Chance me for MIT, Caltech, and Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi I’m a rising junior and it would be great if you could chance me, and give me any hints on what I can do to improve.
My dream school is MIT, but I am considering alternatives.

On a side note I am trying to do research in math/physics/computer science, but it’s kinda hard to find a mentor.

SAT Super score: 2230 690R 800M 740W

PSAT: 228 74R 76M 78W

AP: Freshman: World History 5 Sophomore: Physics 1, Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C Mechanics(self study), Computer Science (self study) expecting all 5’s maybe a 4 in physics 1

GPA: 5.0 Weighted and 4.0 unweighted

Extra curriculars: Chess- top 30 in the country for 15 year olds, almost a certified chess master, tons of awards, tied for 3rd place 10th grade nationals, playing since I was 6

                      Science Olympiad- 9th and 10th grade- 1st place JV regionals both years in one event

                      First Tech Challenge- Robotics competition 9th grade, won award at regionals and advanced to states and placed 10th at states

                     Math Competitions: Been to a lot of math competitions 9th and 10th grade, some small awards/ honorable mentions, 106.5 AMC 12, 4 AIME, 4th place regional competition, honorable mention at state competition

                    Physics Competition- 3rd place regionals

                    Tae Kwon Do- Black Belt after 4 years of training
                    Interact Club- 9th grade
                    Mu Alpha Theta- 9th grade

Leadership/Volunteer

                Founder and president of School Math competition club, we prepare and compete at math competitions
                French Honors Society Treasurer- plan cultural school events (International festival)
                Volunteer at chess camp summer after 9th grade- taught beginners how to play
                This summer I am planning on also volunteering at the chess camps

Job
Private Chess Tutor (paid)- I give private one on one chess lessons to elementary age kids, have around 4-5 kids

Other things

         I like coding and am preparing for programming competitions like USACO (USA Computing Olympiad) but I'm not
         that good
         I really like physics and prepared for the USA Physics Olympiad 1st round- but I didn't qualify, 15 correct out of 25 
         but i needed 18 correct
         I like playing with rubix cubes and my peak time was under a minute
         I built my own desktop computer from parts
         Next year I will be attending a selective math and science boarding school and will be taking some advanced  
        classes
        like Graph theory, Multivariate Calculus (Calc 3), Group theory.

My info: Indian Male

Thanks so Much!

2

These schools are a reach for just about everyone. But you’re a credible candidate.

3

Ayy you’re going to NCSSM aren’t you?

4

Mu Alpha Theta???

5

@NASA2014

it’s a math honors society

6

In many ways you’re an interesting case study @kkpanu9. You have very strong “nerd cred” (this is a positive thing, btw), but you’re not especially balanced in non-tech areas. Some schools might like this, others not. It is often said that schools today are no longer looking for well-rounded students, but rather for a well-rounded class. You may be a good test of this notion. FWIW, I think your strongest ECs are the chess and the Tae Kwon Do; you should consider if/how these should be incorporated into your essays. And although it shouldn’t be a big deal, you should try to get your SAT CR score up over 700. Since your PSAT CR was 74, this should be doable. For an unhooked candidate, any SAT score below 700 is a problem at these schools. Take the following with a huge grain of salt, but here are some guestimates of your chances *right now/i:

MIT: 20%
Caltech: 30%
Cornell: 50%
Brown: 25% (may not really be a fit for you though)
UPenn: 30%
Columbia: 20%
Dartmouth: 25% (may not really be a fit for you though)
Harvard: 12%
Princeton: 20%
Yale: 18%

7

@foosondaughter

Wow thanks for detailed help. Yeah I am definitely gonna take the sat one more time to bring up my critical reading score. I always had trouble with critical reading… I am guessing my chess doesn’t help balance my “nerd cred”. I don’t like doing anything just for the sake of my college application so I guess I will stick with my unbalanced aspect biased towards STEM and all.

Those percents don’t seem bad at all considering I still haven’t completed junior year.

I feel like if I keep doing what I’m doing, and am able to do research over the summer or during junior year, I will have a very solid application.