Chance me for Princeton (SCEA), Cornell, MIT!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm a rising senior from New York and I'm thinking of majoring in Computer Science or Biology at these three schools.</p>

<p>GPA: 98.6 unweighted</p>

<p>Academics:
PSAT - 227
SAT - 2260 (CR: 720, Math: 760, Writing: 780) **planning to retake this coming october!
SAT IIs - 800 in Chemistry, World History; 760 in Math II
ACT - have not taken yet, but am expecting ~35
APs - 5 in World, US, English Language; 4 in Chem (T__T I had a really bad day...)</p>

<p>AP Courseload for next year:
Physics C, Calculus BC, Lit, Gov, Russian</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- Was in the highest level band in my school (9th-10th grade; i had to give band up to take AP chem)
- Girls JV Volleyball (9th-10th grade)
- Asian American Club (10th-12th grade); Treasurer, Vice-president
- Multicultural Show (10th-12th grade); ribbon dancer
- Shadowed a doctor (summer of 10th grade)
- Peer-Tutoring Club (10th - 12th grade); Vice-president, President
- Envirothon [* it's a environmental competition]; Captain
- Robotics (11th - 12th grade); programmer
- Literary Magazine / Newspaper (11th - 12th grade); Editor</p>

<p>Community Service:
- Volunteered at local hospital (9th-12th grade)
[Center for Women’s Health , Patient Information, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)]
- Chinatown Literacy Project (11th grade); Language Partner (worked with small groups of adult ESL learners)
- Tutored at local library (11th grade)
- Helped to develop a website for local track and field arena (11th grade)</p>

<p>Extra-curricular Study:
- Discovery Summer College Program: Precalculus (9th grade), Psychology (10th grade)
**I received 3 credits for each course.</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
- NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing: NY Tri-State Area 2010-2011, Runner-Up
- National Merit Scholarship - Semi-finalist (pending), Commended Scholar
- NHS Member, Secretary
- AP Scholar with Honor
- Junior Service Award (>300 hours of community work)
- NYC Envirothon - 2nd place (9th and 10th grade); 1st place (11th grade)
- NYS Envirothon - 15th place (11th grade)
- AMC 2010 participant
- Chemistry Olympiad 2011 participant</p>

<p>Work/Internships:
- Babysitter (9th-11th grade)
- Private Tutor (10th-11th grade)
- The Cooper Union Summer Research Internship Program in Neurophysiology</p>

<p>I'm a Southeast Asian female.</p>

<p>All comments are totally appreciated!</p>

2

<p>** chance me for upenn as well :D</p>

3

<p>bumpbump :3</p>

4

<p>What State are you from? NY?</p>

<p>What is your class size and rank?</p>

<p>I don’t believe participation by itself in AMC and Chemistry Olympiad accounts for anything.</p>

5

<p>Yes, New York.</p>

<p>I come from a small, specialized public school - my entire class size is just over 200. My school does not rank, but I’d say I’m in the top 3 or 4 as of now.</p>

<p>I’m also gathering a programming team at my school to compete at a competition hosted by MIT.</p>

6

<p>If you do well in that competition, that might help with MIT and Cornell. You may want to try to meet your adcom while you are there. </p>

<p>Since Princeton SCEA has nt been around for 6 years, it is hard to predict how they are structuring it in terms of how many acceptances, rejects and move to RD. You should have a reasonably good chance.</p>

7

<p>Awesome, thanks for your advice! :)</p>

8

<p>All of the schools are super selective, so they are tough to chance, however, you look pretty solid. You don’t have too much research, which could hurt you at MIT, and Princeton is a mid/high reach for everyone, but I think you’ll get into Cornell (But my friend got into Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and wait-listed at Princeton yet denied flat out by Cornell, so who knows)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1189548-please-chance-bad-freshman-year-duke-nd.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1189548-please-chance-bad-freshman-year-duke-nd.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>hmmm
Here is a somewhat harsh critique- You’re scores are on the low side for an Asian applicant, but it’s good you are retaking. However, I generally take promises to retake with a grain of salt and judge applicants on their current scores. You’re gpa is fine, but you started a lot of your ECs in 11th grade. It looks like you are resume stacking, when you do that. For coming from New York, you haven’t taken an insane number of APs, but 7 is sufficient I suppose. I am sorry but you don’t get points for being a USCHO or AMC participant. Unless you go to USAMO or make top 150 or top 50 at USCHO, it does not help a whole lot. You’re application is generic, and not even you’re academics are bullet proof. Both MIT and Princeton SCEA are high reaches. On the other hand, Cornell looks like a good school for you. Applying as a female who is interested in science is always a plus.
Chance me back?</p>

10

<ul>
<li>TheIllusionist:</li>
</ul>

<p>Ouch. Harsh, but it’s good to hear what people think of me at a first glance.</p>

<p>Just to clarify stuff - I’m taking 9 APs. At my internship at Cooper, I’m conducting a project with central american cockroaches that COULD be impactful on prosthetics.</p>

11

<p>oh then disregard the AP part. Your internship sounds fantastic. How did you come upon it? I had a really hard time finding lab internships.</p>

12

<p>Thanks, I’m super excited about it because it’s still in the works :D</p>

<p>A lot of the graduates from my school recommended it to me, so I applied and got in :)</p>

13

<p>Judging from your current academics, they’re not phenomenal but won’t weed you out. Hopefully you took the most rigorous courseload possible, otherwise chances would look worse. It also seems like you are not very committed to the clubs you’re involved in. (You start some clubs, stop some). Though you have some leadership which is good. The computer skills ability is also clear through some of your activities which makes your talent more focused. given your gender and special skills in computer stuff (highlight this in the essay maybe), MIT is within range. Princeton is a tough call, but it’s worth a shot. Cornell shouldn’t be much of a problem getting in for you.</p>

14

<p>@ dblazer:
I do realize that my extracurriculars seem to be abit strange, but in my defense, I had to give up band in my schedule in order to make room for ap chem; also, I did not make my schools varsity volleyball team which is why I had to discontinue volleyball.</p>

<p>In spite of my situations, would it really hurt me significantly?</p>

15

<p>Also, I took as many ap courses as I possibly could have.</p>

16

<p>Not a great chance for MIT, Princeton, but I would still apply if I were you. I can see you getting into Cornell.</p>

17

<p>@ kieran - is there anything you feel I should work on to improve my chances?</p>

18

<p>Listen, at this point, other than a stellar essay, it is too late to really improve your chances. Your best bet is just to try and sell what you have. Just apply everywhere!</p>