Chances At A Few Top Schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a rising senior, asian male in California. School has one of the top APIs in California.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.5 W / 3.7 UW (W is out of 5.0)
Rank: not sure - first or second decile (too many people with perfect 5.0's)
SAT: 2080 (630 CR / 800 M / 650 W) on second try, will retake
ACT: 29 composite (nothing notable except 35 in math)
SAT II: 520 Literature [=(], 800 Math II-C, 800 Physics (first time, will not retake)</p>

<p>AP (sophomore): Euro (3), Calculus AB (5)
AP (junior): Calculus BC (5/5), English Composition (3), US History (5), Physics C - Mech (5), Physics C - E&M (5), CompSci A (5)</p>

<p>Freshman year: Geography (A+), World History (A-), Trig/Precalc (A+), regular English I (A+), Physics (A), Spanish 3 (A), Orchestra (A)</p>

<p>I transferred from a sucky high school that does not offer honors/advanced classes to one of the top schools in the nation between my freshman and sophomore years.</p>

<p>Sophomore year: AP Calculus BC (A), AP European History (B+), regular English (A+) II, honors Biology (A), Health (A), Programming (A+)</p>

<p>Junior year: Multi-variable Calculus (B+), Introduction to Linear Algebra (B+), AP English Language (A-), AP Physics C (A+), AP CompSci A (A+), AP US History (B)</p>

<p>Senior year (tentative): Linear Algebra (college), Differential Equations (college), AP Chemistry, AP Stats, AP CompSci AB, AP Government, AP Economics, AP English Literature </p>

<p>EC's (so far): chess club, go club, computer club, worked on modernizing school website, math club, AMC12 (low score)
EC's (by the time I submit my application): FreeBSD development, start web management club, misc. free software development and programming</p>

<p>What are my chances at the following: MIT, UC Berkeley, Caltech, UCLA, and Princeton</p>

<p>Those are my top five in order. I will be applying to lots of safeties, including some down as low as CSU Fullerton.</p>

2

<p>Low GPA, Low SAT.</p>

<p>MIT: REJECT
UC Berkeley: Maybe
Caltech: REJECT
UCLA: Likely
Princeton: REJECT</p>

3

<p>I don't know much about UCB or UCLA but I don't think you have a shot at MIT, Caltech, or Princeton. </p>

<p>EDIT: yeah I agree with Gaffe</p>

4

<p>I don't know how much it would help, but...</p>

<p>Will the level of my math courses and the rigor of my junior year courses be of much help?</p>

<p>Also, I'd be receiving some excelling recs. There are teachers that know me very well personally and academically which have personally offered to write me recs.</p>

5

<p>yes it will help but your GPA/SAT's are on the low side. there are a lot of people who apply to those schools with significantly better GPA's/SAT's/EC's. plus...you're asian so...affirmative action for the lose. if you were black or native american you would get in. :-/</p>

6

<p>The part I'm confused about is that when I compare myself to the admission stats from MIT and Caltech, I apparently have about a 15% chance in each of the categories.</p>

<p>I also wonder if the rigor of the school would change my chances. I know that last year, my school sent 3 to MIT and 7 to Caltech out of a class of 500. Also, people as low as the third and fourth decile end up in Berkeley.</p>

<p>By the way, how much would things change if I were able to raise my SAT to about a 2250 on the third try? I had done no SAT prep at all for the first two times.</p>

7

<p>You have rigor in the math courses, but you didn't get A's.
Many Asian males will have qualified for the AIME and USAMO.</p>

<p>Also, your unweighted GPA is low, and your ranking isn't in the top 10%.</p>

8

<p>Reach for Princeton, MIT, and CalTech. GPA isn't spectacular in the rankings department, and ECs don't show leadership qualities. </p>

<p>Berkeley/LA is match. Your UC GPA is a 4.18, which is more than enough combined with your SATs.</p>

<p>As for safeties, don't go and waste your time on CSUs. Just apply to some second tier UCs. If you bring the SAT score to 21xx, I'd guess you even have a shot at some hefty scholarships from places like SB and Irvine.</p>

9

<p>I don't think UCs are such matches, his rank sucks.</p>

10

<p>His rank sucks, but his UC GPA is solid. If he wants to cement his chances there, he should get his SAT higher, but he looks good so long as he's not applying to a really hard engineering program.</p>

11

<p>Actually, I think I might like some of the CSUs better than many of the second tier UCs. I'm the type of person that doesn't like to go half-way. It's either spend good money and study good or take it easy and graduate as valedictorian. Anything in-between doesn't really appeal to me.</p>

<p>I'm really thinking about getting into a really hard engineering program, so that might be a problem. As for SAT scores - I'm sure I can do way better if I study. I have many friends who have way lower grades and class rigor than mines but end up pulling in the 2300s.
If I'm lucky, I might be able to push first decile. I'll just have to see how many people get senioritis too early. My school gives only a decile. As for the actual rank: about half the people in the third decile from my school end up at Berkeley and just about every senior I know at my school was accepted.</p>

<p>My main hopes at MIT and Caltech are going to be based off good recs and a hook in computers. After all, I do have like a 10% chance, right?</p>

12

<p>In at the UCs. Reject everywhere else.</p>

13

<p>You might get into Caltech considering they won't care about non-math/sci.</p>