Can anyone please chance me for Columbia ED, Brown, Cornell,CalTech

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I know it is tough to judge these top schools in general, but I have been very worried in general about whether i am over or underestimating my chances at these schools - im worried my current list has too many reach schools.

SAT: 1600
ACT: 36
Subject tests: 800 in Math 2, Chem, Bio, Physics
APs: 5’s in Chem, Physics, Bio, Calc AB & BC, APUSH, Ap World, AP CS, AP Lang
GPA: Unweighted 4.0/4.0, taken 9 AP classes. Our school doesn’t allow AP in 9th grade, and only 3 in 10th grade, so I have been taking as many as I can
Class Rank: N/A, but likely anywhere from 1 - 4 out of a class of 500

Intended major: I want to double major in Chem/CS or materials/CS, but also have interest in finance and pure math, so keeping that open as a possibility.

EC’s/awards:
Top 50 nationally in the US Chemistry Olympiad (2019)
Highest score in WA state history, first person to qualify for top 50
Top 150 nationally in the US Chemistry Olympiad (2018)
Top 20 internationally in DECA Business Finance (2019)
1st place in Washington State DECA Business Finance (2019)
5 time AIME qualifier (scored an 8 this year)
National Science Bowl regional champion, 7th at National competition (2018)
Represented WA state on ARML team of 15 top studets (2017, 2018)
1st place in state Science Olympiad medals for Environmental Chemistry, Chem Lab

Leadership/Clubs:
Vice President of National Honor Society chapter (2018/2019) - organized induction ceremony, school-wide community service projects, etc
Vice President of Finance for DECA (2018/2019) - Started school-wide student store, managed budget for club, etc.
President of Chemistry Club for Non-profit that teaches to younger children in the area (2017/2018/2019) - organized curriculum, logistics, teaching every week
Secretary of National Science Bowl club - Means little but thats ok

Summers:
9th grade: Worked in a lab with a professor at the University of Washington, mostly just helping out graduate students. Also did an internship at BizX, which was like customer outreach and database maintenance.

11th grade: Garcia Research program at Stonybrook University (material/polymer science) This is a selective program. Worked on a project about polymer thin film confinement. Will be presenting at the 2019 Material Research Society conference in December as well with the same project.

During 10th, 11th: I’ve been working with the same professor at University of Washington on a computational chemistry project centered around protein folding. I’ve been rather sporadic on my progress with this project, unfortunately, but I learned a lot and did get some out.

I also ran a support group for people with acne. I had terrible acne that limited my life in a lot of personal ways and after i overcame that I wanted to help others.

I am an Asian male with no extenuating circumstances. Do you guys think I have a reasonable chance at Columbia ED? It is my dream school. What about Cornell and Brown? I think I may do a little better at these two. And what about MIT and Caltech?

2

All your schools are going to be reaches, but the Top 50 in USACO will help. ECs/research are relevant to your potential major so that is a plus.

I might add Northwestern to your list as they are a top rated school for Chemistry. And Cornell/CalTech are better for Chemistry than the other schools on your list. Make Cornell your target.

3

You have a shot at Caltech. It seems to be a better fit for you and should be your top choice. Being an Asian male also has no impact on admission at Caltech as it has elsewhere. Other than fewer non-STEM majors/minors to choose from (but it does have a highly quantitative finance/business major called BEM for Business/Economics/Management) and probably the toughest academics anywhere (which you seem be able to handle), a Caltech experience is unparalleled. Cornell should be your second choice as it’s also strong in chemistry, material science and CS, but it pales significantly in overall experience in comparison to Caltech.

4

One cannot do better than you have in test scores, grades and difficult courses. Your awards are also sterling. In terms of admissions to your schools, including your first choice , ED to Columbia , it should happen.

Do make sure your GC has a good list of your accomplishments and how competitive they were. If you can include a LOR from your UW professor that perhaps your GC can include , it would be a plus. Also, if the professor has contacts at Columbia in the chemistry dept, it would be great if he reached out for you.

I always add a blurb about affordability. Are your parents willing and able to pay fully for these schools? If you need money, it’s time to find out how much and if Fin aid from these schools will cover that need. Run the NPCs on each if money is an issue to make sure you have a good chance of being covered.

I guess UW covers your safety corner. I would make sure that app goes out early. State schools don’t let in Einstein once a major is full as some very top applicants found out. Perhaps EA to Cal Tech and MIT too though there is no increase in chances of admissions to those schools early. I think you’ll be done by year end doing this.

5

In the first round, apply to: EA Caltech, EA MIT, ED Columbia
If accepted by any, then time to celebrate. If you get deferred, then consider an ED2 application to UChicago.

6

OP is rather unilateral- all stem, with a little business thrown in. We need the rest of the picture. There needs to be a “rest of the picture” for tippy tops like Columbia and Brown. Depth and breadth. Think of it as CYA, if you must. They want more that just sterling (just to borrow the word) in a limited arena. They want kids who do go past their major interests or career hopes, try new things, interact more broadly with peers, etc.

7

For CalTech (and possibly MIT) unilateral is perfectly fine. It’s not as if the OP has scattered ECs that are of no relevance to his area of study.

For the more holistic schools, some form of community involvement is desired and that may be one area where the OP might be slightly lacking.

8

I would have to agree commenters on Caltech, it should be your EA school. Is there a particular reason you want Columbia?

9

To all asking why I prefer Columbia over Caltech/MIT, I want to be able to grow both as a student and as a human during college (regardless of how cliche that sounds), and given that i am from a very typical suburban area, New York City is the ideal location for me to expand my horizons. I also have spent a lot of time in NYC recently, and I simply just love the environment, and I have family in the area.

10

I’m not sure that same opportunity doesn’t exist in LA and Boston, except for the family of course. You have a good shot at Columbia ED, which school at Columbia will you be applying to?

11

I will be applying to the Fu Engineering School