Chance Me for Ivies and Other Top-Tier Schools, MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:

ACT (breakdown): 35 composite- 35E, 35R, 35S, 33M => Essay: 10
SAT II: 800 Math II, Biology (800 expected), Physics (780-800 expected)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Weighted GPA: 4.26
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank, but approximately top 5%
APs:
Sophomore - World History (5), Environmental Science (4), Computer Science A (3, my grandmother passed away the night before)
Junior (expected scores)- Calculus BC (5), Statistics (5), Language & Comp. (4/5), Biology (4), Physics 1 (4/5), Psychology (4/5), Human Geography (3/4)

Senior Year Course Load: Unknown, but will include AP Chemistry, AP French, AP Econ (both), Multivariable and Differential, AP US History, AP Lit, Honors Humor and Satire

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Carnegie Hall Soloist (violinist)
National AP Scholar (expected)
Two-time AIME Qualifier (score of 4)
Math Kangaroo 5th place National Winner
Presidential Volunteer Service Award
Local scholarships for excellence in music

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Chess team founder and co-captain- now the most popular cocurricular in the school with thirty active members per week (9-12), math team captain- led the team to second in the division (9-12), JV track and field (9-10),varsity rower (11-12), 1st chair highest-tier school ensemble and pit orchestra (11-12), founder of the Southeastern Massachusetts High School Chess League - nonprofit (11), financial manager of the robotics team - raised over $50k alone this year which helped us win multiple district competitions - also the assistant programmer of the team,orchestra (elected) class officer (11-12), NHS (nothing special here)

Job/Work Experience: work at local pizzeria (part-time), paid violin teacher (currently 12 students), paid math/science tutor (currently 5 students), intern for the Cambridge Science Festival/ MIT Museum

Volunteer/Community service: weekend Chinese teacher at local Chinese language school,

Summer Activities: paid intern at a cancer research lab at Boston University, counselor at local recreation department

Teacher recommendations:

biology teacher - She loves me, and I will be doing an independent study with her next year. She does get a lot of requests though, so I am afraid that she may be rushed when writing mine

world history teacher - I’ve had this teacher for two years, and he has watched me grow to enjoy humanities (as I am a STEM person). He doesn’t get many recs, and so I am hoping he will spend time on mine.

outside recommender - This recommender works for MIT, and she adores me. I have interned under her for over three years, and each year has been an absolute blessing. She is the kindest soul, and I know that she will write an absolutely glowing recommendation (though I’m not sure if universities take outside recommenders highly into consideration?).

Financial Aid: Probably not, unless it is some form of merit aid
Intended Major: I’m not sure, I am in between math, biology, and maybe even music
State (if domestic applicant): MA
School Type: Public, 300 students in my class
Ethnicity: Asian, Mongolian/Chinese
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Upper
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My great grandfather was from Guam? I am Mongolian. Not sure if these are URMs

School to be applied to (this list will be narrowed down over the summer):

Early Action -
MIT
Caltech
UChicago
Northeastern
Georgetown
Boston College
UMass Amherst

Regular (Depending on early action acceptances)-
Princeton
JHU
Yale
Dartmouth
Amherst
UC Berkeley
Harvard
Brown
Cornell
UPenn
NYU
Columbia
Williams
Carnegie Mellon
Boston University
Duke University

I know this was a lot to read, but if you made it: thank you! Feel free to be as critical as necessary, as would just like to know how I fair compared to other applicants. Thanks again, and have a great day :slight_smile:

2

If you are serious about music, then you might want to cull your list quite a bit. I took a single music course at MIT many years ago, and let’s just say that the second music course that I took was on exchange to a different school (MIT has exchanges with Wellesley and Harvard, both of which are good for music). However music is a tough way to make a living so it might not be something that you need to consider.

U.Mass looks to me as a safety for you, and a very good school for a safety. Given how well I like it and the strength of the many people that I have worked with who went there, I feel okay with you having quite a few reaches. It does by the way have a very good music program. I would definitely leave it on the list.

To me your stats look typical of the students who get accepted to MIT or Harvard, but also look typical of the students who get turned down. As such it is hard to guess your chances other than “about the same as the admission rate” for the top / most selective schools.

I think that your chances are excellent at Boston College and BU. What they would cost you might be another issue.

You need to find out your budget and if it is anything other than full pay run the NPCs. For some of the schools on your list such as BU and NYU I would find it hard to justify the extra cost relative to U.Mass.

Also, this is a very long list. You should visit some schools, sit in on some classes, see if you can arrange to talk to professors, think about what you want in a school, and try to cull the list significantly.

“Not sure if these are URMs”

I don’t think that they are, but what do I know?

3

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great. Write good essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools

4

@WoWMaster I am not sure if I have the time to even publish my research. Is that worth going for? I am working full time and holding an internship over the summer.