What college can I get into?- Oxford, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Cornell

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Transcript-
Freshman:
Algebra I Honors A-
Band A+
Earth Science Honors A+
english Honors A
French A
Pre AP World History B+
Science Research A

Sophomore:
Geometry Honors A-
AP World History A
Trigonometry Honors A-
English Honors A
French A-
Chemistry Honors B+
Band A+

Junior:
AP English A+
Pre AP French A+
AP Calculus BC A+
Science Research A+
AP Biology A+
AP US History A+
AP Psychology A+
AP Comp Sci Principles A+

College essay: I’m planning on writing how cheerleading and premed connects based on a suggestion from a fellow college confidential user to make a unique essay. I will definitely write about why premed is important to me.

Weighted GPA: 4.34
Unweighted GPA: 4.05 out of 4.33
SAT: 1600
ACT: 36
SAT II: Chem 800, Biology 800, Physics 800, English 800, Math Level 2 800
AP: 5 World History, 5 Biology, 5 English, 5 Calculus BC, 5 US History, 5 Psychology, 5 Computer Science Principles, 5 Chem, x English, x French, x Physics, x Government, x Economics
Extracurriculars: 4 science awards, 4 years of science research, 3 years of science olympiad, 3 English Honor Society, 2 years of Math Honor Society, 1 year of French Honor Society, 3 years of varsity cheerleading, 2 years of band (wind ensemble- honors), 3 years of Interact club, Cofounder of the Medicine Club
Summer experience: Shadowed a surgeon, Columbia Pre-College Program (1 year), Did a whole math course over the summer to get ahead, volunteered at hospital, research at a top college for one summer, science DNA summer program (2 years), Stanford Cardiothoracic High School Summer internship
Ethnicity: Asian American

Concerns: my GPA and transcript are concerning to me. I’m also afraid that I do not have a hook to help me stand out.

2

I don’t think your GPA should be a concern because you have perfect test scores. However, I would try to write awesome essays and portray you passion throughout them. Remember these universities get a lot of A students with full sat scores and everything so try to stand out above them

3

I would check out Oxfords online information for international students right away, and afterwards head over to the international forum and check out threads about Oxford, so you can understand what a UK university would be looking for. I can tell you your complement of 800 SATs and AP 5s will be very interesting to Oxford. Caveat: there is no such thing as pre-med in the UK. if you apply for undergraduate medicine, there is a government quota for international students, making entry extremely competitive. You could also check out course syllabi for othe biomedical sciences, but you will have to do very careful research into your chances for continuing for postgrad medicine in both the UK and the US.

4

I would advise against Oxford if your intention is to go on to medical school in the US.

BTW your scores are exceptional - congratulations. If you do think about Oxford you have a very good basis for an application, at least for a science (as Tigerle says medicine is insanely competitive for internationals) but you may need to rethink your personal statement a bit. If you do apply there for medicine, you want to ensure that you have some experience working with people - it isn’t clear from your post what the hospital volunteering involved.

5

How do you have AP scores for this year’s classes?

6

“4 years of science research…research at a top college for one summer…”

If you did interesting work, produced a paper, entered it in a major competition, etc., schools will see that as demonstrating a passion, which combined with your grades and standardized test scores gives you a nice shot at some top schools. If you didn’t do anything demonstrating initiative or creativity in your research, you’re likely to come off as just another extremely hard working asian kid who checked off the research box with nothing to differentiate you from thousands of others with similar stats…