Chance me for a few/I'll chance back

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Just in advance, I kindly request that you read my explanations before making too many assumptions about grades/statistics. I know the post is kind of long; sorry :)</p>

<p>Schools I'm applying to for RD: Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and MCS), Cornell (Arts/Sciences and Engineering), UIUC, UT Austin.</p>

<p>Stats (as of end of 1st sem.):
[ul]
[<em>] Unweighted GPA: 3.9 (post freshman is 3.96; spent freshman year at another school where average grades are much lower)
[</em>] SAT: 760 CR/800 MA/730 WR (8 essay)
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math 2/770 Chem
[</em>] APs: Calc BC (5), Phy. C Mech. (5), Chem. (5), US Hist. (5), Biology (4), Stats (5)
[<em>] Rank: barely top 10%, but this is skewed due to my different freshman year.
[</em>] School type: top few public high schools in state (9th), fairly good public rural of 1600+ students (10th - 12th due to changing homes)</p>

<p>[<em>] Senior course load (1st semester): AP Gov (A), AP English (A), 100-level computer science course at local college (A+), 200-level CS course (A), Differential Equations (A)
[</em>] Senior course load (2nd semester): AP English 2nd semester, Economics, two CS courses (300-level, local college)
[<em>] Also took a few Coursera math/CS courses; 4 first semester, around the same 2nd semester (available upon request)
[</em>] took all honors/APs available at school except for Art, World Hist, and the AP classes in the foreign languages I don't study :P
[/ul]</p>

<p>Awards/distinctions
[ul]
[<em>] USA Computing Olympiad Silver division
[</em>] USA Math Talent Search bronze (2011, 2012)
[<em>] AIME qualifier (2011, 12, 13)
[</em>] State math league first place (2012, 13)
[<em>] AP Scholar with Distinction
[</em>] National Merit SF
[/ul]</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
[ul]
[<em>] I participate regularly in programming competitions usually populated by college students/professionals; have done fairly well here (Codeforces/Topcoder division 1, for example).
[</em>] I also run an informal online group of competitors (mainly to keep in touch with other friends and to introduce newcomers to competitive programming) and my own contest.
[<em>] Online coursework: Outside of school, I study mostly from MIT OpenCourseWare/Coursera courses.
[</em>] Research/independent projects: Some small CS projects I do when I have time; was a research assistant during summer
[<em>] Member of my state's premier ARML team in the spring
[</em>] Art of Problem Solving community: Member/moderator. Also if you are there, you can probably find me...
[<em>] Mathcounts coaching assistant/grader at interschool practices
[</em>] Summer: AwesomeMath 2011, Canada/USA Mathcamp 2012 (one of 120 selected)
[<em>] Sports: Club tennis out of season (9th - 12th), school team (12th)
[</em>] Other school ECs: Academic Super Bowl, Math Club, Science Bow
[/ul]</p>

<p>Other factors
[ul]
[<em>] Essays: I can't judge them impartially ;)
[</em>] Recommendations: I haven't seen them, but will be good (magnitude of goodness - who knows)
[<em>] Counselor: very good
[</em>] Common App essay: about getting myself/others not to judge ourselves by formal credentials/scores/grades
[li] Demographics: Asian-American, male, upper middle class (sorry, pretty boring :P)[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Self-perceived strengths and weaknesses
[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Passion, less formal/more independent extracurriculars in which I'm involved
[</em>] Weaknesses: low-ish rank (though explainable by school change), demographics, lack of formal/school-related ECs
[/ul]</p>

<p>Candid feedback is welcome and will be matched :) just post your thread here</p>

2

<p>Well you obviously love math and computers haha. I’d say this: you’re a terrific applicant and are extremely competitive anywhere; however, your GPA is probably a little closer to the low side for Princeton and Stanford (you want a 3.95 or greater, really).</p>

<p>Princeton- High Match
Stanford- High Match
CMU- Match
Cornell- Match
UIUC- Safety
UT Austin- Safety</p>

<p>PS- Your essay topic doesn’t stick out so much to me. I can’t tell you how many of those I’ve seen on here.</p>

3

<p>Thanks; my post-freshman GPA is 3.96 and if I recall correctly, that’s what is used for Princeton/Stanford. :P</p>

<p>Yeah, I guess I’m not sure why I put my essay topic here. It’s not like anyone can tell without reading my actual essay, as the topic itself is probably common as you said. Nevertheless I find it (and the events associated with it) important.</p>

4

<p>You’re not applying to MIT??</p>

<p>Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon SCS, Cornell Engineering - Reach
Cornell CAS - Low Reach
Carnegie Mellon MCS, UIUC - Match</p>

<p>Not sure about UT Austin.</p>

<p>I can say UIUC would love to have you because of your stats, and they would likely grant you admission.</p>

<p>Rank: As long as you’re above 10% it’s fine.
GPA/SAT: Awesome. SAT is 10 points below 2300 which is quite unlucky, but it’s fine.
Course load is nice. Coursera courses, imho, is useless. OCW is nice though. Too bad you aren’t applying to MIT.</p>

