Chance Me for Caltech / MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Stats:
Grade: Junior
GPA: 4.0 (Unweighted) & 4.4 (Weighted)
Asian Male
SAT I: 1600/1600
SAT II: Biology E - 800, Math II - 800

AP Scores: Biology - 4, Chemistry - 4, History - 5, Chinese - 5
AP Classes Right Now: Spanish, Calculus BC, Lang & Comp, US History, CompSci

EC:

  • Robotics Club (best high school club in the US) (10-11)
  • Aviation Club (TARC Nationals) (10-11)
  • Math Team (6 AIME, 132 AMC 10, AMC 10 Honor Roll of Distinction, AMC 10 School Award) (9-11)
  • USACO Gold
  • Varsity Public Forum (Won awards here and there. Nothing at a national level) (9-11)
  • Lecturer for Non-profit Math Circle (taught elementary/middle school kids advanced math concepts outside the classroom) (10-11)
  • Paid tutor for elementary school kids (10-11)
  • Youth Court Advocate (10-11)
  • Astronomy Club (Activities Officer, Vice President (to-be-President)) (10-11)

Research:

  • Siemens semifinalist
  • Presented research at American Astronomical Society
  • Submitting for publication (First Author)
  • Submitting for ISEF

My research is my main focus. I’ve pretty much dedicated all my time towards it. Preparing for next research project.

Letters of Rec:

  • AP CompSci - Decent (7/10)
  • AP World - Stellar (10/10)
  • Research mentor - Stellar (10/10)

I’m only a junior right now, but I’d like to see where I stand before senior year.
Thanks for reading.

2

You’re a beyond exceptional applicant, and I’d be incredibly surprised if you didn’t get into both next year.

If you looking for advice, try to gain some leadership positions within Robotics, Aviation, Math team (especially Robotics since it would significantly help to be the president of “best high school club in the US”).

Also, are you taking the most difficult course rigor at your school?

3

For Robotics, I’m unable to gain a leadership position because a lot of the work is done over summer which is when I am researching at a university.
For Aviation, I have a good chance on becoming at least an officer.
For Math Team, it’s really hard to say. A lot of the members are beyond my math level, USAMO, MOP, etc., but I’ll try out for a position.

It’s not the absolute most rigorous course, but I have a schedule where people wouldn’t doubt it to be very challenging.

Thank you for your help and feedback. :slight_smile:

4

Continue research into the summer and participate in Siemens and Regeneron STS as a senior.

5

By the way, you can’t submit directly to ISEF. You have to qualify at a ISEF-associated science fair.

6

you should be fine at both

7

@AznDude525 Yes that’s what I meant. I applied to a regional fair.

8

Probably a better chance at CalTech than MIT unless you become a Siemens finalist. The 4’s in Bio and Chemistry unfortunately don’t look good compared to other CalTech and MIT applicants. Plus you are in the worst possible demographic (Asian male considering Engineering). There was a student at my son’s school who was a Siemens finalist who was deferred from several Ivies because he was in the worst possible demographic.

9

@Hamurtle do you mean another national level award or Siemens? Since he already got Siemens. He can do Siemens again senior year along with STS.

10

STS would be better but he likely has a better chance for CalTech. The 4 in Bio and Chem are worrisome though.

11

Which other schools are you considering?

12

Wow, perfect sat score. Congrats

13

You have a very good shot at admission to the nation’s top school. Congratulations!

14

@Hamurtle Yes, I agree that I don’t really like how my science classes have 4s. And in truth, I did not expect a 5 on AP Chem since I blanked out on the FRQ. However, I did expect a 5 on AP Bio. I’m not quite sure what happened. I hope that colleges look at my SAT II score and redeem myself.

@prezbucky Well, I only put Caltech/MIT because those are my dream schools that would be my number one choices. In addition to them, I’ll be applying to a few of the other Ivies. I plan on applying to UCs as back-ups.

15

You’ve got stellar academic everything, literally couldn’t be better. That’s probably going to be enough alone to get into places like CalTech or MIT; that’s exactly what they want. But, if you want to increase your chances even further, try and have some really good essays, or extracurriculars or something that adds a different facet to you than just school (which you’re clearly very good at.) If you can make yourself not only impressive, but also interesting to admissions offices, you can get into anywhere. Good luck.

16

The 4s in the AP classes won’t mean a thing, especially if you become a first author in a reputable journal.

17

@HiEthan you’re totally right. I’ll keep this in mind. thanks!

@Multiverse7 I hope you’re right :slight_smile:

18

You’re in a good position as a Junior, but still not there yet. Not to be rude but MIT has tons of applicants who do the same things you do and it is important that you either be the very best out of all of them or have other traits that differentiate you.

19

Based on GPA and SAT, I’d call Cal a low reach. If you look at their CDS, the low score is a 790 and high in 800. For math I feel like its 800, 800 but I could be wrong. There’s only so many perfect scorers and not all of them are applying to Cal, so you have a pretty good chance

20

Update:

AMC 12A: 105 (made it to AIME)
County Science Fair: 1st in Physics & Astronomy, $6k Grand Prize Winner, qualified for state science fair, qualified for ISEF, got a $1k scholarship from Chevron Education Award