Chance for HYPSM/top colleges

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>PSAT: 207</p>

<p>SAT: 1960 (will not send - see ACT)</p>

<p>ACT (3 sittings): 34 (34/32/30) + 11 Essay (first sitting)</p>

<p>SAT II (subject, score): Math II - 740; Physics - 670 (will retake)</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 5.25+ (AP = 6 (max) at our school)</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 1% (class size: 700, school size: 2900+)</p>

<p>AP (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.</p>

<p>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)</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none ):</p>

<p>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?)</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): </p>

<ul>
<li><p>LEADERSHIP -
Rocketry Club: President + Founder (started end of 11th grade, will REALLY get going this year)
FIRST Robotics: President + Founder (starting it this year)
Science Olympiad Team: Leader + Founder (also starting this year)
Model UN: President (restarting the club this year)
Chess Club: Co-President + Co-Founder (11th + 12th)</p></li>
<li><p>PARTICIPANT -
Science NHS: Secretary (9-12th)
Mu Alpha Theta: Former Treasurer (10th), (9th - 12th)
Key Club: Member (possible future committee chair, 11-12th)
NHS: Member (11th - 12th)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service: 500 hours, 200 if internship is not counted
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).</p>

<p>Other
U.S. State/Territory or Country: FL
School Type: Large Public (2900+ students)
Ethnicity: ASIAN - Indian (this will probably be the end of me)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 250k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Son of adult immigrants? (both parents went to college in their own country)</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
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>It seems your school is really tough that there is almost no one getting GPA 4.0 as 3.85 is already top 1%. On the other hand, your other scores line up pretty well with your GPA. You do get a good ACT score. Congratulations!
You also have a reasonable rigorous schedule. You should be a match for Purdue, UCSD, UF, UMiami, and GA Tech. UCB, Rice, and Ivies are mid reach for you. Try to bring up your GPA and subject test scores.</p>

3

<p>Thanks! Assuming I get 800/790s on the SAT II’s how should that affect my chances? If I apply to all of HYPSM/the listed Ivies, should I have a reasonable chance of getting in to at least one?</p>

4

<p>You still need to bring up you GPA a bit.</p>

5

<p>GPA might get up to ~3.9 by the end of this year, but by the time my college applications are due, first semester will not even be over. Counting my summer classes, however, it ,my unweighted GPA should go up to ~3.87-3.88 and weighted to 5.3.</p>

<p>How much weight to colleges put on GPA, especially given my courseload?</p>

6

<p>bump!</p>

<p>10char</p>

7

<p>Hmm, your EC’s seem a little weak in my opinion. You are a member in just a few clubs, and you just started a few clubs this year; imo I wouldn’t even include that because those colleges want to seem consistency in your activities, something you’ve done throughout high school. Your volunteering seems a little cookie-cutter as well (please don’t take that as an offense!). </p>

<p>Your ACT and GPA/class rank are both really nice, you might want to retake your SAT IIs. These will be your strong points. </p>

<p>Still, mainly due to your EC’s (unless you have more solid ones that you could add?), I put HYPSM/top colleges at reaches to high reaches. Good luck though! Look forward to hearing how you do :D</p>

8

<p>Hmm, I do have quite a few other EC’s which I am a member of (Best Buddies, Key Club, etc…) but I thought colleges want the EC’s that you are strong at more? AFAIK FIRST Robotics and MUN are internationally acclaimed clubs and the Science Olympiad is national. I see what you mean by volunteering, but I guess it’s too late to change that now! I do plan on applying to all the colleges on the list (so many essays! but I am good at those) - what do you think my chance of making at least one of them is?</p>

<p>And good luck to you too!</p>

<p>(Also, bump for diversity of opinion!)</p>

9

<p>Unfortunately, GPA and course load are related and yet reviewed as 2 parameters.</p>