Incoming Junior.... Am I on the right track for an IVY, UCLA, USC?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Rankings:
Freshmen year: 1/272
Sophomore year: Not set in stone, but MOST likely considering schools about to end, 1/300 (a lot of students came this year, helps with my ranking).

Hypothetical Scores:
APs (not official but pretty accurate): BIO: 4/APWH: 4
Subject Tests (again not official but based off of the 4 mocks I have taken): BIO: 770
SAT (an average from 3 Khan Academy Tests): 1480

Summer of 2016: Spanish 1: A both semesters

Freshmen year: UNW: 4.0/W: 4.0
PE: A both semesters
Band: A both semesters
Spanish 2: A both semesters
H English: A both semesters
Acc geometry: A both semesters
H Biology: A both semesters

Summer of 2017: Spanish 3: A both semesters

Sophomore year (currently): UW: 4.0, W: 4.3
Algebra 2: A
AP Bio: A
H English: A
PE: A
Academic Decathlon: A
AP World History: A

Current ECs:
-President and Founder of Pre-Med Ed (10-12): Helped 8 people start to volunteer in multiple hospitals. A club dedicated to Pre-Med internships and volunteering opportunities. Altogether raised over 600 Hours in volunteering. Expanding to multiple schools. Raised $500 in Donations for a credible charity.
-One of the founder members of History Bowl (11-12)
-President and founder of National Science Honor Society (11-12)
-Co founder of Bio Olympiad (11-12)
-Speech and Debate (NFL) (9-12): 60 Points so far, qualified in Congress (Freshmen/Sophmore). Currently doing Congress, Parli, SPAR, and Impromptu.
Science Bowl (10-12, Next Year: Historian): B Team Biology Expert(Made it to 6th place in regional)
Academic Decathlon (10-12)
Volley ball: JV 9th and starting JV 10th (Most Improved 10th)
CSF (9-12)
NHS (10-12, Next Year: Vice President)

Volunteering:
Hospital: 180 hours and counting.

Future: !!!NOT FOR SURE, MAY CHANGE OVER TIME!!!

Summer 2018: UCLA Pre-Med Scholarship program (Extremely Competitive: over 200 applicants, only 24 accepted)

Junior Year:
AP Comp Sci
AP US History
AP Lang
AP Environmental Science
Pre-Calc
Academic Decathlon

Summer 2019: Cancer Research Internship. Stipend of $5,000.
Physics

Senior Year:
AP Chem
AP Calculus
AP Lit
AP Gov/AP Econ
Academic Decathlon
College Class (Prob Science/Biology orientated)

If I score a few 5s and 4s and probably get a higher SAT and add on a couple subject tests (750+), would I be a strong candidate for say Stanford or an ivy? As you can probably see from my ECs/Summer programs, I want to major in something related to biology. I know Sanford and Ivys are a reach for everyone, even very qualified people. Do you think I could possibly match to USC or UCLA if i keep my grades up and perhaps improve them to the best of my ability?

2

Are you in state for UCLA? Have you talked to your parents about affordability?
Your stats look great… especially for UCLA and USC. Just keep in mind that nothing is a sure thing any more and have a couple of safeties that you’d be happy with.

3

Yeap I am in state and in the LA district.

My parents have put aside a good amount of funding for college already and are planning to add more down the road. I forgot to mention, but I made $5k from reselling shoes and clothing, which has helped with finance for my family in various ways.

Also I dont know if this would help my application, but I am the only child and first generation. However, there are 4 adults living in my household (1 studio apartment… including me)

4

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are good. Write great essays, continue focusing your ECs for leadership positions and to display your interests, win awards, and you could get accepted to any of these schools

5

Would an Ivy or Stanford be within reach? Yes they are reaches for everyone, but it would be a dream come true to get accepted.

6

Freshman year, why no history or social sci? Why did you drop foreign lang? Seriously, you need to look at your possible college targets and see the coursework they want you to cover.

At this point, no one can say you’re competitive. You have no real scores and are guessing. If you want a bio or other stem major, why take AP enviro in jr year, instead of AP chem, so you can show the test score? Are you certain you’ll get physics in? Becaue if you miss that in the summer, some other opportunity arises, you won’t even have 3 lab sciences to show.

Also, you’ve got a lot of emphasis on “founding” things, but that’s not the same as responsibilities and impact. And 3 of your founder things haven’t been done yet.

You really need a sense of what does impress compeitive colleges That comes from your knowledge of what they do look for. It’s more than stats and all that founding.

7

Thanks for the critiques. Wouldnt APES be a better class over AP Chem to take junior year if I am planning on majoring in Biology?

To address your history/social science concerns, my school does not allow freshmen to take any history/social science classes. And I finished Spanish 3 last summer.

And I wouldnt say my test scores are based off of a guess. They reflect real test scores I have gotten on exams that I have taken on my own/ in class… I will do an update with my real life scores so that it can give you something to compare with :).

Again thanks alot, it helps!

8

bump

9

As a possible Biology major, you will want to take Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Not all have to be AP level but for the types of schools you are targeting, AP level would be better. If you still have an interest in APES, then save that for Senior year.

10

If you want a shot at the most competitive schools, you need to have taken the most “rigorous” course load. That means Physics, Chem and Bio at the very least, and three years of a language (not up to level 3, you need to have taken it for 3 out of 4 years in HS). Your core academic courses need to be very very solid, so look at what your reach schools suggest. SAT/ACT score will be very important as well. You have great ECs so definitely keep that up, but remember that those will only help you if you have the rest covered. Ditto with secondary testing. Focus on the rigor of your coursework and your GPA in core academic classes.

11

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