CHANCE ME VERY COMPETITIVE FOR ELITE SCHOOLS

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi! Im a high school junior currently studying in Canada. My dream is to attend MIT. I was just curious as to see if my application right now could get me into elite schools like MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Yale, even Harvard</p>

<p>STATS:
GPA: Right now my average is about a 93%, but I'm predicting about a 94-96% in my senior courses. (Not too sure how to convert it into GPA) </p>

<p>APs: AP Calc BC exam: 5 (Self studied)
AP Physics E&M + Mechanics: 5
AP Eng Literature: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
SATs:
a) SAT IIs: SAT Math 2: 800
SAT Physics: 800
-planning to take either SAT II Chem or English (any suggestions?)
b) SAT I- planning to take it October, but a projected score of 2250?
Rank: My school doesn't do rankings
Senior year courses: Regular maths and sciences because my school doesn't offer AP. However I have self studied the APs above myself. </p>

<p>Major Awards: Competing at IPHO (International Physics Olympiad) as a member of team Canada
AP Scholar
Intel/Google science fairs
AIME (isnt that major but oh well)
Ranked top 3 in Ontario for provincially held physics competition.(OAPT)
Top 100 Canada-wide for SIN (Sir Isaac Newton Physics contest) 2 years in a row
University of Waterloo math contest distinction placements
Competed at Canadian National Debate championships as a representative of Ontario
Various placings in finals in debate tournaments (Canadian-Parliamentary style debate)
Competed in provincial tournament for First Robotics competition </p>

<p>Extra curriculars: Conduct research at University of Toronto for rehabilitation engineering alongside various profs.
Member of school junior basketball team in freshman and sophmore years
Co-President of School's debate team<br>
(Don't have too much time to be the president of every club like others)
Various Clubs I'm in: Debate, Physics Club, Math club, Robotics, Basketball team</p>

<p>Leadership Opportunities: Member of region's youth science council (we basically design and plan up science projects for younger students across the region) </p>

<p>Volunteering: Volunteered a bit at the Salvation Army. Currently, I'm volunteering at the Ontario science center as a Recreational Programs Volunteer. We basically host science programs in and around the science center. </p>

<p>Summer activities: (Possible) Internship at York university for Biophysics research. Applying to DRSA (Deep River Science Academy), which is a 6-week intensive hands-on research program where I'll probably be doing physics research. </p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: Physics teacher. I know him quite well. I also plan to build a contraption for his bad knee, which will be done through my research. </p>

<p>Counselor: He thoroughly understands my plan. I've gotten to know him pretty well and we're quite familiar with each other. Should get to know him better. </p>

<p>-Likely no financial aid
-Intended Major: Physics or Engineering Science
-State: Ontario
Country: Canada
Ethnicity: Asian</p>

2

<p>You have a good shot at any of those schools in my opinion. Granted, none of them are guarantees solely because of the caliber of these schools, but I think you have as good a shot as any other highly-qualified kid.</p>

3

<p>u do show passion, ill give u that, write a passionate essay, and make it different, i dnt think they would care for a trite self development, or idle figure type piece, and u shud be in, im from canada to btw, my accomplishments, though much smaller than urs are a couple of certificate of distinctions, i did strt an organization in my city tho, we help kids with math, in an at risk area for failure in literacy and numeracy(pickering) chance me to please.</p>

4

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1640408-what-are-my-chances-to-mit-cornell-carnegie-mellon-princeton-stanford-caltech-etc.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1640408-what-are-my-chances-to-mit-cornell-carnegie-mellon-princeton-stanford-caltech-etc.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>The first thing you need to do is to take the SAT as soon as possible. October would be too late for a first attempt. October is the latest test date for most schools’ EA/ED application. As SAT (or ACT) is essential and you really don’t want to have that uncertainty. Also, you set up the list of schools to apply based on your credential while the SAT/ACT is one of the major factor. If you know you can get ~2250, take the test in May or June. Last but not least, aim higher for SAT if you really want to apply to these top schools.</p>

6

<p>If you get 700+ in each of the sub-sections, anything else is superfluous. You will see many misguided people telling you to shoot for higher because the ‘numbers’ at those schools are higher. That is simply a misunderstanding of how it works. Mostly that is because people who want to go to those school push for every last point in the vain attempt to improve their chances. Test scores and GPA are more of a ‘hurdle’ for entry into elite schools. Once you have that, it is more about the specifics of your background and other activities that they believe will make you a good member of their freshman class. In that case, sadly, being Asian is a disadvantage simply because most of these schools get a large number of highly qualified Asian candidates. Keep doing things that make you unique. Ultimately, the ‘elite’ schools are not as important as many think…other than to the ego.</p>

