Chance a low gpa/high sat asian male

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

My friend recommended that I do a chanceme, so here we go. You guys might remember his similar chanceme from a while ago, as we did a lot of ECs together.

Demographics:
Rising senior from Irvine, Cal
Asian male with upper-mid class family income
School: Open with rural/urban, but would prefer colder states. Californian weather drives me crazy
Intended major: Physics or Engineering(compsci or electrical)

Stats:
GPA 3.93 weighted 3.69 unweighted (4.04 weighted 10-12)
SAT: 1550 (760 rw 790 math). I retook but got 1550(780 rw 770 math) lol
Subjects: 800 math 800 physics
APs: 5 on calc bc, physics 1, self-studied physics c mechanics and 4 on compsci principles, psych
Reasonably heavy courseload except for humanities

Senior year course list:
AP lang, enviro sci, stats, bio
Honors “passion civics” which is supposed to prepare me for ap gov

ECs:
Put your most important ones first

  • Founded an organization aimed at giving local students experience with app development in a real-world setting. Developed projects with a team with ~20 students from 3 local cities.
  • Senior developer for our school’s official app development team. The school app that we developed shows live schedules, emergency announcements, campus resources, etc. Has over 1000 users. Various local organizations are interested in partnering with us, but IMO they just want to expand by having us be part of them. IIRC we are one of the only comprehensive high school apps to be out on the App Store.
  • Director of Activities at a local STEM club. Continuously organized activities such as solar-powered mini cars, bottle rockets, circuit projects, etc. for local kids.
  • Summer camp at Lincoln Laboratory between 11-12 at MIT: required a full year of online courses in drone and radar technologies as prerequisite, then admissions based on merit. Took a radar course which was project and team-based. Took lectures on-campus from MIT professors and received orientations from top technology and engineering companies.

The rest aren’t really STEM related

  • Professional ghostwriting for novels - ghostwriting action/adventure novels for online clients, have made over 1000 dollars
  • Police Explorers - over 300 hours of volunteering in police uniform in public events like marathons, parades, with an entrance test of an extremely intensive week-long
  • Co-founded the Cash For Good club, which takes microloans from students and uses the money to fund small businesses in countries like India and Pakistan.

Honors & Awards
President’s Volunteer Service Award Gold all four years of HS
CM 10 in 8th grade for piano

Essays:
I’ve been learning to enjoy writing lately, so I’ve been testing out different angles with the essays for the different schools.

Recs:
Two recs that I’m pretty confident about (english/(math/compsci))

I know my stats aren’t as standing-out as some of the other applicants towards the STEM area, but I’m hoping I could spin some sort of stories towards my essays to make my application a bit stronger. I’m also considering entering as a less competitive major and then switching around inside.

I’m hoping to aim towards schools like Cornell/CMU/Purdue Engineering. Let me know what you guys think!

2

@revolve3 Will you be able to full pay or need financial aid?

3

Best chances are are Purdue.

Carnegie Mellon is going to be a big reach for CompSci since the acceptance rate is on a par with Ivies and your competition will have the same SAT scores but with closer to a 4.0 UW GPA. Same with Cornell.

4

Your senior schedule is too light for the major you want.

  • Replace stats with dual enrollment math or any sort of advanced math you can find (multivariate calculus, Linear Algebra, discrete math in particular).
  • replace APES with AP physics C (or at least AP physics 2)
  • if possible replace bio with AP chem or Ap CS A.
    Cmu is basically put of reach, Cornell is a reach, Purdue is a high match.
    Do you need financial aid? If not, UIUC, UMN Twin Cities, UWisconsin Madison would all be good picks.
    Look into Lehigh, Lafayette, Union?
5

@onthewestfence Most likely full pay. Will that affect me a lot?

6

@MYOS1634 I already took the AP test for Physics C Mechanics, which was the only Physics C course that my school offered. I’m trying to look into more advanced math classes in my community college, but that might be filled up. As for replacing bio with chem, would that help a lot? And thanks for the school recommendations, I’ll look into it.

7

What was your score for physics C Mechanics?
Any chance you could take an independent study period to prepare C: EM?
Chemistry is usually required for engineering, not Biology.
Being full pay will help at private universities that are need aware.
Northeastern and WPI may be good matches.

8

If you want cooler weather, you can consider UCSC or SFSU at lower in-state price.

If you want really cold, there are many state universities in the northern western states where you could get the WUE discount.

9

@revolve3 If you want to warmer weather in SoCal, Harvey Mudd and others at the Claremont Consortium are in range. Caltech is a reach but write about your love of STEM on the essay. How was your PSAT?

10

@MYOS1634 I got a 5 on mechanics. I can self-study up for EM, but due to the test date, that wouldn’t really with admissions, would it?

11

You’re right, it wouldn’t. However if your Physics teacher agreed on an Independent study marked as “Physics C: EM” then it would ?

12

@onthewestfence PSAT was 1460. I’m also considering just switching some of my interests around and framing them in a different light.

13

@MYOS1634 ohh, okay thanks for the help.

14

@revolve3 A wild card may be Reed. Serious students not interested in varsity sports or Greek life thrive there.

15

~3.7 UW GPA would make CalTech and Harvey Mudd out of reach. So the poster who made that suggestion has no idea what they are talking about. Mudd is essentially CalTech with no grad program. The Claremont schools have acceptance rates at ~10%.

RIT, RPI, and WPI are more reasonable target schools that match the OP’s desire for colder weather.