Chance me, please.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Gender: M
Location: New Orleans, LA
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Background:
Chinese. I came to the United States in 2004. I got my green card last year around this time, so I will be considered a domestic.</p>

<p>Special Circumstances to note:
I live in New Orleans. After Katrina, I evacuated to Memphis, TN for a year. My family came back in the summer of 2006. Please do consider geographical location.</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA: Weighted: 4.8, Unweighted: 4.0
Rank: 2 of 350.</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT: R680, M780, W730 == 2190 (I’m retaking. I don’t think this reading score reflects well. See ACT)</p>

<p>ACT: E34, M35, R36, S33 – Composite: 35</p>

<p>SAT II:
Math II: 800
Physics: 800
Chinese: 800
World History: 800</p>

<p>AP:
Physics B 5 (10th grade)
Calculus BC 5 (10)
Physics C Mech. 5 (11)
Physics C E&M 5 (11)
Chemistry 5 (11)
Statistics 5 (11)
US History 5 (11)
European History 5 (11)</p>

<p>Senior Courseload:
AP World History
AP American Government
AP Micro/Macroeconomics
AP Biology
English IV Honors
Spanish III Honors</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
Mu Alpha Theta (9~12; President- 12, VP-11)--4hr/wk
Engineering Club (9~12; President- 12, VP-11)--1hr/wk (mostly incorporated into MAO)
Student Council (9~12; Treasurer-9, VP-10, Treasurer-12)--5hr/wk
Culture Club (11,12)--1hr/wk
Varsity Soccer (11-12)--10 hr/wk
Ping-Pong Club (9,11,12)--3hr/wk (during lunch and sometimes after school)
Key Club (9,11,12)--2hr/wk
Chess (9,10)--2hr/wk
Quiz Bowl (9,11,12, Captain- 12)--1hr/wk
Volunteering at a local hospital -- 9 -- 4hr/wk for 30 wks
Volunteering as a chinese class TA in Memphis Chinese school -- 10-- 4hr/wk for 8 wks
Intramural sports: tennis, soccer, badminton, volleyball, ping pong--3~4 hr/wk</p>

<p>Awards and Recognitions:
- AP National Scholar (2007) -- pending Collegeboard's issuing in September.-- national
- USA Math Olympiad Qualifier (2006) -- national
- Silver Medalist, USA Math Talent Search (2006) -- national
- 1st, Theta Poi Bowl; 1st, Theta Functions; 2nd Theta Equations and Inequalities--Mu Alpha Theta National Convention (2005)--National
- 1st, Mu Region II, Mu Alpha Theta Log1 Contest (2005~2006, 2006~2007)--National
- 1st, Ciphering Times Trials (2006)--National
- Full Scholarship Winner--University of Tennessee Math Competition (2005)--State
- 1 gold, 1 bronze--TN Science Olympiad (2006)--state
- 1st, Individual-- Mu Alpha Theta State Conventions (2005-LA, 2006-TN, 2007-LA)--State
- Overall Winner, Algebra II--State Literary Rally--State
- Outstanding Poster--Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium Summer Internship (2006)--local/program
- LA State Social Studies Fair Qualifier 2007--Regional
- Numerous school/regional awards on math, sciences, social studies, and overall achievements.
Future:
- NMSP Semifinalist (PSAT=220, LA cutoff for the past year was 209)</p>

<p>Summer:
2006-- Physics course (with full scholarship) at University of New Orleans; Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium Summer Internship (with pay $2k; on heavy metal carcinogenesis)
2007-- Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium Summer Internship (with pay $2k; on autophagy of human bone marrow stem cells); Carnegie Mellon Summer Program for Diversity--Advanced Placement/Early Action (full scholarship): I took two classes for college credit: Intro to Programming and Intro to Ethics.</p>

<p>Recommendations:
1. Mu Alpha Theta/Engineering Club Sponsor and former teacher. He will stress my leadership in Mu Alpha Theta (restarted the club I came back after Katrina)
2. AP Euro His/ AP Econ/ AP World teacher and Quiz Bowl sponsor, with a Ph.D. in European History. He will stress my academics, especially in European History.</p>

<p>Main Essay:
My life in Memphis and the experience of coming back and how these have made me who I am.</p>

<p>College list, in order of preference:
1. Princeton
2. MIT -- EA
3. UPenn (Jerome Fisher Program for Engi/Mgmt or simply Wharton)
4. Harvard
5. Stanford
6. Caltech -- EA
7. Columbia (Fu School of Engi)
8. UChicago -- EA
9. CMU -- EA</p>

