ChanceMe for Asian F: MIT, Caltech, UChicago (All EA) for a Regular Human Bean :,)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So I know I’m a really regular applicant. Please give me advice :)) I’m applying to these schools early even though I don’t really stand out because I mean, it’s EA so I just thought might as well try applying for the reaches with a YOLO mindset

Scores

SAT: 1570 (R/W: 770, M: 790) (superscore) Essay: 20

ACT: 35 (should I submit?)

SAT 2: Math 2: 800, Chem: 800, Bio: 800

AP:

5’s: Lang, USH, World, Bio, Chem, Calc BC

4’s: Spanish 4

GPA:

UWGPA: 4.0

WGPA: 4.37 (I do know this sounds pretty low, but it’s not too bad considering I took orchestra every year and had to do PE since I don’t do sports–also the number of AP’s I took and the grades I got are pretty good compared to the rest of my class, so I’d say I’m top of top)

Senior courseload: AP Physics C, AP Gov, AP Macroecon, AP Lit, AP Statistics, AP CS A, Orchestra

ECs

Violin:

Concertmaster 3 years of school orchestra, section leader 1 year

All-State upper level orchestra since 9th grade (section leader 9th grade)

Part of the top few musicians of all musicians across the state participating in their school’s music program

All-National Orchestra alternate (top all-state musicians)

Pick the top few of all All-State musicians across all 50 states

District Musical Pit Orchestra since 9th grade and several leadership positions there

I accompanied stage performers with my music, professional-style with extensive rehearsals and several performances each year

Lots of community performances in smaller groups

Charity, Funeral, Diversity Program, etc.

Toured the Baltics with a pretty well-known youth symphony over the summer

Science:

Science for Youth: Teach science to elementary school kids every week (I also make the material to teach them with and prepare them for the Elementary Science Olympiad) and a small leadership position there (this is also volunteering)

Neuroscience Club: Treasurer 10th grade, President 11th&12th

I really helped the club grow and did some interesting things with it

Big regional neuroscience club/non-profit: Student Executive 10th and 11th grade, Treasurer 12th grade

We host guest speakers, brain dissections, and other activities in hopes that our club will raise awareness about neuroscience and help promote the next generation of neuroscientists

COSMOS difficult cluster&campus

Other volunteering:

Hospital volunteering every week

Blood donation center Blood Ambassador

Autism center

Awards

Toronto International Biology Olympiad Scholar (top 5%)

National Semi-Finalist of statistics/biology competition (took real-life data and compiled research on them like a professional would)

Chemistry award for Science Olympiad (regional)

National Exam qualifier for Chemistry Olympiad

National Orchestra Award

Regional neuroscience competition two-time semifinalist

Other Summer Activities

Over the summer, I also visited family back in my home country, seeing them after 7 years made me realize a lot

I also attended ALA Girls State and had positions there (was chosen as delegate for my school, known to be a prestigious politics and leadership camp, heard colleges like a lot). This is something not STEM-Oriented but demonstrates leadership and is what inspired me to look into politics as well, and I’m planning to do interdisciplinary studies that bridge science and politics. Really excited :slight_smile:

Recommendation Letters:

Humanities: know him pretty well, offered to write letter of rec

Math: work with her a lot and help her teach underclassmen taking lower-level math, had her two years

Music teacher: speaks highly of me, says I’m an amazing student

Orchestra teacher: I knew him for a while, I have a good feeling he’ll write me a pretty glowing letter of rec

*Note: I’ve always shown an upper trend in growth–with the classes, grades, leadership positions, awards, etc. and I hope this is a plus

*Note 1: My school has a history of lot of applicants getting into MIT/Caltech, and last year, there were 2 in the early cycle and none in the RD cycle, which is one of the reasons why I’m applying early to my dream schools despite the fact that their early chances are not so great.

Please enlighten me with all your knowledge since I’m pretty lacking :,) and thank you in advance for all your feedback! Also, please suggest schools I should consider applying RD, since the chances of getting into any one of the EA schools is so low

2

Consider Rice, Vanderbilt, and WashU. All top schools that like high test scores with not as much of the ‘holistic’ elements for admissions like most Top-10s.

Probably best chances are at CalTech, although with your music and Girl’s State ECs would make Chicago the better academic match.

3

No reason in my opinion to report the ACT score. Your testing is great with or without the ACT score, so why make yourself look too much like someone who spends her time taking tests?

4

What are you interested in studying?

5

@Hamurtle thanks, what would you say about MIT?

6

@DCCAWAMIIAIL I’d say cognitive science and materials science

7

Personally I think your odds of admission for EA are in this order

  1. CalTech
  2. MIT
  3. UChicago

Being female will help at CalTech and MIT, but will probably be a negative at UChicago, as they get more female applicants then male, it’s the opposite at CalTech and MIT. EA won’t help at any of these schools as there admit rate tends to be the same as RD.

8

@CU123 do you think my chances are reasonable? Of course there’s never a way of telling for sure but given what I have

9

Higher chances at CalTech and Chicago than MIT to be honest. A lot of MIT applicants have some some sort of national recognition whether it is a major math competition or some sort of award.

I would prioritize CalTech and Chicago.

10

Since these schools are non-restrictive EA, why not. The info you supplied puts you solidly in consideration at all three schools. I am curious on why CalTech and MIT. You seem to have a diversity in interests with a STEM focus. If you are 100% sure on STEM, these 2 schools are at the top of the pile, but if your interests change, not so much, especially CalTech.

11

Reasonable? At single digit acceptance rates? Of course not!!! With your math scores, you have to ask? They are lottery tickets. You are a violin playing Asian interested in STEM. With your high numbers, a school that knows how to package apps to certain colleges, and female gender, you get a bit of an edge. EA gives you no edge for MIT and Caltech, no idea about UChicago.