<p>All of that being said…your chances are about 5%…just like every other highly qualified candidate. If this is something you really want, go for it. But have a backup plan with which you can be happy.</p>

7

<p>It is true that there is somewhat a threshold to get in, but there admission rate is still correlated to test scores above the threshold but just in a less steep slope. The point is, if you can get a significant better score, go for it. If you are above the threshold and it will take you a lot of effort to boost another 50 points, forget about it and put effort on something else.</p>

8

<p>i didnt even finish reading application but, you have an AMAZING chance at any of those schools,
look into MIT since ur such a physics star
goodluck! i have no doubt you wont make it into several of those</p>

9

<p>Your chances seem to very good, especially because of your awards and grades. Colleges like to see challenging classes and you not only take them, but also do well in them. </p>

<p>MIT, Caltech, Princeton: High Match
Yale, Harvard: Low Reach to Reach (only because they turn away almost everyone)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1640994-college-chances-for-sophomore.html?new=1”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1640994-college-chances-for-sophomore.html?new=1&lt;/a&gt; </p>

10

<p>^ MIT, Caltech, and Princeton also almost turn away almost everyone with similar admission rates.</p>

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<p>^ Except there not as competitive as Yale and Harvard. Everyone on this website always gives people bad information and sometimes it’s better to be positive and optimistic. Just because a college has a 10% acceptance rate, doesn’t mean that no one gets in. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1640994-sophomore-chances-to-northwestern-unc-chapel-hill-columbia-etc.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1640994-sophomore-chances-to-northwestern-unc-chapel-hill-columbia-etc.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>^ You can say there is a >20% difference in admission rate between Harvard and Princeton, but you are comparing 5.9% and 7.28% (6.26% for Yale). So I don’t see any difference if 6 out of 100 or 7 out of 100 are admitted.</p>

13

<p>@greenman46‌
I literally laughed at your post. A “High match?” I would say it is a reach at best. There is no point in giving positive “chances” every time, as that is useless. They come here to ask for honest opinions - not edulcorated ones, </p>

<p>I do admit that @manwiththeplan has good chances, since it participated at IPhO (though he did not win a medal) and other contests. </p>

14

<p>People on this website completely ignore everything someone writes (you could have a perfect SAT score, straight A’s every semester of every year, be captain of three different varsity teams, and have cured world hunger) and when they see “Yale” or “Harvard” there is no way you’re getting anything higher than a reach.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t you think that someone asking for their chances to an Ivy League would already be aware of the college’s low acceptance rate? Instead of comparing them to the 95% of people that don’t get in, maybe you should focus on the 5% that do. Stop focusing on the names of colleges and actually look at the applicant’s stats. </p>

15

<p>All of the schools are reaches, but still possible for you to get into depending on your essays and interviews. Applying early decision or early action to MIT could also help if it’s you #1 choice.</p>

<p>Chance Me ?? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1641098-northwestern-bound-sophomore.html?new=1”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1641098-northwestern-bound-sophomore.html?new=1&lt;/a&gt; </p>

16

<p>@greenman46‌
You are correct. For all those who post here asking for their chances to top schools, majority of the time it is a “reach” or “high reach” for them. The only people for whom it is even a “high match” are those with great statistics and stellar extracurricular activities. Most applicants “have a perfect SAT score, straight A’s every semester of every year, be captain of three different varsity teams” and so on. Although, if they “cured” famine… </p>

17

<p>MIT, Caltech, Princeton are also reach for everyone. The admission officer at MIT said, they can remove the whole incoming freshmen class and admit another class completely with equally qualified students easily.</p>

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<p>@‌billcsho
I would anticipate that even if the admissions department did not say that. However, if someone have multiple International Olympiad gold medals, I might think it is a “high match.”</p>

19

<p>Sorry guys,forgot to mention I silver’d at IPHO…doubt it changes a lot tho</p>

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<p>“you could have a perfect SAT score, straight A’s every semester of every year, be captain of three different varsity teams, and have cured world hunger) and when they see “Yale” or “Harvard” there is no way you’re getting anything higher than a reach.”</p>

<p>I get your point, but it’s false. I’m going to surmise that an academically perfect student who cures world hunger is a “match” for most ivies. Think about the demands for foreign aid from the international community by impoverished states; a student who successfully cures world famine would be saving the world hundreds of billions of dollars. If you do something truly exceptional, then it’s undoubtedly perceivable for a student to be a “match” or “low reach” at an ivy.</p>