A typical thread in this forum.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, CC. I'm new here, if you can't tell, and was interested in receiving some feedback.</p>

<p>Colleges:[ul]
[<em>] Columbia - Early Decision
[</em>] Cornell
[<em>] MIT
[</em>] Stevens Institute of Technology
[<em>] Rensselaer Polytech. Inst.
[</em>] UPenn
Safeties:
[<em>] Rutgers Univ. - New Brunswick
[</em>] Drexel Univ.[/ul]</p>

<p>Background:
Asian Male; So. New Jersey
Parent's Education: Both B.S. Electrical Engineering
Public High School (Semi-Competitive)
GPA: 4.1 W/3.7 UW
Class Rank: N/A (School doesn't rank.) Probably top 15-20%.</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT: 2190 (760M, 730CR, 700W)
- Retaking in October</p>

<p>SATIIs:
Math1 and 2: 760
Physics: 720
US Hist: 680</p>

<p>AP Tests:
Comp Sci A - 5
US Hist - 3 (Struggled a bit on US History, if you can't tell.)
Euro Hist - 4
Physics B - 5
Calc BC - 5 (AB Subscore - 5, not that it really matters.)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:[ul]
[<em>] Light Technician, Fall Play and Spring Musical (7th Year this year); Head of crew, 11th and 12th grade
[</em>] Math Team, 9-12; Top Scorer in County - 11th
[<em>] Academic Team, 9-12;
[</em>] JV Tennis, 10 (and probably 12); Year off due to broken foot and job.
[<em>] Honor and Service Society, 11, 12; A community service school club with requirements of 3.7 UW GPA or higher to be inducted; 5 hours
[</em>] International Affairs Club - 10 - 12; A club that organizes and attends Model UNs, organizes public speakers for the school, and holds forums for discussion of current events
[<em>] Policy Debate JV - 10 (Most likely Varsity in 12, few formalities before confirmed)
[</em>] Orchestra - Viola (Since 2000)
[<em>] Young Republicans Club - 10 - 12
[</em>] Community Service: Light Technician for various town shows - 52 hours
[li] LeadAmerica Conferences - Summer 2008[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Work Experience:[ul]
[li] Cashier/Deli Worker - 11, 12 (20-30 hours per week)[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Honors and Awards:[ul]
[<em>] National Latin Exam Awards (Summa Cum Laude) - 9 - 11
[</em>] Honor Roll - 9 - 11 (Can't compute 12th grade, since, well, it hasn't happend yet)
[<em>] Who's Who Among American HS Students - 9
[</em>] National Merit Semifinalist
[li] Rowan Univ. Computer Programming Contest - 9, 10 (2nd Place, 9th)[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Dual Credit for my APs at a local community college. (US History, Euro Hist, Physics, Calculus)</p>

<p>Traveled around frequently: Australia, New Zealand, UK (Great Britain + Scotland, Wales), Ireland, Canada, 31/50 States</p>

<p>Edit: Forgot Letters of Recommendation Teachers.
- European Hist teacher (admittedly, I didn't do very well in his class, but he's the advisor for the International Affairs Club)
- Calculus Teacher (had for Calc BC junior year, Multivar Calc & Diff Eq senior year); Columbia SEAS requires a math teacher</p>

<p>Thanks for your time in reading and responding.</p>

2

<p>Good thing you're retaking those scores. While they are nice, you would be a lot safer just a bit higher...</p>

<p>You have very nice ECs and awards.. National Latin? Me too! Go us</p>

<p>Now, I've never really chanced before, so here we go:</p>

<pre><code>* Columbia - Early Decision (Low Reach, but ED? Perhaps high match!)
* Cornell (Low Reach)
* MIT (Reach)
* Stevens Institute of Technology (Match)
* Rensselaer Polytech. Inst. (Low match)
* UPenn (Match)
Safeties:
* Rutgers Univ. - New Brunswick (Safetehh)
* Drexel Univ. (Ditto)
</code></pre>

<p>I may be way off, but it's what I'm feeling!</p>

3

<p>UW GPA might hurt you a little bit but everything else looks good.</p>

<h1>Columbia - Early Decision- reach (Ivies are reach no matter what)</h1>

<h1>Cornell- low reach</h1>

<h1>MIT-reach</h1>

<h1>Stevens Institute of Technology- match</h1>

<h1>Rensselaer Polytech. Inst. -match</h1>

<h1>UPenn- high match</h1>

<p>Safeties:</p>

<h1>Rutgers Univ. - New Brunswick- done deal</h1>

<h1>Drexel Univ.- done deal</h1>

4

<p>Your SATs and gpa aren't high enough for Ivies or MIT. With the huge curve on math they don't look lightly on scores lower than 800s even if your ECs are fairly strong, and you should at least be in top10% class rank. I'm not saying you have no chance whatsoever, but you shouldn't get your hopes too high for said schools.
You should be in for safeties, Renssalaer, and Stevens.</p>

5

<p>Thanks both of you for responding. Your chances align with how I felt when I was choosing my schools.</p>

<p>Not applying to HYP because (if you can't tell), I want to study some form of engineering (most likely) and well, HYP don't have great departments unlike the Ivies I'm applying to.</p>

6

<p>If you can raise the SAT's a bit, I would say your in a pretty good position. Your GPA is just a bit low to be a shoe in...Write an awesome essay maybe tying in all your EC's and that would help IMO.
Columbia - Early Decision...Reach
Cornell slight reach
MIT---High Reach
Stevens Institute of Technology...Match
Rensselaer Polytech. Inst....Match
UPenn...slight reach
Safeties:
Rutgers Univ. - New Brunswick ----In with scholarship$
Drexel Univ.----In with Big Scholarship $
Good Luck! :)</p>

7

<p>since you're chancing lotta other people, lemme look at yours. </p>

<p>all these desis from nj are coming here! lol</p>

<p>I dont think honor roll every year is counted as an award, most of the people applying to these big schools al have em. </p>

<p>I think you need different schools. You got your safeties in rutgers and drexel and the only real match I see for you is RPI. And I dont know much about stevens. You got 4 realllly tough schools. Hopefully ed works for you, but you might wanna consider EA at some of the other big ones. I think cornell you have a nice shot, and mayybe upenn, but MIT seems like a very high reach and columbia well see.</p>

8

<p>Columbia - Early Decision prob reach
Cornell- reach
MIT- tough reach
Stevens Institute of Technology- IN
Rensselaer Polytech. Inst.- IN
UPenn- higher match unless wharton</p>

9

<p>Alright. Thanks. I know my scores aren't as good as I want them to be for Columbia. I'm hoping that the ED and my essay will help.</p>