Chance me for Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Grade: 9
Asian, Male, Public High school (average for upper-middle-class area)
income ~100k, living in rich PA suburb (most make ~200k)
Highly motivated STEM-focused student (looking at Physics/Engineering/Math as a major)

Grades/Classes:

Freshman year: (no AP’s offered) all honors classes + 1 accelerated level + Gym
4.43/4.8 - straight A’s
Sophomore Year: AP CompSci A, rest honors
Junior Year: AP Calc BC, AP World History, AP Chem, rest honors classes
Senior year: schedule unsure - at least 2 AP’s (French + Physics) and one higher level Calculus course @ local community college

Expected final GPA: ~4.6

Test Scores:
took PSAT: 1380
expecting NMSQT qualifying junior year, realistic goal is 1550.on real SAT
taking SAT II in Bio in June, expecting 770-800, probably 790-800 on Math II, might take Chem and Physics (estimating 750-800)
55.5 on AMC 10 freshman year (not proud of this)

EC’s:
Class Treasurer (planning on continuing for all 4 years)
Science Fair (planned 4 years)
Mathletes (low-budgeted, not taken seriously at our school)
Tennis (on JV, hoping to make varsity by Junior/Senior year)
Actively pursuing research opportunities at local universities and internships at local STEM companies
Considering joining Debate or FBLA (business club) next year
in the process of starting a Science Olympiad team, considering starting a CompSci/Programming club next year or junior year

Hobbies/Interests:
Programming in my free time (planning on creating at least one BIG personal project within the next few years to show my interest/skill
interested and invested in STEM, enjoy higher level science + math
Tennis (on EC)
Reading nonfiction
(wow this is really highlighting how empty of a person i am whoops)

As mentioned before, I am looking into Physics/Engineering and these are my main focus schools (definitely reach):
UC Berkeley, Caltech, Stanford, UPenn, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, MIT,

What are my chances of getting into competitive schools like this? Am I doing enough (I certainly don’t feel like I am considering some of the people I see on here)? Is there anything I am doing wrong, doing poorly in, and is there anything that I should start doing/be aware of in the future?

Thanks in advance!

2

Your chances will depend on your actual achievements as opposed to purely hopes and plans.

3

@yucca10 I guess the better wording is, am I on the right path to have a good chance at these schools, or do I need to do something different?

4

Again too early to do any chances as things change. Wait until junior year when you have actual stats.

It would be a good idea to do ECs you have a passion for and not to impress AOs. Also staying off CC for now is a good idea.

5

And UCs will be expensive for OOS and no financial aid.

6

Too early to tell. Come back when you are a junior or senior with all of your test scores and ECs.

7

“took PSAT: 1380
expecting NMSQT qualifying junior year, realistic goal is 1550.on real SAT
taking SAT II in Bio in June, expecting 770-800, probably 790-800 on Math II, might take Chem and Physics (estimating 750-800)”

As an Asian male, you’re going to need pretty close to perfect scores on all your standardized tests to have even a slight chance at those schools.

If you want to have a shot, don’t just try “Actively pursuing research opportunities at local universities,” make sure you get research that will produce a paper you can enter in Regeneron and Intel.

Plenty of colleges/universities in the Philly area for you to track down researchers active in fields that you are interested in. Also, don’t hesitate to ask family and family friends for any leads, suggestions or contacts.