Chance me HYPSM

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone,

I got rejected from Cornell ED. But, spite that, I’m still applying to even better schools RD. I would like to know my chances at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Brown, CalTech, Duke, Tulane, Berkeley, UCLA, Claremont McKenna, George Washington University, USC, UPenn, and Washington University in Saint Louis.

I’d also like some ideas on why I got rejected from Cornell. My teachers told me I’d be a sure thing!

Desired Major:
Political Science at Stanford, Harvard, Duke, Tulane, Yale, George Washington, and Brown.
Electrical Engineering at Cornell, Berkeley, Claremont McKenna, USC, and Washington University in Saint Louis.
Physics at MIT, CalTech.
Business at University of Penn.

HIGH SCHOOL:

Public So-Cal High School. Mid-tier. 1 in class of 630 (ngl, tied with 4 others).

GPA: 4.0 uw, 4.96 w (my school is known to be crazy inflated. Mean uw GPA: 3.4, Median uw GPA: 3.5)

SAT: 2360 (don’t let this score fool you. Average SAT at my school is a 1490).

ACT: 36

SAT Subject Exams (only reporting 800s, except for English)

-US History (800)
-English Literature (770)
-Spanish Literature (800)
-Math II (800)
-Biology E (800)
-Chemistry (800)
-Physics (800)

Course Load (9-12)

-(AP) Calculus BC
-(AP) Biology
-(AP) World History
-(AP) Human Geography
-(H) Spanish III
-(H) English

-(AP) Statistics
-(AP) Physics B
-(AP) Chemistry
-(AP) United States History
-(AP) English Language
-(AP) Spanish Language
-(CC) Calculus III

-(AP) Physics C: Mechanics
-(AP) European History
-(AP) English Literature
-(AP) Computer Science A
-(AP) Art History
-(AP) Environmental Science
-(H) Academic Decathlon

-(AP) Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
-(AP) United States Government| (AP) Macroeconomics
-(AP) Comparative Government| (AP) Microeconomics
-(AP) Psychology| § Life Skills
-(H) Academic Decathlon
-(CC) Linear Algebra
-(CC) Differential Equations

AP Exams:
-Calculus BC: 5
-Biology: 4 (didn’t study. I was a stupid freshman).
-World History: 5
-Human Geography: 5

-Statistics: 5
-Physics B: 5
-Chemistry: 3 (hard to manage my time between Physics and Chem; but studied that summer for SAT II)
-United States History: 5
-English Language: 5
-Spanish Language: 5

-Physics C: Mechanics: 5
-European History: 5
-English Literature: 5
-Computer Science A: 5
-Art History: 5
-Environmental Science: 5

Extra Curricular Activities and Awards.
Tennis Varsity since 10th Grade. JV 9th.
BBYO Chapter President for several terms.
Economics FBLA 1st in Region
Academic Decathlon: Gold Medal in Literature, Math, Science, Social Science, Essay, and Super Quiz.
CIT at Jewish Summer Camp for 8 weeks: Summer before 11th grade.
Daycare Counselor at Jewish Summer Camp for 9 weeks: Summer before 12th grade.
Community Service Hours: 480

Chance me at my 16 schools? AND CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW I GOT REJECTED FROM CORNELL? SO CONFUSED. SOME OF MY PEERS GOT IN WITH 4.4s.

Oh, and:

Caucasian
Income: 380k
Not applying for financial aid.

2

You’re a wonderful applicant - definitely qualified for a top school. With that said, a lot of subjective factors go into competitive college admissions. Maybe the admissions counselors at Cornell enjoyed your essays, but found other applicants whose personalities seemed more compatible within the school’s environment.

At top schools, you are competing against a pool of students in which your stats & extracurriculars are only moderately above average, and the school admits only the top few percent of their pool.

With that said, since you are a competitive applicant, I believe that you will be admitted to at least one of the prestigious schools at which you’re applying. Chances are low for each individual school, but you are applying to quite a few.

Since I’m not the most credible source, here’s a credible MiT source talking about chances: No Chance | MIT Admissions

Good luck, and remember to stay classy

3

Your EC’s are weak compared to those that are found at top schools. Other than that you are a great applicant. It all comes down to your essays really

4

I see you are pursuing PoliSci, EE, Physics or Business.

Anything else?

5

I am a little confused with your intended majors. They are all over the map. You are a very strong candidate, but you are applying to a lottery schools.

6

Wow your coursework, test scores, rank, and GPA are near perfect.

The only reason I think that Cornell may have denied you was because of the lack of any “spectacular” EC’s which are very important when you are competing against other qualified applicants.

7

My English teacher from last year said that my essays really helped emulate my personality. I didn’t use a lot of big words, I was descriptive, and I just liked to talk about my beliefs, what I’ve done, and where I want to go.

