Chance me for MIT, Caltech, and Stanford!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

Chinese Male from Competitive Private Connecticut High School
U.S. Citizen
No First-Generation and No Legacy

Intended Major(s)

Mechanical Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

3.68 Unweighted, school does not weight
36 Overall ACT
No class ranking

Coursework

Taken AP Physics and AP Chemistry, taking Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra

Awards

Elite International Music Competition, First Place Violin
State Level Violin Competition First Place
Selected for National NAfME Orchestra Ensemble
Robotics State Champions (earned First Place twice)
Scored an official world record score in Robotics

Extracurriculars

Played Violin for over 10 Years
Robotics Team Captain
Member of Student Council and Director of Social Media
Organized Computing Hackathon
One of the Heads of the Engineering Club
Extensive volunteering for local homeless shelters
Made face shields at start of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Member of the Physics and Math Clubs

Schools

Looking to gauge results on MIT, Caltech, Stanford, in Regular Decision.

Is there any other school anyone would recommend? Cheers!

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Talk to your GC. if you were a regular school no chance. But you said competitive private and I’m sure they track acceptances.

If you were a regular public school I’d look at places like Col School of Mines, Big 10 publics outside Michigan and Purdue and an Arizona/Arizona State. Like a CWRU and Rochester a low reach due to ACT. AN RPI or Rose Hulman would be a highly likely.

However you go to a competitive private school so that changes everything.

Talk to them about how kids with your stats do.

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I agree with @tsbna44. If you had a 3.68 GPA from a regular high school I would not bother applying to MIT, Caltech, or Stanford. However, from a competitive private high school it is much harder to say (at least for those of us who went to normal public high schools). Your guidance counselor should have a good idea what your chances are.

I definitely would also apply to other universities where admissions is more likely.

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I agree with the above posters.

Have you applied elsewhere? Have you been accepted, deferred, or not selected at any schools yet? Why did you miss MIT and CalTech EA rounds?

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When you mentioned “competitive private” in CT: Do you mean like Hotchkiss or Choate? As others point out above, many of the private high schools have well connected college counselors. They can give you a good estimate.

Where would you estimate your 3.68 ranks in your class? You can get an estimate from Naviance or SCOIR. If you’re outside of the top 5%, its a slim chance in RD (unless you are URM, development or USMO Gold medalist).

Have you considered Imperial College London?

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Is not a good look for an asian male engineering applicant.

With a 36 ACT would have a better shot at schools like Georgia Tech, SUNY, UConn, UMass.

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Georgia Tech does not prioritize standardized test scores, and a perfect 36 won’t get you in to Georgia Tech without a LOT more, especially as an out-of-state applicant. The acceptance rate for this group hovers near 10%. Georgia Tech places very heavy emphasis on course rigor, GPA, and breadth of variety in the application. Georgia Tech is a reach. Slightly lower reaches but reaches nonetheless would be UT Austin and UIUC.

You would likely have an easier shot at RPI, WPI, Purdue, and Virginia Tech.

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4 APs and a 3.68 GPA are almost certainly not enough for Imperial. Possibly UCL or Warwick if you had a class rank or something to prove the GPA was good compared to your peers.

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