Chance me please on these top universities!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>The colleges I'm thinking of applying to are: UCSD, UC Berkeley, UCLA, U of Rochester, MIT, CalTech, Cornell, USC, Duke, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Villanova, Northwestern, & Washington University in St. Louis.</p>

<p>I am currently a junior in high school. I'm an Asian California resident living in the valley (my location is air-polluted, so that's a plus) and my school is part of the ELC program.</p>

<p>GPA AND TEST SCORES
Cumulative Weighted GPA (non-UC): 4.74
Cumulative Unweighted GPA: 3.88</p>

<p>SAT-R: 1970 (I've only taken it once, but I will retake it and try the ACT / SAT II's)
CR - 580
M - 720
W - 670</p>

<p>Top 4% of my class (#2 out of 170)
400+ service hours</p>

<p>Freshman year: 3 Honors (I took the max my school offered)
Band - A/A
English 9 (H) - A/A
Spanish I - A/A
Theology 9 - A/A
Physics 9 (H) - A/A
Geometry (H) - A/A
Rhetoric - A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore year: 4 Honors, 1 AP (I took the max my school offered. We hardly have any AP classes.)
Band - A/A
English 10 (H) - A/A
Spanish II (H) - A/A
Theology 10 - A/A
Chemistry (H) - A/A
Algebra II (H) - A/A
World History (AP) - B/A</p>

<p>Junior year: 5 Honors, 1 AP (I took the max my school offered. We hardly have any AP classes.)
Band - A/A
English 11 (H) - B/A
Spanish III (H) - A/A
Theology 11 (H) - B/A
Biology 11 (H) - B/B
Math Analysis (H) - A/A</p>

<p>As you can see, I improved my 2nd semester junior year.</p>

<p>E/C's
-Top of my Freshman class award with a weighted GPA of 4.619 average
-4 years Marching Band, Steel Drums, Jazz Band, and piano playing for School Masses. (*I'm very good at playing piano and drumset) I get lots of service hours for this.
-Honor Band percussionist
-4 years Member of a CLC group (Christian Life Community)
-3 years Hip-Hop Club President
-1 year Junior Class President
-1 year ASB Vice President
-2 years CSF Secretary
-Been playing piano since 2nd grade
-No sports (mainly because of my asthma)
-Academic Decathlon team member
-2 years Link Crew member
-2 years Student Ambassador
-Tutor in chemistry</p>

2

<p>Work on improving standardized test scores (below 2000 is really sorta low for the schools you have mentioned) and acing your SAT II tests and you will have a competetive shot. But as your stats stand now, most of those upper echelon schools are major reaches.</p>

3

<p>You seem very well-rounded, but not quite science-inclined. So I have some doubts that MIT/Caltech/Hopkins could suit you well.
Why don’t you try some more Ivies? Considering your ECs etc, I dare say you are quite of an Ivy type. I think Brown and Cornell are perfect for you. And they are not quite keen on applicants’ test scores.
to come to specifics:
UCSD your safety
UC Berkeley, UCLA, match
U of Rochester match
MIT, CalTech personally I don’t recommend. If you really want to apply, pick MIT instead of Caltech will be much better.
Cornell,USC,Emory,WUSTL, NU, match
Johns Hopkins pick this one if you want to learn BME. otherwise…well…Baltimore is not as charming a place as, say, LA.</p>

4

<p>hmmm bump!!!</p>

5

<p>I really hate to say this, but I have to disagree with dawncoming, he/she is being WAY to generous. A 1970, especially for an Asian (and I’m in the same boat), is REALLY low even for UC Berekely and UCLA in-state. Also, Cornell/USC/Emory/WUSTL are all low reaches-mid reaches until that SAT comes up.
With that being said, your ECs are diverse (hip-hop president really takes away from the stereotypical tennis-playing piano-loving asian), but there’s nothing that really portrays passion in what you want to pursue in college, unless of course you want to major in dance (which I’m assuming you’re not lol).
Your GPA is good UW, great W, and rank is also stellar, which is a huge plus, but that SAT is KILLING you.
Get that up and maybe dawncoming’s predictions will be a little bit more realistic, although I can’t see how anyone can be a match for Cornell unless you’re silverturtle haha</p>

