<p>So, I'm a junior wondering how competitive I would be when it comes to getting into certain colleges</p>
<p>Gender: Male
Race: Taiwanese
School: Chino High (the school consists of students who don't really care about college or academics in general; the avg. SAT score for Chino High is approximately 1300ish)
Resident state: California</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted, rank 1/750ish; idk weighted but i've gotten an A in 5 AP classes
SAT I: 2010 CR: 610 M: 760 W:640 essay: 8 (I plan to retake it to try to get over 2100)
SAT IIs:
Math II - 800
Physics - 740
US History - 650</p>
<p>APs taken:
AP Stats (got a 5 sophmore year)
AP Calc BC (probably got a 5 or 4)
AP Physics B (probably a 5 or 4)
AP U.S. History (probably 3)
AP English Lang (probably 3 or 4)</p>
<p>APs i'm planning to take senior yr:
AP Environmental Science
AP English Lit
AP Physics C
AP U.S. Govt
AP Micro Economics</p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:</p>
<p>4 yrs tennis (1 JV 3 Varsity)
3 yrs Key Club (1 yr treasurer)
1 yr Bio club (1 yr treasurer)
2 yrs Chem club (1 yr treasurer)
2 yrs Physics club (1 yr president)
2 yrs Calc club (1 yr vice president)
2 yrs Chess Club
2 yrs National Honor Society
I tutor math on my spare time
I work about 7 hrs a week (mainly on weekends...I've held a job for 2 yrs)
100+ community service </p>
<p>Intended Major: Either Electrical OR Mechanical engineering</p>
<p>Random Stuff that might be negative:
No math senior yr (couldn't get into a community college course...rejected from Mt. Sac and Chaffey college lol...never thought i would actually say that)
Only 2 yrs of a language (due to schedule conflicts...however, i do speak mandarin at home)</p>
<p>So what do you guys think? What are my chances at:</p>
<p>MIT
Caltech
Berkeley
UCLA
Irvine
UCSD
Standford
Harvey Mudd
and just for the heck of it.... Harvard, Yale, and Princeton</p>
<p>Epic - You clearly have ability. But your HS, and in particular your Guidance Counselor, is doing you no favors you IMO. Val with 2010 SAT scores? CalTech and UCIrvine on the same application list? Hmmm.</p>
<p>I would not discourage you from applying to your dream schools. MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Harvard, Yale and Princeton would be reaches for you (as they are for everyone). That reduces the list of realistic possibilities to the UCs.</p>
<p>yeah. my school hasn’t really helped me at all. i had to pretty much self study for APUSH and AP Eng Lang.</p>
<p>i really only added UCI to the list because i wanted to see if i had a good chance of getting into it (it’s going to be my backup school)</p>
<p>“yeah. my school hasn’t really helped me at all. i had to pretty much self study …”</p>
<p>OK, hold that thought. </p>
<p>It’s hard to chance you for reach schools because key elements of your application are unpredictable. Teachers from your school don’t usually write recommendation letters for elite schools. GCs don’t usually advise for elite schools. You’re Val, which is great, but the school profile may (inadvertantly) suggest “Best of an average bunch.” And I highly doubt your GC will note that you basically self-studied your way through APUSH and APs. (How would that make him and the school look?) </p>
<p>My understanding that UC acceptance is formula-based, so you should be able to determine where you might “land” based on your GPA and test scores. That leaves your reaches. Harvey Mudd and Caltech aren’t too far distant, and summer is quiet time for admissions. I suggest getting an appointment with admissions at both and talking over your situation. They won’t give you a thumbs up of course, but if at the end they say “I’d encourage you to apply.” that would be encouraging. Good luck.</p>
<p>would my AP scores help in preventing the suggestion that I’m just the “best of an average bunch?”</p>
<p>Well sure, and it would probably help a lot more with applications to schools with strong engineering programs … like RPI, CM, GT, CW, etc. It probably wouldn’t help at elites, where fabulous stats are the norm. And high AP scores should also be really helpful at large universities, where applicant numbers are so large that broad-brush assessment is common.</p>
<p>You’ve done enough in four years of HS to show you’re an excellent student, a good citizen, smart, hardworking, etc. You’re a shoo-in at most schools. But your reach schools aren’t a lock for anyone, so let’s see where you are compared to the RIDICULOUS standards of elites:</p>
<p>Most challenging courses? Yes. Highest Grades? Yes. Valedictorian? Yes. NHS? Yes.
(So far, so good.)</p>
<p>Competitive HS? No. Great Teacher Recs? Unknown. Great GC Rec: Unknown. Great essay? Unknown, but essays don’t appear to be your strength.</p>
<p>Highest Test Scores? No. State and/or National Competition Winner? No. State and/or National Organization office holder? No. Letter of Support from nationally known leader? No.</p>
<p>Developmental admit? No. Recruited athlete? No. URM? No. Legacy? No. Celebrity offspring? No. First generation college student? Unknown. </p>
<p>Go ahead and apply to a few reaches. But you may want to start looking for excellent schools that are interested in INCLUDING excellent students, and won’t measure you by things you don’t control. JMHO. Good luck.</p>
<p>Sorry if this sounds dumb but what is a ‘developmental admit’? Is that someone who has a rising trend in high school or something?</p>
<p>And to the OP I think you have a good chance at most of your schools but HYPS will be pretty hard since it is for everyone… but that doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t try. Get you sat’s higher, write good essays, and ask for amazing teacher recs and you’ll have a chance. Good luck!</p>
<p>Developmental admit: A student admitted in part because the family has given a lot of money to the university, or because it is thought the family would be inclined to give a lot of money to the university if the child attends.</p>