Chance Me: FL South Asian Senior Applying for Mat Sci In Most Top Colleges [Rank 1/872, 4.0 UW, 36 ACT, NMSF ]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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demographics: indian male in central florida, 4000+ people in public school, 872 in class

school list:

Schools (ranked with few interchangeables but not included)

mit

caltech

stanford

princeton (rea, applied)

berkeley (applying soon)

ga tech (ea, applied)

northwestern

cmu

cornell

penn

duke

rice

uiuc (ea, applied)

purdue (ea, applied)

uf (applied already)

ucf (got in!)

intended majors: first-choice: material science/engineering, second-choice: data science/mechanical engineering/sports analytics for most colleges

test scores: 36 act (what im submitting), 1540 sat (don’t think im submitting), 1470 psat/nmsqt

coursework: projected to finish 26 ap classes, 14 dual enrollment, and have done 4 IB HL and 2 IB SL. currently have 12 4’s, 7 5’s, and 2 3’s on ap’s and a 5 and 7 on the two ib exams i have taken. diverse coursework with many math, physics, chem, cs related classes

gpa: 4.0/4.0 uw, projected to be 4.9 ish/5.0 at end weighted, rank 1/872 currently

awards (only listing 5):

1x AIME qualifier (2023) (possibly getting this year as well idk 90 on both amc 12’s is borderline)

2x USNCO qualifier (2022 + 2023)

UF SSTP (summer program) Best Research Paper (2023)

National Merit Semi-finalist

3rd Place in CAC Quiz Bowl States as Part of Seminole County

(have some additional info awards like selected to present at CMU sports analytics conference + Midwest Sports Analytics Meeting)

extracurriculars (only ranking my 10 in order but have more for colleges like berkeley and mit where i can put multiple jobs/internships/research):

also, two of them are italicized as the first italicized is included in my EA apps but i got the princeton opportunity after which is included in new apps

mridangam/kanjira carnatic percussion instrument player - around 10 hours a week and have participated in multiple concerts including one at a religious shrine in india (jan 2020 - present)

founded free sat math tutoring program in junior year, have reached to around 30 kids starting this year, helping solve lack of access to education problem locally (oct 2022 - present)

ucf physics research focused around molecular dynamics and computational modeling, contributed to research presented at a famous physics conference earlier this year (jul 2022 - present)

uf sstp program - performed research on food waste dynamics, won best research paper and continuing research to contribute to published paper as it should be published soon (jun 2023 - present)

mu alpha theta/national math honor society member, treasurer (2023-24), calculus content leader (2023-24) - won multiple regional and state accolades including perfect score of 120 on a calculus regional in 2023 (aug 2020 - present)

science olympiad/bowl member, president (2023-24) - won multiple regional awards and working as sole president in club with projected around 25-30 members (aug 2021 - present)

chinmaya mission philosophy student - philosophy student learning about the framework behind hindu philosophy for long period of time and performed volunteering and service work as part of organization (aug 2016 - present)

princeton course developer assistant - helping with the development of a possible sports analytics course at princeton university along with the wintersession workshop (oct 2023 - present)

soccer analyst intern for orlando city sc - creating data-driven projects that will contribute to the recruitment analysis of the club (aug 2023 - present)

syracuse sports analytics research - helping with a project focused on f1 vs indy car speed differences currently and working on future projects after this one finishes (jul 2023 - present)

georgia tech material science + polymer science research - helping a phd student in chemical/biomolecular engineering with simultaneous learning of polymer science topics and contribution of data analysis and qualitative insights (sep 2023 - present)

essays: def my weak point as i think this is why i got rejected from 7 out of 8 summer programs i applied to last year but i am making sure to revise constantly and think i have decent ideas this time

LORs: have been able to fill all possible recommendation spots in all colleges, with recommendations including a variety from math teacher, physics teacher, chemistry teacher, IB TOK teacher, spanish teacher, multiple research advisors and one employer (mathnasium which is my 11th activity on my list)

what i think my strengths are: my resume, my awards, my academics except some of my test scores

what i think my weaknesses are: my essays possibly, possibly not best teacher recs??, my extracurriculars dont have much impact or longevity

