<p>I'm a White male rising senior from a very competitive school in CA
Can you chance me for: MIT Stanford Olin HMU Berkeley UCLA UCSD
GPA: UW 3.85, W 4.3
Rank: School doesn't rank but I would assume top 10% probably top 5%
SAT: 2100 720 CR, 720 M (low I know, could retake?), 670 W (probably not going to submit)
SAT IIs: Math 2 780, Chem 760
APs: APUSH (5), Phys C Mech (5), Phys C E&M (5), APAH (4), Calc BC (5) Comp Sci (5), Chem (4) AP Euro (5), Calc AB (5) Phys B (5) Next year: Gov Bio World
ACT: 34 Math 36, Reading 36, Science 35, English 30 Essay 8
Prospective Major: EECS where available</p>
<p>ECs:
-President of Robotics Club ←basically replaced volunteering for me I put hundreds of hours into this club every year
-President of Cybersecurity Club
-JV Academic League, most likely Varsity this year
-Mentored a middle school FTC team last year (will probably do the same this year)
-3 years working summers at a local restaurant</p>
<p>Awards/Honors :
-First Place in the San Diego Mayor's Cup (Local cybersecurity competition against ~30 schools in SoCal)
-National AP Scholar</p>
<p>My biggest problem from my perspective is a less than perfect GPA. I had a rather poor freshman year but my grades have gotten better each year even as my courseload has increased dramatically.
I also have a very small amount of volunteering hours I've been told by others that it doesnt really matter as long as you invest your time in other ECs.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for the chances. Any advice on retaking tests or other things would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Hi! It looks like you’ve got a great shot at Olin, I know someone with similar stats/ECs that is going there this fall. Aside from that, I would say MIT and Stanford are pretty high reaches based on your ECs, Berkeley is gonna be iffy with your GPA, but I think you’ve got a solid shot at Harvey Mudd and the UCs. Good luck and chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1673832-will-chance-back-chance-me-for-cmc-barnard-bryn-mawr-columbia-stanford-cornell-umich.html?new=1”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1673832-will-chance-back-chance-me-for-cmc-barnard-bryn-mawr-columbia-stanford-cornell-umich.html?new=1</a></p>
<p>Your GPA looks pretty darn good to me. Most kids who take 10 AP classes by their Junior year won’t have a GPA in that range. Plus you are taking several more. Good for you.</p>
<p>MIT and Stanford are crapshoots. Others listed above should definitely be within reach for you. Have you considered any east coast engineering schools (CMU, Hopkins, Duke etc)?</p>
<p>U don’t need to retake, math and science score is great, so ya. Ummm, GPA is good, but what is your essay topic? this should be interesting, it will set you apart, no test score or GPA can do that. ECs help you stand out, I started an organization and my essay topic is about a particular experience at the retirement home, so ya.</p>
<p>Your gpa isn’t that bad. SAT score is a little low though, a 2250 is good for top schools. You have interesting extracurriculars so keep those up!
MIT and Stanford are high reaches UCSD is a match, UCLA is a match, Berkeley is a high match.
Good luck!
Chance me back: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1672761-chance-me-for-stanford-university.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1672761-chance-me-for-stanford-university.html</a></p>
<p>@vballgurl My GPA is probably my weakest link at the moment, I’m hoping my courseload is enough to offset that. Honestly I thought my ECs were my strong suit, but its hard to see that from one line. I plan to focus my essays on the experiences I have had in my ECs. Thanks for the critique. A friend of mine recommended Olin to me when he was applying and after research it looks like an awesome school.</p>
<p>@sgopal2 Thanks for the confidence boost about the GPA. All the top tier privates are really a crapshoot MIT has been my dream school ever since I knew of its existence but I am totally fine with any school I get into on my list. I hadn’t really thought about CMU but looking at it I might consider applying. I’m just not sure if I have time for another application.</p>
<p>@manas1997 I was so mad about not getting an 800 on the Math, I had gotten 800s on all my practice tests. But its honestly close enough that I don’t think its worth retaking. I plan to focus my essays on my extracurricular experiences. I spend almost every minute of my free time in the robotics room so Im pretty sure I can find some good moments to talk about (to be honest I haven’t really taken a huge look at the essays but thats what I plan to spend the rest of my summer doing)</p>
<p>@Dream0n I’m planning on using my ACT score rather than my SAT. I think a 34 is equivalent to a 2270 but the range differs from who you talk to. I’m glad you like the ECs, I wouldn’t stop them even if they had no effect on admissions.</p>
<p>@LordTalos Thanks for the chance! do you have any specific metric that I could be lacking in?</p>
<p>Thanks again guys, I’ll try to get some chance backs out there</p>
<p>@Gryph0n As a fellow EECS intended major or CS, I’d say more technical EC’s but that isnt really a big disadvantage. I’d just say take a Physics SAT II if you can since that is related to the major intended.</p>