Applying to all eight ivies is a mistake and a waste of money; usually people do this for prestige purposes.
Your ACT is fine. Don’t waste time retaking. If you are truly happy at UT if you don’t get in to your reaches, pick 4-5 and work hard on the essays. Your net costs will vary greatly between schools as well so have the budget talk with your parents. HPY give the best aid by far of Ivies.
Are you instate at UT?
Yes, I am an autoadmit.
@Ellemay0 --are you top 10% or top 7%?
@thelonliestmonk Stanford and Harvard are my dream schools followed by MIT and Wharton. Why do you think my chances for Stanford are low?
@carachel2 I am both
Which one do you think will accept you?
The last time I had a chat with an Ivy AO (a couple months ago) and we talked about the Asian “bias”. I thought this comment from this AO was very revealing - she said - why don’t we see Asians with good academics, while having summer or regular jobs in McDonalds, helping the family, having some struggles, showing some personal growth and wanting to study - medieval arts, romance language, or have an interest in theater. Instead, we got hundreds of generic applications with kids with strong academics, upper-middle class, having attended expensive summer programs on Ivy campuses or going onto paid mission trips during summer, playing music for 10+ yrs (piano, violin in particular), play sports like tennis, badminton, and winning STEM competitions like Intel/Siemens, STS Regeneron, Math quiz bowls (AMOs)… and want to do major in Biology (Pre-med), BME, Comp. Sci, Finance, Engineering blah blah… I have Asian students and I told them the odds are stack against them if they do all these above stuff. There are just too many look- alikes in the application pool. The essay is about the only thing to set these kids apart, but seriously, how many versions of gee - I failed in my1st debate team and learn from there or gee - I went to build homes in Gutamela and recognized how lucky I am - essays have these Ivy AOs read during all these years??? JMHO.
@AroundHere I missed the MOSP by 1 point this year. I get a lot of people make IMO apply for US Schools but competing for a country like mexico would be easier than USA. I want to improve my chances at Stanford. What do you recommend I do for this summer?
@BigflowerSusie I never thought it of it like that. It makes me sad but I will still try to write a unique essay about each of these schools. The time it takes for me to write a completely unique essay for each top 10 school is something I will dedicate my time to. I just dont know how to stand out without my essays.
@Ellemay0 I heard from another thread that MIT usually accepts 50% of USAMO qualifiers who didn’t make MOP. I’m pretty sure this percent is lower for Asian males, but you still have a decent chance. You might have a better chance at the other Ivies (not Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT) because those schools don’t get as many USAMO qualifiers.
From personal experience, Asian males who I know who have qualified for USAMO or of USAMO caliber (although not to be harsh or anything, but some have better test scores and more math achievements) have gotten into top schools. Here’s a list: Princeton, MIT/Harvard, Harvard/Stanford/Yale, Harvard, etc.
Also USAMO/USAJMO is achieved by ~500 people each year, so it is pretty significant IMO. I would say that in a given class, at most 250 applicants (including MOPpers) have qualified for AMO.
I definitely think you are a competitive applicant with your academic qualifications and ECs. I would suggest that you maybe retake the ACT (but you really do not have to) and strive for at least 35, but I think that is pretty unnecessary. I think your UW GPA is pretty good but I can’t really say how good your academic qualifications are without your W GPA. Your ECs also seem pretty centralized the STEM area, which shows your focus on electronics and math (a spike). I think overall you seem competitive, but quite average for an Ivy applicant. With these stats you have about as good a chance as most other applicants, which is >5%. I would suggest you apply to some safety schools in case you do not get into one of your more elite options. Good luck! I would appreciate it if you could chance me back here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html
@tripledouble2000 I will try. I am new to this sort of stuff.
@HoloTheWisewolf Why do schools like stanford not accept STEM students as much?
@BigflowerSusie - thanks for sharing this, very illuminating. I knew there was a bias but this hits it home.
"The last time I had a chat with an Ivy AO (a couple months ago) and we talked about the Asian “bias”. I thought this comment from this AO was very revealing - she said - why don’t we see Asians with good academics, while having summer or regular jobs in McDonalds, helping the family, having some struggles, showing some personal growth and wanting to study - medieval arts, romance language, or have an interest in theater. "
There are a lot of Asians who do support their families by working at fast food places, at least here in the bay area, I know many kids working at Safeway, chipotle etc… But the whole point of being parents is to try not to have kids struggle right, wrt finances? Yeah struggling with school and being a teenager is part of life, but why would parents not take high paying jobs so they can have a good income? It would be like telling Google, don’t give me the stocks worth a million dollars, because my kids need to show colleges they’re struggling. lol ok I jest.
“Instead, we got hundreds of generic applications with kids with strong academics, upper-middle class, having attended expensive summer programs on Ivy campuses or going onto paid mission trips during summer, playing music for 10+ yrs (piano, violin in particular), play sports like tennis, badminton, and winning STEM competitions like Intel/Siemens, STS Regeneron, Math quiz bowls (AMOs)… and want to do major in Biology (Pre-med), BME, Comp. Sci, Finance, Engineering blah blah…”
“I have Asian students and I told them the odds are stack against them if they do all these above stuff. There are just too many look- alikes in the application pool.”
A lot of these summer programs outside the country are actually not being in a resort but in the community. The whole point is to stretch the kids and get them out of their comfort zone, isn’t that what colleges want? I agree that there is a financial component as well and some of these summer abroad programs do fund raising to help out.
Good advice.
“The essay is about the only thing to set these kids apart, but seriously, how many versions of gee - I failed in my1st debate team and learn from there or gee - I went to build homes in Gutamela and recognized how lucky I am - essays have these Ivy AOs read during all these years??? JMHO.”
Agree with you on the essay, so if an URM wrote about Guatemala or failing in their first debate, that would be received better?
Qualifying for usamo is not very impressive for Asian males, even MOP can’t guarantee top schools these days. Other than usamo your EC is quite generic and too Asian. Nothing stands out.
@Ellemay0 Stanford does accept a lot of STEM students, so that makes it harder as you are competing with stronger applicants, versus say Cornell. Know that you have a good shot at most schools, although for HPS and MIT it might be more of a gamble.
@jakeowl MOP does not guarantee top schools, but MIT takes around 80% of MOPpers, according to an AO. That’s good enough for most people. Also, many MOPpers are Asian males.
@jakeowl would my chances be higher if i was an female african american?