Chance an Asian ChemE applicant for MIT, Berkeley, Caltech, etc

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

Citizenship: US citizen
State: Ohio
Type of high school: Large public high school
Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Upper middle class Asian (Korean) male

Intended Major(s)
Mostly ChemE (Applying M.E.T. BioE for Berkeley and Chem for Harvard)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: 4.93
Weighting System: School adds on .03 for each semester of an honors, AP, or college course that you get an A-, A, or A+ in (very weird I know)
Class Rank: N/A
ACT: 36 (36/36/36/36), 11 Essay
PSAT: 1520 (760/760)
APs: Chem (5), APUSH (5), Bio (5), English Lang & Comp (5), Calc BC (5), Physics C: Mech (5)
Did not get to take any SAT IIs before they were discontinued (does this hurt my chances?)

Coursework

9th Grade

Health (A+)

Honors World History (A+)

Honors Algebra II (A+)

Honors English I (A)

Philharmonic Orchestra (A+)

Physical Science (A+)

Professional Communications & Digital Literacy (A+)

Spanish II (A+)

Summer

General Chemistry + Lab at Local Community College (A)

Note: this community college only does letters (A, B, etc.), so an A is 90-100%.

10th Grade

APUSH (A)

AP Chemistry (A first sem., A+ second sem.)

Biology (A+ first sem., A second sem.)

Financial Literacy (A+)

Honors Pre-Calculus (A+)

Honors English II (A first sem., A+ second sem.)

Symphony Orchestra (A+)

Summer

American Federal Government at Local Community College (A)

11th Grade

AP Biology (A+ first semester, A second semester)

AP Calculus BC (A)

AP English Language and Composition (A)

AP Physics C: Mechanics (A first sem., A+ second sem.)

Honors Symphony Chamber (A+)

Spanish III (A+)

Summer

Independent Study (Undergraduate Research) at Local University

12th Grade

AP Literature and Composition

AP Macroeconomics

AP Microeconomics

AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

AP Spanish Language and Culture

Honors Symphony Chamber

Calculus & Analytic Geometry III (taken via dual enrollment at the same community college mentioned above, will use a study hall at school to self-study)

Organic Chemistry (not a course offering but will use a study hall to self-study under the supervision of my old AP Chem teacher/Science Olympiad coach)

Awards

  1. Will be a National Merit Semifinalist (at least)
  2. AP Scholar with Distinction
  3. 6 medals from Science Olympiad Nationals (2019 and 2021), 5 from the Ohio State Tournament (2019 and 2021)

National medal breakdown - 1 gold (in Chemistry Lab, probably the only relevant event to my major), 2 silvers, 2 4th place, 1 5th place
Team placed 4th and 1st in the nation in 2019 and 2021, respectively

  1. 2021 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Honors (top 150)
  2. 5th Place Director’s Award (team) & 10th Place in Chemistry of Forensics (indiv.) at 2021 WUCT (Washington University in St. Louis Chemistry Tournament)
  3. PVSA Silver or Gold for 2020-21 (still collecting hours but will file this month, will probably end up just barely missing the 250 hr minimum for Gold)
  4. 2nd at Ohio Mathematics Contest 2021, 3rd in 2019 (run by the Dayton Branch of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association)
  5. Rated I (Superior) in Ohio Music Education Association Solo & Ensemble Class A for 3 years
  6. Selected to regional orchestra in 2019 (alternate for All-State)
    Will probably make All-State this year (revealed in late August)

Extracurriculars

  1. Science Olympiad

Member since 9th grade, Codebusters event leader in 10th, elected co-captain in 11th & 12th

Captain duties: craft competition rosters, manage communications + social media, plan team events (for socializing and studying), organize test exchanges with captains of other teams
Event leader duties: craft presentations and exercises to use at biweekly meetings, administer topic-specific homework and quizzes, stay in touch with and mentor newer members to build an inclusive environment

Team ranked 4th at 2019 Nationals and 1st at 2021 Nationals
Co-founded + hosted our school’s first-ever invitational in 2021 (albeit online) - drew in 50 teams from around the country

Raised ~$10000 in clubs funds from other sponsorships and fundraisers like this (popcorn sales, mattress sales, etc.)

