Chance for EA/RD, will chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, just another person wondering about chances to a bunch of schools. Please don't feel obligated to chance for all of them, but I would appreciate if you read through the whole (long) post before commenting. :) Thanks!</p>

<p>Certainly I will return the favor if you choose to sift through all this.</p>

<p>Schools I'm applying/have applied to: MIT (Early Action), Chicago (EA), Caltech (EA), UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and College of Science), Cornell (Engineering, Arts/Sciences), my in-state safety</p>

<p>School
[ul]
[<em>] GPA: 3.89 unweighted, 4.15 weighted (maximum for AP = 5), or 4.41 (maximum for AP/honors classes = 5). What does everyone else mean by weighted anyway? :P
[</em>] Post freshman GPA: 3.96, 4.38, 4.54 respectively (see above; 4 of my 5 Bs were from freshman year at another school)
[<em>] SAT: 760 CR/800 MA/730 WR (8 essay)
[</em>] SAT II: 800 Math 2/770 Chem/740 Physics
[<em>] APs: Calc BC (5), Phy. C Mech. (5), Chem. (5), US Hist. (5), Biology (4), Stats (5)
[</em>] Rank: barely top 10%, but see below
[/ul]</p>

<p>[ul]
[<em>] Senior course load (1st sem.): AP Gov., AP English, two college computer science courses (one 100-level, one 200-level), independent study of MIT's 18.03 course
[</em>] Senior courses (2nd sem.): AP English (2nd semester), Econ., two college CS courses (both 300-level), undecided
[<em>] Have taken/am taking six Coursera computer science/math courses (available upon request)
[</em>] Took all the honors/APs available at my school, except for World History :D
[/ul]</p>

<p>[ul]
[li] School type: top few public high schools in state (9th), fairly good public rural, mostly Caucasian high school (10th-12th) with 1600 students (due to changing homes)[/li][li] Other: My class rank is skewed due to my stay at the other school during 9th grade (lower average grades/classes are more difficult)[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Awards
[ul]
[<em>] USA Math Talent Search bronze (2011, 2012)
[</em>] AIME qualifier (2011, 12, 13)
[<em>] State math league first place (2012, 13)
[</em>] AP Scholar with Distinction
[li] National Merit SF[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
[ul]
[<em>] Competitive programming: regularly occurring competitions mostly done by college students/professionals (such as Topcoder/Codeforces/HackerRank). I've placed fairly well, but since most are probably not familiar with these, I won't post specifics here.
[</em>] Online coursework: mostly studying math/computer science courses from Coursera or MIT OpenCourseWare
[<em>] Math competitions: AMCs, USAMTS, those kinds of things; or just doing olympiad problems/discussing them with others
[</em>] Research/independent projects: research assistant, some ongoing CS projects of my own that I discuss a little
[<em>] My state's ARML (arml.com) team in the spring
[</em>] Art of Problem Solving community: Member/moderator. Also if you are there, you can probably find me...
[li] Volunteer work: Mathcounts coaching assistant/grader at interschool practices[/li][li] Summer: AwesomeMath 2011, Canada/USA Mathcamp 2012 (one of 120 selected)[/li][li] Sports: school tennis (12th), club tennis out of season[/li][li] School ECs: Academic Super Bowl, Math Club, Science Bowl[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Other
[ul]
[<em>] Essays: I can't judge them impartially :)
[</em>] Recommendation 1: math teacher that I've also assisted for, will be good but not sure how good
[<em>] Recommendation 2: US history & government teacher that likes me, but haven't seen the recommendation
[</em>] Counselor: very good
[<em>] Additional recommendation: professor, coach (separate) that I assisted
[</em>] Common App essay: about getting myself/others not to judge ourselves by formal credentials/scores/grades
[<em>] Ethnicity: Chinese
[</em>] Gender: M
[li] Income: upper middle class[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Self-perceived strengths/weaknesses
[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Passion, less formal/more independent extracurriculars in which I'm involved
[</em>] Weaknesses: slightly low grades (though explainable by school change), demographics, lack of formal/school-related ECs
[/ul]</p>

2

<p>Thanks for chancing me! Your academics are very impressive overall; although your GPA isn’t that high, I don’t think it would hold your back too much. Your ECs are very focused and outstanding, but lack a little bit of leadership and participation in school, but that wouldn’t be a problem either. </p>

<p>MIT-low reach/reach
Chicago (EA)-low reach
Caltech (EA)-low reach
UC Berkeley-match
Stanford-reach
Princeton-reach
Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and College of Science)-low reach
Cornell (Engineering, Arts/Sciences)-high match</p>

