Chance Me for Top Tier Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'd like to know my chances for these schools: </p>

<ol>
<li>Brown </li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Duke </li>
<li>Johns Hopkins </li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
</ol>

<p>I have various safeties. </p>

<p>SAT I: CR (690), M (760), W (680)
SAT II: Math I (710), Math II (650)
*I will be retaking both the normal SAT and the subject tests. Hopefully I will get 2200~2300, and 750 for both respectively. </p>

<p>My ACT scores were not that great, to be blunt. </p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.91x
Weighted GPA: 5.48/6.00
Rank: 1/252 (School is a magnet school where 300 out of 1000+ kids are picked) </p>

<p>AP: World History (3), Calculus AB (4), Spanish Language/Composition (4), English Language (3), Comp. Sci AB (Bad score. Not turning that in.)</p>

<p>Senior Year: AP Calculus BC, AP Environmental Science, AP English Literature, AP Macro/Micro, AP Psychology</p>

<p>ECs: </p>

<ul>
<li>Three years of Varsity Badminton. Expected to be team captain. (10-12)</li>
<li>Student Council Officer (Raised ~$10,000+) (9-12)</li>
<li>NHS (10-12)</li>
<li>Spanish, English, History Societies (I'm a prominent member in each) (11-12)</li>
<li>President of Math Honor Society (Mu Alpha Theta) (11-12)</li>
</ul>

<p>Volunteer/Service: I have completed 100+ hours of service with children and literacy. </p>

<p>Other:</p>

<ul>
<li>Major coder on XDA Developers. </li>
<li>Major coder on Bukkit (Gaming forum/service. A server plug-in I made is used in thousands of game-servers.) </li>
<li>Interned at a government-funded engineering firm.</li>
<li>Interned at a wind-energy firm that serves East Asia </li>
<li>May have three patents soon... </li>
</ul>

<p>U.S. State/Territory or Country: Maryland
School Type: Public High School
Ethnicity: Asian-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: ??? I assume $100k+</p>

<p>I know my SAT, SAT II, and AP scores are not that competitive. I'm hoping what I do outside of school could possibly make up for that and help me stand out in the giant pool of applicants for these competitive schools. My essay should be excellent as I'm having a few family friends who have doctoral degrees in English to review and help me strengthen my essay. </p>

<p>I've been playing violin for roughly 8 years and viola for 2 years. Did Honors Orchestra for two years (county-wide).</p>

<p>I'm looking to major in Econmics/Finance.</p>

<p>Thanks to anyone who can give me their opinions. </p>

2

<p>Forgot to add that I’ve been playing violin for roughly 8 years and viola for 2 years. Did Honors Orchestra for two years (county-wide).</p>

3

<p>I’m looking to double major in Economics/Finance. </p>

4

<p>Sorry to be blunt , but your chances at the Ivies and duke are fairly low unless you can pull up your test scores. Is it too late to select a more rigorous senior year schedule? Also, how can you build programs of that quality when you did not pass ap computer science? That’s sure to raise some eyebrows. Anyways, apply to some safeties and good luck!</p>

5

<p>@tooty44 I made a mistake in my OP. I didn’t take the AP exam for Comp Sci. Just realized this. </p>

6

<p>@tooty44 What are you talking about?
The OP has 5 AP courses which is in fact going to be a lot to manage with college apps. Especially with Lit and Calc.</p>

<p>OP, I would be hesitant to have that many people of that caliber reviewing and editing your essay. Their voice may end up over powering yours because of their credentials. It could hurt. But then again, it could make it great. Just be careful.</p>

<p>You definitely need to improve your test scores as an ORM. IMHO, you may need to shoot for a little higher than 2200 because private colleges tend to be unfair towards Asian applicants.</p>

7

<p>@AnnieBeats Thank you for your reply. I have been doing a lot of SAT prep. Do you recommend a different SAT II subject test? I so far have done Math I and Math II, but it seems that a different subject would be better. I’m not sure which one would be the best for someone who wants to major in Economics/Finance. </p>

8

<p>@AnnieBeats 5 AP courses is on the low end of rigor for applicants to these top schools because:

