I’m a rising senior at a school in a rural town in Southwest Mississippi. This is a very poor region and historically under-educated and under-represented. Neither of my parents has a 4-year degree. I’m ranked 1/82 and have an ACT of 34. I am an Indian male and hoping to apply as a Biochem major. I speak 3 languages. My school offers only 2 APs(English and US History) but neither class has ever made because so few ever sign up. I’ve taken all honors courses offered. My unweighted GPA is a 4.0 but weighted is a 101.15 out of 100. I am the captain of all three of my school’s academic teams(Quiz Bowl, Science Olympiad, Math & Science). I have over 400 volunteer hours from a special needs center, animal rescue shelter, and the local Boys & Girls club. I’ve started my school’s first Environment Club of which I am very involved. I am a part of the Mayor’s Youth Council(President), NHS(President), and School Student Council(Senior Class Treasurer). I have placed in over 10 state and regional competitions in science olympiad events and received an $8,000 scholarship to Mississippi College for achievements in the Math and Science Competition. I have received over 14 highest academic average awards at my school including Chemistry, Physics, Algebra II, English, Histories, Biology, etc. I received the school Excellent Character Award for my volunteer work and tutoring of peers. And finally, I have had a job at a gas station for the last 3 years. Assuming my essays are good, what are my chances and any advice to increase those chances?
As with other high achieving students seeking top-end colleges, your academic opportunities will be diversified and your admission chances will be increased if you include schools such as Haverford, Swarthmore and Carleton on your greater list.
You’re a classic First Gen from an underrepresented state as far as the NESCAC colleges (colloquially referred to as the Little Ivies) are concerned. Agree that Haverford, Swarthmore and Carleton operate in the same realm.
You sound like a possible Molecular Biology Biochemistry major. Wesleyan has made this one of its specialties.
If you apply to an appropriate number of schools (including perhaps 3 or 4 reaches), then your chances of getting into some high-ranking university or LAC should be fairly good. The overall acceptance rates for top ~20 RUs and T20 LACs tend to range from about 5% - 25%. Your own chances would seem to be a bit higher than that for most of them (20%-40%, maybe) . But it is hard to estimate the true bump up (or down) for specific characteristics (rural location, 1st gen, URM/ORM, etc.)
A lot will depend on your essays and how you tell your story. Agree with others that you’ve got a potentially better than average chance (which is still low for all high reaches). What are YOU looking for in a school, other than “Top 20?” Do you prefer city or rural? Big or small? Have you researched best schools for Biochem majors? You need to do a little more research and let the specific schools you are targeting know why you want that school and what you have to contribute. Also, are you eligible for Questbridge? Good luck. Keep us posted.
Congrats on doing so well in high school, this is to be commended. Being first generation will certainly help. But the first-gen boost will be negated by your ORM status (Indian male applying to a STEM field). Here are some counter-intuitive things you might consider:
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Broaden your field of interest, or consider applying as undecided. One of the liberal arts fields (English, Classics, languages) are not heavily trafficked by ORMs.
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Apply to colleges as far away as possible from home. Geographic preferences might help you out. I know that Rice, Emory, Tulane and Vandy might be appealing, but they all have lots of applicants from MS. Schools like Bowdoin, Colby, Reed, etc don’t have many top notch applicants from MS.
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If finances are not an issue, suggest that you pick a college and apply binding ED. This will boost your chances the highest. The SCEA schools have only a marginal benefit to applying early. If finances are an issue then run the NPC on each of the college websites and see which colleges are affordable.
Seconding Questbridge…speak with your GC about this potential opportunity. https://www.questbridge.org/
In addition to identifying the criteria you would prefer in a college and your reach schools (all T20s are reaches) you have to have at least 4-6 match schools and 1-2 safeties that are affordable. Do you have an affordable in-state option? Is Mississippi College appealing and affordable with the scholarship? It’s not that I don’t think you have a chance at your reaches and matches, it’s that you have to have one nearly sure thing.
Thank you, everyone, for all of this amazing advice. I am literally so grateful for this feedback! As for my college picks, I absolutely love small liberal arts schools like Swarthmore(one person from my school is attending this fall with a full ride) and even Pomona College. I do have many safe options in-state to which I am sure I will have around 75% off such as our state school or the best school in our state, Millsaps College. I am not as interested in the southern top-notch schools as I really do want to go into a far away college. As for my major, I know it is really cliche to choose STEM, but I really could never see myself doing anything else for my 4 years. Even though I’d be interested in learning about humanities, I could not make that my major because that’s just not my passion. I want to be completely honest with myself and who I am. As for my essay, I am confident that it will accurately portray all important aspects of myself such as the struggles I’ve overcome(bouts with inherent racism), my passions, and all of the different things that amalgamate to form me as a person.
