Chance me for Ivies, Duke, Stanford, MIT, etc?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello all.

I am currently a junior. Next year I will be applying to Harvard SCEA, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, MIT, Vanderbilt, UCB, and Johns Hopkins (BME). Please feel free to comment any suggestions or criticisms.

SAT: 2340 single-sitting (800 M 740 CR 800 W)
ACT: 33 C (34 M 30 E 30 R 34 S) - Should I send/retake?
SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 Biology M, 770 Chemistry
AP Exams: Biology (5), Chemistry (5), Calculus AB (5), Calculus BC (5), Environmental Science (5), Psychology (5), Physics C (4), U.S History (5), World History (4), Microeconomics (5), Macroeconomics (5).

GPA: 4.0 (UW), 4.9 (W)
Class Rank: 2/450+

Race: Asian
Income: 150k+

Extracurricular Activities/Clubs:
-Science Olympiad
- Won several 1st place medals at states, two 2nd place and one 3rd place at nationals.
- Captain of school team (10th-11th)
-HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)
-Won two 1st place medals at nationals.
-President of school club (9th-11th)
-Key Club
-Secretary (9th), Vice President (10th), President (11th)
-National Honors Society
-Vice President (11th)
-Governor’s School
- Summer before 11th grade, in the Natural Sciences.
-NIH Research
- Got accepted and will be doing research during the upcoming summer in Bethesda, MD.
-USABO
- Made it into camp.
-Self-taught in several languages, planning to take subject tests for a few to prove proficiency: German, French, Korean.
-SAT/ACT Tutor (10th-11th)
-Internship at hospital during 10th grade school year.
-I program for fun and have published four apps to the Apple Store. I am self-taught in C++, Java, Objective C, Python, and Swift.

I appreciate your comments. Thanks, P –

2

You’re a strong applicant. Your academics are fine. With a 2340 SAT, there’s no need to re-take the ACT. Your curricular rigor based on your APs is quite strong. No problems there.

Your ECs are ok, but a bit generic. It seems like you have some achievements in terms of USABO and the NIH internship, and the programming/App stuff is nice. But you need to make sure that you present yourself clearly and have a clear narrative. As an Asian with an apparent STEM focus, the competition is quite fierce.

You might consider this thread:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/1790144-what-did-i-do-wrong-p1.html

3

@renaissancedad

Thanks for the advice. I’ve seen cases of people with far worse stats than mine get accepted into several of these schools, and then on the other hand, I’ve seen people with far better EC’s and passion get rejected by every single one of these schools. I guess it’s just down to luck at this point.

4

^ Luck will play a role, without a doubt. But a lot depends on how you present yourself. You need to present a clear and coherent narrative about who you are - what matters to you, what your passions are, what kind of choices you’ve made, what differentiates you from the thousands of other qualified applicants, etc. No one has a crystal ball, but my personal experience is that kids with your credentials who do a really good job of presenting themselves generally end up somewhere pretty good.

5

Makes sense. I probably do need to distinguish myself from the thousands of other applicants like me. Thanks again for the advice.

6

For the most part, your stats are impressive, but your EC’s are a bit jumbled. Any particular EC that you really find passionate about? Anyways, I feel like you have a bit better chance than your average applicant. Good luck!

Chance back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1847372-final-chance-thread-ivies-stanford-ucb.html

7

^^ Your average applicant has 5-6% chance at Harvard, OPs chances are much higher than that. What state are you in? You took 11 AP tests already or does that included projected scores? How many AP tests are you taking this year? I know several State AP Scholars who attended Harvard. NIH is very good but with your USABO experience are you applying to RSI? Depending on what state you’re from you might have a shot.

All the above notwithstanding, Imagree with @renaissancedad that depending on how you present yourself, you will likely end up attending a very good school somewhere. Your recs will also play an important role so make sure you’re giving your recommenders something to write about this year.

Good luck!

8

Academically, there should not be a problem. But you must take into consideration at at the uppermost tier of universities in America, there are multiple thousands of applicants sporting identical credentials. I agree with the aforementioned statement that you should really find one EC that you are truly passionate about, and combine it with excellent recommendations in order to provide yourself with the best possible chance. As a current Princeton applicant, and a future Johns Hopkins applicant, I wish you only the best of luck, and congratulations on all of your success.

9

your achievements are great, now all you have to do is cut down your ECs and focus on telling a story. With your creds, it’d probably be a bio/med focus. Try to deepen your passion and have your recommenders comment on it as well. You’re probably bound to get into one of them, just focus on creating a cohesive narative

10

@ayyyyyyy
Thanks, I’ll chance you back.

@Falcon1
I’m in NC. I’m applying to RSI but I don’t really know if I’ll get in. I have taken 11 AP’s already (some self-studied). Thanks for the advice!

@BradyCole
Thanks for the advice, I agree. The light at the end of the tunnel of these college apps is near!

@sattake
Yep, I’m thinking about focusing on my USABO and research achievements with a biomedical focus for my narrative. I think focusing on fewer things but adding depth to those things really helps. Thank you for the advice.