Chance for top schools. (Is it tough to get into these schools with my major?)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a rising senior, Asian male, and I live in California, and want to apply as an Engineer for all schools listed.

GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.74 weighted (counting only fresh, soph, and junior years)
Rank: 1
SAT: 2000; CR: 620 M: 680 W: 700
SAT II: Math Level 2: 780; Physics: 740; US History: 700
ACT: 32; English: 28; Math: 36; Reading: 30; Science: 34
I’m planning on retaking the SAT and ACT but I don’t want to assume that I will score better so lets just say these are the scores I will be submitting to colleges.

AP classes taken so far:
AP Chemistry (Score: 4)
AP World History (Score: 4)
AP Language (Score: 4)
AP Physics 1 (Score: 5)
AP Calculus AB (Score: 5)
AP U.S. History (Score: 5)
AP Spanish (Score: 2)

Senior Course Load:
AP Physics B
AP Biology
AP Calculus BC
AP Statistics
AP Literature
AP Government
Honors Art
P.E. (required)

Extracurriculars:

  • Mathletes (4 years, president 2014-2015)
  • Key Club (4 years, treasurer 2014-2015, vice-president 2015-2016, awarded Distinguished treasurer and Gold Member by the CNH District)
  • Science Olympiad (4 years, president 2014-2015)
  • National Honor Society (3 years, president 2015-2016)
  • Early Academic Outreach Program (4 years)
  • California Scholarship Federation (3 years)
  • Varsity Tennis (3 years b/c not counting spring season of senior year)
  • Varsity Cross Country (4 years counting fall season of senior year)
  • 400+ hours of community service (acquired through Key Club, helped at numerous homeless feeds, local food bank, fundraisers for charity, community events and festivals, etc.)
  • Project SEED Summer of Junior year (Program sponsored by the ACS, I worked as an intern and conducted research for the Chemistry Department at UC Davis and was paid a stipend)

Income: $50k/year for family of 6
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male

Colleges interested in (Applying as an Engineer):
UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Davis, Stanford, Brown, Cornell (and probably more Ivy leagues), MIT, California Institute of Tech, etc.

I know Berkeley is really known for engineering so it will be tough to get into that. Is that the same with all the other Ivies? I heard Cornell has pretty good engineering as well.

Also I kinda posted this a while ago but I updated with new info so decided to post again.

Thanks in advance!

2

I think if you get your ACT score to a 33-34, you could get into berkeley for engineering pretty easily. UCLA is probably a high match for you, and SD is probably a low match-match. Stanford and Brown would be reaches, and I think Cornell is a high match/low reach. Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1791315-chance-me-johns-hopkins-ed-cornell-ucla-ucsd-ucd-ucsb-uci-emory-st-louis-washington-duke.html#latest

3

I highly disagree with the above poster. Berkeley Engineering’s acceptance rate is only 9.7%, and mainly because of that percentage and your low test scores I’d say that one is a reach. UCLA Engineering’s acceptance rate is 13.1%, so you have a better shot there, but not by much. Don’t submit your SAT score, instead work on getting that ACT up to a 34+. CalTech, MIT, and Stanford are both big reaches for you without any major awards or accolades that differentiate you from other applicants. Sorry to go there, but you are the stereotypical Asian STEM applicant, so that won’t be working in your favor. I’m very confident you could get into UCSD and UCD. You also have a good shot at both Brown and Cornell, but those can’t be considered matches because of their high selectivity. Sorry if that all sounded harsh, but in my opinion, that’s the truth. Good luck!

4

Congrats on getting this far! Your grades are strong, however you should bump that SAT to about 2300+ to be safe (for stanford and MIT). Your EC’s are pretty good, a lot of diversity, and they show your interest in math and science. Unfortunately, there are SO MANY Asian males applying to the above schools in Engineering. I think you are on the right track (Stanford, MIT, and Ivys are going to be a stretch though). The only thing I see missing is work experience (your internship is great, but its not “work” really).

Help me where to apply??

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1793302-what-colleges-should-i-apply-to-types-of-school-selectivity-help-with-resume.html#latest

5

What schools do you guys think would be a match for me? I live in California so I prefer to stay in state unless I can get into an Ivy League.

6

what about cal poly or southern california?

7

@kelika oh yeah those would definitely be choices for me too :stuck_out_tongue: But isn’t USC a private? Does it cost a lot more? And if I get into Ivies or Berkeley/LA/San Diego I think I’ll choose those over Cal Poly :stuck_out_tongue: