Chance me for MIT/Stanford

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Gender: male</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian (Korean immigrant, lived in US for 4 years)</p>

<p>SAT: 2140 (CR:610,M:800,W:730) Gotta bring it up</p>

<p>Rank/GPA: 14 out of roughly 1200/ 3.89 unweighted</p>

<p>ACT: not taking</p>

<p>Subject test: Chiniese (750 with 1 yr of experience)
Math II, US history, and Physcis come out on May 21st (did terrible on physics)</p>

<p>Recommendation: getting it from Spanish, Physics and Calculus teacher (they will be good)</p>

<p>AP: taking AP calculus AB, Physics B, Chemistry, English, and US history this year </p>

<p>EC:
Peer tutoring club - volunteered at least 5 hrs every month
VP 2009~2010</p>

<p>DECA - advanced to state for the entrepreneurship written event
Hoping to be the Sergeant at Arms of our schoo's chapter</p>

<p>University Interscholastic Leagues - number sense district champion (2008~2010)
number sense regional champion (2009~2010)
Numerous local awards from number sense, math, and science</p>

<p>Band - In top two bands since freshman year (clarinet)
Hoping to be drill instructor, section leader, or quartermaster</p>

<p>EPGY - attending the Stanford EPGY Quantum Mechanics summer program</p>

<p>Work/Volunteer: Volunteered in Peer tutoring club, city library, and local nursing house (total: 30 ~ 40 hrs)
Worked at Kroger as a bagger from June to December 2008</p>

<p>Essay: dunno if it will be good but ill try my best</p>

2

<p>You have low chances unless you pull the SAT up. Even then, it’s very hard for an Asian applicant. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>I don’t think your chances are too great :(</p>

<p>Don’t forget to check out Harvey Mudd and Carnegie Mellon as well!</p>

4

<p>You have a ~3.910923846798101% chance at your current power level. Good luck.</p>

5

<p>lol, i knew it…
what do u suggest that i do? other than increasing SAT score?</p>

6

<p>Hi =D</p>

<p>Well, I don’t think you have low chances exactly. I’m Korean, too, and I was accepted to MIT this year. I suggest you bring your SAT score up and maybe some leadership positions. Be sure to work on your essays, too!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<ol>
<li><p>Don’t stress out like I did about the college application.</p></li>
<li><p>Have fun presenting yourself, be interesting, and honest. Show your brilliance.</p></li>
<li><p>Show that you are an immigrant, which means that you probably got hurt by your lack of proficiency in English (which clearly shows on your SAT scores).</p></li>
<li><p>You might want to take SATII subject tests. I’m pretty sure you’ll ace anything math/science related, since you came from Korea. Those tests should be jokingly easy for you.</p></li>
<li><p>If you can take the AMC/AIME, do it. My experience with asian immigrants showed to me that math in asia is way harder than in the US, and most kids coming from China/Korea ace those tests.</p></li>
<li><p>EPYG is good. It shows you are willing to work, and enjoy science. If you can take multivariate calc, and all that jazz… you’ll be glad you did when you go to college.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Good luck! :D</p>

8

<p>You’re EC’s are relatively weak, but awards are nice. So I recommend the leadership stuff. You can always start a club as long as your passionate about.</p>

<p>SAT’s increase obviously, not that 2140 is bad just too strengthen over all app. Might want to try ACT.</p>

<p>Right amazing, passionate essays</p>

9

<p>Worst advice you can give an Asian applicant: Be Yourself. Sure some Asians can get in with that approach, but you’re going to run into the admissions buzzsaw that is much harder on Asian applicants than any others. Remember what Marilee Jones (ex-MIT admissions director) once said:</p>

<p>“It’s possible that Henry Park looked like a thousand other Korean kids with the exact same profile of grades and activities and temperament … yet another textureless math grind.”</p>

<p>If you want a better than average chance to get into MIT and Stanford, you have to use a different approach. The recent “Stanford Slaughter”, which seemed to hit Asian applicants especially hard, appears to confirm Marliee Jones’ comments.</p>

