Chance me, feeling kinda depressed. Big name schools.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Probably going to get the first B of my life this semester (down from an A- last semester) and I feel like I'm throwing everything away. Seesawing between feeling terrible and standards-significantly-lowered-optimistic. Please help.</p>

<p>Major: Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering
Dream schools: Stanford (mega super dream #1 looove), MIT, Cornell, UCB, UCLA etc.
Other considerations (no order): Carnegie Mellon, UCSD, Rice University, Georgia Tech, CalTech, Harvard (may apply for kicks), Princeton, Purdue, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cal Poly SLO</p>

<p>Hopefully you can understand the sort of schools I'm going for - a few matches sprinkled in there. Not feeling too good.</p>

<p>State: CA
School Type: Public charter (will be 6 years old when I graduate)
Race: Latina (Brazil)
Gender: F
Income: $90k
Hooks: minority, female in engineering, school is in low income neighborhood, 2nd generation American, 2nd generation college (not sure if that counts for anything)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.44 W
Rank: 5 of 135ish
SAT: 2120 - M 690, CR 730, W 710 (January)
SAT II: Taking Math II and Physics or Biology in fall. I need to take Physics to be competitive, but a) I took it in 9th grade and b) my school's science program sucks, so I'd essentially have to teach myself over summer. Advice appreciated.
ACT: Taking June 14th - If I am satisfied with my score (32+) I will not retake the SAT. Otherwise, SAT in fall.
APs, etc.: School doesn't offer, instead offers dual enrollment with local community college and 2 universities
Transcript:
Honors English 9 - A
Composition - A
Introduction to Engineering Design - A
Physics - A
Honors Geometry - A
Honors Spanish 1 - A
Electives: Mock Trial, Speech & Debate, Tech Team</p>

<p>English 10 - A (Honors 2nd semester)
Principles of Engineering - A
Chemistry - A- (Honors 2nd semester)
Algebra 2 - A (Honors 2nd semester)
Honors Spanish 2 - A
World History - A
Electives: Mock Trial, Robotics, Yearbook</p>

<p>Honors English 11 - A
Art & Design 1 - A
Honors Biology - A
Pre-Calculus - A
Spanish 104/105 - A (college credit)
History 101/102 - A- 1st semester, likely B 2nd semester (college credit)
Electives: Robotics, Yearbook</p>

<p>Senior course load:
English Literature (college credit)
Engineering Design and Development
Anatomy OR Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Calculus (college credit)
College Writing
Government + Economics (college credit)
Electives: American Popular Culture or something like Computer Integrated Manufacturing or Digital Electronics</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- Ambassador Team (11-12): about 20 hours total
- California Scholarship Federation (11-12): monthly 30-minute meetings
- Church Audio & Visual Technician (7-12): 50 hours per year
- FIRST Robotics Competition (10-12) Head of Strategy (11), Team Captain (12): 250+ hours per year
- Interact Club (10-12): about 100 hours of community service
- Mock Trial (10-12) Founding Member, Defendant and Arresting Officer (10), Opening & Closing Attorney (11-12) 100 hours per year
- National Honor Society (11-12): monthly 30-minute meetings
- National Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (11-12) Founding Member, President (11-12): 30 hours per year
- Society of Women Engineers (10-12) Founding Member: monthly 30-minute meetings + 20 hours activities/service
- VEX Robotics (11) Founding Member: 50 hours
- Yearbook (10-11) * Assistant Editor (10), Chief Editor (11): 200 hours per year
**Awards:* FIRST Dean's List Award Semifinalist (virtually a school award), National Merit Commended, likely National Hispanic Recognition <a href="not%20yet%20awarded,%20but%20my%20PSAT%20is%20206%20and%20the%20cutoff%20is%20like%20186ish">something</a>
Work Experience:
Boeing Internship this summer, June 20 - August 8
Other: I really, really, really like space and I'm an engineer and astronaut in my wildest dreams.</p>

<p>Feel free to ask me anything about my ECs. I'm nothing extraordinary, but just wondering where I should realistically apply.</p>