<p>Awards is nice, but not outstanding.</p>

<p>ECs are nice but almost lopsided. Beware.</p>

<p>Common App Essay is dangerous. May become a bit generic. You need good language skills to pull this one off. I have a lot of Asian friends who write about this…</p>

<p>You’re a bit on the “generic” applicant side, which does not please Ivy League. This is based on what I see from your ECs. However, if you applied to schools like MIT, Caltech etc. they would be more forgiving but you would still need more alternate ECs to counterbalance your lopsided-ness. I’m not sure what other ECs you do, but yeah…you seem focused, but lopsided. That’s my impression.</p>

<p>Be sure to include ECs outside of Math/Science, and if the colleges require quite a few different essays, mention what you do OUTSIDE of math/science…I’m not sure how lopsided-ness can affect one’s application, but a lot of Asians are like you, ever so focused on Math/Science. Be very careful not to make them think “generic”.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1593606-d-mit-eecs-cornell-engineering-rd-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1593606-d-mit-eecs-cornell-engineering-rd-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I applied to MIT, Caltech, Chicago early action.</p>

<p>About lopsidedness, a lot of the universities say they are after well-rounded classes of individual specialists. Aside from math/CS, I do have interests in things like politics, tennis, etc. but it doesn’t make much sense to focus so much on those when I’ll be mainly doing academic work.</p>

<p>About the Common App, I wrote essays for 3 different prompts and just chose one of them to be on this list. Take it with a grain of salt since I have no idea how unique the actual essay(s) is(are).</p>

6

<p>Shamelessly bumping</p>

7

<p>And again!</p>

8

<p>@AwesomeToad</p>

<p>How’s your Early Action results? The UChicago result may give insight to your essays quality, while the MIT result may give insight to whether they think you are inquisitive, curious, innovative etc.</p>

<p>It’s good to know that you have other ECs from computer/science/maths. I’m very relived to hear that. A key term admissions use is “lopsided”, which can be detrimental to a highly successful applicant’s chances, especially if you’re Asian. Be sure to show that you’re not lopsided.</p>

<p>You’re right about a lot of universities saying that they are after individual specialists. That means you must be unique. You can show that you’re unique through a variety of ways, but one of the easiest is to pick up an interesting hobby that not a lot of others have. It’s much harder to express it through essays. Right now, your main ECs may not be that unique, and they fall into the generic category. An easy way to fix this is to specify your ECs by giving them specific names. For example, name the programming competition. This is a very effective method to make you sound different.</p>

9

<p>On the last paragraph, I did name the programming competitions, of course. But I’m thoroughly convinced that few CCers would take the time to see the specifics, and I’d rather not post identifying information if it isn’t read. :slight_smile: Of course, it’s always welcome upon request.</p>

<p>I’m actually not very sure what to say about the second, as [What</a> Colleges Don’t Tell You (And Other Parents Don’t Want You to Know): 272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools: Elizabeth Wissner-Gross: 9780452288546: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/What-Colleges-Dont-Other-Parents/dp/0452288541]What”>http://www.amazon.com/What-Colleges-Dont-Other-Parents/dp/0452288541) and other reputable sources say otherwise. Other opinions welcome though.</p>

<p>Anyone else? :)</p>

10

<p>I just got into UT Austin Plan II honors, so you should have no problem getting in there. Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon SCS, and Cornell Engineering are pretty much bereaches for everyone, but I think you definitely have as good a chance as anyone, assuming your essays and recs turn out really well. On the other things, I agree with Skyrior.</p>

<p>Here’s mine: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1594951-ivy-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1594951-ivy-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Stanford - reach
Princeton - reach
Carnegie Mellon - low reach (CS), match (MCS)
Cornell (both) - low reach
UIUC - safety
UT Austin - safety</p>

<p>Your ECs are awesome but on the whole, essays tend to be unremarkable for top-tier college applicants, so do well on those and you’re in good shape.</p>

12

<p>You have a good chance at the Ivies. Good luck!</p>

13

<p>I’m sure you will be fine. Your stats are amazing! I bet you get into Stanford!</p>

14

<p>Stanford,- Low reach
Princeton- medium reach
Carnegie Mellon (School of CS and MCS)- Low Match; Low Reach
Cornell (Arts/Sciences and Engineering)- Match
UIUC- Safety
UT Austin-Safety</p>

<p>Thanks for chancing</p>

15

<p>bump if anyone else has feedback</p>

16

<p>You have great ECs
Stanford/Princeton- Reach
CMU- high match
Cornell- high match
Others- safeties</p>

17

<p>Stanford/Princeton: reach for all but you are very competitive.
Cornell:low reach
Cmu:match
Ut/Uiuc: safety
I say you get in 4/6 and end up at cornell. Good luck!</p>

18

<p>Stanford/Princeton: reach for all but you are very competitive.
Cornell:low reach
Cmu:match
Ut/Uiuc: safety
I say you get in 4/6 and end up at cornell. Good luck!</p>