Chance an Asian *sigh* female?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>SAT I:</p>

<p>Math: 780
Writing: 800 (11 essay)
Critical Reading: 730
COMPOSITE: 2310 (one sitting)</p>

<p>SAT II:</p>

<p>US History: 770
Math I: 770
Math II: 800
Physics: Will take in Oct.</p>

<p>AP Scores:
Bio (4), Calc BC (5), AB sub (5), Physics B (5), Psych (5)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.9 UW: 4.0
Class rank: top 5% (at least)</p>

<p>Location: PA
Gender: F
Race: East Asian
Family Income: $45k before taxes
High School: Public (~2000 students)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-School newspaper (Writer-9, Sports Editor-10, News and Production Editor-11)
-National Honor Society (11)
-Model UN (10,11)
-Baking for the Elderly (10,11)
-Chess Club (9,10,11)
-Student Government (11)
-Bowling Club (9,11)
-Soccer (6,7,8,9)
-Band (6,7,8,9)
-Piano (started playing at the age of 7)
-Volunteer at local library (110 hours)</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
Reading, traveling, volunteering at library, informally helping friends prepare for the SAT, cooking and cleaning, babysitting, etc</p>

<p>Intended Major: Electrical Engineering, Comp Sci, or Finance</p>

<p>Senior year courses: 5 APs, 9 AP courses total throughout high school (which is the max number since students can't take APs until jr. year)</p>

<p>Awards: AP scholar with honor, National Merit Commended/Finalist, some excellency awards from my school</p>

<p>Everyone on this forum has amazing transcripts and extra curriculars. I no longer feel like I stand a chance against all the other competitive applicants. Should I even bother applying to MIT? Also, do I have a good chance at these schools?
Cornell Engineering
Penn SEAS
Northwestern
Duke
UC Berkeley
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
UVA</p>

2

<p>First of all do not fret. Being female will counter any bias against you in the fields that you have chosen as these are mostly male dominated. My son, as a mixed Asian male with stats similar to yours, was more of a challenge by far. You will get into many good schools. My concern would be what you really want to do in the future. Major is critical to your application and you are not clear what you want to do. You say, Electrical Engineering, Comp Sci, or Finance.</p>

<p>EE and CS are very different fields that require different course work and separate admissions. Finance is a business major - unrelated to engineering by itself. This is what I suggest. Study engineering for undergrad and then get an MBA after a few years in the field. That will open all kinds of management opportunities at your company or even be a threshold into the world of investment banking and/or venture capital.</p>

<p>Now comes the choice between EE and CS. I would go for EE unless you are more interested in computers. EE is very versatile and has many applications and is quite well paid and in demand. CS is a great major as well, but do you want to write code all day?</p>

<p>Anyway, you must decide as these are three very different fields. Next, you must decided on whether you want a hands on education or a theoretical/research based one. All schools below offer a bit of both, but the emphasis is on one or the other.</p>

<p>If you want a hands on education that will prepare you for real world jobs and problem solving, I highly recommend schools like (in no order of preference):</p>

<p>California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Virginia Tech
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech </p>

<p>For Prestige, Theory/Research (in no order of preference):</p>

<p>MIT
Cal Tech
Berkeley
Sanford
Princeton
Harvey Mudd (a general engineering degree with emphasis in a certain discipline)
and all the other schools you mention above</p>

<p>We prefer the hands on schools. He chose Cal Poly SLO over other offers. But, that is just our preference, he wants to be a working engineer straight out of undergrad. My kid just finished his freshman year and has two job offers for Summer in real engineering positions. He chose the one that is related to General Dynamics and Motorola products.</p>

3

<p>Hi OsakaDad! Thank you so much for responding. I will definitely take your advice into account when it’s time to decide what my major should be. It’s rather difficult to make a life-changing decision so I don’t want to do it now (or anytime soon haha). Would it be beneficial to major in both Computer Science and Electrical Engineering? I’m pretty interested in Computer Engineering too, so would that and Computer Science be a more feasible combination?</p>

4

<p>Your test scores and GPA are obviously excellent. You have a fair number of community service hours as well as extracurriculars (even though it doesn’t look like you have many leadership positions). Cornell Engineering and Penn SEAS would be low reaches, more due to the volatility of the admissions process rather than you not fitting their criteria, but as long as you present yourself well in your essays you have a great shot at acceptance. MIT would probably be a mid reach, definitely worth applying to. The rest of your schools would be matches (Northwestern might be a high match) that you have a high chance of getting into.</p>

5

<p>EE, CS and CompE are all very different with some overlap (like many engineering fields).</p>

<p>These are also very, very challenging subjects. Double majoring is not recommended at the elite schools. You will have your hands full with one of them. However, you can pick one and have a concentration in another. But, I would NOT attempt a double major until you have your footing in college.</p>

