I’ve been psyching myself out over the past few days, so I’m coming here to just get a realistic expectation for my admission chances. My top choice is probably Rice, but obviously I wouldn’t be upset to get into any of the others
Male
GPA: 4.0 Unweighted (we don’t weight grades at my high school)
Class Rank: 1 out of 105 (Valedictorian)
Class Rigor: I’ve taken every honors and AP class my school has to offer with the exception of AP Stats (I’m taking AP Calc instead)
SAT I: 2180 (Reading 690, Math 730, Writing 760)
Sat II: Math 2 700, US History 760
School Type: Small public school. Doesn’t have a wide class selection and isn’t well funded
ECs:
Varsity Track freshman and junior years
Knowledge Bowl 4 years
Earth Club 3 years (VP this year)
Community Service club 3 years (Leadership team this and last year)
National Honors Society 2 years (Leadership team this year)
Big Brothers Big Sisters 2 years
Equivalent of Big Brothers, but for older people 2 years
(With the exception of track, I’ve been really involved in all of these, especially Earth Club and the Community Service Club)
Others:
A year ago I did a month long immersion program in Taiwan in which I learned both the culture and more Mandarin
Last year I interned at a software development company for 5 months
I’ve had a job every summer since freshman year
Stellar recommendations
I was really happy with my common app main essay, but only so-so with the supplementary ones (waited until late to do them)
Family income is about $110,000
My ethnicity is half Taiwanese/Chinese (mom was born and raised in Taiwan, but her parents were from China) and half American (dad is from Oklahoma). I actually wrote my main essay about when I stayed as a monk in a Buddhist temple in Taiwan for a few days.
I live in a small town in Northwest Washington
I think my hook is both that
I come from an underperforming high school in a small rural town
And, more importantly, I offer a lot of diversity. I know that many people applying to elite schools are half Chinese and half American, but I think I’ve been more immersed in my Chinese/Taiwanese heritage than the majority of Chinese Americans, and I’m positive that I’ve been more immersed in Buddhism than the vast majority of Chinese Americans. I don’t know any other person who has stayed at a Buddhist temple for a few days living as a monk. I went into more detail about that experience in my essay
Thank you so much for the help! If you leave a link for any questions you may have below, I’ll make sure to answer them
PS: Does it even help that I come from a small town and a small, by no means elite, public school?
It might. It won’t hurt you. You look better than many I’ve seen here.
You’ve got a shot at Stanford.
You’re pretty competitive for the rest.
What is it you want to study?
Your ECs seem to imply that you have humanitarian goals in mind. The medical field goes along well with this.
So where does software engineering come in? Was it just for exposure? I would hope that you brought it up in your essay to explain why you took that internship.
If only the SAT was a tiny bit higher… You’re right on the edge for the top colleges.
By the way, the immersion thing is pretty cool. With some of the hooks you have, you should heave plenty to write about for your essays. If the essays are good, you should get in to most places you apply.
The internship was just for exposure to see if I’m interested in software engineering (I’m not).
I definitively have humanitarian goals, but my science classes haven’t really excited me , so I’m not sure how much I would enjoy a career in medicine. However, this past summer I was able to observe some surgery at my local hospital, and I was amazed by how the surgeon could “fix” another person by just making a couple of small incisions, so maybe it’s just that I’m only interested in a very specific area of science.
Thanks for your feedback!
I’d say they’re all mid (maybe low?) to high reaches, Stanford of course being the highest. While you definitely have some interesting experiences, your SAT scores are a bit low, and they make me a bit dubious of your academic record (especially with the Math 2). I don’t know how that relationship will be viewed by adcoms, but outside that I think you are certainly competitive.
What is your intended major? Difficult to say your chances without knowing.
Your class rank and GPA look great. However your SAT I CR score gives some concern that your HS was not rigorous enough. This will be noted by the Adcoms. It won’t really help, but it won’t hurt either. You will be compared to others coming from NW washington with public schools. If only your CR score were 30-40 points higher you would be set.
Nothing really stands out from your ECs. Your Taiwan experience however sounds interesting, and this may make some waves.
I think you have a pretty decent shot at Rice (depending upon which major you pick). However being half-Taiwanese/half american is certainly no hook. In fact it is probably an anti-hook. Lots of mixed race kids applying, but you unfortunately will be lumped in with the Asian group.
Good chance for all of them except Stanford. Stanford is very hard to tell if you’re getting in or not. I met someone recently, who was friends with a friend of mine, who got in with a very, very low GPA.
It seems there is always “someone” who knows a friend of a friend of a friend who was able to miraculously get into Stanford with very low GPA or very low scores (without mention of any other very important extenuating factors)…
I am glad this urban myth continues to thrive for Stanford’s Dean Shaw ;)…
Yeah, my SAT score was probably my biggest regret over the past couple years. Not because it’s so low, but because I didn’t study for it at all, and in the school which I go to, studying is a must if you want to do well (my AP English teacher doesn’t push us at all). I know I had the skills to do way better, specifically with the math 2, but I didn’t take the time to do any preparation which is frustrating because I worked so hard on academics and community service stuff, but didn’t put any effort into my standardized tests. Oh well, I learned a lesson.
Thanks for all of your input guys!
My top choice is Rice, which I think is the one I have the best shot at, but at this point I’m just trying to focus on things other than my acceptance/rejection letters.
