Chance me please - Stanford, MIT, Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>School list:</p>

<p>Stanford
MIT
Harvard
Yale
Rice
Duke
UT Austin
Purdue
Princeton</p>

<p>Intended Major: Double-major, Biology and Physics, with intention of continuing on to a MD/PhD program.</p>

<p>Objective:
[ul][<em>] ACT: 34
[</em>]SAT: Single Sitting: 2360 (760 M, 800 CR, 800 W, essay 11). Supermaxed 2380 (780 M)
[<em>]SATII: 800 in Math II, BioM, Chem
[</em>]GPA: Current school: 4.0/4.0. Previous school: 107/100 (weighted)
[<em>]Rank: Current school doesn't rank, ranked 9 out 700+ at old school.
[</em>]Senior Course Load (all dual-enrollment): Cal-based physics, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Political Science, American History, Statistics, Macroeconomics, World Literature.
[<em>]APs: Biology, Chemistry, Calculus BC, and World History, all 5s. (Note: My high school doesn't offer APs, so I had to pull some strings/pretend to be a homeschooled student to take the exams at all. Most of the people at my HS have like 2-3 APs, if at all.)
[</em>]Awards:
Nationals:
USA Biology Olympiad 2010 National Finalist. Earned a silver metal (5th-8th place).
Member of NHS, [school] chapter.
National Merit Semifinalist
Duke Talent Identification Program Grand Recognition
[County] Chapter:
Mathcounts: 1st place Countdown (7th-8th grade), 1st place Individual (7th-8th grade), 1st place Team (8th grade), 2nd place Team (7th grade).
Region:
Siemens Competition Regional Finalist (12th grade).
Academic Octathlon: Math 1st place (9th grade)
Academic Decathlon: Math 2nd place, Econ 2nd place, Social Science 3rd place, Super Quiz Individual 1st place, Super Quiz Team 3rd place (10th grade).
District :
1st place University Interscholastic League (UIL) for Science (7th-8th grade)
1st place UIL for Calculator (7th grade, competing on the 8th grade level)
1st place UIL Mathematics (8th grade)
1st place UIL Number Sense (7th-8th grade)
3rd place [District] Scientific Olympiad (8th grade)
Academic Decathlon: Math 1st place, Super Quiz (Introduction to Evolutionary Biology) 2nd place. (10th grade)
School:
3rd place [Middle School] Scientific Olympiad (8th grade)
Chemistry Outstanding Freshman Competition for <a href="11th%20grade">local University</a>
Recipient of the [Current High School] Research Scholarship.
2004 Gillock Contest (for piano) 4th place.</p>

<p>Background
[<em>]Ethnicity: Asian :( Born in China, lived in Switzerland (for like 9 months), now US citizen.
[</em>]Languages: Speaks Chinese and French (and English, obviously).
[<em>]Gender: Female
[</em>]School: Current school is a math and science magnet boarding school with 175 students (currently, people fail out/get kicked out occasionally.) Previous school was a pretty good public high school.</p>

<p>Summers
2006 Summer: Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP) at Davidson: State Your Case
Three week course on how to logically analyze and present arguments in an oral manner.
2008 Spring: Duke TIP e-studies: Academic Writing
Three month e-course on how to write and analyze academic essays
2009 Summer: Duke TIP at Duke West: Strategic Decision Making
Three-week course that analyzes how successful businesses stay afloat in today’s economy.
2010 Summer
8 weeks of research and USABO competition.</p>

<p>ECs
[<em>]MAθ/Math club (6th-11th grade). Participated in various competitions. Qualified for the AIME test in 10th and 11th grade; held the highest AMC score of 2008-2009 at [previous school].
[</em>]Volunteering: This year, I'm mostly tutoring (with 4-5+ hours a week, on average). Last year, I kind of bounced around and did whatever I could fit into my schedule (stupid me took French 2050 and had to really work to keep my 4.0).
[<em>][City] Asian American Youth Orchestra: Once a week rehearsal for 2.5 hours. Two concerts per semester. (9th-12th grade)
[li][Previous school] band: 2007 Fall Marching Band. 2008 Spring Concert Band.[/li][</em>]Piano: 2000-2010</p>

