Help on finding safeties, and chances for HYP & Brown PLME please? :)

Chance Me / Match Me
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<p>female, Chinese (born in the US)</p>

<p>I attend a very competitive but small public high school (not magnet or anything that requires testing) in Westchester County (affluent suburbs next to NYC).</p>

<p>My extra-curriculars aren’t stellar, but I think I have two main themes (Asian heritage, passion for science) and one lesser one (music).</p>

<p>School basics
Weighted GPA: (we don’t use a 4.0 scale, or unweighted :-/) 101
Course load: hardest possible at my school
Class rank: 2/160 I think?</p>

<p>Tests!
SAT: 1520/2320 (720 M, 800 CR, 800 W)
SAT II’s: 800 Chinese, 800 Chemistry, 780 Math 2 (will generally submit chem & math 2) ~ 11th grade
also, 10th grade ~ 740 Math 1, 730 World History; 9th grade ~ 740 Biology
AP’s: 5s on Statistics, Chemistry, World History, US History, English Language</p>

<p>EC’s:

  1. Asian club (9th - 12th grade) >> likely co-president next year
  • I guess this sounds like a kind of frivolous club, but I’m a dedicated member, and it’s consistent with my general trend of being involved with Chinese/Asian cultural activities
  1. piano (since I was 6 :stuck_out_tongue: lol)
  • have not competed since 10th grade, but I perform at several school events throughout the year, as well as with the chamber orchestra
  1. chamber orchestra <a href=“10th%20-%2012th%20grade”>audition-only</a> >> will have position of some sort next year, maybe co-pres
  2. NHS (11th-12th grade)
  3. NMHS (11th-12th grade) >> co-president next year
  4. YOCAA <a href=“10th-12th%20grade”>Young Organization of Chinese & Asian Americans</a> >> maybe a position. possibly not. But anyway, I’m very involved with Chinese School, YOCAA, OCA, etc. related general stuff…</p>

<p>science:
Columbia Science Honors Program <a href=“11th%20-%2012th%20grade”>highly competitive science program; every Saturday morning</a>
science research <a href=“10th%20-%2012th%20grade”>this is my main activity for sure - I have no idea how many hours: 8 weeks last summer and this summer, and throughout the school year, I’d guess at 1000+ hours; Intel ISEF finalist & winner of The Endocrine Society Honorable Mention Award</a></p>

<p>Miscellaneous awards:
AP scholar with distinction (ok, not yet…but I’ve gotten five 5’s so far…so yes? right? lol)
Harvard Book award (bother including? :P)
National French Exam: ranked 9th nationally in 2006 Level 2A (9th grade), ranked 8th nationally in 2008 Level 4A (11th grade)
Avogadro Exam (Chemistry): 2007 winner—scored in the top 5% internationally (10th grade)
OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) Student Leadership Award: 2007 (11th grade)
George Washington University Medal for Excellence in Math and Science (2008)</p>

<p>community service:
Chinese school - TA 3 hours/week <a href=“9th%20-%2012th%20grade”>I graduated from this school in 9th grade after attending for about 10 years and winning a bunch of awards</a>
helping organize, etc. at CNY celebrations and other events by Chinese School & related organizations (9th - 12th grade)</p>

<p>The colleges I’m looking at: HYP, Duke, UPenn, Cornell, Columbia, Brown (PLME), and for a safety SUNY Stony Brook.
Realistic?? :(</p>

<p>I’m really agonizing over a second safety, because any I can think of would cost more than any of the Ivies, I think (e.g. Tufts, NYU, Georgetown?), for our income about $90K (which is actually low in our area…high costs of living!!!)
Any suggestions?</p>

<p>Thanks!!!</p>

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<p>For safeties/matches/lesser reaches, why not look at other 6-8 year accelerated med programs? BU, GWU, Case Western, RPI, Drexel, and Penn State all offer them. </p>

<p>As it stands, your record is amazing (Intel finalist and research are wow!), but no one can count on any of those schools. Duke and Cornell are probably high matches, but no one can predict HYP, Penn, Columbia, or Brown. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>thanks!!! :)</p>

<p>although I should add, it’s not the same finalist that there are only like 20 of each year, it’s the other intel competition and it’s much easier to be “finalist” :)</p>

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<p>Hey, it’s still national recognition in research. (:</p>

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<p>haha thanks :slight_smile:
btw, yeah about the other safeties, I don’t think I"ll apply to any mroe BA/MD programs, I’m not dead-set on them. just that I happened to love Brown, so I figured if I"m gonna apply there anyway, might as well take a shot at PLME!</p>

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<p>You honestly have stellar stats, but you’re still up against stiff competition as a Tri-State Asian. Your involvement with science definitely makes you stand out and for a female is certainly a plus. However, your school choices seem based only on prestige and not at all on personal preference (and Tufts, NYU, and Georgetown are hardly safeties! Low matches, maybe, but not true safeties, so I’d just stick with the state system especially if your finances are strained). </p>

<p>For someone as statistically qualified as you are, I would say Cornell, UPenn, and Duke are <em>probably</em> matches (but are fickle enough in admissions not to count on 100%). Otherwise, you’ll want to have quite a few reaches, but probably not as many as you have now. And keep in mind personal preferences–Columbia and Brown are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum curriculum wise (core vs. open). And HYP aren’t glued together as one entity, so make sure each school appeals to you (Princeton’s undergrad focus and more conservative student body is pretty different from Harvard’s big city research-oriented vibe). Try and narrow your Ivies down and pick some more realistic bets as well. Maybe consider Vanderbilt, Northwestern, John Hopkins, and/or Rice.</p>

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<p>thanks :slight_smile: I guess when I say safety I mean more low match, yeah</p>

<p>and yeah, the thing is I don’t actually have huge preferences in my college, so I picked so many Ivies mostly because, well, they’re good schools with good financial aid :stuck_out_tongue: I really like Brown’s open curriculum and could see myself doing a lot with that, but at the same time I don’t mind a college with a rigorous core. haha. see, I’m not terribly good at making decisions…</p>

<p>I’ve visited all the colleges on my list and honestly loved them all! the ones currntly on my list, I think, are ones I’m pretty set on because I honestly liked them a lot</p>

<p>My only strong preferences are: good financial aid, <em>preferably</em> Northeast, not too much of a party school</p>

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<p>If you’re thinking about engineering, a good safety would be Purdue University. UPenn would probably be a match unless you’re going for Wharton.</p>

<p>Chance me please!
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/547023-chance.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/547023-chance.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>ooh, I did forget to put that all in my original post, didn’t I?</p>

<p>I want to be pre-med. I want to major in Bio or Chem I think (boring I know :P), and also maybe some business (minor?) and Asian languages (Japanese, Korean, and refresh my Chinese :P). I don’t think engineering is on my list…</p>

<p>oh and hello1991, sorry idk anything about those schools :frowning: your stats in general look pretty solid though</p>

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<p>bumpity boppity boo</p>