6

<p>You NEED to bring up your SAT’s and then you have a good shot at most of those schools.</p>

7

<p>

well, perhaps we define “match” differently. What I mean by “match” is around 40%-70% probability of getting in. Reach, 10%-30%; safety, 70%-90%. Cornell really doesn’t pay that much attention to standardized test scores, trust me. Bunch of students with 2000- on SAT got in. Though NU, WUSTL,Duke prefer students with stellar SAT scores.</p>

8

<p>I define match the same way as you do…I still can’t believe someone with a 1970 SAT score and Asian ethnicity (I hate this AA thing but I have to address it) can have a 40+% chance at CORNELL. That’s way to flamboyant and will only get the OP’s hopes up. I’d say 15-20% at the most right now. It’s an Ivy League, maybe not HPY caliber, but still a VERY competitive school. A 1970 is way too low for Cornell.
When you say 2000- kids get in, you may be referring to recruited athletes, legacies, or another major hook (like race). For an Asian, one HAS to get that score above 2100 to stand a chance.</p>

9

<p>Yeah im going to take the SAT-R again and give the ACT a shot. Also, what scores should I aim for in my SAT subject tests for the kind of colleges I listed? I’m taking Chemistry and Math IIC tomorrow. Should I be aiming for a 700+ for both maybe?</p>

10

<p>Your ECs and GPA are at best decent, and your test scores are garbage. Caltech, MIT and Duke are out of reach.</p>

11

<p>Okay I wouldn’t go so far as saying that his GPA and ECs are decent…a 3.88 UW is pretty solid and his ECs are diverse. As for his test scores, they’re not garbage. As a matter of fact, they’re FAR from garbage. A 1970 puts him right about 90% with the nation, which is pretty good. It’s definitely not good enough for Duke, MIT and Caltech, so I agree with billabongboy9828 on that, but it will definitely get you into some good schools.</p>

12

<p>I’m going to say that you’re dreaming too big with your 1970. To be perfectly honest, I’d see UCSB/UCSC/UCI as possible matches. I mean, if you apply to every single school on your list, you’d probably get in maybe one of them, but I’d recommend more safeties.</p>

13

<p>haha wow ok in my opinion i do agree that i should add more safeties to my list of schools, but i dont exactly think UCSB/UCSC/UCI would be matches, they’d be more of safeties… especially UCSC; school is a joke to get into (w/ like what, an 80% acceptance rate?). im pretty sure UCSD would be at least be a match for me as of now. but yes, after reading everyone’s responses i do realize i should be more realistic about applying with a SAT score such as mine. thanks everybody</p>

14

<p>need to get your SAT up … the profiles on the “matches” you list have changed dramatically in the last 2 years for many reasons discussed on CC. Even your “joke” UCSC’s acceptance rate was 65% not 80%.</p>

15

<p>The only thing that’s holding you back is your SAT. If you can manage a 2200+, you’d have a MUCH greater shot at most of the schools on your list. Prep this summer or take a class if you can afford it.</p>

16

<p>ok i will study hard this summer then ><</p>

17

<p>GoldenCoast is right … to be safe getting well above 2000 will be better insurance since not only have the standards risen dramatically over the last 2 years, but UCs are very random sometimes in their selection. There are a lot of suprising and confusing stories on CC about high scoring students not getting into “lower UCs” but lower scoring students getting into UCB/UCLA. Depends on a lot of factors including how competitve the major is that you are applying for and how competitive that admission year is. Given the state of California’s finances I think the admission situation at UC and CSUs is only going to get worse for the next few years. My S had SAT 2270, 3 SAT subject tests 5/5, but only a 3.85 UC GPA and a few ECs … did not get into Davis and ended up at UCSC. All of your stats look great so if the SAT score comes up you will have a lot of great options. Good Luck.</p>

18

<p>billabong: OP’s test scores are not “garbage.” They could use a retake, but 2200+ is not necessary for anything on that list except maybe MIT and Caltech.</p>

19

<p>BUMP. hey alright so I took 2 SAT subject tests and got my results back.</p>

<p>710 - Math II
650 - Chem</p>

<p>Do those look good for the colleges I’m applying to along with my overall profile?</p>

20

<p>I dont see MIT happening with that test score.
Great improvement junior year.</p>