  1. Most students are taking more than 5 courses their senior year (mostly around 6-7).
  2. A lot of the AP’s that the OP is taking are the easier AP’s, especially compared to his previous ones.
  3. This downward trend in rigor will definitely hurt more than help, which is why I would advise the OP to either take more courses or trade out some of his AP’s for some more rigorous ones.</p>
9

<p>@tooty44‌ </p>

<p>1) Actually, students tend to decrease the rigor for senior year. You are supposed to have the bulk of your rigor in senior year.</p>

<p>2) You don’t know what is available for the OP. The OP could have very well exercised all options and this is what is left.</p>

<p>3) There would be no downward trend in rigor. Unlike College Confidential, college view AP classes as AP classes. They don’t say “Oh wow! This student who got an A in Bio is so much better than this student who got an A in Environmental Science”. They understand that difficulty is relative and it would be futile to try to rank APs by difficulty. Colleges actually dislike when students arbitrarily pick APs just for the sake of having them. The OP doesn’t need to take Physics or Chem. S/he is fine the way they are.</p>

<p>OP, increase your test scores and maintain your amazing rank. Other than that, you will be fine.</p>

10

<p>@AnnieBeats‌ </p>

<p>I’ll address your three points:</p>

<p>1) Yes, most students decrease rigor during their senior year, but competitive applicants to these top schools generally do not. </p>

<p>2) I specifically asked the OP if getting a more rigorous schedule would be possible. If not, then I agree with you in the fact that increasing those test scores should be a top priority.</p>

<p>3) Colleges don’t rank AP classes, but they DO care if an applicant seems to be just taking AP’s to pad up their schedule. Instead, I would take the AP’s that are challenging and interesting to the OP. Also, there is a difference between the rigor of AP’s (and much more than you think). For example, I self studied AP Biology (which I am really interested in) for weeks and barely pulled off a 5, but got an easy 4 in AP gov by watching one YouTube video before the test lol.</p>

<p>Anyways, I hope I don’t come off as argumentative, but its been a while since I’ve started posting on forums and I thank you for getting my brain juices flowing :)</p>

11

<p>OP, like I said, going forward, you are fine. In order to assure that they have a quality application, most students applying to top tier schools have the same amount of APs you have in order to make sure they for get overwhelmed. In fact, guidance counselors are there to advise against this. It is also clear that you are taking courses that challenge you an interest you. You don’t need to change anything. Good luck :slight_smile: I wish you the best.</p>

12

<p>@AnnieBeats @tooty44 Thank you for the comments. Environmental Science and Psych have always interested me and seeing that I had an opportunity to take the class this upcoming year, I took them both. </p>

13

<p>Bumping. :)</p>

14

<p>You need a different SAT Subject Test. Math 1 and Math 2 are not going to cut it at schools that require 2 Subject tests. Your schedule is fine, your grades are in range, but your SAT scores are not for the top schools anyway. If you could get them in the 2250+ range, you would be much more competitive.</p>

15

<p>@Tuscani: you honestly look like every other of the thousands of Asians who apply to US colleges. But your SAT scores are a bit low. Your rank and GPA is good, but your AP scores stink. Not turning the AP scores in will make the AdComs wonder if you bombed the tests. Suggest you submit your scores and have your GC explain why some of your scores were lackluster.</p>

<p>I agree that you should highlight the experience you have coding in your app. Are there any national coding competitions that you entered and won? </p>

<p>Based upon what you present above, seems like you would be better served by expressing an interest in Computer Science/Engineering instead of marketing/econ. You need to build a cohesive story. </p>

16

<p>As others have said test score wise you are not too promising, but that is O.K since you are #1 in you class. However E.C wise you look great. Also, I don’t think you will be able to get three patents within the few months from now to the app deadline, focus on other things. </p>

<p>Honestly, your SAT doesn’t have to be 2300+, because of your already high rank. Just try to be 2150+.
Why don’t you major in CompSci rather than Econ, don’t do majors that you don’t enjoy if you are out there just to make big-bucks. </p>

<p>I have no doubt that you will get into NYU (non-Stern).</p>

17

<p>Yeah, you’ll have a hard time convincing schools that YOU want to go into business, rather than your parents. </p>