Chance me on Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth

<p>SAT I - Verbal: 800 Writing:800 Math:780
PSAT - Verbal: 720 Writing:750 Math: 800
SAT II - Physics: 770 Math 2:800 Lit:710
Unweighted GPA - 4.0
Weighted GPA (100 in an AP course corresponds to a 6.0, 5.0 for a level course) - 5.48
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/670
AP (place score in parenthesis) - AP US (5), AP Statistics (5), AP Psychology (5), AP Lang and Comp (5), AP Spanish Lang (4)
Senior Year Course Load: Calculus BC, AP Spanish Literature, AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP European History, AP English Literature, AP Physics, AP Chemistry
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): NHS (served on recycling committee, senior citizens committee, served as peer tutor), Spanish NHS (webmaster/publicist), Ping Pong Club (vice president/webmaster), Young Writers Guild (elder), UIL Math and Science Team, UIL English Team (captain)
Job/Work Experience: Worked at a movie theater summer after sophomore; have worked as a tutor at Kumon since March 2011
Volunteer/Community service: Presbyterian Church's mission trip (40+ hours/year)
Summer Activities: Work, exercise, reading, mission trip, travel
Essays: Common App essay was well-written and focused on the importance I attach to childhood reading as a tool for early education. Supplemental essays were written somewhat dryly, unfortunately.
Teacher Recommendation: I didn't read them
Counselor Rec: I didn't read it,
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: The woman with MIT seemed to like me well enough. The interview lasted three hours and was essentially a conversation. We discussed Noam Chomsky at length, and she was astounded by my knowledge of linguistics.</p>

<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: 2,800 students, public school, mildly competitive, median SAT score is well over 1800
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Varies greatly; base salary for my family is $100,000, but after commission, we can make anywhere from $175,000 to $230,000.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>

<p>Strengths: Academics, ECs, interview skills
Weaknesses: Lack of community service, essays</p>

<p>By the way, I was rejected from Caltech early action.</p>

<p>You definitely have the objective stuff down, making you a candidate for these schools. I think your ECs are lacking for the schools you are applying to. Mostly in-school, a few leadership roles, a few “joke” clubs. Your essay has the potential to be extremely personal, intellectual, passionate, and strong if it was done correctly. If not, it can become cliche (I personally have read tons of peers’ essays on reading). Since you seem to genuinely have a passion for it, I’m guessing it’s the former, not the latter.</p>

<p>Your lack of hooks also is damaging (I know your pain too well). However, I think you have a shot at each of those schools. They are reaches, but they’re a crapshoot for most people anyways. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1256342-chance-me-wharton-harvard-columbia-etc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1256342-chance-me-wharton-harvard-columbia-etc.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m quite surprised that you were rejected by Caltech. You’ve definitely got a good shot at Dartmouth. You’ll probably be in the top group of applicants at Stanford and Harvard, but they’re definitely not guaranteed, especially as you don’t have hooks. MIT is probably the least likely because they are generally more math\science hook oriented. A guy I knew who got into MIT was acing graduate level math classes at Lehigh his senior year of high school and presented his discoveries about the properties of randomly generated matrices to the Chinese government.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention, I’m the Texas 5A UIL state champion in literary criticism. Not sure if that’s a hook or what, but it’s something.</p>

<p>Bumpity bump!</p>

<p>Bumpity bump again!</p>