2

<p>If you can raise your SAT into the 2200-2300 range (or equivalent to ACT) you will be competitive for all schools listed. Remember though, there are tons of competitive applicants denied from highly selective schools each year. </p>

<p>Assuming 2120 SAT:
All Ivies - Reach (They are for everyone)
Stanford - Reach
MIT - Reach
UCB - Low Reach/Reach
UCLA - Match/High Match
Carnegie Mellon - High Match/Low Reach
UCSD - Low Match (Not really sure on this one)
Purdue - Safety
Cal Tech - Reach
Georgia Tech - Match/High Match
SLO - Low Match/Match</p>

<p>Chance Back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1652577-chance-me.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1652577-chance-me.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>I think PMoney1 is pretty correct, but for goodness sake don’t beat yourself up over a B. Especially since you are going into engineering and the B is in history. It makes you human. Who knows, might even help. In any case, it really won’t affect your chances, especially if you have a great first semester senior year. Focus on ACT practice tests. If you don’t get 32+, then focus on SAT practice. But you will get into some very good schools for sure, even if not your first choice. One school you might want to think of adding to your list is Case Western Reserve.</p>

4

<p>Stanford: Reach
MIT: Reach
Harvard: Reach (for engineering Harvard is easier than Stanford or MIT, but harder than Cornell)
Cornell: Reach
Berkeley: High match
UCLA: High match (can you pay full-freight?)
UCSD: Match
Rice: Reach
Caltech: Reach
Princeton: Reach
Purdue: Low match
CMU: Reach
GA Tech: Match/High match
Cal Poly: Low match/Match</p>

<p>Too many reaches… although Case Western is a match.</p>

5

<p>Don’t be depressed over 1 B. That won’t stop you from getting in</p>

6

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</p>

<p>This is actually the only problem with your application, but it’s a big one.
Elite STEM programs (which is what most of your schools are) generally expect very close to an 800 on the Math SAT. I think this one score is really your weak point. Retake the SAT and see if you can bump this by 100 points (it’s not out of the question…)</p>

7

<p>My best friend(also Latino) applied with a C in history(and a few Bs) and got into MIT, a couple ivies, and other top schools. His SAT Math was high though.</p>

8

<p>OOOH you do FIRST. FRC or FTC? seems like you have a pretty good chance at all of these schools because I’ve seen weirder things happen…you seem about the same as the kids at my school who get into MIT. </p>

9

<p>Thanks everyone!</p>

<p>fallenchemist - Thank you, my main concern isn’t so much the B as it is a downward trend, in both grades and in honors classes taken. Thanks for the suggestion, I looked it up and I’m adding it to my list!</p>

<p>soze - Definitely, I was really surprised with my results, as on practice tests I score much higher. It’ll be easy to bump that up, though, because math is always straightforward. </p>

<p>howdoischool - FRC Team 4201! Takes up waaay too much of my time, but I love it more than anything. Are you FRC or FTC? Always good to see another FIRSTer!</p>

10

<p>I’m actually both- I do FTC 4290 and 5998 and FRC 418</p>

11

<p>@Fornisque‌ - One B isn’t a downward trend in grades, it is an anomaly. Schools are smart enough to see that. A trend takes more than one data point. As far as the fewer honors classes, I am not sure how much of an issue that will be. I don’t think too much, because they usually look for AP classes. It is a bigger issue that your school doesn’t offer these classes. You will want to make sure all the places you apply to know that. Looks like by the time you are done you will have 5 courses at the local college in place of the AP’s. That’s a pretty good record. I think you will be fine. Again, just make sure you and/or your guidance counselor makes that clear to the various schools.</p>

12

<p>Only thing possibly holding you back is possibly your sat score (regular and math II). Among Harvard, Stanford, and anything can happen but I’d expect you to get into 2 of them. The rest are a mixture of matches and safeties as you are an impressive student with great hooks too. Retake rhe sat or sat II for math. I’m in a similar boat as you with an awful one grade but I’m also going colleges just see it as an anomaly.</p>