Chance a rising senior for a THOROUGH chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>The colleges I'm looking at most are Brown, MIT, Princeton/Harvard (one of the two), UIUC, UChicago, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Cornell, Stanford/Columbia.</p>

<p>Also, if I could get any help with the questions below, I would be super grateful.
I'm willing to chance back, and as you can tell by how long my resume is, I try to be super thorough. </p>

<ol>
<li>The obligatory "What are my chances?"</li>
<li>Should I go with only my 2 800s for SAT II, or should I just submit all 3?</li>
<li>Should I go ACT or SAT? I had a bad testing morning for the SAT and my retake will probably increase. Also, my ACT essay kind of sucks. However, the composite for the ACT is clearly higher.</li>
<li>What other safety/match schools should I consider? I feel like my list is a little reach-heavy. </li>
</ol>

<p>I'm a 16 year old Indian male from Illinois (skipped a grade). I go to a completely new school that opened my freshman year. I'm currently a senior</p>

<p>I can speak English, Telugu, a tiny bit of Hindi, and i'm getting closer to becoming fluent in Chinese. </p>

<p>The majors that i'm most intrested in are Astrophysics, Physics, and Chemistry. Also, I would like to minor in Chinese. </p>

<p>These are my stats.
ACT: 35 Composite, 35 English, 36 Math, 33 Reading, 35 Science, 33 English w/ Writing (got a 10 on writing).
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry, 780 Physics
PSAT: 221 (80 CR, 72 M, 69 W) (probably national merit in our state)
SAT I: 2240 combined, 700 CR, 750 M, 790 W (E: 10). (I will probably be retaking in October of senior year, just for kicks)</p>

<p>Classwork:
Freshman Year:
AP Computer Science: A/A (4)
Honors Algebra 2/Trig: A/A
Honors Biology: B/B
Chinese I: A/B
Honors English I: A/B
AP Human Geography: A/A (5)
Gym: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Gym/Health: A/A
Honors Chemistry: A/A
Honors Precalculus: A/A
Chinese II: A/A
AP Euro: A/A (5)
Honors English II: B/A
Honors Physics: A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year (all AP scores pending...can't wait for July):
AP Calculus BC: A/A
AP Physics C: A/A
Gym: A/A
AP US History: A/A
AP Chemistry: A/A
AP Language and Composition: A/A
Chinese III: A/A</p>

<p>Senior Courseload:
AP Biology, Calculus III (Multivariable Calc, in conjunction with the University of Illinois), AP Literature and Composition, AP Government, Honors Chinese IV, Gym, TA to AP Physics C</p>

<p>GPA: 4.571 (w), 3.857 (uw).
However, i've heard that some schools do not factor in freshman year GPA. In that case, 4.679 (w), 3.964 (uw)</p>

<p>Class Rank: My school does not provide class rank anymore, but I'm in at least the top 5% of a 650+ student body. </p>

<p>APs: Freshie year: Computer Science, 4. Human Geography, 5.
Sohpomore year: AP Euro, 5. </p>

<p>Junior year: Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, Chemistry, Language and Composition, US History, Calculus BC. </p>

<p>Senior Year: US Government and Politics, Comparitive Government and Politics, Literature and Composition, Biology, and probably Art History (self taught) and Psych (self taught). </p>

<p>Volunteering: Volunteered with an FEA tutoring station at my school, along with feed my starving children.....probably 40 hours or less in total. I don't exactly record hours I volunteer for, I just kind of do it for fun?</p>

<p>JOB: So I recently got a job writing quizbowl/academic competition questions for National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC. Incidentally, Ken Jennings writes some questions here too. It has been really great so far. It's awesome to know that the questions I'm writing are played on by people of all ages all across the nation, and are helping me improve at the same time.</p>

<p>ECs:
Peer Mentoring: I help incoming freshman trying to adjust to high school by providing assistance and advice. I'm starting this next year.</p>

<p>Fermilab Science Scholar: I was awarded this jointly by our school's Science department and Fermilab in Junior year.</p>

<p>Chinese Honors Society: Junior and Senior year, I tutored lower-level Chinese students and made videos to encourage kids to take high school Chinese.</p>

<p>US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) Finalist: I made nationals for USNCO in Junior Year. Over 10,000 took regionals, and I was one of the 900 who made Nationals. </p>

<p>QuarkNet: We work with Fermilab on experiments that utilize Cosmic Ray detectors in different scenarios. We built the detectors ourselves. We also occasionally go to Quarknet Masterclasses at Fermi.</p>

<p>Asian American Club: We do lots of different projects and generally embrace Asian culture, with heavy focus on Chinese culture. </p>

<p>Woldwide Youth in Science and Engineering: I'm on the WYSE Team for Physics and Chemistry.</p>

<p>Math Team - Leader for 2 years. I have a lot of scattered achievements for this, but the biggest one so far has been helping to lead the ENTIRE team to qualify for state in junior year (for the first time in our school's short history).</p>

