ChanceMe for UMich, Northwestern, WashU, UCLA, UCB, USC, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Ivies, Other T20s

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m currently a junior in New Jersey and I would appreciate any feedback on my extra-curriculars or other parts of a potential application and a chance for the universities listed. Thanks!

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Background: Asian male (rip), median household income

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Stats:

4.0 UW GPA, 4.613 W GPA

1490 PSAT (740/750 - possible National Merit)

1560 SAT (760/800/18 - not sending)

36 ACT (36/35/35/36/10 - sending)

800 Math II, 760 Bio-M, 5 on one AP soph year, currently taking 4 APs

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Extracurriculars:

------------- Current ECs: -------------

Speech and Debate - Judge for Policy Debate for classes and local tournaments, won a freshman debate tournament, finalist in speech at regional tournament

STEM Club Vice President - organize funding and labwork

School Ambassador - handpicked by President/Principal to represent school at alumni/guest/faculty events + work Open House

Student Council - create posters/logos for school events, volunteer at all school-hosted events, had work featured on social media and in art gallery

Co-Founder of Service Club - help teach science to underprivileged middle schoolers

Marketing Officer of 501© Nonprofit - community outreach, organized city’s first walk/run - athon event to raise money for blood cancer patients in collaboration with #1 blood cancer foundation in America

contributor and analyst for MMA news website - over 10,000 reads on my posts

volunteering with Special Olympics - 50+ hours, youth coach, travel for tournaments

Violin - advanced violinist at teacher’s studio, help teach younger children, certificates of excellence, performed for elderly at village homes

Soccer - team co-captain for several years, 3 time league champion, state cup finalist, regional cup qualifier

Bio Research - currently conducting my own project + writing a research paper with an Ivy League professor, will acquire a portion of a biological patent soon

------------- Goal ECs for this/next school year: -------------

be accepted into a research program for bio: COSMOS, MITES, SIP, NASA, RSI, etc.

get a bio internship with a professor at a nearby college: ideally Stanford/Berkley bio

get a paid job as a math/SAT/ACT tutor

start a biology related (Bioinformatics/Bioethics) club at my school

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I appreciate it! - Soldier of God

2

The ECs seem to be typical of any Asian. Nothing extraordinary. You will need to differentiate yourself through your essays.

Your best bet would be WashU, as it likes raw numbers. I might consider Vandy and Rice as they are similar to WashU academically and like high test scores. Other schools will be reaches because of single digit acceptance rates.

What is the SI for New Jersey? 1490 PSAT might not be enough for NMSF.

Can you afford Berkeley/UC since you are OOS? Finally make sure to get the spelling of the flagship UC correct-it’s Berk(e)ley.

3

UC’s only use 10-11th grades for their GPA calculation and you will only get the extra Honors points in the calculation for AP or IB classes taken during this time. Also mentioned, make sure your parents can afford $65K/year for you to attend UCLA/UCB since OOS students get little to no financial aid.

Consider UCLA/UCB a Reach regardless of your stats and EC’s due to their large # of applicants and low acceptance rate.

At the end of Junior year, calculate your UC capped weighted and fully weighted GPA to see where you stand. If the UC’s are affordable and you continue with your hard work, then both schools are definitely possible.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

4

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges.html

While UCB and UCLA may be somewhat less reachy for admission if you are not applying to their engineering divisions, they are still high reach for you as an out of state student from a median income family who therefore needs a Regents scholarship or similar to afford them.

USC may be your best chance, but still probably high match to low reach at best.

Can you afford Rutgers and other NJ public universities?

5

I don’t think money will be a problem for the UCs for me.

6

You wrote “median household income”, which is $76,475 in New Jersey. Seems unlikely to afford the $60,000+ out-of-state cost at UCB and UCLA on that.

7

Whatever you say. Just hypothetically, not considering money.