Chance me for top tier schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys, I wanted to get some opinions about my chances of getting into my favorite schools. I'm a white, male rising senior in a competitive private school in MD. Was hoping you all could give insight into which colleges I might have a chance at, whether or not to apply ED, any specific experiences with admissions/campus life at these schools, whether I should retake any tests, etc etc.</p>

<p>Prospective major: Mechanical Engineering
Schools: Dream school is Stanford (EA?).. Also looking at MIT, Princeton, Duke, Columbia, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley, Rice, UMD, and some safety schools.</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Race: White
State: MD
Hooks: Not a recruited athlete, no URM, no 1st gen</p>

<p>High School: private, reasonably competitive (sends ~10 to Ivies per year)
Class size: ~300</p>

<p>SAT: 2140 (CR 700, Math 740, Writing 700)
ACT: 34 (35 E, 36 M, 34 R, 32 S), 8 essay
SAT IIs: 740 US History, 800 Math 2, 730 Biology E
AP scores (so far): US History (5)
Senior year AP's: Calc BC, Statistics, Physics B, English Literature, Computer Science A</p>

<p>GPA:3.91 UW, 4.71W
Rank: top 10% (school doesnt report specific ranks)
Junior courseload: Most rigorous, AP US History, AP English Lang, AP Comparative Gov't, IB Math HL, IB Bio SL
Senior courseload: Most rigorous, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Physics B, AP English Lit, AP Computer Science A
Also, took a college engineering course @ state school during summer before junior year (A)</p>

<p>Essays/Recs: Planning to spend an enormous amount of time on my essays... I am a decent writer, so I believe they will be good. Recs will be outstanding, I have a great relationship with all of my teachers</p>

<p>(significant) EC's:
-Leadership program at my school, invitation to apply only, accepts 3% total (11/12)
-Been a part of sports teams at my school, including Varsity Wrestling, JV Lacrosse, and JV Soccer (9/10)
-NHS 11/12
-Scholar program for high achieving students 9-12
-Student Ministry leadership involvement 9-12 (organizing numerous fundraisers, events, service projects, leading student retreats, etc)
--within this, multiple service trips to places like Camden, NJ</p>

<p>-Karate 10 years ---this is my big one, one of my greatest non-academic passions. Thousands of hours total time committed, active role in teaching, and two-time under-18 National Champion. This summer, I took an adult national championship, and qualified to represent the United States in the World Championships this October.</p>

<p>-Co-Founded the Government and Politics Club at my school. We are organizing many events, such as a school-wide mock presidential election, and movements to get everyone in our school politically active, and registered to vote when they are able</p>

<p>-Founder/Spokesperson of alternative energy initiative
This is basically a startup that I've been developing for a while. It's a new business plan/ tech idea that is designed to expand access of solar energy to the average consumer. Working on pitches/getting funding for a feasibility study at the moment</p>

<p>Honors/Awards:
Youth National Karate Champion 2010+2011
Gold Medal at adult national championships 2012 (team event)
RPI Medal (given to student with greatest achievements in Math/Science in our class)
National Merit Commended
Honor Roll all 4 years
School academic scholar</p>

<p>Work Experience:
-Internship this summer under a nationally-recognized engineering professor at state flagship university.. Really excited about it, lots of experiences to be had and shared on my app</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

2

<p>Bumppp. I would really like to get some feedback on this</p>

3

<p>Bump 10char</p>

4

<p>You have very nice grades, scores and ECs. It all comes down to your essay in the end. The Stanford, Harvard, MIT like schools will be reaches for everyone. Nice start-up plan as well. I’d say for the rest of the schools like Duke, CMU, JHU, and UMD, you’re most likely in. Hmm, try to see if you can work especially hard on your start-up. I hear Stanford likes leadership/entrepreneurship. Chance me back by the way? It’s my latest post (besides this one).</p>

5

<p>Thanks! Anyone else?</p>

6

<p>I just want to say usually when you get so few responses it is because there little advice to be given. You are a strong applicant, at this point there is little that can be done. Stanford and MIT are reaches (but they are for everybody), the rest you should have a good shot at. Make sure your essays are strong and you should probably be fine. Good luck! If you have time, please chance me. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1357249-what-my-chances-swarthmore.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1357249-what-my-chances-swarthmore.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>“Internship this summer under a nationally-recognized engineering professor at state flagship university”</p>

<p>Why don’t you go to that school? If that guy were to advise you in college and write recommendation letters for you (assuming you did well in college), you would get into a fantastic PhD program.</p>

8

<p>Interesting thought… Thanks for the advice!</p>