<p>Science Olympiad - Leader for 2 years. Main event is Astronomy. I also partake in technical problem solving, protein modeling, optics, fermi questions, and much more to come next year! As a new captain last year, I brought our team from an abysmal 15th place finish to 6th at regionals (WE WON A PLAQUE!!) to clinch a spot at state over our crosstown rivals. We went on to finish 5th at State. </p>

<p>Scholastic/Quiz bowl - Varsity player 3 years. Captaincy next year. Started off as a reserve JV player, worked my way up with lots of studying and the like. I have attended a couple of camps for the purpose of increasing my quizbowl knowledge; I have improved a lot. I have a ton of awards for quizbowl, ranging from 1-10th place finishes at tournaments to being the reigning conference champions with an undefeated last season.</p>

<p>Tennis - JV player for 1, probably 3 years. Made the team freshman year. I pretty much view tennis as a fun sport, and i'm definitly not extremely serious about it. I have gone to a lot of clinics and coaches to improve my skills, though. I have 1 JV letter. </p>

<p>Religious Group - I am Hindu, and have helped form a group from the ground up. Since then, we've had 3 public concerts, with attendance ranging from 50-400 people. We have performed at the Chicago Telugu Association, in front of famous actors from India. At that same performance, we earned a cameo on an international television channel (TV9 in India) that was broadcasting the CTA performances. </p>

<p>Chinese - By far, one of my biggest ECs. I'm coming closer and closer to being able to speak the language fluently. My speech and tones are both superb; my writing, while extremely sloppy, is pretty good as well. My teacher sent me to a Chinese speech competition in freshman year, because she thought I was pretty good at speaking the language. I ended with a gold medal. I did the same in sophomore and junior year I have also done lots of translating for Chinese ambassadors from Beijing that visited our school. I helped them learn about the American education system and culture, and in the process, I got to know about theirs. </p>

<p>Random stuff: I'm learning how to play piano and chess and how to do magic tricks. Also, I enjoy long walks on the beach.</p>

2

<p>since you already made it to the National level in USNCO, why not try to get to top 150 or 50?</p>

3

<p>Good scores for SAT and ACT and GPA is acceptable. EC’s are focused and interesting (maybe you could enter STS or SIEMENS?). I woud send in a 780 physics along with the other scores but that is just me. </p>

<p>Princeton/Harvard/MIT/Stanford- high reach (for everyone), but you are in the running
Columbia/Brown/Uchicago/Dartmouth- mid-high reach
The rest- high-match-low reach</p>

<p>Chance me back!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1357398-chances-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1357398-chances-top-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>1) You seem to be a well-rounded applicant. I would say that, while your list is pretty reach-heavy, you are still probably going to get into at least a few of the schools you apply to. </p>

<p>2) You should fine with submitting all three. A 780 on the physics SAT II isn’t really going to make or break an application.</p>

<p>3) I say you should submit both. Neither a 35 ACT nor a 2240 SAT is going to keep you out of a great university haha.</p>

<p>4) Try some public flagship schools for match/safety.</p>

<p>Chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358147-chance-duke-ed-vandy-cornell-georgetown-u-florida.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358147-chance-duke-ed-vandy-cornell-georgetown-u-florida.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Wow. You have a very impressive resume! </p>

<ol>
<li><p>match for basically all the non-ivies you listed (minus stanford/MIT). most likely in at the “lower” ivies, and definitely stand a chance at most Ivies/MIT/stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>I think just send in the two 800s. The physics one is supposed to be very generously curved, so a 780 would look strange, but it wouldn’t hurt to submit it. </p></li>
<li><p>ACT is definitely your best score. Stick to that. </p></li>
<li><p>Try out some prestigious public universities. Also any good state school would most likely be a safety.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>In general, challenging course load and good GPA. Also, don’t worry too much about your AP scores because colleges don’t really look at that until after acceptance. Your job sounds very interesting and you seem incredibly passionate about Chinese. I think your essay(s) should focus on one or both of those. Good luck with everything!</p>

<p>Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1303604-early-decision-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1303604-early-decision-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>ChemistryTutor: Well, I mean, of course I TRIED, but I totally bombed 3 or 4 of the short answer questions so I didn’t get it. I’ll probably be doing USPhO next year, so that’ll be the extent of chem olympiad for me.</p>

<p>bilnythesciguy: yeah, it’s a little late for STS and Siemens for me now…lol. I started some research on supernovae last year but I couldn’t find a sponsor or time to dedicate to my work. Also, by GPA acceptable - acceptable as in could be higher to have better chances, or acceptable as in sufficient?</p>

<p>rcm495: for #3, I mean I would submit both, but I feel like it costs a ton of money to send out score reports, so I’d rather just choose one…would you say ACT or SAT in that case? and also, for #4, the only flagship I have is UIUC…what others should I consider?</p>

