Chance me for Caltech, MIT, Ivies, and UCs!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics
female, asian and white, low income but high assets
public high school in CA, bay area
current high school junior

Intended Major(s): Physics + minor/double major in CS

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA : 4.55 (APs/honors = 5)
  • Class Rank: valedictorian
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1560 SAT (800 math, 760 EBRW)

Coursework
14 APs (4 in senior year)
AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C Mech, AP Physics C EM, Honors Precalc, AP Calc BC, Chem Honors, AP Bio, AP CSP, Honors American Lit (equivalent to AP Lang), APUSH, AP Spanish, AVID Tutor
Senior year schedule: AP Chem, AP Stats, AP Lit, AP Gov/Econ, AVID Tutoring, APUSH TA

Extracurriculars (weakest part)

note: Lacking in research, but I’m applying to lots of internships/programs for this coming summer.

Club leadership

  1. Science National Honor Society: Junior Officer (9), Webmaster (10), VP of Management (11), expected President (12)
  • annually host largest club STEM event on campus; 10+ clubs involved
  • invited to have booth at event with 1,000+ attendees
  • lead research subgroup - like a book club where we read and discuss research papers
  1. Physics Club: VP (11), expected Co-Pres (12)
  • lowkey club, host study sessions for AP Physics 1 and C
  1. Chemistry Club: Founder/Pres (10-12)
  • founded and manage officer team of 5 students
  • grew club to medium size, ~30 students
  • study sessions, prep for chem olympiad, experiments
  1. Spanish Club/SNHS: Activities Director (10), VP (11), either Co-Pres or Pres (12)
  • hosted Pulsera Project; raised over $350 for charities in Central America
  1. Red Cross Club: Public Relations (10), VP (11,12)
  • hosted Ukraine fundraiser; raised over $600; received [redacted] City Council recognition award
  • host annual Winter Wonderland; this year raising money for Hurricane Ian

Other leadership:

  1. Red Cross Youth Executive Board: International Services Committee (10-12)
  • selected as part of committee of 8 students
  • organize and lead regional events in the Silicon Valley
  1. Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Campaign: Advocate (9,10), Team Lead (11)
  • lead team of 5 students
  • create social media and zoom events like movie nights, presentations, games to educate ppl on IHL and laws during conflict
  1. International Youth Scientists: Head of Project Management (11,12)
  • organization that encourages research for highschoolers
  • ppl can write articles to publish abt science
  • organize events over zoom to help ppl grow their STEM journey

Other:

  1. Water polo: JV (9,10), Varsity (11,12)
  • attend daily practices, 10 hrs/week
  • not ranked or anything
  1. Guitar since the 4th grade, occasionally post on YT (~25 subs)

Awards

  1. USAPho qualifier
  2. AP Scholar w Distinction
  3. expected NMSQT semi-finalist
  4. [redacted] City Council award (included $200 prize)
  5. various school awards for excellence in AP Physics classes + scholar athlete award

Essays/LORs/Other
not sure about essay yet
APUSH teacher LOR 10/10

  • great personal connection, has said that my essays have been the best that he’s seen across all his classes, planning to TA for his class next year

Physics teacher and club advisor LOR 8/10

  • teacher since 10th grade, advisor for physics club, she’s written me LORs for various summer programs that I’ve been accepted to

Schools

Caltech REA
MIT
Harvard
Stanford
Princeton
Cornell
Columbia
Harvey Mudd
UCs (Berkeley, LA, SB, SC, Irvine)
CU Boulder

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You’re a bit early. Your test won’t count for the California publics. They are test blind.

CU Boulder will happen. The rest, it’s too early to know.

And it’s too early to plan that far - keep your grades up and stay involved.

PS - you’ll want your folks to run the net price calculator of some of the schools - the Ivies, Harvey Mudd, etc.

High assets may mean they are full pay. Then the discussion you’d need to have is - are they willing to spend $340K over four years?

Good to start planning the finances. Keep up the good work.