3

<p>You sound like a great applicant for these schools, and your self-perceived strengths and weaknesses are spot on. That being said:</p>

<p>MIT- Reach (For everyone)
Chicago - Low reach
Caltech - Low reach
Berkeley - Match
Stanford - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Carnegie Mellon - Match
Cornell - Low reach for Engineering, Slightly better chance for A&S)</p>

<p>Chance back?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1577771-i-will-chance-back-chance-me-top-tier-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1577771-i-will-chance-back-chance-me-top-tier-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>MIT-low reach/reach
Chicago (EA)-low reach
Caltech (EA)-reach
UC Berkeley-match
Stanford-reach
Princeton-reach
Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and College of Science)-lmatch
Cornell (Engineering, Arts/Sciences)-match</p>

<p>good luck! chance back?<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1577930-yet-another-chance-post-check-out-maybe.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1577930-yet-another-chance-post-check-out-maybe.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>I’ve chanced both of you back. Thanks to you and StanleyJuCu. Could anyone else offer some feedback?</p>

6

<p>I know you so this is slightly biased:
MIT (Early Action) = low reach
Chicago (EA) = match/low reach
Caltech (EA) = low reach
UC Berkeley = match
Stanford = reach (I know people accepted at HYP/MIT but rejected from Stanford so hmm)
Princeton = reach
Carnegie Mellon = match
Cornell = match
in-state safety = :P</p>

7

<p>Thank you^^!</p>

<p>Anyone else? I will give feedback in return as candidly as you give me.</p>

8

<p>Hey I moved around a lot in high school too; I’m pretty sure they’ll take all of that into account. </p>

<p>Your grades/scores/ECs are good, but here’s the issue: almost every other Asian applicant will be passionate about math or tennis and many will do both. I don’t see flaws in your application, persay, but here’s the thing: you will be competing against many applicants with the same or better stats than yours. Many of these passionate mathletes will have USAMO or IMO level accomplishments. I feel like this Asian mathlete stereotype that your app reflects will cause some upstream swimming in admission to selective “holistic review”-type colleges.</p>

<p>From your list of schools, I’ll assume you live on the East Coast. And from science bowl, I’ll even venture a guess to say New Jersey. This is a competitive area, and it is important to recognize how your geography will affect things. Stanford will be a super reach. Since Stanford has to compete with every other Ivy for East Coast applicants, they are particularly selective for us Atlantic Ocean-side dwellers. Acceptance to Stanford from this side of the country without excelling at an almost unparalleled level is near impossible in my view.</p>

<p>Of course, I may have guessed your location wrong. If you’re west coast, then consider yourself to have a better chance at Stanford.</p>

<p>MIT (Early Action) - Reach
Chicago (EA) - Reach
Caltech (EA) - Low Reach (your stats and personality help you here; this is a good “fit”)
UC Berkeley - Match (attainable)
Stanford - Super reach
Princeton - reach; more realistic than Stanford though, if you are on East coast
Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and College of Science) - high match - attainable, SCS is reach though
Cornell (Engineering, Arts/Sciences) - low reach; attainable</p>

<p>Predict me?: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1579477-lets-play-game-predictions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1579477-lets-play-game-predictions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Edit: If, by any chance, you are not from either coast, then consider yourself to have a slightly better chance than what I have rated you as. MA/NJ/NY/CA are generally regarded as some of the most competitive states for admissions.</p>

<p>Edit II: Your GPA is fine. Really. It will NOT be the factor holding you back.</p>

9

<p>MIT(EA)-low reach/reach
Chicago (EA)-low reach
Caltech (EA)-low reach/reach
UC Berkeley-match
Stanford-reach
Princeton-reach
Carnegie Mellon-high match
Cornell-high match
Your gpa is low for Princeton and Stamford, but is around average for MIT, Cornell, Cal Tech, and U Chicago, and is above average for your other schools.
Chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1576961-chance-nervous-student-please-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1576961-chance-nervous-student-please-3.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>Frankly, I’m not convinced by what you say about Stanford/Princeton as 1) they purportedly do not consider freshman grades, which without I would have a 3.96, and 2) grades aren’t everything. I’m trying to get opinions on the non-objective factors. Chanced you back.</p>

<p>@Nihilus: Actually, I happen to be from central Indiana. (neglected to mention this, I guess :P) It’s a fairly competitive area (mostly because of a nearby school), but not nearly as much as an other certain urban area in Indiana. Thanks for the really detailed feedback. I’ve gotten back to you too.</p>