10

<p>so what is that different approach u suggest?</p>

11

<p>Show off your personality; who you are on the inside. If you’re a person who just wants to do math 24/7, you’ll have a tough time getting in unless you’re like IMO material. I’m asian too [Indian], and in my essays I’m going to talk about my personality, how I’m always cracking jokes, am laid back, find a way to fit in inside a community of Hispanic people, and just talk about how I’m different and unique. There’s nobody else quite like you, but a number or a score won’t reflect that.</p>

12

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</p>

<p>Why? Then what should you be?</p>

13

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</p>

<p>If we’re all unique, then what is the point of using it as an assessment tool in admissions?</p>

14

<p>“If you’re a person who just wants to do math 24/7”</p>

<p>Umm… An0maly, I’m asian, and I just want to do math, physics, chemistry, biology all day. And I got into both Stanford and MIT. So it’s perfectly OK to be a big nerd and still get into top college. BTW, I’m not even IMO material. In fact, I’m not even USAMO material to be precise.</p>

15

<p>Hey, I’d love to do math 24/7 too, but that’s not everything about me. If the only thing you want to do is math, then you won’t be making yourself stand out since I’m sure they get a lot of people who love to do only math. They definitely accept a lot of people such as yourself, but being one dimensional is not the best for college admissions in general.</p>

<p>@ collegealum314 - Because essays give insight into a person. Unique may not necessarily be good. Bernie Maddof is a unique person, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good quality. I think the essay separates good, hard working people from conceited, arrogant people, and that’s what they want to see.</p>

<p>This is all just my views btw. I’m not an admissions officer, nor do I know any, so don’t take my word as final or anything lol.</p>

16

<p>I know it’s weird, but what I’m trying to say is it’s OK to actually BE the crazy asian nerd stereotype. In fact, I fit so well that stereotype I never, EVER, expected to get accepted at Stanford. Well, the weird thing is I even got in SCEA there. I’m sure the fact to you love math/science a lot can make you interesting.</p>

17

<p>I think the short answer is that you never know :slight_smile: do what you can, take your shot, and you’ll get into a good school. </p>

<p>I think the sort of consensus I’ve arrived at is that being the “crazy Asian nerd stereotype” doesn’t get you completely screwed, but probably they’ve got to love your essays or something, given there has to be some reason to take one crazy Asian nerd over another.</p>

<p>It’s just too hard to tell. I’d say to be yourself, but try to make your application reflect that you’re not one-dimensional somehow or the other. The thing is, a lot of “crazy Asian nerds” are great individuals outside of their work too, but don’t necessarily market themselves great.</p>

18

<p>guys, i never said i fit in to crazy asian stereotype
in fact, i think i don fit there at all.
i have no clue where this argument started, but yeah…
im good at math, science, but i don do them all day…</p>

19

<p>Hey you do numbersense?
Are you on texasmath?
My name is Shri, 3A freshmen, hirschi,
District NS: 243, Regional NS: 268.
Hope you go far, fellow NSer.</p>

20

<p>Put yourself in the shoes of ex-MIT admissions director Marilee Jones, who was later found to have lied about her academic credentials. You’ve got a cap on Asian students at MIT–25 percent–which is the same as Stanford’s (Harvard’s is 19%, which hasn’t changed in over a decade). And about 35-40% of your applicants are Asian! What do you do?</p>

<p>We all look like robots to them, and as a result they develop this admissions methodology to filter out most of the “textureless math grinds”. So a better (but not necessarily the best) way to present yourself is basically: “I am not a robot.”</p>

<p>Now, I’m not saying every “Henry Park” is going to get rejected. Rather, I’m saying your chances of getting in by being yourself (i.e. Henry Park) are going to be much lower than a white applicant (Henry Parkhurst) because the robot stereotype is always going to be in the back of Ms. White Admissions Officer’s mind.</p>

<p>Indeed, Stanford’s admissions office did a study some years ago in which it compared “unhooked” Asian and white applicants with the same overall academic and leadership rankings. The study found that comparably qualified white applicants were “significantly” more likely to be admitted than their Asian counterparts. You can read about the study and the “Asian Robot” issue here: [News:</a> Too Asian? - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/10/asian]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/10/asian)</p>

<p>Mathboy98 is heading down the right path–you’ve got to market yourself. But don’t market yourself as “Henry Park MCMLXVIII” from Fullerton. That’s a losing proposition.</p>