Chance me MIT, Cooper Union Engineering, Caltech, Georgiatech, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

GPA: ~94.4 (I go to a small competitive HS in NY; 100 class size, no class rank, all honor courses, usually only 8 APs available to take in total with rare exceptions of 9-10, of which I took 6). All GPAs are sent on this 100 scale instead of converted. Honor courses aren’t weighted and APs are weighted * 1.1. Converted it would be 4.00 unweighted (going by Collegeboard’s chart). Also, I’m not sure how to calculate my weighted GPA. Going by this link (http://blog.prepscholar.com/weighted-vs-unweighted-gpa-whats-the-difference) it would be ~4.36 weighted but going by this chart (http://blog.prepscholar.com/weighted-vs-unweighted-gpa-whats-the-difference) it would be a flat 4.5.

Senior Courses: AP Chem, AP Stat, BC Calc, Gov, Eng
Took: AP Physics, AP Env Sci, AP English

I think my GPA is competitive but 3-4 others from my school have slightly higher gpas (94.6-96) and are applying; even though there’s no class rank their higher GPAs will be seen. Also MIT usually always accepts 1 (and only 1) from my school every yr so my GPA might actually be holding me back, not sure though. If it counts for anything, though, my freshman year grades pulled me down and I improved a lot by junior/sr yr, and it shows in my transcript.

Test scores:

  • ACT 35 Composite
  • SAT 2 780 Math 770 Physics
    No 5’s on AP Exam, cant send scores (3 Physics lol, 4 AP Env, 4 Eng)

Work Experience: Part time job at retail for 6 months (on paper my family incomes pretty low, using that for leverage)

Volunteer Work: Only ~50-80 hrs total between Key Club, National Honor Society volunteering, and a nonprofit.

Other EC’s

  • Key Club 2 yrs
  • Science Club 2.5 yrs (transfered soph yr) Vice President (might be president soon, idk if it’ll make a big difference)
  • Environmental Club 1 yr
  • Was about to join robotics team but it got canceled (Chem teacher kept it on rec letter because it showed “commitment” lol)
  • NYC Math team
  • National Honor Society: tutoring, events, volunteer work, etc.
  • Volunteer at nonprofit GallopNYC: helps children w/ disabilities and special needs through therapeutic horsemanship
  • Competitions: Math league, AAPT Physics Bowl 2013/2014, Going to participate in NYCSEF and Science Bowl (theyre after January though, idk if they count)
  • Summer STEM Research Program, worked under a mentor in a group, developed presentation in their field to present at a research symposium at a local community college.
  • My mentor was a veteran geologist in the Geological Society of America (GSA). We published our research in the official GSA scientific journal. Also participated in a presentation on this research at the annual GSA meeting in Baltimore this November.

What are my chances? I know they’re pretty much all reaches regardless but I’d like to know a bit more. Also, if anyone could clarify some of the stuff I wasn’t sure about like weighted GPAs, NYCSEF, etc. I’d appreciate it.

Also, I have one last question. Some colleges have a priority deadline for their regular decision apps, right? From what I know Cooper Union has one by December 1st. If I submit my full application by the deadline, can I send my December SAT scores after and still get priority on my application?

2

Bump, will chance back. Also GPA wasnt 4.00 my bad, it was around 92.8 (93 being 4.0). It’s only seen as 94.4 though

3

From what I’ve researched (take w/ grain o’ salt), you have to have a lot more than a high GPA and test scores and some generic EC’s. However, your last EC should ring some bells in the admissions office. But, there still needs to be something extremely unique to you for you to seriously stand out. Some research and presentation is great and a lot more than what many other applicants have, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough.

if you’re not in a minority group of any sort or have huge donor status, they’ll all be reaches. still, apply.

4

Agreed with the other reply, for the priority question yes, as long as you are able to mark it as a future test date, and send it in ASAP.

Chance me? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1834024-chance-me-for-ucs-particularly-berkeley-la-sb-davis-usc-and-uwash-seattle.html#latest

5

Thank you for the replies. Sorry, but I’d just like some confirmation on this. Apparently there is no priority regular decision deadline for Cooper as it says on the Collegeboard site but only early decision. Will they allow me to update my application with my December SATII/ACT scores if i apply via ed?

I emailed them 2 different times within the span of a week and was given 2 different answers, the second being the most recent. Should I just trust that they’ll accept them?

  • "Early Decision is a hard deadline. We must have all materials and scores by December 1st. If you're sitting for the December exams it would be best to apply for January 11th Regular Decision deadline. "
  • "Yes - you won't be able to do it online, but you can email us with a screenshot once you get your unofficial score report. "
6

I’ll be completely objective with you, based on the available statistics on the Internet:

It’s scaled from 1 to 10, 1 being the easiest and 10 the hardest.

MIT=10
CU=8
CalTech=9
GTech=4
Cornell=8 (Cornell prefers SAT I score over ACT score)
CM=7

Good Luck!

7

Hey guys, bumping to say I just got my acceptance letter from Cooper! I also wanted to thank you guys for all of the help and feedback, so thanks!