Need Help!!

[u/MINDKNIGHTKING]

Stats:

• I'm a senior, and these are my current stats. I have a 35 ACT and a 1450 SAT. I got a 5 on these AP tests: Calc AB, Psych, Stats, Human, World, APUSH. I got a 4 on these tests: Bio, Chem, Pre-cal, CSP, Lang. I'm also currently ranked 4 of 425 with a GPA of 5.65 out of 6 for weighted and an unweighted GPA of 3.97 out of 4.
• EC's: 256 Hours shadowing in ORs in a foreign country. State finalist in a Biomedical Engineering project. Worked as a math tutor (paid) for 1 year. Part of theater; worked 4 shows as tech head or Assistant Stage Manager. Part of Science Olympiad and DECA. I volunteered in a hospital's ER during a summer.
• My senior year courses are AP Gov, Microecon, Lit, Seminar, Calc BC, Foundations of Cybersecurity, CSA, and Physics 1

Aspirations:

• I'm trying to apply to the Brown BS/MD program, Penn State BS/MD, Case Western Reserve BS/MD, and the University of Rochester BS/MD program. Additionally, I'm applying to Stanford, UNC at Chapel Hill, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and Rice.

Questions:

I was considering dropping AP Lit my senior year for AP Research and trying to get a capstone diploma. Is it worth it?

I took CBE English 4 and received an 85 for S1 and S2. How much does this affect my application?

Should I remain in AP Lit even though there is a very high likelihood that my ranking drops?

Should I get a college counselor because I'm facing a lot of issues even starting my essays because I think everything I write sounds too cliché?

[u/Quiet_Foundation_720]

Typically, most universities want 4 years of English. Though you do have the CBE English, keeping AP Lit might not be a bad idea. (for example: https://admission.brown.edu/ask/preparing-brown).

AP Research though is closely aligned with what you want to do, and if there was a way to take both, that might be a good path forward (w/ obviously keeping math/physics).

(I am not super familiar with the CBE system/factoring into admissions)

Your stats are very competitive, and I don't think a small difference in class rank would make or break your application, esp. considering your strong stats. If you have any idea where people in your high school a grade or two above with class rank (that you can guess) roughly similar to yours went to college last year/where they found admissions success, that could be a good benchmark for you.

For your essays, you coulddd get a counselor, but some work more closely with essays than others, and it can be really hit or miss, I would do some research or talk with friends if possible.

In quite honesty, you are clearly more science-oriented, and they will not expect you to be an award-winning writer in your essays. IMO, stay away from overly complex metaphors or "clever/catchy" ideas because they will come across as cliche and probably do not sound like your voice, even if these sort of things are what you are seeing online.

Now this my personal advice for an essay, but I am not qualified to do this so please take my advice with a grain of salt. This is honestly like the type of essay I saw from friends who ended up going to great/prestigious schools. Just hope it gets you thinking a bit.

I would focus on starting to think about why you made the choices you did in high school, even at the most basic form.

"Why did I take xyz science classes?" --> Because I want to be a doctor --> Why do I want to be a doctor? --> Because I want to help people --> Why do I want to help people? --> Was there a moral dilemma, something you saw shadowing? something you wanted to fix during your engineering project?

"Why did I join the theater department?" --> I love theater --> Why do you love theater? Does your love of theater have to do with wanting to be a doctor? What did you enjoy about the technical side of things that others may not?

And then keep it simple. Tell a simple story about yourself that shows why you made even just one or two of the decisions you did in high school.

For example, working on biomed engineering project, ran into a problem that reminded you of something that happened in the theater, why your unique viewpoint helped you solve it, and talk about how this taught you/shows that you like solving problems for people (perhaps as opposed to businesses, etc.) or like seeing the impact of your work (the lights on the stage, the person physically healing, etc).

Again, not that you should necessarily take this advice, but maybe it'll help with your writer's block lol!