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Applying soon? The UC deadline was yesterday…

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sorry this was an old thing i applied to berkeley and la i forgot to update

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for refernece i did apply to berkeley already and applied to LA (this was an old thing i made and forgot to change that part)

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You are an extremely impressive candidate. Do you have any financial constraints? Did you check affordability for all of these schools? If you are sure all are affordable, then I think you’ve got a great list, especially as you already have one school locked in. I feel pretty confident that you will get multiple offers with your credentials.

This is an excellent score worth reporting to most schools. What was the math section? That may make a difference, especially to MIT and Caltech. But of course if you have a 36 ACT then it doesn’t really matter - you are all set.

When do you sleep? Seriously. I hope you are taking care of yourself. This is a lot.

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Please remove your linkedin.

You open and you can see your name.

Congrats on UCF and best of luck on the rest. I do agree - you’ll have other opportunities.

Best of luck.

PS - any budget issues that put UF in the driver seat, etc?

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What is your weak test score?

You are fine…and you already have an acceptance. So now…just wait and see where else you get accepted.

Are all of these colleges affordable?

Also, are you a U.S citizen!

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You are a very strong candidate. I believe you’ll get into GaTech and at least one of your other reaches.

The only challenge might be if you’re an international applicant because acceptance rates are much lower for these already very hard to get into schools (I’m going by your saying “Indian male” rather than “Indian American”).

You haven’t mentioned finances - I assume you’ve checked that with your family already?

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Math section was 800, and yeah I have plenty of time lol, sports analytics is a passion so its considered my fun

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nah im an US citizen should have specified that, and yes my family is ok with paying for all of these

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yea all the colleges should be affordable and yes im a us citizen

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ap scores are much weaker than most candidates i know

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AP scores are the only negative I see and likely a result of being spread so thin with all your amazing awards/extracurriculars

I think you have a great (>50% chance) at all of these! Make sure you come and update your post with your results.

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Some colleges don’t really consider AP scores for admissions - just for placement once you’ve been accepted. While strong scores look good, I don’t think a few lower scores are going to hurt you much, if at all. The grades you got in the classes will count more than the test scores.

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So what? Most colleges do not use AP scores for admission decision making. They might use them for course credit and they might use them for class placement purposes. For either, you don’t even need to submit your AP test scores until after you decide where to matriculate. @Mwfan1921 am I correct about this?

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I am not so sure. This is a recent piece on Inside Higher Ed, quoting Emory’s DOA.

“We’re not as trusting, frankly, of GPA these days,” Latting said. “Students are trying their hardest … but grades are definitely inflated and not as connected to true class performance as they used to be.”

Latting said Emory’s admissions office has retooled its rankings system for applicants, formally incorporating nontraditional measures such as creative output and educational opportunity for the first time this year. They’re also weighing “external assessment” more heavily than GPA, with a particular focus on AP scores.

But in which world is 12 4s and 7 5s bad? But could someone explain OPs coursework to me? How can you take 26 AP courses, plus all the IB and dual enrollment courses?

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In florida we have florida virtual school so you can take a lot externally, also a lot of AP classes are woven into IB. there are a lot of kids who do very similar things and its easy to get a lot of AP/IB/DE classes here

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coursework : projected to finish 26 ap classes, 14 dual enrollment, and have done 4 IB HL and 2 IB SL.

So are you saying that you will have completed 26 AP courses PLUS 14 dual enrollment courses?

Are any of your APs self study?

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Very confused, as OP has taken 26 out of 39 AP courses. Seems to me like bean counting AP classes. I’d expect more rejections than would normally be the case with such a stellar resume.

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I agree. And these numerous 4’a and 3’s on APs are a real concern. Most AP tests have anywhere from 10% to 30% of test takers get a 5.

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