish 2---A/A (4/4)</p>
<p>Sophmore Year so far:
H. Advanced Pre-Calc (basically AP Calc AB but w/o AP weighting)---A (4.5)
H. English 10---A (4.5)
H. Biology---A (4.5)
Western Cultures (req.)---A (4)
AP Chemistry---B (4.5)
Spanish 3---A (4)
Gym (req)---A (4)</p>
<p>Outside Activities include: Solo violin (8 years now), School Orchestra, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra (2 yrs and counting), Science Club, and Rifle Team</p>
<p>Achievements(?): Acceptance into NSLI-Y for semester-long study (I didn't go due to missing too much classwork but I have the letter), helping out at Mellon Institute lab for 100+ hours</p>
<p>SATs and APs: SATII Chinese (800), will be taking the AP Chinese, SATII Math II, and both SATII and AP Chemistry tests later in the year. Currently enrolled in SATI Prep class. PSAT score was 197 w/o studying.</p>
<p>Currently, I'm working on trying to win the Congressional Award and a violin competition. I'm trying looking to shadow a dentist as well over the summer of 2011.</p>
<p>Future classes (Junior and Senior year): AP US History, AP Biology, AP Calc BC, AP Physics Mechanics, AP Environmental Geo-Science, AP English Language & Composition, Honors Organic Chemistry, Honors Anatomy, H. Spanish 4 and eventually AP Spanish 5, and maybe Fashion Arts just for a little spice in life.
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<p>The biggest woes of my school transcript as of now are the two Bs I have. How do they affect my chances of getting into CMU? I have no interest in going into Harvard/MIT/Berkeley, but I was recently looking into Yale and Johns Hopkins. If I get an A in the second semester of AP Chem and a 5 on the AP Chemistry test, would the admissions officers forgive the B I have right now? The worst part is the fact that I'm an Asian, and so from what I've heard, many colleges have begun to rule more negatively against Asian students because of an overpopulation of Asians on campuses. Thus, to make more clear of my dilemma:</p>
<ol>
<li>How do my grades/achievements affect my chances (noting that I'm ethnically Asian)?</li>
<li>What else should I do (besides clubs since I can't afford the time to do any more of those) to boost my chances? </li>
<li>What other pre-med colleges should I look into?</li>
<li>Any other classes I should take?</li>
<li>Should I just start crying in a corner and binge on Hershey's chocolate for eternity?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you so much in advance for your patience and help! I know I typed a lot (it took me about half an hour to make this post make sense!) and so I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to read and maybe even reply.</p>
<p>I got into CMU with two B’s. If you don’t get in, it won’t be because of the B’s.</p>
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<p>Some of us are destined to be short with slow metabolisms. Some of us are destined to have really bad acne. Some of us are born into high-achieving Asian families in the United States. But that’s life - sometimes it’s fair, and sometimes it’s not, and it’ll be better if you get over it.</p>
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<p>The better question to ask is: What can I do about it? My guess is that there’s not much you can do, so better not to spend time fussing over it.</p>
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<p>Are your parents faculty? If so, that’s already a big boost, more than other high-achieving Asian-Americans have. Be grateful for your good fortune.</p>
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<p>Other colleges where you think you might be happy. Take a look at the other schools your peers are interested in. Since you’re so bright and high-achieving, I’m sure you’re getting lots of mail from colleges looking to recruit you - take a look at the ones that you think are interesting.</p>
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<p>Fun ones. It’d be good to see some personality on your transcript.</p>
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<p>If you must cry and binge on chocolate, at least binge on good chocolate. It pained me and my childhood memories to realize that Hershey’s is crappy chocolate.</p>
<p>I’m South Asian but same game. I think whats really important is to break the asian stereotype. Don’t be just a violing (and piano?) player, leader of the science (and/or math) club. The stereotypical asian plays the violin and piano, is strongly involved in the math/science clubs, does something at their parents or family friend’s lab, maybe does debate.</p>
<p>Anything that makes you stand out from that (like the rifle club) can help you. Do stuff you’re interested in of course but try to really be an individual.</p>
LOL. Connection matters though. It could open some door to great opportunities which others may have a hard time to have access to. This may be one reason why some students choose to go to some college which is perceived to have more (research) resources.</p>
<p>I very much like the paragraph starting with “Some of us are destined to be short with slow metabolisms…” posted by shades_children.</p>
My mom had transferred from Pitt research over to CMU just so that this might happen. I’m really thankful for that.</p>
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…Yeah…the mailbox has been empty for quite a while now. Have they somehow forgotten me? Maybe I will take up on your advice for chocolate and switch over to Belgian/German/Swiss chocolate…=D</p>
<p>ChemFreak, I personally love playing the violin, unlike many Asians who were forced by their parents to pick it up, but I don’t know if I can somehow express that on my transcript. Science club wise, I’m just a member who does her job. I’m trying to make it to Varsity on the Rifle team and get a letter, but I’ll have to see how far that attempt goes…Thank you for your tips!</p>
<p>I’m surprised I’ve gotten 3 replies (THREE!), and I’m really thankful for all of your advice (more won’t hurt though, so keep them coming =])</p>