chance me for mid tier to ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Stats:
Class rank: 3/499
GPA: 3.98 unweighted, 4.5 probably i think weighted never checked
Courses: 10 APs, 5’s on all but 2, taking college lv linear algebra atm
SAT: 1550 first time 1560 second time, (800 math, 760 reading, 8/12 essays)
ACT: 35, 32/35/36/36 cuz i figured i would score better on sat second time so I took it for fun, didn’t realize how many problems were in math so I left around 10 blank by accident
public high school pretty meh ranking

EC:
did all the volunteering ones for all 4 years, NHS, historian in key club
volunteered in panama (built a court over a week) and china (Taught english for a week)
mainly Knowledge bowl (3rd and 2nd in region past 2 yrs)
and Science Olympiad (1st in state in multiple events, 4th at nationals in one event)
Did state science fair in fresh and soph year, won 1st in category both times but didn’t qualify for ISEF
junior varsity golf freshman year, c team tennis junior year
was vp of math club in soph year but it was only 4 people large so…
National merit scholarship semifinalist 1490 score
went to MIT for selective summer course this summer (90/400 accepted, 50 with full rides including me) called BWSI
also went to UMBC for an internship (4 weeks long) Afterwards, should be a decent rec letter
also play a lot of video games wonder if i should list that (diamond 3 league, legend hearthstone)

Letters:
all should be pretty meh, might have a decent one from my math teacher who’s known me for 3 years and i’m one of the top performers in her class/actively participate

Essays:
ugh having a lot of trouble writing them cuz im really bad at writing but hopefully should be above par by the end

Demographics:
100k+ income, chinese, male, washington state

definitely doing either CS, Math, Physics or EE in college, currently my list is

UW, USC, UCB, UCSD, MIT, Ivies, Stanford, Caltech, Harvey-Mudd, GTech, Duke, Uchicago

thanks

2

First off, Harvey Mudd is a far reach for everyone although you 3/499 does put you in a good position! I think you will for sure get in to a few of the mid levels you named which is a plus. Write stellar essays and you will have a good chance of getting in an ivy or two!

3

Can you afford those schools?

4

Stellar essays are key. You say you have trouble writing. That is something you can practice and improve. Think of the page as valuable real estate. EVERY word must count. No fluff, no fillers. Vivid language. Paint pictures and EDIT!

5

Thank you, that is exactly what I am currently working on. I feel like my issue is that I am too harsh of a critiquer due to my love of reading since I was young. I know what a good essay should have, I can easily pick apart errors in my own essays, but I have trouble coming up with original/interesting approaches (i.e. I ended up writing about not being sure if I identify as chinese or american due to my childhood even tho it is super cliche (probably 80% of asian americans will write the same), it wasn’t like i didn’t have time (i thought for a month or so), i just couldn’t come up with any good alternatives…) in other words, my essays are super mediocre at best even after working on them for months so i don’t know where to go from here considering the deadlines coming up…

6

I think that you should be pretty solid for UW with your very strong stats plus being in-state. It is a very good university (someone that I know got his PhD there). The UCs seem likely to be unaffordable given that you are OOS with a 100k income. I don’t know much about GTech or Duke. The rest look like reaches and I have no idea whether they will end up being affordable. The NPC might give you a hint.

Given UW as a very strong school that is likely to be a safety, I don’t see anything wrong with the rest of your schools being reaches. I do wonder whether you should have a second safety (perhaps Washington State?).

7

You’ve heard the usual “UCs don’t give financial aid to out of state students,” warning, right? Got 60K/year?

I think you’ll have a good shot at UW (what major did you apply as?), but you need more match/safety schools. You have too many “reach for everyone” schools on that list.

8

I should mention that my school’s magnet program is essentially a feeder program into UW. Last year, 10/30 people went there and most of the rest found equally competitive schools. I’m applying for DA to CS, but I should be all but guaranteed for regular admission given past trends. Because of that, I figured that I would apply to 10-15 low reach/high reach schools instead of wasting time applying to more safeties that I wouldn’t go to anyways (i.e. UMich, Purdue, IUIC). I know that I have no chance at getting any aid for UC’s, but I figured that because they all use a single application, it was worth spending some time applying just to keep open my choices (I mean, if I don’t get into UW, I will have UCSD or UCLA or even Berkeley if I’m lucky to fall back on). It was also somewhat of a decision by my parents, even tho UW is extremely good IMO cuz of the proximity to Amazon/Google and strong CS program which I am certain I can get in normally if I"m rejected from DA, my parents think a DA to EECS at Berkeley might offer more opportunities in Silicon Valley (debatable). Also, I am extremely fortunate to have some very wealthy family members in China that will probably contribute to my college, so my parents basically told me to forget about cost and worry about what I can get into. Sorry if that came off as cocky or anything, I’m currently starting my UC application LOL.

9

DA to CS is competitive due to high demand as you clearly realize. You’ve clearly got the grades and stats for general admissions, and you seem to be aware of the risks of not having another safety. But it’s one thing to think you’ll be fine without another safety in a hypothetical sense versus living that reality come spring if you don’t get in to most of your schools. Make sure you understand that this could happen to you. Many schools have much higher acceptance rates in the early round versus RD. Example: Duke chances go down by half in RD.

Since you’re having trouble cranking out essays, be sure to prioritize the list in case you can’t finish them all.

10

good advice, thanks. what other safeties would you suggest in my case? umich deadline passed already, idk about others

11

“what other safeties would you suggest in my case”

Since you are from Washington, Washington State is the obvious one. I am not sure if UBC is quite a safety but with your stats it might be and is a very good university.

12

UBC is an interesting choice. If you want Seattle area, try Seattle University. In addition to WSU, there’s WWU in-state. Bellingham can be a fun town. Out of state, some flagships popular with Washington residents include ASU, Arizona, Oregon State. Utah has a terrific department and outdoors opportunities but the student life is a little different due to Mormon culture.

13

I talked my daughter (similar stats as yours) into adding Central Florida as a safety school. I wanted her to have the option of accepting a full ride NMF scholarship and then only having to worry about paying for grad school. I don’t know if she will choose it, but it looks like a good program. We are going to visit over xmas break and get a feel for the school.