Please chance me for Biochem major as a TX resident [no rank, 97.42 GPA, 1530 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: Texas
  • Type of high school (Small, Private, no class rank)

**Don’t take budget into account for this

**Intended Major: Biochem/Biology

  • Unweighted HS GPA: (97.42)*
  • Weighted HS GPA: (102.42. School takes average of classes. AP is +8 to your grade. >102 is generally top 10)
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 740/790/1530 SAT

List your HS coursework
Honors English 9+10, AP English 11+12
Honors Bio + Chem + Physics
Anatomy + Physiology
Robotics I
Research
Chinese (3 years)
AP History (4 years)
AP Bio + Chem
AP Calc AB (and prerequisite courses)
AP Stats
AP Psych

Awards
Merit scholarship to my high school

Extracurriculars
Tennis:
JV 1 year
Varsity 2 years
State Champion
Coached children

Piano:
Won piano competition at UT school of music
Play as an accompanist at children’s violin recitals

Coached children taekwondo as a black belt

Started Red Cross Chapter for upcoming year
Leader of school event planning committee
Mu Alpha Theta

Volunteer at multiple hospitals
Shadow at children’s therapy
Shadowed doctor internationally

Other smaller clubs but no leadership roles not listed

Essays/LORs/Other
*(Good LORs, solid essay)
Worth noting that I moved states during summer going into junior year so extracurricular/awards might be less because of that

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

UT Austin: Target
Texas A&M: Safety
SMU: Safety
Rice: Mid reach
WashU: Low Reach
Vanderbilt: Mid Reach
Johns Hopkins: High Reach

2

It is less obvious what your chances are at Texas public universities, where admissions is rank focused.

UT Austin (and presumably other Texas public universities) will derive a rank for you, but you will not be able to know what it is.

3

So you’re a state champ in tennis - any thought on being recruited?

I hope when you look at your list, you consider budget.

I think you got the first three right - and the last four are all reaches - no matter how you want to categorize them. I could see getting into Hopkins but not the other three or vice versa.

If you’re happy with the first three, then you’re good to go.

If you are concerned with your biggies, both Wisconsin and Minnesota are highly rated in biochem - and for a private that’s less than a reach, Lehigh and Case Western would be strong. And for a hybrid - public but smaller, Pitt. And if money is no concern, Tufts would be another strong one.

But you’re highly likely at A&M and SMU as you note and I suspect UT - so if the first two are good for you, the list is great as is.

Good luck.

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4

Even if not recruited, champion in a large state like Texas may be an impressive achievement in a “regular” extracurricular.

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5

I have difficulty understanding how you find time and energy to complete all of your ECs and still maintain very high grades.

If you are considering medical school as a possible future option, then you need to budget for a full 8 years of university, where the last 4 will most likely be very expensive. Even if you are not considering medical school, biochemistry or biology are majors where some form of graduate school is likely. To me this makes your in-state public schools very attractive, particularly since you have multiple very good in-state public schools. I would hope that your chances would be quite good at UT Austin, although your guidance counselor would know better than I. TA&M is also very good.

When I see a student with exceptional academics, plus “tennis state champion”, I wonder whether it would be worth also sending in an application to Stanford. It would be a reach, and I would only consider it if you and your parents are okay with whatever the NPC predicts plus the cost of whatever graduate program (medical school, master’s, or otherwise) you are likely to want to consider.

It sounds like you are doing very well.

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6

My immediate reaction is your Safeties and Targets are not necessarily much like your Reaches. So I would suggest you think about adding some of what I would call Likelies (or Foundations) and Targets that are more like those Reaches, if in fact you had substantive reasons for choosing Reaches like those. Some of which might actually offer you merit as well–you said not to consider budget but it certainly doesn’t hurt to get some merit.

If you explain more about what you are really looking for in a four-year college experience, academically and non-academically, the people around here are great at generating leads. You still need to do the final investigation and reflection yourself, but with your numbers and a generous budget you will have many to consider.

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7

Please refer to updated thread