<p>thanks, everyone, for your opinions! anyone else?</p>

7

<p>Use the ACT, it is a better score. Also use all three SAT subject tests (all were good scores and including a third shows you are strong in three subjects). You don’t need to record your volunteer hours, but you should be able to estimate and your current number is low. The only other issue I see is that you activities are very scattered. That being said you seem to be a strong contender and will probably get into some top schools (just make sure you have a good essay).</p>

8

<p>If you were going to only send one, send the ACT.
Ohio State may be a good one to apply to in your area.</p>

9

<p>Acceptable as in sufficient, could be a little higher.</p>

10

<p>ArtsyGirl13: Thanks for your input! And I totally didn’t include all my volunteering on there, I’m sure I have somewhere over 500 if i were to guess. But I have a lot of friends who’ve gotten so caught up with logging hours, and looking “good on paper” that they totally lose sight of actually helping people or doing something. That’s why I don’t record my hours at all. </p>

<p>rcm495 and bilnythesciguy: Alright, thank you!</p>

11

<p>Eh, I’d say retake the SAT (a 750 on math looks weird compared to your other stuff) and then submit both – both composites are great and it can’t hurt. And great ECs/SATIIs (submit both)/etc. Your grades are really good…all A’s in junior year is what matters, not just your GPA from before.</p>

<p>Brown - reach
MIT - reach (idk)
Princeton/Harvard- reach
UIUC - safety
UChicago - low reach/high match (depending on essays)
Dartmouth - low reach
Northwestern - low reach
Cornell - low reach/high match
Stanford - reach
Columbia - low reach</p>

<p>Obviously, many of the schools you’re applying to are reaches for everyone so I don’t want to say otherwise, but you probably have a better chance than most…but then again, it’s kind of just luck once you get up there. Good luck though! Your app looks great overall.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358394-chance-humanities-kid-uchicago-brown-lacs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358394-chance-humanities-kid-uchicago-brown-lacs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>HMMMM. Consider state flagships or the UCs as matches or safeties. Then, I would only submit ACT and all three SAT IIs. You are majoring in physics, so it will be strange if you don’t send a physics SAT. I think you have a good chance, because your ECs are very focused on what you want to do and your GPA/ACT is good. Astrophysics is not a very common major either, so that will help your chances.</p>

13

<p>What state flagships should I consider, though? I can’t do UCs because of the arts requirement :/</p>

<p>also, i was under the impression that dartmouth and columbia were on the same difficulty level as brown to get into…was i incorrect? is brown more difficult than the other two?</p>

14

<p>I’m actually not sure about Brown vs Dartmouth vs Columbia – my school’s admissions are kind of weird for those three, since everyone applies to Columbia (and many get in) and very few people apply to Dartmouth. My impression was that in terms of difficulty it was Columbia → Dartmouth → Brown?</p>

15

<p>The ACT is great and you have lots of good ECs. Your grades are also spectacular.</p>

<p>Brown, MIT, Princeton/Harvard (one of the two), UIUC, UChicago, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Cornell, Stanford/Columbia.</p>

<p>I think you have a good shot at all of these schools, especially Northwestern, Cornell, and UChicago (and duh, UIUC), but you are aiming really high. Might wanna check out a few slightly lower-ranked schools like Rice, Emory, etc.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1356903-chance-me-lacs-few-universities-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1356903-chance-me-lacs-few-universities-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>Alright, with the ivies tbh I don’t think that the majority are necessarily easy or hard to get into. For example UPenn likes my school and takes a lot each year (realtively). Brown dislikes us and has accepted like 2 people in the past 5 years. And then Georgetown (ik it’s not an ivy) actually has us blacklisted cuz when they used to have ED we had 7 kids break it in one year. So it’s all relative really. anyway, going ahead</p>

<ol>
<li><p>as far as SATIIs it’s really your call. base it not on the score itself but on whether you think it’s worth the money to send based on how much you think it will benefit you. especially since you’ve got other stuff in physics anyway</p></li>
<li><p>I would send both the ACT and SAT. Even though ACT is better, you did well on both. So when you send both you show the colleges that you’re not a 1 trick pony and that you can perform well on the 2 significantly different types of tests. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Brown - reach
MIT - reach
Princeton/Harvard- reach
UIUC - safety
UChicago - low reach/high match (the essays are pretty odd this year, even compared to their normal essays if you saw the questions for this year. if you haven’t seen them I can forward them to you. my favorite is “So where is Waldo, really?”)
Dartmouth - low reach
Northwestern - low reach/high-mathc
Cornell - low reach
Stanford - reach
Columbia - reach</p>

<p>I’d also apply to maybe CMU or UMichigan depending on what you wanna do. also apply EA to UChicago, MIT, and UIUC if they have it (unless you apply restrictive EA to another school). that way it kinda demonstrates interest, lessens your last minute application work, and allows you to not apply to safeties if you get into one of those.</p>

<p>chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358671-chance-me-cs-schools-top-schools-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358671-chance-me-cs-schools-top-schools-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>as you can see, I get detailed as well for the most part. haha</p>