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This is a great record so far—on track for great chances at some top schools! What are your AP tests/scores that are already completed? Keep your grades up junior year and make sure you are engaged in your classes, getting to know your teachers and being a good classmate to peers.

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You have a strong profile, congratulations on your achievements.

I don’t think your ECs are weak, at all. Are you sure water polo is only 10 hours per week, especially in-season? If that was the year round average, you could break out in season vs. out of season, if you have the room. Continue to participate in ECs you like, and good luck applying to summer programs.

A low income/high assets combo can lead to widely varying cost estimates at the college level (except for the in-state UCs)…please define an annual budget with your parents. Also run the net price calculators at all the schools on your list to get cost estimates, don’t apply anywhere that does not look affordable (assuming you will be applying for fin aid).

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Most of the universities on your list are reaches for everyone. That being said, you are a very strong applicant. Unfortunately for the top schools (MIT, Harvard, Stanford, …) the majority of applicants are also very strong and the acceptance rates are low. This makes them reaches, even if reasonable reaches in your case.

Do you know whether you would be recruited for water polo? This is a sport which might not be all that common in high schools (at least not where I live). I still remember decades ago watching the men’s water polo team practicing at Stanford. At the time the goalie for the Stanford team was also the goalie for the US Olympic team. We watched him practice and he was absolutely amazing (on the “how is that even physically possible” level). I just checked and as expected they do also have a woman’s team. Unlike some of the other schools on your list, Stanford does have some athletic scholarships (as do the UC’s).

I am a bit concerned about “low income but high assets”. We were in a similar situation. Very often low income / high asset families got that way through being very frugal, which is not always compatible with feeling comfortable spending more than $300,000 for a bachelor’s degree. In your situation (and ours) if your parents do end up spending this much (for each child, if you have siblings) there might be no way for them to ever recover to their current financial situation. This might depend upon how high you mean when you say “high assets”.

You might want to run the NPC on a few schools unless your parents are comfortable being full pay.

Someone I know with slightly lower stats did get accepted to UC Boulder with a merit scholarship. I think that it is pretty safe in terms of admissions if you keep up the good work. It would not surprise me if you get some good acceptances in-state. UC Berkeley would of course be superb for your intended major – very much on the very high “Stanford / MIT” level. I think that your chances are good at UC Berkeley, but I do not think it would be a safety.

You are also from a WICHE/WUE state, which opens up the possibility of getting a price discount on the various WUE schools.

I might also add that IMHO the combination of physics and computer science is potentially a good one. Physics research involves a lot of computers and often a lot of data.

You might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it this recommends that in terms of ECs you do what you want to do, and do it very well. To me this looks like exactly what you have already done. Good job!

I think that you are doing very well. I am impressed. Keep up the good work and I think that you will do very well.

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Being female in the sciences helps, but just to reinforce @DadTwoGirls, I’ll give you the example of my GD who had perfect 36 ACT, straight A’s in a rigorous curriculum, and good EC’s. She was rejected or waitlisted at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Stanford, Pomona, Williams, and Amherst. She should have been a good match for these schools and she did get into some other Top 20 schools. The point is that there is no way to chance you for the kinds of schools you’re interested in because they have too many applicants who look very similar for the few seats they have. There’s a lot of luck involved. Applying to these schools is like buying a lottery ticket. Apply anyway, but make sure you have some other schools where they accept more than 10-15%.

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Two thoughts:

Since Columbia College is on your list, you might want to check into the other traditional undergraduate college at Columbia University: Its Barnard College has recently made women in STEM their major initiative. It has its own admissions criteria and staff (so you can apply to both colleges), thus improving your odds of acceptance to CU. Students of CC and BC share the University’s facilities, faculty, courses, clubs, and even graduation and degrees - except for all-female first-year dorms (and some other Barnard-specific benefits).

Become familiar with “ED” (Early Decision) and, after visiting and investigating many colleges, try to find out if among all those you are certain that there is a clear winner that is affordable and you would want to attend no matter what other attractive financial offers you might get.
For some top colleges, the “regular decision” acceptance rates could be <5% (for equally outstanding candidates), while the “early decision” rates could be many times better.

