Chance at HYPSM/top colleges!?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, fellow CCers! I would appreciate a chance for top engineering/biotech colleges, or if there is anything I should improve!</p>

<p>Objective:
[ul]
[<em>]PSAT: 207
[</em>]SAT: 1960 (will not send - see ACT)
[<em>]ACT (3 sittings): 34 (34/32/30) + 11 Essay (first sitting)
[</em>]SAT II (subject, score): Math II - 740; Physics - 670 (will retake)
[<em>]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
[</em>]Weighted GPA: 5.25+ (AP = 6 (max) at our school)
[<em>]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4 out of 700
[</em>]APs (13 taken, will take 4 more): Human Geography - 4, World History - 4, Statistics - 3, Physics B - 4, English Language + Composition - 4, Calculus AB - 5, APUSH - 5, AP Euro - 5, AP US Gov't - 4, Psychology - 5, English Lit. + Comp - 4, Calculus BC - 5, Biology - 4.
[<em>]Senior Year Course Load: AP Macroeconomics, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government, AP Computer Science; Brit. Lit (comm. college), Astronomy (comm. college), Calculus III (comm. college)
[</em>]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none ):
[li]Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Honor rolls, student excellence award, Harvard book, etc (all school level awards); AP Scholar and Natl AP Scholar (national level?)[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Subjective:
- LEADERSHIP -
[ul]
[<em>]Rocketry Club: President + Founder (started end of 11th grade, will REALLY get going this year)
[</em>]FIRST Robotics: President + Founder (starting it this year)
[<em>]Science Olympiad Team: Leader + Founder (also starting this year)
[</em>]Model UN: President (restarting the club this year)
[li]Chess Club: Co-President + Co-Founder (11th + 12th)[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>- PARTICIPANT -
[ul]
[<em>]Science NHS: Secretary (9-12th)
[</em>]Mu Alpha Theta: Former Treasurer (10th), (9th - 12th)
[<em>]Key Club: Member (possible future committee chair, 11-12th)
[</em>]NHS: Member (11th - 12th)
[/ul]</p>

<p>- JOB/WORK EXPERIENCE -
[ul]
[<em>]Volunteer/Community Service: 500 hours, 200 if internship is not counted
[</em>]Summer Experience: Research internship at the university my dad works at (~300 hrs) (more informal - I was not listed in the research as it was not my project, I simply volunteered); volunteered at nursing home (~60 hrs); volunteered at temple (~140 hrs). Took 2 classes at local comm. college over the summer (religions, phys. ed).
[/ul]</p>

<p>Other:
[ul]
[<em>]U.S. State/Territory or Country: FL
[</em>]School Type: Large Public (2800+ students)
[<em>]Ethnicity: ASIAN - Indian (this will probably be the end of me)
[</em>]Gender: Male
[<em>]Income Bracket Range: 250k+
[</em>]Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Son of adult immigrants? (both parents went to college in their own country)
[/ul]</p>

<p>Other Factors:</p>

<p>So yeah... any suggestions, ideas? Would like a chance for HYPSM, but if you have the time, here's the full list:</p>

<p>HYPSM universities
Chance at getting into any one of HYPSM if I apply to all
UC - Berkeley
Carnegie-Mellon
Cornell
Duke
Emory
Johns Hopkins
UF
UPenn
UC - San Diego
Rice
University of Miami
Purdue
GA Tech</p>

<p>And a suggestion of other good univ's would be much appreciated!</p>

<p>EDIT: My counselor did say I "exhausted the school's curriculum" which is why I have to go to my community college this year to take Calc III and Astronomy. Should I describe this on my applications?</p>

2

<p>Bump! 10char</p>

3

<p>5 for curriculum, 4 for grades, 3 for test scores., 3 for ECs, hopefully 5 for recs, going to guess 3.5 for essays. Not likely to get you into the HYPY et al crowd. Of the other schools as an engineering type major, you will have some good choices. I also suggest Columbia, the Fu school of engineering, maybe substituting it for one of the HPY choices. as you have a half a chance of getting in there, far better than with those lottery tickets. </p>

<p>Other than those very tippy top schools, you will have an excellent chance at nearly any college for engineering type admissions.</p>

4

<p>So I have a chance at the colleges I have listed other than HYPSM? Recs will probably be a 4 and so will essays…</p>

<p>I’ve been looking at Columbia, but Parchment only gives me a 25% shot at it :confused:
Is Parchment even trustworthy if you have to manually enter your transcript? (school doesn’t send)</p>

<p>Also, any other opinions/chances? Need more feedback :)</p>

5

<p>Bump! 10char</p>

6

<p>Definitely a good chance at Purdue and UCSD. GA Tech is possible too. With your performance in AP exam, I would expect you to do better in SAT2 than what you got. Your ACT is good, however, you do not have great GPA and subject test scores to bundle with for top schools.</p>

7

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I am taking the subject tests again. Those scores are from the first time I took it - I went in cold with barely 1 week of studying. I’ll be taking the ones this weekend and in November.</p>

<p>Provided I get a 780-800 on the subject tests, how would that affect my chances for the top colleges?</p>

8

<p>So a 670 in Physics looks reallyyyyyy sketch if you’re applying engineering. Doing better would definitely help. </p>

<p>You don’t have any major awards which is iffy, your ECs don’t show a ton of dedication besides your volunteering, which is impressive. ACT is a bit low for an Asian male. You’ve got a ton of APs, but just spamming them doesn’t show you care as much as getting a 5 does. </p>

<p>I say no to any school in the… top 15? Decent shot at Cornell, mayyyybe CMU, good shot at everywhere else.</p>

9

<p>Yeah, I took that Physics test a year after the AP exam with little perpetration. I should get in the upper 700s-800 in both Math 2 and Physics this November. Your other points make sense, but there is not much I can do at this point :/</p>

10

<p>You “exhausted the school’s curriculum”, that’s awesome (as my kids would say). That will definitely count. Do ask your college counselor to put that in. </p>

<p>If I’m not mistaken, colleges want to look at high school records mainly because they want to know whether you are capable of doing college-level work. No problem there for you.</p>

<p>All you can do at this point is: raise your SAT II scores, find teachers who like and appreciate you for the recommendation letters, and be yourself in your essays.</p>

<p>You come across as a very motivated and enthusiastic candidate – I think you have a decent shot at any top college! Good luck.</p>

11

<p>Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind. Any other opinions would be great, but it seems like there is no general consensus besides the fact that I need better subject test scores.</p>