Co-organized a nation-wide exchange of tests between Science Olympiad captains in 2020 and 2021
Supervised and wrote tests for Codebusters for 3 invitationals and the 2021 University of Florida Regional

  1. Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra

Assistant Concertmaster in 2021
1st Violin in the Philharmonic group (highest) for all of high school, was in Concert (lower group meant for middle school students) in 8th grade
Played side-by-side with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in multiple concerts
Competed in a few concerto competitions (not a prizewinner)

  1. Summer Research

Currently working with an undergrad at the University of Cincinnati (under a chem professor, but the project is basically bio)

Characterizing suitability of different ribonucleases for RNA modification mapping using mass spectrometry
Will not be published
  1. ScioVirtual

Assistant Director & Co-founder of local chapter

Raised $1,112.40 for a local food pantry

Instructor of Cryptography & Chemistry

Organization as a whole raised ~$40k around the nation for various food banks during the pandemic
  1. Political Intern

Interned for a local Congressman during the summer/fall of 2020 (successfully re-elected)

Made calls, knocked on doors, attended strategy meetings, etc.
Had the 3rd most calls of all interns (junior + adult) by the end
  1. School’s Honors Symphony Chamber

Associate Concertmaster for 2020-21 school year
Performed in Chicago Symphony Center in Feb. 2020
Played in pit orchestra for school’s 2021 musical production (Songs for a New World)

  1. Cross Country

2nd year of running
~15 hours/week, ~60 miles/week, ~20 week season

  1. National Honor Society

Pretty much just a member at the moment, will go for a co-chair position early this coming school year
Tutored students struggling in AP Chemistry and AP Biology
Raised money for Pasta for Pennies (aiding the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society)

  1. Teen Advisory Board Auxiliary at Library

Tutored elementary school children, helped organize shelves, volunteered at community holiday events such as the annual Halloween celebration (during the 2019-20 school year)

  1. Ballkid at Western & Southern Open

Gave players balls/towels, dried courts after rain, communicated with other ballkids on court during the 2019 tournament (~40 hours)

Recs

  1. AP Chem Teacher + Science Olympiad Coach (10/10)

We’ve gotten to know each other throughout the entirety of high school. She’s seen me in school as a student and outside of school at SciOly competitions. She’s always been a big supporter of mine and we’ve worked together a lot in order to pull off things like hosting an online invitational (and just general Science Olympiad captain duties).

  1. Cross Country Coach + AP Micro/Macroeconomics Teacher (8/10)

I only started cross country in junior year, so this person definitely knows me less than my SciOly coach. However, he’s seen my work ethic and watched as I went from a nearly obese kid to a fitter, faster runner. He’ll also get to know my academic side more as I’m taking both AP economics courses with him this coming school year.

My dream school is MIT, but Berkeley + Harvard + Stanford + Caltech + Johns Hopkins are all up there as well.

Please don’t consider money when evaluating me. Thanks for helping and sorry about the wack formatting.

2

Why MET BioE at UCB and chemistry at Harvard if you want to study chemical engineering?

Meaning that your parents can afford up to $320k for your undergraduate costs?

These are generally considered reaches for all, unless you have some inside information (e.g. well connected prep school counselors) who can tell you otherwise.

What are the colleges you consider matches, likelies, and safeties? A fairly large number of Ohio public universities have ABET-accredited chemical engineering majors: https://amspub.abet.org/aps/category-search?disciplines=13&countries=US&states=OH

3

My career interest lies toward pharmacology and/or drug development, so I spent a lot of my summer looking at different Bio/Chemical Engineering programs and seeing which major would suit my interests better. At most schools, that turned out to be ChemE, but BioE at Berkeley looked promising after I compared course offerings with other schools’ BioE programs.

