Discussion

Demographics: - Intended Major: Academics: - GPA: - SAT/ACT: ECs: - Awards: - Schools: Reach: - Match: - Safety: - chance me

Demographics: - Academics: - GPA: - SAT/ACT: ECs: - Acceptances: - Waitlists: - Rejections: - Going to: Reflection:

Demographics: - Academics: - GPA: - SAT/ACT: ECs: - Acceptances: - Waitlists: - Rejections: - Going to: Reflection:

Demographics: - Academics: - GPA: - SAT/ACT: ECs: - Acceptances: - Waitlists: - Rejections: - Going to: Reflection:

so i'm trying to figure out what to do next summer. i already did ISEF as a junior (finalist, second author on a published paper from my uni research), and my mom's pretty clear we can't afford another expensive program. which honestly is fine because i've been spoiled with opportunities here in atlanta. my options are basically: (1) keep going with my professor at the university on a new project, no pay but they said i could probably get another publication out of it, or (2) a paid STEM camp that looks prestigious on paper but i'd have to convince my mom it's worth the cost, and it's more of a 'experience' thing than actual research. i'm leaning toward staying with my professor because the work is real and i genuinely care about it, but i'm worried that admissions committees will think i'm just repeating myself or that i'm not 'well-rounded' enough without trying something new. my stats are honestly kind of mid compared to my ECs (1520 SAT, 3.95 UW GPA), so i feel like i need to keep stacking on the research side to compensate. is it weird to go back to the same lab, or should i force myself to try the paid program.

Demographics: - Chinese-American female - Bay Area (CA) - top STEM magnet public HS - full pay - no hooks Intended Major: Biology / Pre-Med Academics: - GPA: 3.98 UW / 4.6 W - Rank: 7/420 - SAT: 1560 (retaking to maybe 1570) - Coursework: 10 APs by end of junior year, all 5s so far - AP Bio, AP Chem, AP STEM heavy ECs: - USABO Semifinalist junior year - SUMaC (summer after sophomore year, biology track) - Volunteer at local hospital, ~100 hrs accumulated - Biology research with mom's connections at Genentech, working on protein folding project, hoping for poster at regional conf - Varsity track (sprints), 4 years, team captain senior year - Tutoring freshman/sophmore STEM students, 5 hrs/wk Awards: - USABO Semifinalist - AP Scholar with Distinction (junior) - Team captain accolade (track) - AMC 12 honor roll Schools: Reach: - Brown PLME - Northwestern HPME - Pittsburgh GAP Reach: - Stanford - Penn - JHU Match: - Rice - Cornell - UC San Diego Safety: - UCLA - UC Berkeley ngl im torn between committing to BS-MD apps (probably strongest shot at PLME or Pitt) vs rolling the dice on Stanford/Penn for traditional pre-med. everyone at my school does the traditional route and it feels safer but also risky. am i being dumb.

Demographics: - Indian female - Georgia - public magnet HS - upper-middle income - single parent household - bisexual (idk if this counts as a hook) Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering Academics: - GPA: 3.92 UW / 4.51 W - SAT: 1520 - Coursework: 11 APs (Bio, Chem, Physics C, Calc BC, Comp Sci, Lit, Lang, Stats, Micro, Macro, Seminar), mostly 4s and 5s - Rank: top 10% but school doesn't rank ECs: - Research at local university on protein misfolding and neurodegenerative disease, 2 years, second author on a published paper in a real journal - ISEF finalist 2024 (materials science category) - Founded and run a women-in-STEM mentorship program at my school, ~25 mentees - Volunteer tutor at community health clinic, 3 hours per week - Debate team, 3 years, regional qualifier sophomore and junior year Awards: - ISEF finalist - Published research author - National Merit Semifinalist - Georgia state debate finalist (junior year) Schools: Reach: - Stanford - MIT - Johns Hopkins (BME specific) - Duke - Northwestern Match: - Georgia Tech BME - Rice - CMU - Case Western Reserve Safety: - University of Florida (engineering) - Auburn i know my SAT is decent but the GPA/stats vs research pipeline makes me nervous. the paper is real but idk if it carries enough weight for the reaches. be honest.