<p>Other skills
[<em>]I taught myself HTML and am currently teaching myself C. I also taught myself how to use the programs Photoshop and GIMP.
[</em>]I enjoy building things and have once rigged up a garage-door opener to solar panels with my father.
[<em>]I am a co-author for the blog Misplaced Microphone (misplacedmicrophone.blogspot.com), under the screenname Corpus Callosum.
[</em>]I am capable of speaking Chinese and I have taken three courses in French, ending with Fren 2050 (Intermediate French).</p>

<p>Research
[li]Started in Spring 2010, four publications so far with my name on them, one as first author. Journals: Fluid Phase Equilibria, Physics and Chemistry of Liquids. Learned how to use PASW Statistics, self-taught Visual Basic for Applications and used it to make a software package that made my research work so much faster/more accurate.</p>[/li]
<p>Essays
[<em>]Used mostly to shore up my weak points - for example, I pointed out that I had really no chance for formal leadership, since my previous high school restricted most positions to juniors/seniors (and I switched before junior year) and my new high school restricts to just seniors and has limits to how many leadership positions one can apply for.
[</em>]Generally long (but apparently my long stuff reads really well...) and very personal.</p>

<p>Recommendations
[li]Fairly sure they were strong (never looked at them). One of my recommenders was a Purdue and Stanford Alumni.</p>[/li]
<p>Hooks
[li]Siemens Regional Finalist and USA Biology Olympiad National Finalist/Silver Medalist.[/li][/ul]</p>

2

<p>You’re going to get in because you’re my BFF and you’re amazing at everything :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :)</p>

<p>Love you lots! Stop worrying!</p>

3

<p>you are crazy. You’ll get in wherever you want</p>

4

<p>You will get into some of the good schools. (I LOLed when you said Supermaxed [It’s superscored])</p>

5

<p>MIT, Ivies, and Stanford are ridiculously unpredictable, but of those 10 elite institutions, I will be shocked if you didn’t get into any of them. I think you’re looking at possibily 4-10 acceptances with your resume haha :wink: You just never know! Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance back please!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1027620-brown-ed-chances-i-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1027620-brown-ed-chances-i-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>Update: Stanford REA decisions back.</p>

<p>Deferred.</p>

7

<p>Sorry about Stanford; you’re definitely going to be accepted somewhere on your list. Guaranteed.</p>

<p>But nothing before freshman year really counts, by the way.</p>

8

<p>Congratulations on your deferral at Stanford (I’m serious). That is a “good” sign for some of your other top-flight schools on your list. Good luck!</p>

9

<p>Holy crap that’s impressive. If Harvard/Princeton/Yale/Stanford/MIT weren’t such a crapshoot, I’d say you’d be in at any school. As a previous poster said, stuff before 9th grade doesn’t help much (to my regret too: I did some good stuff in MathCounts and Science Olympiad). Your numbers can’t get much better, ECs especially Siemens and NBO (still not as cool an acronym as NChO) are impressive, and in terms of general impression, you seem extremely self-motivated and driven, which never hurts. You’ll get in somewhere, and I have no doubt you’ll make other schools wish they had you. Not much more I can say other than good luck, and I’d be honored if you helped me out some.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1047845-junior-looking-information-guidance.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1047845-junior-looking-information-guidance.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>You sound like you have good chance, but try not to use essays to talk about weaknesses. Maybe talk about leadership roles you’ve taken outside of school and how they’ve contributed to yourself as a person and to your accomplishments. But that’s just me being picky. You’re almost the perfect candidate and can get into pretty much anywhere.</p>

11

<p>I actaully think your essays might be a detriment, and at this point are the one thing that could hold you back. There are many applicants with comparable accomplishments and statistics to yours, so the essays make the difference. Like the above poster said, the last thing you want to do is use your essays to patch up your weaknesses. It’ll come off as you making excuses, which will in turn make the adcoms think you’re trying too hard to sell yourself to them. </p>

<p>I’d be willing to take a look at them, if you’d like. If not, you’re a strong candidate regardless and will likely get into several of your schools. Best of luck.</p>

<p>Also, awards and accomplishments from middle school have no bearing on admissions, so you don’t need to include them in your applications. I too received Duke TIP Grand Recognition in 7th grade and did some of their summer programs, but neglected to include them in my application.</p>

12

<p>obv you’re in texas and purdue
you’re in rice, probs duke
and basically all the others schools have like under 10% admissions so its not for sure but you’ll get into at least some of them… and if you were deferred from stanford i wouldn’t worry too much. maybe show some more people your essays to make sure they’re gooddd.</p>