SAT: 1480 (800M, 680R/W; first sitting, planning on taking it again in August)
SAT Subj: Chem (800), Math II (780)
Junior Year Classes: AP Chem (5), APCS (5), AP Lang (3), Spanish 3, Honors Precalc (B+ first sem, A- second)
Senior Year Class Load: AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Gov, Honors Physics
ECS: Robotics Team President, Water Polo (year-round), Hospital Volunteering, Lifeguarding, Link Crew, CSF, Science Team, Astronomy Club President (don’t think I’ll put this on my app)
The CalTech water polo coach likes me, but I know schools like Caltech have 0 coach influence. Also, I’m thinking of applying to Columbia ED and Caltech EA. Opinions? Ty!
I think that you are definitely a competitive applicant but unfortunately, being just competitive isn’t good enough to get you into these high caliber schools. I think your EC’s are good but I am not seeing how any of them tie into being a Chemical Engineer, which I think is critical considering how competitive that field can be in addition to the difficulty to getting admitted to these schools. I would say that Carnegie is a match/reach, whereas Columbia, UPenn, Caltech, and Cornell would be moderate/high reaches. You should definitely work on EC’s and possibly making it so that they paint a picture of who you want to be. I also think that your SAT score is good, but you should definitely try to score above 1500+. This is not to say you will not get admitted because I do think that the “holistic process,” despite being sketchy, has a lot of merit in that they select students that they think will succeed. Colleges care about student-growth and a sense of success through what they do through high school. I think you have a lot of these traits and your senior year will just need to polish them as you submit your applications. Chance me back?
What other ECs do you think would help, because it’s not easy to add more “chem related” activities. I’m pretty sure I already have the engineering part covered well
I think that you should really try to develop the robotics team. Maybe get to the national level? or enter a lot of competitions? You want to show that there is merit to being a president even if it is just organizing a tournament and doing well at them. I think it might be too late for what I am thinking, you could always try to seek funding for an engineering project involving sustainable energy or something that you are passionate about. I just think that, disregarding the chem part, that you need to develop the engineering aspect of your application more.