<p>I'm fairly certain I can get into CMU, since I am doing their special Early Action for those of us who went there for the summer and had a great interview on campus.
Please give specifics on Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Caltech. Princeton is my dream school and I would love to know about my chance there.
Thanks to all of you who have read my whole list. Advices will be greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>MIT and Caltech are probably nos, just because. Obviously you have a shot, but engineering schools get so many high achieving asian males...but at least you're not from New Jersey.</p>

<p>For Penn, apply for engineering. Wharton is such a bigger reach and you can always major in financial engineering or transfer into CAS and do econ if you want to do business.</p>

<p>Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton are big reaches because you're a really one-sided applicant: math and science. And you're asian.</p>

<p>CMU and UChicago are definitely better bets. The Fu School gets more and more competitive every year and is probably a wee bit harder to get into than UPenn's program.</p>

<p>Work your butt off on your application. Get across who you are. The worst thing you can do is allow yourself to be exactly who you are on paper: a high achieving, asian male who plays ping pong and loves math.</p>

<p>I understand that CalTech is your dream. But it's an enormous reach for just about anyone. Really slave away on that app.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>Do you want UChicago? It seems like you're deadset on engineering, a program that Chicago lacks. Chicago also has a very reading/writing centered core curriculum. Though it compares favorably to Princeton and CalTech in some respects, make sure that you want in-- uncommon application and all.</p>

<p>I would consider yoinking EC's that you didn't continue into 11th and 12th grade, or at least ordering them in order of significance to you. This will help admissions officers figure out what your real passions are. Move Quiz Bowl and student council to the top, etc. Do the same with your awards. Most recent and most significant ones first.</p>

4

<p>"MIT and Caltech are probably nos, just because"</p>

<p>-idk...USAMO is pretty ballin'...his other math awards are pretty good too...test scores/GPA/EC's are great also.</p>

5

<p>I don't agree with ses at all...</p>

<p>look at this kid's test scores/GPA/class rank/EC's...USAMO is, as the poster above said, "pretty ballin'..."</p>

6

<p>^More than 25% of admitted students at MIT had perfect scores on the Math section. And only 25% of admitted students had CR scores lower than 660.</p>

<p>At CalTech, the middle 50s are higher (only 25% scored below 690 on the CR section or 780 on the math).</p>

<p>Unfortunately, pretty great isn't great. It's really freaking hard to get into those schools. The OP is a really good applicant, but, based on scores alone, he'd be fighting for one of about 50 spots at CalTech for kids with his scores.</p>

7

<p>"ACT: E34, M35, R36, S33 – Composite: 35"</p>

<p>-how are his scores too low for these schools? and USAMO is amazing lol...most of his other accomplishments/awards are great also. The SAT II's are all perfect, the GPA is perfect, and he's ranked 2nd in his class.</p>

8

<p>wow you got an 800 on the whist subject test before taking the class? pretty good.
Its hard to tell if youll get into your reaches or not, so write good essays and pray.</p>

9

<p>


Just for the record, there's no way a 780 on SAT I math hurts any applicant. Your reading score could be a little better, but it's not a deal breaker.</p>

<p>USAMO + research = likely to get in Caltech. Even better (for schools other than Caltech) might be your geographic diversity, which is highly underrated in importance on CC.</p>

<p>If anything bothers me (from a purely Caltech perspective, mind you), it's how light your senior is on math and science. I'm guessing you've exhausted everything at your high school, but try to make an effort to go beyond that. Is there a local university, or could you take online classes?</p>

10

<p>thanks guys.
<em>bump</em>
and where did i say caltech was my dream school? i thought i put princeton. oh well... people seem to judge me from a purely caltech perspective. i dont see where that's coming from.
and thanks to cghen for pointing out geographic aspect. : )</p>

11

<p>bump*
: (
10 char</p>

12

<p>you are an extremely strong applicant and these top schools are low reaches for you, as they are for everyone else so i offer my best wishes and good luck with your apps!</p>

13

<p>bump
10 char</p>

14

<p>I too would say you are a strong applicant for all the schools, but I tend to agree with everyone else: you are an asian male, who likes math and science and plays ping-pong. try to differentiate yourself from the pool by focusing on different aspects of your personality that would make you stand out, because from what you've posted here, you seem far too similar to so many other applicants applying to the same schools.</p>