Chance Me for T5 Engineering Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Schools: MIT (Main school) + Princeton, Northwestern, Cornell, GaTech, UMich

Demographics: Asian Male, Medium Public School, Underrepresented State. Not URM, both parents went to college. Middle Class.

Intended Major(s): Mechanical Engineering

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1560 SAT (800 M, 760 ERW) 790 Math II, 680 Physics (Only submitted to MIT)

UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.96 UW, Top 5% of Class.

Coursework: 13 AP Classes on Transcript by graduation. All 4s and 5s (Including Physics and Calc) Highly rigorous Course Load.

Awards: National AP Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist, 1st place at a Corporate sponsored camp related to programming autonomous vehicles, Some Regional Science Team Awards, Eagle Scout Award, 4 Varsity Letters, Numerous Political Activism Awards, AP Capstone Diploma.

Extracurriculars:

Boy Scouts: 9 years, served as Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, Outdoor Ethics Guide, Historian etc. Eagle project had large impact on the community.

Symphony: Playing violin for 9 years. In the highest level of Youth Symphony and performed at Carnegie Hall.

Research Intern at Major Engineering Research Facility. Presented research in front of a board.

4 years of XC and Track. Team Captain. 4 varsity letters, All-Region for track, Top 100 in state. Received interest from numerous schools. Attended State Championships 3 times.

Paid work at Local Tutoring Center.

Restarted and am Captain of Science Olympiad in my school. Led team to State Championship Tournament last year.

Started a project to bring shoes and clothing to underprivileged children in a developing country. Partnered with local track program there. Started this project all by myself, large impact. (wrote essay about this)

Student Council Elected Position: Raised ~$200,000 for local charity organization. Also am in charge of various school activities.

Political Activism Conference: Participated for 3 years, won prestigious awards every year that less than 1% of attendees receive.

Elected NHS Position: Pretty basic stuff, volunteer hours, service project planning, etc.

Not sure if this helps but I have published research unrelated to my internship.

Essays/LORs/Other:

Essays: 8-9/10 imo. PM if you want to read. LOR - My teachers promised they were amazing so I am not too worried. Would say 7-9/10 for these.

If I get an interview, that would extremely help my chances.

Submitted Research Supp for MIT. LOR from my research advisor, he said it was very strong.

This has been my dream school for the last 10 years and I just want to know if I have a realistic chance.

2

Your numbers put you in the range of admission at all of the schools. Those schools are also all single digit or low double digit percent acceptance rates, so that only means that you are in a group with maybe 10-15% admission at MIT/Princeton (vs 7% overall) and 10-30% elsewhere.

At that point it depends on essays, recommendations, personal qualities, etc. A vast majority of applicants feel they have well above average/amazing essays and recs. Look at SAT scores -
1560 is amazing in the context of any high school and compared to all HS Seniors, but there will be thousands of them in the applicant pool for these schools. These students all tends to be able to craft “amazing” essays and receive similar LORs.

The one thing that did stand out was the 680 Physics Subject Test. I have’s seen data since the class of 2017, when MIT’s interquartile Science Subject Test range was 740-800, but numbers have only gone up since then. You may want to look at re-taking or taking whatever science you currently have in school. Other schools may only “recommend” two tests, but that typically means they expect two unless there are financial concerns. Reporting a single score would be a clear flag that addition test(s) were taken but low scores not submitted. The other school are likely 700 at the 25th percentile for science.

I believe I saw that MIT’s Math2 range was 790-800, but I wouldn’t bother retaking that.

In summary, you are certainly in the range for these schools, but so are 3-5x the number actually admitted - hopefully you have a few safety schools to go along with them.

3

Thank you so much for taking the time to chanceme! I sincerely appreciate it. I very much agree that the 680 is a significant tainting point. I come from a state where virtually no one knows what subject tests are and there is very little emphasis on them. I have taken the AP Physics exam and scored pretty well on it, do you think this will convey my physics proficiency? And I agree, I hope to retake the physics test again, however the next test is in March which may be after the point where the schools have made their decisions. I am hoping my ap scores for calculus and physics and my rec letters can help convey my classroom proficiency because I do not think my subject tests do a great job of that.

4

You’re a strong candidate. I think you will have a good chance at a top college. With the acceptance rates at all of them inching below 5%, though, it is tough to say which one.

I can say that I know OOS students who got into Michigan with lesser credentials than what you have.

Good luck to you!

5

Pretty sure Princeton wants 2 subject tests also even if they say recommend. Which AP Physics have or will you completed? What is your highest level of math?
You have a very impressive HS resume and will be in heavy consideration at all the schools you have listed. I do hope you have a safety just in case.

I do find it humorous that the title of the thread is T5 engineering schools but you list 6 schools.?

6

Also my S19 had very similar stats (including research) except his verbal sat score was ~100 pts less and he applied to 4 of your schools listed for engineering. He was accepted at GT and w/l at UMich (did not accept since he preferred GT). Also did you do 4 years of foriegn language? Princeton requires 4 years. S19 didn’t realize that and only had 3 when he applied. He was denied there and MIT.

7

These are all reach schools. I hope you have applied to safety and match schools as well.

8

Same as^^^. Have solid backups. These are reaches for anyone but you are an impressive and accomplished applicant and should be proud of that.

9

Admission to MIT is unlikely for virtually all applicants, but even more so for OP given that subject test score. While OP’s stats are very impressive, at a school like MIT, all it takes is one chink in the armor to sink your application, and a 680 on the physics SAT 2 for a Mech E applicant is going to raise a red flag.

10

" I come from a state where virtually no one knows what subject tests are and there is very little emphasis on them."

I know the site is college confidential but if you can reveal the state, that could help.

11

I have completed AP Physics 1 and AP Calculus AB and I am taking AP Calculus BC (AP Physics 2 is not offered at my school). I have gotten into my safeties and I did not include them or some of my matches just for simplicity haha. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to chance me!

12

As much as I hate to hear it, thank you for chancing me. I am hoping that I can positively update this post in a couple months time.

13

It is South Carolina.

14

Thank you very much! I did not include my safeties and some matches because I have either been accepted or am not too concerned about my chances for them.

15

It’s not just state specific. We’re in a suburban Pittsburgh school district, typically ranked in the 15-20 range of the 110 school districts in the area. When I ask counselors, administrators, and even teachers about Subject Tests, it’s as if I was speaking a foreign language. I asked my D’s Honors/Dual Enrollment Chem teacher about how much the class material would prepare her for the Chem Subject Test and she had no idea what the test was.

She took Math2 in May of Freshman year and of the 200 kids there on test day, two were for Subject Tests. And she wasn’t sure the other wasn’t from another school.

Kids she knows from other HS’s on her math team are quite familiar with the .

16

I was asking about the state to see how underrepresented it is for admissions, not to see if the h/s knew about subject tests. Anyway, South Carolina is not that underrepresented compared to say WY or the Dakotas.

17

Agreed, but not nearly as represented as say VA, NJ, or TX. Also, SC is consistently in the bottom 10% of the US in education.