Chance MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm currently a junior at a school that's within the top 100 on USNews' list (not sure if this helps). Chinese male in a middle income family. My parents immigrated from China and went to mediocre colleges so no helpful legacy.My dream schools are MIT, Caltech, Stanford but any of the HYPSMC would be amazing. More realistically, I'd take any of the Ivies like Columbia, Brown, and even Cornell would be satisfactory.</p>

<p>SAT: 2380 (790 critical reading, 800 math, 790 writing)
SAT II: Math 2 (800), Chemistry (780) (might retake this in June after taking AP Chem just for the 800) , Biology (780), US History (???), Physics (???)</p>

<p>My school gives grades for each course in intervals of 0.5 (4.0, 3.5, 3.0...). For AP's (excluding self studied ones), an extra 0.4 is added on. Every year, I take the hardest possible courseload. My school is pretty competitive but doesn't have class rank.
Weighted GPA: 4.02
Unweighted GPA: 3.91 (only 3.5's were Spanish freshman year and English freshman through junior year)</p>

<p>APs:
Sophomore: European History(5), Biology(5)
Junior: BC Calculus, Physics B, Chemistry, American History (self studying Microeconomics and Macroeconomics)
Senior (projected): AP Statistics, AP Physics C, AP Computer Science, AP Spanish, AP Psych (self studied)</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit(223 on PSAT(73 reading, 80 math, 70 writing)), AIME Qualification (108 on the AMC 12, Distinguished Honor Roll (top 1%)), National AP Scholar (projected ), USACO Semifinalist (projected)</p>

<p>Summer Programs:
Johns Hopkins CTY Fast-Paced High School Biology (2010)
Johns Hopkins CTY Genetics (2011)
AwesomeMath Summer Program (2012)
Garcia Summer Research (2013, projected)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Columbia Science Honors Program
Bunch of math competitions (Mandelbrot, Mathleague, Purple Comet, etc.)
Academic Challenge
Science Olympiad
Cross-country/track
Pep Band
Format Editor for school magazine
U.S. Chess Federation Class A chess player (except I stopped playing competitively in 8th grade so it probably doesn't count)</p>

<p>I have a decent amount of volunteering but nothing outstanding. I'm also taking five courses on edX.org currently, but I don't think that counts for anything. Hopefully I'll be able to win an award for research next year to improve my extracurriculars. I know my stats are decent, but please give me some feedback/critique on how I could improve myself. Are there any helpful math/science extracurriculars I don't know about? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Sorry-Apparently you missed a question on the SAT and had a B your freshman year. It’s community college for you. All kidding aside, do you not know that you are a teriffic candidate for any school?</p>

3

<p>“I know my stats are decent, but please give me some feedback/critique on how I could improve myself.”</p>

<p>Haha yeah I know but I feel like I have no “hook” and nothing really that outstanding in terms of extracurriculars. Plus I just wanna see what other people think about my chances at these schools since to be honest, I don’t know squat about colleges.</p>

4

<p>Ill give u a hint as to how awesome u are:</p>

<p>I would commit acts of treason to have your stats. i have a 3.5 and got a 2180 on the SAT’s. U are golden.</p>

5

<p>Thanks! I’m just worried since at the top schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford, etc. everyone has good grades and a very high SAT score so I’ll be lacking in the EC’s probably (plus I’m an Asian male which doesn’t help).</p>

6

<p>Academically you’re fine, but you look very similar to many of the applicants to these schools. I’d say you have okay chances for Caltech and MIT, they’re maybe high match, but Stanford it up in the air so I’ll say reach. You’re bound to get into an Ivy or two, it’s just unpredictable</p>

7

<p>I think I disagree with some of the other people for MIT (and maybe Caltech as te two should be similar, I’m not as familiar with west coast schools). In general, I think MIT is very research/prestige competition oriented for Asians in particular, because so many people like that want to go to MIT. A lot of the people that do go do siemens, intel, RSI, things like that. If you do get an award for research, that’ll help your chances a lot, but as of now, it doesn’t look likely. But in general, you have really nice stats, so you should be able to make at least some of the ivies. Again, not familiar with west coast, so not sure how you’d do at stanford.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the advice. I’ll be sure to work hard on my research and produce a well written paper next year.</p>

9

<p>another detail i forgot to include: i live in new york (might help with columbia/cornell, etc.)</p>

10

<p>Most people are being slightly overconfident about how far stats will take you. Sure your grades/stats are great but for many of the schools you listed research and ECs are more important. Your awards and recognitions don’t look that impressive, but you have a year to work on it.</p>

<p>Your attitude seems a little entitled (settle for Columbia, Brown, or even Cornell), and be sure that doesn’t come off in interviews/essays.</p>

<p>MIT: Reach (Asian and no outstanding extracurriculars/awards)
CalTech: Reach (See above)
Harvard: Reach (See above)
Yale: Reach
Princeton: Reach
Stanford: Reach
Columbia: Low Reach
Brown: Low Reach
Penn: Low Reach
Cornell: Match</p>

11

<p>thanks for the chance! haha i had a feeling someone would say that. iwas kinda asking to be called that for saying that.</p>

12

<p>another clarification, i meant USNCO, not USACO</p>

13

<p>If you want to add to your EC’s, try joining a sports team at your school like badminton, bowling, or tennis(nothing too time consuming).</p>

14

<p>yeah in the fall i do cross country and in the spring i already do track. i guess maybe i could do bowling (i’m not great but i did it for a year in middle school) next year during the winter but that might be too late to put on my application.</p>

15

<p>dude you should get in into those schools if you dont their is something wrong with this world</p>

16

<p>humpty bumpty</p>

17

<p>I think you’re a lock for all of them</p>

18

<p>AlanzHarharg you making a big mistake apply for those schools. Since your parents amke less than 20k they will probably give you a full ride. for startes your a female, minority(latina), and liv ein very low income racket. [College</a> Financial Aid & Grant Myths: College-Bound Loan & Scholarship Tips](<a href=“http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/i-can-t-afford-college-and-other-financial-aid-38-grant-myths]College”>http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/i-can-t-afford-college-and-other-financial-aid-38-grant-myths)</p>

19

<p>Nothing that pops so I’d say maybe Cornell/Brown/Dartmouth may be achievable. MIT/Stanford/HYP/Columbia/Penn seem a little difficult just because of lack of leadership. Caltech seems like it would be a match because of STEM competitions. Good luck!</p>

20

<p>Yeah I agree I think most of these ivy league schools would definitely be a reach, even cornell maybe be either a low reach, high match at best. </p>

<p>I also heard that a lacking of money -> need financial aid, which is really bad for you, and especially in this economy. The fact that you have no legacy and that you are asian doesn’t exactly help either</p>

<p>MIT and Caltech actually seem achievable since you seem very STEM oriented and you are deeply rooted in those programs, not to mention your amazing test score results. They are also race blind so being asian won’t hurt you, as Caltech has about a 40% Asian population, and MIT consists of about 25% asians. </p>

<p>What is also good about these two schools is that they are both need-blind and full need schools, which means that they wont discriminate against you for your lack of money either, and they would even be willing to pay your full tuition for you, more of a reason to apply :). However, this is only available for legal US Citizens.</p>

<p>My advice is that you apply early to these schools. Seems like MIT would be the better option, as they have 91% of their freshmen class being out of state students, while Caltech only has 68% out of state. Yet it might be better to apply to caltech due to your race. Either one is still a very good choice :)</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>