Chance me for Stanford, MIT, Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a senior working on filling out applications and writing essays, and was curious what you all think about my chances at where I’m applying, especially Stanford and MIT, as I’m planning on majoring in CS. I know I’ve got many of the stats expected at these schools, but I’m unsure if that’s enough. I read on here about huge high schools that churn out Ivy League candidates, but that’s a far cry from my high school and background. At my HS applying to anything even close to the level of an Ivy League school is unheard of, let alone actually getting in. The vast majority of my peers aspire to attend the local State University with a ~75% acceptance rate, so it’s been quite the journey treading new ground with counselors and such. Here are my stats:

SAT I: 2020 (Took 1 time Sophomore year, without studying)
ACT Composite: 34 (Fall Junior year, no study), 35 (Spring Junior year, no study)
SAT II: Chemistry 660, Math II 760 (Wanted a base line so didn’t study, will retake both w/ much studying in October)
GPA: 3.994 UW, 4.129 W
Class Rank: 2/180 (By a hundredth of a point or so, easily 1st after the first semester)
Senior Schedule:

Dual Credit English Composition (Through local state university)
DC English Literary Interpretation
AP Psychology
DC Spanish IV
DC American History
Teacher’s Assistant (for chem teacher I peer tutor for)
Physics
DC Finite Math

Essays: Should be quite good, I’ve always been a good writer and I’m putting a lot of work into them
Recs: Should range from Very Good to Glowing, asked the chem teacher I peer tutor/TA for and my DC English teacher who thinks highly of me

Extracurriculars/Awards:

Marching/Pep/Jazz/Concert Band - 9th/10th
National Spanish Honor Society - 10th onward
President of NHS - 12th
Key Club - 11th/12th, President this year
Peer Tutoring - 2 hours a week I help my old chem teacher review for tests, work on homework, etc
Camp Invention Counselor last summer
Private Tutor in Chem, Calculus, Geometry- 11th
Probable Merit Semifinalist
Various other clubs, awards

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, and if you were curious I’m currently planning on applying to 13 schools - Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Illinois - Urbana, GATech, UT Austin, Brown, Cornell, 2 state schools

Thanks!

2

Your ec’s are not very good in my opinion for those schools. Grades and test scores are fine, but that won’t be enough to get you in. I think you took on too much of a burden. You should get rid of many of your reaches and add some more fits. You also have no background in computer science, which is a huge red flag if you are applying for that at top schools. All will be crapshoots in my opinion, as you don’t stand out to me.

3

I can edit in some more details of my ECs in a bit, this was just a quick list off the top of my head. And I agree there’s not a ton of CS there - my high school didn’t have a CS class until they added AP CS last year. Unfortunately I saw who was teaching it and realized it would do nothing but drag down my GPA - I could learn far more/better independently online. This has been confirmed by a number of my peers that have taken it. Thanks for your input.

4

What was the point of not studying for the ACT when you got a 2020 on the SAT without studying? Why did you retake a 34 and not study for the retake? Why didn’t you study for your subject tests? This suggests to me that you are not the kind of student who’s willing to put the time and effort into your work. Getting good grades in HS in vastly different then doing well in untra-competitive schools like MIT and Stanford. Your competition for CS will be brutal with kids who have long list of accomplishments in the field. A decent ACT score and class rank just means your application will be read rather than skimmed. They will look for reasons to accept you and how you stand out above the thousands who have your academics. If they don’t see anything beyond some club activities it’s highly unlikely you make it to next level. Make sure you have some match schools in your list since you only mention schools that are reaches for everyone. Good luck!

5

I’ll just put my additions here I guess - I’m new and assumed editing was easier

AP Tests: Calculus AB - 5, Chemistry - 3 (Vast majority of college classes at my school are focused on DC)
ECs:

Peer tutoring - meant to say I help dozens of fellow students with homework, etc.
Few different leadership clubs/organizations local to my school based around helping underclassmen, running events at the beginning of the year, learning to be effective mentors, etc.
CS Based Summer camp - 9th, lived on campus of local state college for a week while learning CS related things from faculty of that college
Various school-level awards for all As and other such accomplishments.

As for my many apps being a burden - they sure are! I’m still hesitant to drop anything from that list though, as it would feel like a missed opportunity to me. My family is hardly poor but doesn’t make a ton of money either (especially by Ivy standards), so if the school I’m looking at isn’t providing aid at the level of the Ivies or isn’t an in-state school, I’d need a good bit of scholarship money to attend. The two in state schools I’m applying to have good programs and are shoe-ins, so I’m not concerned about my prospects.

