Chance me for a Math-Related Major

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello!
I am a first-generation Asian male in the class of 2018. I’m looking to study a major in either a field of Applied Mathematics/Statistics, and possibly a minor in Computer Science. I will be applying next year so I came here to look for reasonable choices I should pick. Here is my information:

Demographic: Asian Male

Other Hooks: First Generation, Parent is single, bad high school

Residence: California (Do not mind moving out of state)

GPA: Unweighted 4.0, Weighted 4.57, UC GPA: 4.5

SAT: 1530 (730 English, 800 Math) Essay 8/7/8 (Took Sophomore Year)

SAT II: 800 Math 2, 780 Chemistry, 750 Japanese

AP Classes taken: AP Biology (Did not attempt exam), AP Language (4), AP Literature (will take senior year)

Dual Enrollment Classes: Introduction to Statistics, Calculus I, II, III, Childhood Psychology, Japanese I, Music History, Chemistry 1A, 1B, Communications 1A, Introduction to Computer Information Systems, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations (Will Take: Physics 4A/4B/4C, Introduction to Astronomy, Discrete Mathematics)

Degrees: I will earn two Associates’ Degrees by the end of Fall 2017, one in Mathematics and one in Natural Sciences.

Military Leadership: I go to a school where a military aspect exists and is the focus. Consequently, test scores are much lower, as more time and resources are put into the military side. The school is divided into four ‘companies’, each with specific student staff running. I was the Training and Operations Officer in my Sophomore year, then was promoted to the Executive Officer position my Junior year.

Clubs: Due to my school being a military school, student-ran clubs were not a thing. However, I was able to convince the superintendent to allow clubs to be a thing, and I founded a research club, where members share interesting technological devices that they looked into, and described its specs, etc.

Extracurriculars: Kumon tutor, tutored at another less known tutoring place, Community College paid Math tutor/helper, unpaid summer internship, 200+ volunteer hours (from tutoring, helping at library, food bank, planned trip to a foreign country), private SAT tutor, math-related summer internship, school TA for AP Calculus AB/BC, went on an organized volunteer trip to a foreign country to help disabled children

Letters of Recommendation: Principal, Professors, Bosses

My school is academically lax and has crazy grade inflation. Our English and Math proficiency rates are around 30 percent, incredibly low compared to a few of the schools a few miles away.

The colleges that I’m looking at and would like to narrow down are: Ivy Leagues, MIT, Stanford, UCB, UCLA, RPI, CMU, Caltech, Cal Poly. I’m in a program that helps students refine their applications and essays, so I am confident that I can send good personal statements. How are my chances?

Thank you!

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Bump, help please!

3

RPI is a good match. Certainly MIT and Stanford are lotteries, you just never know. I’m not familiar with the other schools.

4

@NEPatsGirl Thank you for your input. Should I apply Early Admission for MIT and RPI then?

Also bumping for additional input

5

Unless I missed it I didn’t see approximate family income. You said you only live with your mom but is your father in the picture at all? Is he obligated to pay half of tuition. Realize, you have a very low chance of getting into MIT for the lack of concentrated extra currs, but not impossible-- that said, if you were accepted to MIT how would you pay their $60k pricetag. They say they will help 100% with what your family cannot afford, don’t be tricked by this. A lot of people start applying for colleges without understanding fully what this means. It means they go very meticulously into your finances and extract every possible penny you could afford. This is after your student loan qualifications. That means you must take student loans before they start their calculations of what they will give you in aid.

In light of that, are your parents able to afford MIT which gives no merit aid?

My suggestion is RPI, you can’t find a better school for Applied Math, and you might want to look into their Pure Math also. I went to their Math Curriculum Forum a few months ago and it was insane. The regional and national projects they get into gave me goosebumps. In the handouts there were lists of jobs that regular scout for employees from the RPI’s graduates. The salaries from the math department surprised me and made me want to consider changing my major to math. Typically, math students take a minor in some field where they want to apply their math degree and it just increases their expected salary. All the seniors that were on the panel were genuinely happy with their studies there. The professors that were present were very helpful and seemed to be all chill as well. The students seemed to have a healthy comradery with the teachers. I’d recommend RPI for your Math Major.

I got nearly all tuition covered by financial aid because of the little bit of merit aid that I got and the rest financial award for being middle income. That left me with a few thousand left to pay in loans and out of pocket. You should consider the finances before applying to Ivy league schools and other prestigious schools because they typically don’t provide merit aid. Aside from that, their rigor level is stressful and you may be detained a year from graduation because of the difficulty of the classes. And then in the end, the salary would have been nearly the same.

Go RPI