Chance another ORM

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Asian Male from a Big Competitive State (not CA, you can probably figure it out though)

Chances For
-Ivies (except Yale and Harvard)
-Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst
-JHU
-Vanderbilt
-CMU
-Emory
-Berkeley, UVA (OOS for both)

Have safeties and more matches but don’t need chances for those

SAT I (breakdown): 2260
New SAT: 1550
SAT II: Math 2: 800, Chem: 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/~220 (valedictorian; highest weighted GPA of the classes of 2015, 2016, 2017)
AP (place score in parenthesis): World 5, Calc BC 5, Lang 5, Chem 5, US 5, Micro 4
Senior Year Course Load: 5 AP’s
Awards
-Qualified to the State Math Tournament by being a top performer in my region of the state
-All-State Violinist by achieving a perfect score in my state level audition
-Harvard Book Award
-Science Fair 2nd place in Chemistry
-School Departmental Awards in Math, Science, History, Independent Research, Spanish, Arts/Music, Athletic Achievement

[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-Math Team ( 9-12, Captain): A Team Starter, Advanced to the State Competition, Hold and Organize team practices. Am usually the top scorer for our team

-Local County Math Circle (9-12): Attend a local county math circle for motivated math students. held at a local university. 2 hour meetings each week

-Co-Founder of Science Club (10, 11). Weekly meetings with group or individual scientific challenges. Won some of the challenges

-Student government (9-12). Help organize spirit weeks, fund raisers, etc.

-Varisty Tennis Team Captain (8-12). Play singles for our varsity tennis team, starter since eighth grade, Winner of the scholar athlete award (9, 10, 11), rookie of the year award. All-League, All-Conference, and All-Section Honors

-School Orchestra concertmaster (9-12). Lead orchestra in tuning, bowings, fingerings, etc. We won first place at the Music in the Parks Competition 2015, and second place in the same competition in 2016

-School Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster (9-12)

-Local county youth orchestra (9-12). First violin. Play annual concert at Carnegie Hall

-Piano for many years. Earned top distinction at state music audition/competition

[ *] Job/Work Experience:
-Student Researcher at Ivy League University (10,11). Collected data and learned laboratory techniques: PCR, Western Blot, cell culturing, etc. Over 300 hours of research time in the lab
-Unique tennis job; very unique not saying for privacy (9, 10, 11) 180 hours total

[ *] Volunteer/Community service:
-Tutor (10, 11, 12). Help hispanic students in my school with math. Also lead end of year finals reviews for high school students. Go to the elementary schools weekly to help kids with homework (75 hours)
-Violin community service (10, 11) (80 hours)
-Volunteer tennis camp counselor (11). Helped run a camp designed for autistic children and other children with disabilities (30 hours)

2

I say a likely welcome to at least one of those colleges is in order, with the caveat that you still need at least a few match and safety schools. You have zero. I think CMU and Emory are your best bets in this list, but I am not an expert. Are you an Asian ORM? If so, your chances might be a little better at the LACs you listed.

3

Your stats are great. However your ECs are very stereotypical Asian. You’ll be fighting against thousands of kids with similar profiles.

I agree to look at smaller LACs. Have you considered the Claremont schools?

4

@sgopal2 yea. literally match the stereotype perfectly. However I believe that I have much deeper accomplishments in those areas than the typical asian. No I have not considered Claremont because I loved Wiliams and Swarthmore. How about chances specifically at the ivies?

5

@lindagaf Yes I am an asian ORM. How are my chances specifically at the ivies and the top LAC’s?

6

No one really knows exactly what your chances are really. It depends on what you bring to the table and you already told us that you have an unusual EC and what you believe are much deeper accomplishments.

Please put some safeties and matches in there. Yes, at LAC’s, being ORM is not a disadvantage.

Yes, you look like a match at Emory and CMU but a match is not a sure thing and you could be rejected or wait listed depending on what their institutional needs are.

7

Also what do you guys think my chances at Wash U are? (match, low reach, reach, etc.)

8

Can you afford these schools? All are very pricey.

9

@goingnutsmom Price is not an issue fortunately

10

Any school with an under 20% acceptance rate is a reach for everyone. Except for Malia and Malala, of course:) No one here can say how good your chances are. Some of those schools care more about interest than others. I would say that is probably true about all the LACs you listed, and the rumor is that Wash U cares very much and really wants a visit. I think except for the Ivies and the OOS schools, the other colleges care too, but you can check each college’s CDS and it will tell you if they consider interest and how important it is to them.

11

Yes, to the above. CMU and WUSTL are very sensitive to interest. Emory says that they aren’t but I don’t believe them. I’d go to their websites and attend anything they have in your area. Talk to the admissions people when they come to your area. Take a tour if you can. When reps go to your school, make an effort to go to their presentation and ask questions. Send them thank you e mails or notes. Yes, it makes a difference. BTW, my S just graduated from CMU and my D got into Emory and WUSTL. Both did all of the above.

12

Have you looked at Vassar? Your gender would be an advantage there. What is your major?

13

You mention that you work in a research lab at an Ivy. Will you be able to get a letter of recc from this lab? If so will it be a professor?