11

<p>You are into berkeley, Chicago, and Carnegie.
MIT, Caltech, Stanford, and Princeton can never be a for sure. You are DEFINITELY a competitive candidate for those schools.</p>

12

<p>Due to your lack of major leadership in either the clubs you do/other student organizations you could have done + the fact you started tennis in your senior year (based off what I see)/ lower class rank + being upper middle class Chinese with a background that’s frankly similar to many other of our ethnicity, my predictions are as follows:
MIT (Early Action) - Reach
Chicago (EA) - Reach
Caltech (EA) - Low Reach/Reach ( to quote: your stats and personality help you here; this is a good “fit”)
UC Berkeley - Match (attainable)
Stanford - reach
Princeton - reach; more realistic than Stanford though
Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and College of Science) - high match
Cornell (Engineering, Arts/Sciences) - low reach</p>

<p>A few years ago I would have said you are for sure into UChicago, but considering how competitive the school has gotten in recent years, it has become as hard if not harder than MIT as far as admissions.</p>

<p>That being said, you are a very competitive applicant. Good luck!</p>

13

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Though to be honest, I’m a little disappointed at how literally the term “leadership” is interpreted taken on CC; it seems to be a common impression here that you have to be an officer in a bunch of clubs at your school and whatnot to exhibit ‘leadership’. I am not someone who joins activities to get positions or get formal credentials or look like a leader, etc. and I didn’t feel that I would have chances to contribute or learn from school activities as much as what I get from the opportunities I found based on what I like to do. I know I can’t really do a great job of explaining <em>how</em> this works in a few short posts, and not trying to make excuses for anything :slight_smile: but just trying to give some insight into what kind of person I am.</p>

<p>As for class rank, I would lose a lot of faith in the college admissions process if they took my class rank at face value. As I’ve explained in my original post, it doesn’t seem right to directly compare the rank of the other students at a school compared to a student who spent a time at another school.</p>

<p>Other than that, thanks for the detailed advice (above 2). It means a lot.</p>

14

<p>Still looking for opinions, if anyone has any. Thanks in advance!</p>

15

<p>Great stats! You’ve shown your passion for math well!</p>

<p>MIT EA - Mid-Reach (it is for anyone, but you are reasonably qualified)
CalTech- Mid/Low Reach
UChicago- Low Reach/ Match
Stanford- Reach
Princeton- Reach
Carnegie Mellon - Reach (college of CS has a 6.8% accept. rate…)
Cornell- Match
Berkeley - Match</p>

<p>Chance back please! Thanks :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1581720-will-kill-me-duke-please-help.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1581720-will-kill-me-duke-please-help.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>MIT - Low Reach
CTech - Low Reach
UChicago - Low Reach
Stanford - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Carnegie - Reach
Cornell - Match
Berkely - Low Match</p>

<p>Good luck! Please get me back.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1581443-please-chance-me-these-schools-will-chance-back-asap.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1581443-please-chance-me-these-schools-will-chance-back-asap.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>Predictions:</p>

<p>MIT (EA): Deferred then Waitlisted
Chicago (EA): Accepted
Caltech (EA): Accepted
UC Berkeley: Accepted
Stanford: Rejected
Princeton: Rejected
Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and College of Science): Accepted
Cornell (Engineering, Arts/Sciences): Accepted
Your in-state safety: Accepted</p>

<p>You have a great shot at all of your choices. However, the harsh truth is that Asian males have the most difficult time getting into these schools (top tier colleges in the math/science concentration). Caltech is less discriminatory, so I think you have the best shot there among your most difficult schools.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

18

<p>Thanks for all the replies! Anyone else? (I seem to remember there are several who I changed who promised to chance back… :))</p>

<p>More detailed feedback is better! but not required.</p>

19

<p>Dude you are awesomesauce!
MIT- Lower Reach
Chicago - Low reach
Caltech - Reach
Berkeley -Low Match
Stanford - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Carnegie Mellon - Match
Cornell - High Match</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into all of em :slight_smile:
Chance back please
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1579092-chance-me-jhu-ed-i-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1579092-chance-me-jhu-ed-i-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

20

<p>MIT - lowish reach
CalTech- low reach
UChicago- lowish reach
Stanford/ Princeton- reach (just like for everyone else, although you are much more competitive than the average applicant and you have a better than 50/50 chance)
Carnegie Mellon- low reach
Cornell- high match/ low reach
Berkeley- high match</p>

<p>Good luck!! Chance back please? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1577460-chance-blue-devil-duke-ed-hopeful-receive-chance-return.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1577460-chance-blue-devil-duke-ed-hopeful-receive-chance-return.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;