Chances at Harvard, Caltech, UCB, Stanford, MIT?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys,

I’m a senior that’s really interested in Astronomy and hopes to go to a strong Astronomy university. I was wondering what my chances of getting into the title-listed schools are.

Ethnicity - Dad is Sri Lankan, Masters in CS. Mom is German/English, Masters in Education. They make about ~90k a year combined.

Unweighted GPA - 4, Valedictorian of ~600 people.

SAT: 2400

Classes -

9th Grade - English 1 Honors, Math 2 Honors, Latin 1, Biology Honors, AP World History, PE, Computer Science Honors, Business and Finance Honors.

10th Grade: English 2 Honors, Math 3 Honors, Pre Calculus Honors, Latin 2, Latin 3 Honors, Chemistry Honors, AP U.S. Govt. & Politics, SAS Programming Honors.

11th Grade: Latin 4 Honors, Honors English 3, Astronomy, AP Environmental Science, AP United States History, AP Computer Science, AP Calculus AB/BC.

12 Grade: AP Latin, Civics and Economics, Honors, Honors English 4, AP Stat, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, 2 random classes.

Volunteering/ECs -

~150 hours at Astronomy Research Lab at my state’s Science Museum.
~30 hours w/ boyscouts (friends), trash pickup, etc.
President of Model UN.
Varsity Captain of Tennis Team.
National Honor Society.
National Latin Honor Society.

I have multiple awards from my school (things like Best in World History my freshman year).

Thanks guys. :slight_smile:

2

Several of the schools you’re applying to accept 1 in 20 applicants from a pool where ~80% are qualified for the school.

Your academic credentials are impeccable in their current state-4.0, valedictorian, and 2400 is about as good as it gets. You’ll need SAT II scores for some of the schools you listed (they’re “strongly recommended,” which means “necessary if you want a chance”).

Your extracurriculars, however, are sorely lacking. This is the sort of profile that explains why 75% of perfect scorers are rejected by these schools. Honor societies will make virtually no difference at Harvard/Stanford/Berkeley/Cal Tech, because of the sheer number of students who are admitted to NHS and similar groups. 30 hours of anything will barely register. That leaves you with:

-150 hours of astronomy research
-Leadership in Model UN (good)
-Varsity tennis

It’s not a bad list of ECs, but the standards at these schools have become absurd-a “typical” EC profile for a Harvard applicant is borderline scary. If I had to guess, I’d say a typical student admitted for astronomy would be a kid who placed highly in the Intel/AMO competitions, spent 500+ hours doing research, published multiple papers in the field, and started some kind of NGO helping low-income, biracial, LGBT, war survivor orphans living in the worst neighborhoods of Detroit study astronomy.

(OK, that last part is exaggerating, but only a bit).

You have a chance, don’t get me wrong, but you definitely need to add some safeties to your list.

3

Are you a U.S. applicant, or international?

Your academic credentials are strong. SAT II’s? APs?

Your ECs are solid but a bit generic, though if your astronomy research is in detail, it could stand out. You need to differentiate yourself in your essays to be more than just usually competitive.

4

For the HYPS and Ivies, you don’t appear to have the extra “national” WOW factor, so I think those schools may be a long shot because they are reaches for everyone.
Make sure you have non Ivies that will accept you.

5

I’m a U.S. applicant.

OK, so it sounds like my weakest part is ECs. What would you recommend? I mean, there aren’t exactly any Astronomy competitions, and what I am interested in is completely theoretical, so it’s not like I could come up with an invention on it.

6

You’re a senior, so your ECs are what they are. Too late to change them.

Theoretical research is fine. Will you get a supplemental recommendation? Is publication likely to come out of your work?

Are you applying in-state for UCB? If so, I would think you’re in. MIT might be doable if your astronomy work is top notch. Harvard and especially Stanford will be tougher, as they are more holistic.

I’d take a look at the University of Chicago as well. Terrific astronomy. And I believe Williams College has a strong program, including a major in astronomy. Check it out.

7

It’s too late for OP but for future astronomers Summer Science Program (SSP) is a highly selective but top notch program started by MIT and Caltech. I agree that your ECs seem light unless the Astronomy research you did was substantial. 75% of perfect scorers are rejected by top schools these days.

8

You certainly have the quantitative stats, no one will argue with that.

But, so do hundreds upon hundreds of other applicants.

In all honesty, your EC’s are really lacking in both depth and breadth, and your award list is non-existent.

What will make you stand out?

9

Should get accepted easily

10

OK, I guess it is too late for me. Just curious though, what ECs would have been good? Everyone I talked to (teachers, counselors, ex-admissions person) all said that it is a lot more important to do a few ECs that you’re interested in rather then a lot that you don’t really care for.

11

You are in the maybe pool, and will have slightly higher test scores, but less academic rigor than others. It’s a coin toss which is far better than the 1 in 20 shot many have.

12

What did you do during your summers? Adcoms might assume you spent them studying for the SATs

13

@Falcon1 Whats wrong with studying for the SATs during the summer?

14

@Ndutch I think they like to see people doing more ECs over the summer

15

^^ So you spent your summer studying for the SAT and got a 2400. Which you think colleges would prefer: that, or someone similar who chose instead to do a summer internship or science program to bolster their science background, and then only got a 2230?

16

Man, you guys are a tough crowd today! This kid has a 2400 on his SATs, he’s valedictorian in a school with 600 seniors, he’s spent 150 hours working at the astronomy lab at his town’s science museum, he’s team captain of his school’s tennis team, and he’s ethnically Sri Lankan. What more do you folks want? :slight_smile: OP, here’s what i recommend…because you truly have picked the hardest 5 schools…apply with your best heart, soul, and stats…then have back-ups.

no matter what, your future is very bright.

17

@SouthernHope Thank you! Everyone is targeting me because my past posts have made me seem like a robot, when in reality I’m really the opposite. I would’ve put Astrophotography and Archery down as ECs on my first post, but I’m not sure if they are - are they?

18

Nothing. I actually think kids SHOULD start preparing for the SATs the summer before their junior year. (Unfortunately, mine didn’t have the time because they were way too busy, but they ended up doing fine.) I don’t think, however, that prepping for tests should be the only activity that is done during the summer before junior year (or any other summer for that matter unless you would like to convey to adcoms that your main passion is test-taking).

I agree with @renaissancedad that colleges prefer kids who are interesting and have done something meaningful with their time over just high test scores. I know kids who are currently in 6th and 7th grade and their parents are having them do SAT exercises (which is doubly silly because the test changes next spring). Would you be impressed if these kids went on to score a 2350 or 2400 in junior year? Should their test scores form the basis of acceptance or rejection to a top school? I’m not saying that you started prepping early but the point is that adcoms have no idea what level of preparation a kid had to achieve their scores so it doesn’t carry nearly the weight that most kids think it does.

Summers should be spent more productively than solely preparing for exams. This is the basis of my question about how you spent your summers.

19

Over the summer, I read, play tennis, stargaze/astrophotography, practice archery, program (learning C++ at the moment)… all things I do not because they might sound good to colleges, but because I enjoy them.

20

Well, you’ve done well academically. (I assume your AP and SAT II scores are also great.) I wish you the best of luck!