Harvard doesn’t have a Chemical Engineering major, so I went with the closest thing in Chemistry. Perhaps I’ll apply to Bioengineering instead, but that remains to be seen.

Of course my family cannot afford to pay 100% of the cost of college; I just meant that I am more interested to hear feedback about the admissions aspect of applications rather than financial aid.

I’ll leave my college list below here (still narrowing it down a bit). It’s fairly reach-heavy:

MIT
Caltech
Ohio State
UChicago
Michigan
Georgia Tech
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Harvard
Columbia
Princeton
Vanderbilt
Yale
Cornell
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
WashU
Rice
Duke
Stanford
UPenn

This wasn’t in any particular order.

Thanks for your reply.

4

Among these schools I’d estimate you have the greatest chance at Berkeley. You are obviously an outstanding student and your ECs are excellent. As for the rest, I’d say you probably have an above average chance of being admitted but that isn’t saying all that much considering their admission rates- they are still reaches. I’d round out this list with schools that are more likely admits.

1 Like
5

You are clearly a very strong and very competitive applicant.

MIT and Harvard and Stanford do not admit by major. I think that the same is true at Caltech. Being Asian will not help, but being exceptional will help. I think that is it worth applications but your chances are not very far off from the admissions rate – perhaps slightly higher for some and slightly lower for some (eg MIT does not consider legacy and does not have much in the way of athletic admissions, whereas Stanford does consider legacy and does have many athletic admissions).

You should either make sure your parents are okay with full pay (>$300,000 for four years) or run the NPCs and make sure that your parents are okay with the cost. Expect UC Berkeley to be full cost if you are admitted.

Definitely apply to Ohio State given that it is a great university and you are in-state. You could do very well with a degree from Ohio State. A bachelor’s degree from OSU plus a master’s from one of the top ranked universities is a very good option to consider.

You chances would be much higher at the top Canadian universities (Toronto, McGill) than the top US universities both because they have more slots per population and because being Asian will not hurt you nearly as much in Canada. However, in your situation I might tend to stick with OSU if you do not get into a top US university for undergrad.

I think that you are going to do well wherever you go to university. I specifically think that you will do well if you do end up at OSU for your first (bachelor’s) degree.

Then run the NPCs. There is not much point in looking at three or four acceptances to top schools that you cannot afford, plus an acceptance to OSU. You might as well keep it simple and just get the acceptance to OSU.

2 Likes
6

Likely admit to any school in need of a first chair violinist.

7

In my opinion, you have only one true safety or match on this list - Ohio State. I assume you have Georgia Tech and Michigan as “matches” but as you are OOS that moves them closer to a low reach. Every other college is a reach of some sort (some are higher reaches than others). That is an OK strategy if you will be satisfied with OSU, but if not, you may want to add a few schools that are less selective. University of Delaware has a very strong chemical engineering program, for example, and would be more in the safety/match category. Other matches might include: Purdue, UCSD (better than UCLA for what you are interested in and slightly less selective) and BU.

1 Like
8

Run the net price calculator on each college (or have your parents do that). Any that are not affordable would be colleges where you must make the reach/match/likely/safety assessment based on a large enough merit scholarship, not merely admission. Note that many of the colleges you mention do not offer merit scholarships, so if they are not affordable on their need-based financial aid, they are out of reach and not worth applying to.

BioE is one of the most selective majors at UCB, and BioE+MET is even more selective. In addition, if the OP cannot afford out-of-state costs (UCB and UCLA do not give need-based financial aid to out-of-state students), they would need to base chances on a high level merit scholarship, which is uncommon. Therefore admission to UCB in the desired major and with a scholarship that makes it affordable would be a high reach.

1 Like
9

Poor Dartmouth, Brown and Notre Dame. Only T20s to not make the list. :slight_smile:

Above average violinist for a T20 applicant. Is that a tough instrument to source? How good does one have to be to achieve top rating from an Ivy? Do you want to play in college?