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My daughter’s valedictorian (not great ECs…not bad but not great) had 10-11 APs, a 4.0 UW so likely a 4.6 weighted at 1 for AP and .5 for Honors. 36 ACT. Applied to 16 of the top 20 and was 0 for 16.

She’s at UTK. Also admitted full price NYU.

All these kids that think name your school is a slam dunk…they’re wrong.

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You need to wait until end of Junior to calculate your 3 UC GPA’s based on the a-g courses taken the summer prior to 10th grade to the summer prior to 12th.
Here is the calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

You are so far a competitive applicant but you need to approach your list from the bottom up. Find 2 Very Likely schools that are affordable, you are willing to attend and where you have high chance of being accepted. None of the UC’s would fit this category especially since your SAT score will not be considered for admissions.

CA Residents Fall 2022 acceptance rates:
UCB: 14.5%
UCLA: 9.2%
UCSD: 23.8%
UCSB: 26.7%
UCI: 18.2%
UCD: 32.3%
UCSC: 43.2%
UCR: 66%
UCM: 100% (ELC referral campus)

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Agree. Every year we see kids post here who were rejected by every school they applied to. They didn’t have true safeties.

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OP, congrats on your accomplishments thus far!

Adding something this coming summer in terms of research that helps demonstrate your passion for physics and computer science would be a great addition. Plenty of options out there but I’ll put a plug in for the Summer Science Program (SSP) since I’m most familiar with it in particular – the astro sections combining orbital mechanics with CS (in Python) could be a good fit for your interests, and some of the schools on your list (MIT, Caltech, Harvey Mudd) have close ties with and actively recruit from the program. Good luck!

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It’s tough:

On one hand, the 4.0/1600 kid can be shut out from the T20 privates if nothing on their app jumps out and grabs the adcoms, according to what they are looking for/holes they are filling.

On the other hand, the Lehighs and Tulanes of the world may also reject them because those schools figure the superstar is going to be admitted to, and enroll at, one of the highly rejective schools. To them it is yield protection to reject the superstar.

That is why everyone should find true safeties.

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OP needs only one true safety. If she’s confident of her admissions to CU Boulder or one of the UC’s, she’d be fine.

On the question of CoA, OP mentioned her family is low income but high assets. I assume her family’s major asset is the equity in their primary home in the high cost Bay Area. If that’s the case, she should focus on the schools that ignore home equity in their FA calculation. On her reach list, the first 5 schools don’t take home equity into consideration, but Cornell, Columbia or Harvey Mudd does.

I also assume OP is going to apply as a physics major. She’s likely to benefit as one of the relatively few female applicants to the physics major. She would likely have a reasonable shot at her first choice Caltech.

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The other (and perhaps more common) reason for low income/high assets is business ownership.

I could mention a certain former US President who always claimed massive wealth while seeming to report constant losses on his taxes.

If the OP’s parents are business owners, they should be prepared for the possibility of what might be dissapointing fin aid awards at schools on her list that offer only need based (as opposed to merit) awards.

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Agreed. Essentially, in the current post-pandemic admissions landscape, there are no real matches for unhooked high-stat, highly accomplished applicants. There are only safeties and reaches. Hence identifying and falling in love with safeties becomes even more important.

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i got a 5 on ap physics 1 and 5 on ap csp. i plan to take ap physics c mechanics and em tests, ap calc bc, ap bio test, ap lang, apush, and ap spanish tests this year. not taking ap physics 2 test since physics c is higher level already

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So you are a Junior currently? Are you taking those AP classes this year or self-studying the tests? If you have only completed two AP tests (which is excellent, after 10th grade, and both 5s), you do not have AP scholar w distinction yet. It helps folks chancing if you do not list awards you have not received yet. What about the others: USphO qualifier, scholar-athlete, school awards? Are those already received or are they expected at some point but not yet received?

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