Your very experienced GC will be able to give you the best advice in this regard of chances since the school does work with these colleges a lot. Look at the Naviance or other acceptance data. Those numbers might be better than the ones in general. You can look up what % of applicants with your test scores get into those schools.

Do you need financial aid or merit money? Do you qualify for any? Make sure your parents and you are in same pages as the colleges in this regard. CalTech and MIT do not give merit money. If you need money, there are other schools you need to be investigating soon.

Make sure you put as much, even more research in picking your sure thing school and get that application out and acceptance in hand ASAP That is your most important school that will take the most research if you do it right

12

One more thing to consider is overall fit. I honestly don’t think that a CalTech or MIT would fit the OP with their emphasis on STEM given that the ECs seem more music heavy.

Brown might be a better fit, but that is obviously just as much a reach as the schools mentioned above.

I’m not sure if the OP is planning on premed, but CalTech/MIT will do no favors for maintaining a decent GPA.

13

Yes, you have a reasonable chance, but that is a far cry from actually getting admitted.

14

A counter view, for perspective.
There are no certainties and few tips. Being female can be just a feather. And the ECs, as you chose to list them, are music, music, and more music, then elem kids, then some clubs and awards. You’re almost apologetic about Girls State, cuz it’s not stem. You say it demonstrates leadership, but that’s titles. If you have a cross interest in politics, it would gave been good to work in that arena somehow. Not just hs ECs, opportunities presented to you.

Have you got enough understanding of what your targets look for, to match yourself to what the colleges expect? That’s what allows an applicant to make their best presentation in the app and any supps. It adds up to a lot more than just listing stats and a hs resume.

15

Thanks y’all-

As for my interests, I really hope to take advantage of the STEM education that MIT and CalTech can provide. I feel like I could contribute to their campus, and obviously, no one has the absolute answer but I’ve heard about people getting accepted for majors/areas of study for which they have no experience or demonstrated interest in, but the reason they get accepted is because of their potential and how the education at that school would benefit them immensely. I know I have a lot of music EC’s, but that’s likely because I’ve been playing music for a really long time and STEM is a relatively recent development (still exploring, at first thought I liked biological sciences and wanted to do pre-med but now I’m more into cognitive science/materials science) that I would love to explore more in college. And I’m actually still actively exploring the STEM field. At first, I liked the biological sciences and wanted to do pre-med. After a while, I realized I would like to focus more on cognitive science/materials science (not pre-med).

I did look into the schools I’m applying to, and love their campuses, major/classes systems, cultures, etc. and am definitely looking into Brown but for RD (not ED- don’t want to commit that early).

And by reasonable, I didn’t mean likely to get accepted, of course–I know I’m a regular applicant–I meant more like would admissions officers maybe consider me when they look at my application, but I know my acceptance chances will be below 10% at best no matter what.
Yes lol I am indeed a violin-playing Asian in STEM, but those just happen to be things I’m interested in, along with a budding interest in poli sci–I’m applying to extreme reach schools because they are what I want to use my early cards on. But any other school suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you for the feedback!

16

Thanks y’all-

I did do the research and made sure these were schools I wanted to go to, and my parents are absolutely on board for everything. Everything from the campuses to the majors/classes systems to the cultures, I made sure I liked. I have lots of music compared to others because I’ve been playing the violin for a really long time and STEM is a relatively recent development. And I’m actually still exploring what I want to do. At first, I really liked the biological sciences and wanted to go to pre-med. Later, I realized I would like to focus more on cognitive science/materials science and not go to pre-med. But in general, I do love STEM and as for political science, although it could be considered a humanities major, poli sci research actually is very similar to science research and uses a lot of math/statistics, and that’s why I thought it would be really cool to study even political science at a STEM school.

And by reasonable, no worries–I didn’t mean like “getting in” reasonable but more like “would the admissions officers look at my application and consider” reasonable. I definitely do realize that my chances are less than 10% at best.
And yes, I’m a violin-playing Asian going into STEM lol which is a big rip but I just wanted to try throwing my early cards at my dream schools. I just hope that I can convey that those are things that I sincerely love to do.
And do you guys have suggestions for other colleges? Like just a few that come into mind. If it helps, my preferences are: a more collaborative atmosphere (for example, I’ve heard JHU is very competitive while CalTech&MIT are more collaborative) and a school that offers some kind of program or major related to cognitive science (interdisciplinary program involving neuroscience and computer science). And yeah, Brown I’m definitely applying RD (not applying ED cuz I’m not ready for that commitment).
Thank you all for the feedback!

17

Political science is part of social sciences, not humanities. The version offered by the STEM focused schools (Caltech/MIT) is much more quantitative than elsewhere. If you do apply as a political science major at these two schools, you’ll likely increase your chances (in addition to other potential admission boost you may have).

18

@1NJParent yup, that’s the kind of stuff I’ve been reading up about and found to be really cool.

19

You certainly should apply to any and all schools that interest you(to a manageable level) . If anyone is qualified, you certainly are. But there are just so many such anyones applying to these selective schools that it’s impossible to pick out the best anyones. Give it a whirl, certainly.

Just make sure you have some schools with more reasonable acceptance rates, where your numbers will wow the AOs. I would tuck an early app in with the EAs to these three lottery tickets, maybe several, so you can go for broke if you are deferred at your top choices and decide to apply to a slew of reaches. Some schools with 40-50% accept rates in that mix would work well.

Best in mind that its much easier to pick the well known colleges than to find a school that is certain to accept you that you will enjoy. You’ll excel anywhere, I’m sure.

20

WashU has Neuroscience as a major and is considered a collaborative environment. Also a good PoliSci program as well.