If you’d like to concentrate your academics in CHNOPS, then you may want consider colleges with notably flexible curricula. Look into Amherst (Biochemistry & Biophysics), Brown (Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry), Hamilton (Biochemistry / Molecular Biology), Grinnell (Biological Chemistry).
what would you say about my chances at these schools(Amherst, Tufts, Swarthmore, Haverford)?
As a prediction, you would get into at least one of those four schools.
Are there any other pieces of advice you have that could help me increase my chances at any school? My parents income is around 90k so I would not qualify for quest bridge. Also, is there a drawback for going to a LAC for a STEM degree?
It all hinges on how you present in the whole app. That’s not limited to the essay. Learn more about each of these targets, so you have that understanding who they are, what matters to them, and give yourself a fighting chance.
There’s no dearth of great candidates from MS. Just not as many applicants as from many other states.
Asian won’t hold you back, in this case.
Make sure you understand the point of the big essay. It’s not a chance to lay out more details as much as show the traits they look for.
“such as the struggles I’ve overcome(bouts with inherent racism), my passions, and all of the different things that amalgamate to form me as a person.” It can matter, eg, how racism led you to measurably make a difference (show, not just tell.) The rest really needs to reflect what those colleges look for.
I will, once again, discourage writing a “how I struggled and prevailed” themed essay. There are even more essays like that than there are very good applicants. It is not a competition for “who had a more difficult life?” Unless that is the specific prompt for the essay, it is a cliche. Write an essay which will tell something about who you are, and which will give them an idea as to what you are bringing to any college.
Overall, you are a great candidate, which, unfortunately, places you as one of the group of which 80% will be rejected.
You best chance is to find colleges which you like, and let them know that. You are interested in LACs, and they like it when applicants demonstrate interest. So first set up a list of colleges which you like, and make sure that it includes, matches and safeties.
When looking at colleges, do NOT use their acceptance rates as an indication of quality. Do not look at a college and think “it’s great for me, but since it accepts 35% of the kids who apply, it’s not as good as this other college which accepts only 15% of applicants”. Similarly, do not use rankings such as USANews’s as a criterion either. Decide what you want in a college, and search for colleges which provide these things.
Thank you for the feedback! I should have elaborated more specifically on the exact topic of my essay. I wasn’t intending it to be a “oh I’ve gone through so many terrible things and gotten through it” if that’s what it came across as.
My topic is actually based on my real name, which in Hindi, directly translates to “human”. I thought that using this as an overarching theme, I could relate some struggles that I’ve encountered(and how positively viewing and dealing with them helped me grow as a person) and how like any other human being, I have my own personal passions, interests, hobbies, faults, etc. that shape me as an individual. I wanted to use this as way of letting colleges see my every day life and how I could contribute to their communities. This is a major work in progress and was intended to be in a very optimistic tone?.
For a solid school with higher chances of admission, Denison University is a rising-in-the-ranks Midwest LAC that gives merit aid to high stats students. It also is said to value diversity in admissions (racial, geographic, socioeconomic) and, like many Midwest schools, may have fewer Asian-American applicants than colleges in the East. Don’t know about the strength of its biochem (someone here can tell you, I’m sure). It has a beautiful campus in the style of classic New England LACs, and is in a pretty, small town right outside of Columbus, Ohio (also an up-and-coming city for young professionals.) Might be worth checking out, as no college list should be made up of only high reaches!
Regarding LACs in general for natural science fields, they tend to be recognized, and perhaps preferred, for faculty-mentored research opportunities: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/undergrad-research-programs.
They also seem to be disproportionately represented in producing Goldwater Scholars: https://goldwater.scholarsapply.org/2019-goldwater-scholars-by-institution-state/.
Nonetheless, you will want to check curricular breadth at some of the smaller LACs. You might, as an example, want access to a geosciences department in order to extend your range of interests.
@smharnmaas I think that you should try to somehow use your gas station job experiences into the essay, as @Lilbluejay suggested (or so I understand).
@inthegarden When I’m looking for colleges, I definitely want an urban or suburban environment because I have lived in a small town all my life and definitely want new experiences. I love everything big cities have to offer such as the great nightlife, activities, and varieties of cuisines(I am vegan so definitely need a big city for food options). thank you so much though!