@tooty4, last year, I started a 401c3 non-profit based on running to raise funds for Malaria in Africa. I mean, although I’m non-profited, I didn’t really end up doing anything with it. Should I have brought up that I am non-profited? Or would that have been too unethical? lol

@seal16, I’m interested in EE, but Physics even more so. And with Political Science, I’m connected with Middle Eastern Conflicts as I’m Israeli, and would just love to learn about power play and more on politics. And with UPenn, I’d really only go for business there.

Should I have really only concentrated on one major? And went all out on that one? With the schools I applied to, I’m mostly interested in that major if I were to go there. Like with MIT, I’d much rather major in Physics than EE there.

I really didn’t have a lot of time for EC :neutral_face: . My schoolwork was really hard–and if I got even one B, I knew I’d go to 5th in my class (which isn’t bad, it’s just that my school isn’t an ivy feeder).

But, the ECs I was involved in took a took up a ton of time and I was really, really involved in them. I wasn’t trying to go for a laundry list of ECs. AcaDeca took up at least two hours every day. Tennis takes up another three hours. BBYO takes up seven hours a week. Studying took up three hours a day. And I studied about 30 mins a night for FBLA starting January, and the month before the competition, I studied two hours a night. That’s ~7 hours a day. That’s like from 2:30 when I get out, to 9:30 at night. And then also my summers were booked with activities that were really competitive to get into. It was a quagmire. I don’t think I could’ve picked up any more activities (maybe some clubs, but I am president of the Speech and Debate club–but we don’t have a lot of members).

8

Stats wise, you are perfect – Absolutely flawless. Your ECs are also pretty good, but nothing extraordinary. Because of your stats alone, you already have a decent shot at HYPSM. However, in order to actually get into one of them, it comes down to your essays and showing your passion.

I would think that the rest of your schools are definite matches. As for cornell, it is very surprising to hear that you were rejected. I have zero guesses as to why. Good Luck!

Chance Back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1726865-dear-fellow-lovelies-please-do-me-the-kind-favor-of-a-chance-for-the-big-names.html#latest

9

Something you’re leaving out here or something was wrong with your app.
You’ve got better stats than the typical Cornell student and frankly should have been a shoe-in for an ED admission even as a wealthy white guy with so-so ECs.

Have your guidance counselor call them.

10

With the top Ivy plus schools, its not so much the scores, as at the end of the day, everyone, more or less, has the same scores. Rather, it is how you articulate that you have a delineated nexus with the respective institution. These schools want to know what value added you bring to their community, and how you see yourself making a contribution. Too often students lead with the thinking of what the institutions can do for them, and don’t address on what they might add to the institution. In the case of Cornell, and I am just making a guess, there could have been some thought that you were not specific enough on your intentions and specifically your major.

11

Well, I do know that Cornell sometimes rejects really good applicants since those will probably not go there
Or some person misplaced your app. Or you forgot a part of your app. Or they think you are crazy for working on all those courses. Or etc.
Second, you don’t seem to have a focus in any major… and your EC’s aren’t really engineering stuff
Third, your school looks horrible. They might have just skipped over your school.
EC’s are kinda weak for SoCal

You’ll get into Berkeley!

MIT, Harvard, Stanford: mid-reach
Princeton, Yale: low-reach (lol, they like high-GPA + high SAT since it improves their ranking)

No idea about others :frowning:

(Hmm, If people at my school were allowed to take that many AP’s, then there would probably be about 20 people like that. But I guess they try to deflate the GPA/etc)

12

Your application doesn’t show much talent, though. It just says that you work really, really hard

edit: wait, your peers got in? I now think first choice is most likely :stuck_out_tongue:

13

I have no idea what happened with Cornell. I’d say it was because theyd be afraid of lowering their yield rates but it was early decision. Again, no idea.
I think you have a very good shot.
Accepted at MIT, Brown, CalTech, Duke, Tulane (why?), Berkeley, UCLA, Claremont (???), George Wash, USC, UPenn
Waitlist at WUSTL because theyre weird, Yale
Rejected at Stanford, Harvard

14

I say…

Stanford: Accepted
Harvard: Rejected
Duke: Accepted
Tulane: Don’t know
Yale: Rejected
GW: Accepted
Brown: Accepted
Berkeley: Rejected
Claremont McKenna: No clue
USC: Accepted
Washington University in Saint Louis: Accepted

And if you trust my opinion on all that… I have a bridge and some oceanfront property you might be interested in… let me know.

15

How? Just how do people have time to be this perfect statistically?

16

HYPSM: Reach to High Reach

17

IRS Section 401 has to do with pension and profit-sharing plans. Maybe you meant a 501(c)(3) which refers to a nonprofit organization?
How did you go about starting that?