Chance me - Semi-domestic with mediocre stats

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: I moved out of Illinois to India after middle school, but my dad has been working/living/paying taxes in Illinois for the last year so afaik I do qualify for Illinois residency.
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): Private, CBSE school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): South Asian male
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): N/A

Intended Major(s) Mathematics (possible minor in econ)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • 9th: 96% (ICSE)
  • 10th: 95.2% (ICSE)
  • 11th: 84% (CBSE, standard 11th grade deflation, hopefully explained in school report)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 SAT (780M, 760E)

Coursework
Took Math, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, English in 11th/12th grades

Awards
Selected in the Indian Olympiad Qualifiers in Math (similar to an AIME qualification)
Lots and lots of interschool/regional swimming awards
Many speech/debate and MUN awards (will specify in the app, regional level)
15th nationally in an international French language competition
1st place in a North America-wide cultural poetry contest

Extracurriculars

  • Research with an educational institute to model effective assessment techniques using regression analysis and value-added models. Developed n independent MOODLE course management software
  • Content curating internship at company aimed at improving the lives of elderly relatives of Indian expatriates
  • Volunteered with a conservation organization in rural settlements near a national park during the second wave of COVID-19, distributing medical supplies, raising awareness and the works.
  • Founded my schoolā€™s first ever chess club in 11th grade. We organize regular tournaments and donate the proceeds to an NGO that runs child welfare programs.
  • Participated in a lot of math camps and scientific conferences throughout the years
  • Speech/debate/MUNs
  • Swimming
  • Selected to participate in a program with the biggest tech company in the country where I explored algorithm design and developed a fun AI powered chatbot
  • Was my schoolā€™s Cultural Secretary in 9th grade. Organized its first ever Science Fair which was a massive success.
  • Tutored precalc and competition math at a local library to 2nd-9th graders.

I wish I could elaborate more on my ECs, but Iā€™m typing this in a hurryā€¦

Essays/LORs/Other
I consider myself a decent writer, but nothing truly extraordinary like some of the stuff Iā€™ve seen online. That being said my topic is fairly unique (if a bit risky), and I can think I can pull it off fairly well.
LORs will be alright. I plan on asking my history teacher from 9th/10th grade and my Physics teacher from 11th/12th grade

Cost Constraints / Budget
$35k/year would be the hard limit my parents can pay out of pocket

Schools

  • Safety: UIUC (in-state)
  • Likely: Purdue, UW-Madison
  • Match: URochester, CWRU, Reed, Carleton College, Northeastern
  • Reach: UMichigan, Emory, Tufts, GATech, Cornell, Vandy, Northwestern (ED), Rice, Dartmouth, Columbia

Iā€™m applying EA to every school that allows it. Iā€™m aware this is an extremely reach-heavy list, but Iā€™d be happy going to any one of my likelies (UIUC, Purdue, Wisconsin), so I donā€™t see a problem in shooting my shot where I can ĀÆ_(惄)_/ĀÆ

If you are a really strong swimmer and would consider an LAC, maybe look at Denison University in Ohio. Your list includes mostly larger schools, but I see Reed and Carleton, which are comparable in size to Denison. Denison has good merit money for students with your stats and a very strong swimming and diving team.

Based on your intended major, some of these colleges may be of interest: For Students Seeking a College Strong in Mathematics.

Regarding your tentative interest in economics, these analyses can be helpful:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

As a recommendation, consider adding at least one more top-50 school:

I have a problem when a student with a 1540 SAT & good ICSEā€™s headlines ā€œmediocre statsā€. You donā€™t have mediocre stats.

Also, there is no such thing as ā€˜semi-domesticā€™. You are domestic student because you are a US citizen, no matter where you are studying. The only question is whether or not you have IL residency, which is based on whether you meet the requirement that your ā€œparent who is required to complete the FAFSA must physically reside in Illinois and Illinois must be their true, fixed, and permanent home at the time the initial FAFSA was completed and processed by the Central Processing System (CPS)ā€. UIUC says that ā€œAs long as 1 parent is a bona fide resident of Illinois, youā€™ll pay in-state tuition.ā€ (Qualifying for In-State Tuition FAQ, Undergraduate Admissions, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Your problem may be $$: have you run the NPCs? UIUC comes in just at your hard ceiling, and you need to know if any of the others will come in that low. If not you have one maybe safety- depending on what you are applying for: if itā€™s CS, itā€™s not a safety (iirc, ~15% acceptance rate). In which case you need a real safety- in terms of both admissions and affordability.

edited to add: UWi is not a safety b/c it is outside your budget; UMi and Georgia Tech are almost certainly not affordable

4 Likes

I agree that your problem may be budget. Tuition OOS for Purdue is $40-42K/year and merit $ is very, very hard to come by. Run the NPCs and make sure your safeties are affordable, otherwise they arenā€™t safeties.

2 Likes

Correct, but Iā€™m being compared academically with my international peers, yes? In that case my stats are really mediocre w.r.t. some of the other students Iā€™ve seen posting on CC or Reddit. Not sure how well the ā€œgrade deflationā€ excuse will hold up when Iā€™m pitted against kids from feeder schools with near perfect scores across the board.

I have. All of them come under or at $40k, granted, some of those include loans and/or work-study. I was on the fence about Michigan, but one of my seniors in a similar financial situation got in last year and was able to afford it, so I figured it would be worth a shot. Many of my match/reach schools (Case, URoch, Emory etc.) are also known for giving decent merit $$. I know itā€™s competitive and Iā€™m not counting on it, just explaining my reasoning. Do you have any suggestions for an extra ((financial) safety?

Iā€™m good, but probably not strong enough to be recruited. In any case Iā€™m ambivalent about LACs because I can probably place out of introductory classes and might run out of upper division courses to take if I decide to go the academia route. I do like the small classes an undergraduate focus though, which is why Iā€™ve added schools like Reed and Carleton known for strong math programs, and smaller universities like Rochester and Tufts.

You wonā€™t run out of classes. LACs have lots of upper level classes. You could also do research or pick up a double major or a minor to fill in what you think will be extra time.

2 Likes

mediocre???

It could be an issue for math specifically, particularly if the student is already highly advanced in math at high school graduation (completed math beyond single variable calculus by high school graduation). It is not that unusual for math undergraduates at research universities to take graduate level math courses and do graduate level research as undergraduates; opportunities to do so may not be present at many LACs.

Having progressed through, say, multivariable calculus prior to entering college would not represent an especially advanced level for LACs with strong math departments. What will be your actual level?

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Not sure how to specify tbh. Calculus wasnā€™t the ultimate goal of high school math education here. So weā€™ve covered single variable calc extremely theoretically, far more rigorous than what Iā€™ve seen in the AP BC exams + touched multivariable, but not as comprehensively. Iā€™ve also covered most of undergrad linear algebra and discrete math (combinatorics, number theory).

Iā€™m aware, which is why I still have Reed/Carleton on my list. I was more concerned about places like Denison that someone else mentioned.

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