Chance Me? Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Williams, Carnegie Mellon

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I am wondering what my chances are of getting into these schools. I am primarily interested in studying math, with a possible minor in Philosophy. Here is where I plan to apply in terms of reach/target:</p>

<p>Princeton (REA)
MIT
Stanford
Harvey Mudd
Williams
Chicago (?)
Yale (?)
Carnegie Mellon (?)</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: 800 (Math) 730 (Reading) 800 (Writing)
SAT II: 800 (Math 2) 780 (Literature). I am planning to take either physics or chem in the fall, expect 750+.</p>

<p>ACT: 35 (composite); 35 (English) 35 (Math) 36 (Reading) 34 (Science) 33 (Combined english and writing)</p>

<p>My school doesn't calculate weighted or unweighted GPA on the 4.0 scale, but I have an overall GPA from high school of 95.89, with my 11th grade year being a 96.84 and taking 6 IB classes (my school does the full IB program only).</p>

<p>My school teaches all IB classes at the Higher Level in the junior year, but right now I plan to take HL math, HL Physics (might change to HL Chem instead), HL English, B SL French, SL History, and SL Chem. </p>

<p>My school doesn't provide academic stats or class ranking, but I have about 80 people in my grade and I am ranked in the top 7% or so in terms of GPA. </p>

<p>Here are my extra curriculars:
Linear Algebra course - in my free periods over my junior year I and 2 other students took a Linear Algebra course taught by an MIT grad with a pHd, based on the 18.06 course at MIT. We took the final exam from MIT and I got an 87, which would probably be just about enough for an A. Next year we plan to take another course, most probably differential equations. Since my school doesn't teach Calc until senior year, I have learned single-variable calc on my own and plan to tackle multi-variable calc this summer.</p>

<p>Math club - I founded the Math Club at my school. We participated in a contest and won the award for the best team project, out of about 50 teams.</p>

<p>Fitness club - I am one of the main members of the fitness club at my school, sometimes taking over the workouts when the teacher can't make it.</p>

<p>Red Cross - active member of the Red Cross club, participated in various service activities over the year. </p>

<p>Chess Club: Fairly active member of chess club; got second place in our intramural tournament.</p>

<p>Academic challenge/Quiz Bowl: Very active member and team captain. We qualified for the national championships but unfortunately couldn't attend due to a conflict with final exams.</p>

<p>VEX Robotics - I am the member of a VEX Robotics team with three of my friends, independent of school. Using our own money we qualified for the World Championships in Anaheim, CA by winning the Houston League. However, we did not progress past the first round at Worlds. </p>

<p>I was also inducted into the NHS last year.</p>

<p>So what are my chances of getting into these schools? Am I over my head or too ambitious? Thanks for any responses.</p>

<p>EDIT: Forgot to mention recs/essays. Recs should be solid, and I have written a couple of essays so far and the people I've shown them too (english teacher and parents) have said that they are good.</p>

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<p>Go on CollegeBoard.com and search those schools criteria</p>

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<p>BUMP 10char</p>

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<p>Bleh, I hate it when people are super vague about their ECs because it’s super hard to judge just how legit it is otherwise. </p>

<p>What math competition, what quizbowl national tournament, what’s your USCF rating, what does being a “main member” entail, what type of school do you attend, what’s your ethnicity/race?</p>

<p>Off the top of my head, your GPA is a little bit under par for your top choices but not too much, your standardized testing scores are fine, without more description VEX is your most impressive EC which sadly does not lend itself towards either math or philosophy. </p>

<p>Princeton loves minority math majors since they bleed them to MIT/Stanford, if your math competition is legit than you might have a shot, the lack of AIME/Math Oly scores suggests otherwise though. You’re not getting into MIT/Stanford/Chicago if you list math as your probable major unless you’re an African warrior princess or something. </p>

<p>Harvey Mudd/Williams probably… The prospect of doing a math major in Yale makes me die a bit on the inside, but refer back to Princeton. Does CMU even do math well? But you’re probably going to get them. </p>

<p>As far as essays/recs go… they either fall into the category of bad, good, and mindblowing. If they’re not mindblowing and they’re not awful, they shouldn’t count for too much in either direction.</p>

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<p>Heyy fellow applicant. You’re pretty well on track regarding the classes you’ve taken, and the scores. Fairly extensive ECAs; robotics and the college level courses sound great. The essay def deserves attention cause after the tangible requirements which you’ve got, the essay remains the main thing that’ll separate you from other achievers, yeah?
No, do apply to MIT and Stanford as well if you want to. 0% of those who don’t apply get in!</p>

<p>Your list is similar to mine at places. I’m probably for a physics/engineering/math major.
Anyhow, good luck! You’re not over ambitious, it’s pretty important to aim high! (with back ups naturally).</p>