6

@Falcon1 - The first SAT and first ACT I took, I wanted a baseline to decide which test I wanted to study for and pursue further. The high ACT score took me by surprise and it was only then that I started thinking I had any chance to go to a great private college. As for why I didn’t then focus on studying for my second ACT - what was the point? My 35 puts me above the 75th percentile for people admitted to Stanford. From everything I’ve read, the holistic admissions process means after meeting that general threshold they’re far more concerned with the other elements of my app. I haven’t met that threshold on my subject tests, and that’s why I’m preparing quite a bit for them. As for your assumptions about my work ethic, I can see how what I typed might suggest bad things to you, but that’s certainly not true in reality. Of the few organizations and clubs at my school, I’m president of two of the largest, and I’m taking/have taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of the college classes my high school offers.

7

I’m afraid I don’t understand the “I wanted a baseline” logic, and especially not the idea of re-taking the ACT without studying. Very odd.

Assuming you are an unhooked applicant, right now your profile lacks anything that would differentiate you from thousands of equally qualified applicants. I’m not overly optimistic. I would keep your options open, and work like heck on fine tuning your application to present yourself in a way that will make top schools think that you are more deserving of an admissions slot than someone else.

8

@renaissancedad The whole “baseline” thing sort of stemmed from my ignorance of the tests, I suppose. I always assumed I’d be going to one of a few in-state colleges, and that changed when I did quite well on my first ACT. I knew the tests were sort of similar and that most universities took either, but not if I’d do much better on one versus the other - I didn’t want to waste time studying the SAT if my first ACT ended up with a much better “starting point,” so to speak. Perhaps it seems odd from an outside perspective, but I was barely 15 and knew little about the college search, and my school certainly wasn’t informative about the possibility of higher tier colleges. It sort of worked out though - of the two tests, taken 6 months apart, the SAT was merely “good” while the ACT was at the level required by Ivies and similar. As for your suggestions - I’m definitely putting in the several months of work that will make my app the very best it can be, and we’ll see what happens. Thanks for your input.

9

Nobody has a “good” chance at Harvard, Stanford, or MIT. Your stats and resume are “good enough,” but that doesn’t mean that you have more than, say, 10% likelihood of acceptance (ie. double the overall acceptance rate). I hope that you will be more discriminating and attentive than some of the high-stat “shotgunners” I’ve encountered on this site. I suggest that you build your list from the bottom up, instead of insisting on meaningless “chancing.” Identify your safeties and matches, then add some realistic, mid-reaches (e.g. McGill, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, et al), and pick one or two super-reaches like Stanford or MIT. I’d be inclined to drop Stanford, “HYPS,” and MIT, myself, because I’m not sure you have quite the “rock-star” application that they are seeking, and focus on schools where your odds are a little better, but it’s your call.

10

Thanks for your input, @woogzmama . I’m well aware of how random and pointless these chance threads are, but I was curious nonetheless and felt it might give me ideas for what to focus on in my apps. I will say that the in-state programs I’m looking at are ranked highly enough that there are few affordable schools above them that don’t have Ivy-caliber difficulty in terms of admissions. They’re definitely safeties in terms of likelihood of admission/ability to afford, but there aren’t many “matches” in terms of admit rate that have better programs, if that makes sense.

11

your EC’s are pretty weak (no state/regional/national awards other than NMSF). I would send ACT and not SAT, great ACT score tho! Your GPA is good but it wont push you ahead of any other applicant in the pool. You dont stand out as a great applicant to me… all the best tho

12

The fact your school has little to no track record with those schools doesn’t help. How will you shine through the application so they will know you are the kid to admit? What makes you special?

First Gen? URM? Legacy? Geography? Pell Grant?

13

If you were my son I’d be happy with your stats and I would think that any school where you wanted to apply would be worth the application fee and time/effort, so long as you can realistically afford attending that particular school (run the NPC at each institution).

I also get what you’re saying about the “baseline.” Sometimes a student will not have a ton of time to do test prep, and it’s interesting to see where you net out without much study. The big downside to that approach, however, is the fact that some of the elites require you to send all test scores (dig in to the details of each school).

The above comments notwithstanding, you may want to research why you actually like certain schools, and make sure there’s not simply a “prestige” factor. That’s more of an ego thing which usually leads to negativity in some way. Also, as you are probably aware, the elite schools are tough for just about everyone, so I wouldn’t take a rejection too hard. You can’t hit a home-run unless you step up to the plate.

Also, don’t discount merit aid and honors colleges at state flagships.

Congratulations on all your accomplishments in high school!

14

My opinion is that your list is all Reach schools except for your state schools.

UT Austin, Illinois and GTech will probably be very expensive and thus financial reaches.

I’m assuming your ran the NPCs for the private schools and your family qualifies for a lot of aid.

So you are left with the very elite schools plus your state schools. Your ECs are weak. Did you have a job?
If you are truly happy with your safeties and confident that the safeties are affordable, then your list is a lottery approach plus 2 “certain” admissions.

Check out this list: http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com for additional merit opportunities if you are interested.

You could also consider schools that meet full need that are a notch below the ones you have listed or pursue merit scholarships at other schools like Case Western.