<p>I go to a residential Math+Science high school w/ unweighted grades and no class rank, hence the lower GPA.</p>
<p>Took AP Literature, AP Language, AP Chemistry, AP Calc BC, AP World History, AP US History and got all 5's.</p>
<p>800 SAT2 Chem, 770 SAT2 Math and US History, 2400 SAT, 220 PSAT [national merit]</p>
<p>EC's: Have done research at a professional lab for 10th-12th grade, had a paper published in 11th grade. Applied for Siemens but did not make it. Speech team captain with various regional awards, but have never made State. Qualified for the National Forensics League tournament in LD debate, but did not advance past the inital rounds. Have acted in a One-Act and a full length 2hr play, and have directed a One-Act and a full length 2hr play from 9-12th grades, but teched for a full length play in 12th grade. Write for the school newspaper and tutor in my school's Writing Center. Am a paid SAT/ACT tutor, work roughly 3-4 hours a week. </p>
<p>I'm looking to apply to either Chemistry or Chemical Engineering programs. I'm assuming Chemistry will give me a better chance. I'm expecting my humanities rec to be very good, but my math/science to be nothing special. </p>
<p>Given a 8.5/10 essay, what are my chances?</p>
<p>Schools:
UIUC
UC [EA]
Caltech [EA]
MIT [EA]
Washington University in St.Louis
Carnegie Mellon
Rice
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Columbia [dream school]
Brown</p>
<p>Your stats match up pretty well with all of the schools on your list. However, most have impossibly low acceptance rates (many below 10% and most others below 20%) it makes applying to any of these schools a bit of a crap shoot.</p>
<p>I prefer the term ‘statistical match’ or ‘high match’ to “reach” in these cases, but perhaps that’s just me. This being said:</p>
<p>Chicago, Columbia, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Stanford and MIT – have the lowest admissions percentages. They are closely followed by:</p>
<p>Cal Tech, Rice, Brown, and Wash U.</p>
<p>With your grades and Scores, CMU and UIUC should be well within your reach, though each occasionally has unpredictible results so can’t truly be a called a safety.</p>
<p>Now, to the question I think you’re asking.</p>
<p>Your grades are ok for the schools we’re talking about, but they don’t look to be valedectorian level. I think your ECs look fine. The list looks like a good one – though I’d try to find one true safety school. (where do you live – flagship State School, may work well here).</p>
<p>My guess is that if you apply to these schools you have an excellent shot at being admitted to one or more of the schools Catria refers to as “Reaches”.</p>
<p>Yeah, my high school pratically directly feeds into UIUC so I know for almost sure I’ll be admitted there. Thanks for the advice! Would it make a difference if I applied to chemistry vs. chemical engineering? I’m an Asian female, if it helps.</p>
<p>Maybe the major that most relates to the lab work and research paper.<br>
The theatre and writing offer a nice balance to the STEM. The competition often has math-sci clubs/competitions through the hs. Can you point to any involvement in those beyond Siemens?</p>
<p>Any chance you have something else you do, besides the writing center, that is volunteer? Could be church, community service, related to your culture, etc. Many kids omit that, thinking it doesn’t matter, but it can. Good luck.</p>
<p>Re: Asian Female. There’s a lot of talk about whether Asians are an Over-Represented Minority and are disadvantaged. To be honest, I have no idea as to whether this is a real issue or what any specific univerity does.</p>
<p>Female – this should be a big advantage. As you may know, Females are underrepresented in the STEM fields. Top colleges go out of their way to recruit Qualified Females in these areas. If you are seriously considering engineering, Chem E may provide a greater advantage for you. Chemistry is usually in the Arts & Sciences College/School/Dept. A&S can even out their M/F enrollment ratio through admits in other majors where there are better ratios. Engineering schools are 100% STEM and can give an edge. Two years ago, my D (also deciding between Chem E and Chem) decided to primarily apply to Eng. Schools on this reasoning. Also, she felt that because of Engineering First Year required courses, it would be easier to change from Eng to A/S than the other way around. </p>
<p>I cannot say how much of an advantage the schools you’ve listed give to female Eng students. However, one example Cornell (not on your list, but maybe worth a look) – last I looked at published data, the admit rate at Engineering was roughly twice as high for females as for males. Also, it is believed that the only non-athlete, non-URM admits who received “likely letters” (essentially notice you’re in before the official date) were female engineers. Also, Northwestern (not on your list), where my D decided to go – has an excellent theater department if you wanted to also pursue that interest (this was a factor in D’s decision).</p>