Are the Science Olympiad winnings something that would cause MIT to take note?

Did you make captain in cross country? Any other leadership?

1 Like
10

I think you have a fair shot at any college you apply to. CalTech is probably your best bet amongst elite schools because they are merit only. Frankly, the tier 1 colleges could be a bit challenging seeing that you are the standard strong type. But if money is no issue then Hopkins, North (easter/western), G’Towne etc. are all shoo-ins.

1 Like
11

If, by “fair shot” you mean “only 10%-15% of the applicants like the OP are accepted”.

Don’t start giving kids unrealistic expectation. Unless somebody is a kid of somebody famous and powerful or a super donor, or is a recruited athlete, there is no such thing as a “shoo-in” for any of those colleges. Johns Hopkins and Northwestern are reaches for everybody else, while Northeastern and Georgetown are never more than high matches.

We’ve seen enough kids with similar stats as the OP be rejected from colleges which are considered “less selective” that those on your list.

While you are competitive for all, the list is made up almost entirely of high reaches. If this is your list, then there will be a high likelihood that you will end up attending OSU.

That being said, OSU is better at ChemE than about half of the reaches on your list.

In all honesty, with OSU as more or less a safety, why would you apply to UPenn, Columbia, WashU, UCLA, or Vanderbilt? Even Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Northwestern, Princeton, Harvard, and Duke are not that much better than OSU, and they will cost almost 3X as much as OSU.

As for UChicago - why are you even looking at a school which has no engineering at all?

The only colleges that you should even consider there would be MIT, Caltech, Michigan, G’Tech, Berkeley, and Cornell. To that, you can add Delaware, Wisconsin, UIUC, and Purdue.

Only add other colleges is your NPC results indicate that, if you are accepted, you will be paying less than you would pay in-state as OSU, or close to that, IF that is affordable.

3 Likes
12

Many of the “elite lite” colleges on OP’s list are need aware and full pay or close to it gets you to the front of the line with the stats presented.
Don’t confuse tiger parents making ~$150K total and hence about $30-40K in NPC with full pay kids. The full pay kid will win every time. With those stats, 90% certainty to get into the ones I listed assuming he/she is full or close to full pay.
Basically, what I am saying is this, 1450+/4.3/6-8 APs and decent ECs with full pay gets you into any college you want except true elites – HYPSM and perhaps a couple of other ivies.

13

Also, @will0416 for you two solid matches would be Olin School of Engineering and Cooper Union. Olin has a nice scholarship deal too.

14

One more thing occurred to me (I am not quite sure why I didn’t think to say this yesterday).

You have a very long list of very highly ranked universities. It is early in the process and you have some time. However, you need to find a way to trim the list. Specifically, you need to understand the differences between these universities, and understand which ones are a good fit for YOU. The point is not which are “better” in any overall sense. The point is not which is best for me or for my daughters. The point is which schools are best for YOU.

These top ranked schools are not all the same. You are going to need to take the time to understand the differences between them.

15

A. “True elites” Nah, more like “Most Popular”.
B. there are 52 colleges which are need blind to American students AND meet full need. In none of these would full pay get you in ahead of a better student who required financial aid.
C. Enough money or fame gets you in HYPSM as well, it’s just that the price of admission is higher


16

I’m with mwolf on this
 jhu, NU, georgetown aren’t close to being ‘shoo-ins’ for this applicant. The best source for OP to categorize schools on their list is Naviance or Scoir, interpreted along with their HS GC, provided their school uses one of those.

I also agree with the relative strength of OSU as compared to many of the reachier schools.

I’m not sure why you brought need-blind vs need aware into the conversation, as it sounds like OP is applying for FA.

[quote=“will0416, post:3, topic:3543306”]
Of course my family cannot afford to pay 100% of the cost of college
[/quote]

Many schools could fill their classes several times over with high stats, full pay students
but they choose not to.

17

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.