<p>College is a whole different league in these majors from high school. Many 4.00 GPA students are shocked when they start getting C’s and D’s. It is the big leagues, so don’t over do it until you have your footing and at least a year of school behind you.</p>

6

<p>I think your stats and ECs look great, and as for you being Asian, I wouldn’t be deterred much if I were you. Even as an AA, I don’t expect affirmative action to get me into college, and you shouldn’t think it’ll keep you out either. Your strengths will show in your recommendations and essays, and I think you’ll be fine. Just remember that Ivies and other reach schools are reaches for everyone. That being said, however, I still think you have a good shot wherever you decide to apply.</p>

7

<p>u like michael fassbender hence the name “fassy”</p>

8

<p><em>Sigh</em> another Asian with a 4.0 GPA :frowning:
Solid stats especially that SAT score. If there’s any pressure from your family/friends to retake it just to get math up to 800 I really don’t recommend it. A 780 to 800 has little impact. As for your ECs, I can tell that you’re devoted to a few but other ECs it seemed like you just dropped in high school such as soccer and band (schools only look at what you’ve done in high school, unless there’s major overlap of several years work such as your piano). Other than that you have solid ECs, maybe try going for some officer positions if the clubs/groups elect officers at the beginning of the school year. </p>

<p>Now onto your majors. As a female applicant in engineering you basically trample the competition, however your choice in schools for comp sci and double E are a little iffy. You make great choices with Cornell Engineering, Berkeley, Carnegie (planning on engineering there?) However, the other schools though famous for their name are not so stellar for engineering. I know growing up in Asian family, the parents are so hung up on the big names, but several public schools have engineering programs of high caliber (Purdue, UIUC, Michigan, Georgia Tech). Though based on your family’s income it may be hard to pay. There are also top ranked private schools such as Rose-Hulmann (all engineering school and #1 in the nation for non-PhD granting engineering schools). </p>

<p>For finance you made great choices with UVA, Duke, NU, UPenn</p>

<p>Based on everything I see you’re a match with all the schools except for UPenn (obvious reasons, it’s usually an automatic reach for everyone)</p>

9

<p>Yes, as TheWingless says, as a female with your stats you will be very competitive for engineering.</p>

<p>Yes, please try to forego the “Name Brand” universities, such as Ivies, for engineering. Few are known for that major except Princeton and a couple of others.</p>

<p>Rose-Hulman is 80% male and they are dying for qualified female applicants. Interestingly enough, the entrance requirements make the school an easy acceptance for you. Your stats are significantly higher than the average for that school. Guaranteed you will be popular there. I just hope you like corn fields. I strongly suggest that you go to a school that focuses on undergrad education like Rose-Hulman, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Harvey Mudd, etc. You will get far more attention and really learn your craft. Just keep in mind that you need to pick the school by major.</p>

<p>We love Cal Poly SLO. We considered Harvey Mudd seriously. However, it is primarily a general engineering program with a liberal arts orientation. It is also $55K a year and uber difficult to get accepted. You have a significant edge being female for Harvey Mudd. We needed more clarity in major and a larger environment for our son. Harvey Mudd is part of the prestigious 5 university Claremont Consortium, however the school itself is very small in both size (you can walk across campus in literally 1 min) and it has a total of about 750 students. The kids were a bit like the cast of “The Big Bang Theory” really odd folks but cool in their own way. Big rivalry between Mudders, Cal Tech and MIT undergrads – at least from the Mudders point of view. Rose-Hulman was too far from home and out of state and as a male student the 80-20 male female ratio was unappealing to my kid. Cal Poly offered everything at a bargain price.</p>

10

<p>Your SAT scores are impressive. Being a female will really help if you want to go into engineering. However, I really suggest you try and get some leadership positions under your belt.</p>

<p>“Everyone on this forum has amazing transcripts and extra curriculars. I no longer feel like I stand a chance against all the other competitive applicants. Should I even bother applying to MIT? Also, do I have a good chance at these schools?”</p>

<p>Yes you should apply to MIT. And please take into account that anyone obsessive enough to take the time to post on this forum about their college chances is probably a pretty damn good applicant. Some of your scores put you at the very top in the nation - don’t diss yourself. You could have some better extracurriculars but that doesn’t mean you won’t get in! That’s one part of the process and the rest of your resume looks very good. I’m also intimidated by some of the people I see posting on here, but most of us are probably the tops 5% (at least) in the nation.</p>

<p>Cornell Engineering - medium/high reach, hard school
Penn SEAS - medium reach
Northwestern - level
Duke - level/low reach
UC Berkeley - level
Johns Hopkins - level
Carnegie Mellon - medium reach
UVA - level</p>

<p>Chance me back please!
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1364629-please-chance-me-ivy-leagues-scholars-programs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1364629-please-chance-me-ivy-leagues-scholars-programs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;