<p>Hello I am a rising senior interested in my chances at some of my reaches. Please give my chances at these colleges on a percentage scale (0-100 percent). Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Asian Male, 17
Cambridge, MA
GPA: 4.7
No class ranking at my school (but my guess is 10/500)</p>
<p>Test Scores:
1470 (old SAT)
2200 (new SAT)- retake in Oct. and expecting a 2300+
800,780,740,720,710,700 (SAT IIs)
5,5,4,4 (APs)</p>
<p>ECs:
Robotics team secretary, SAT program president, science club leader, pre-med club vp, magazine associate, NHS, chess club treasurer, volunteering (300+ hours), special olympics club (prez and founder), job (summer)</p>
<p>Awards:
Ap Scholar with Distinction (expected)
Essay on bullying published in a magazine
New England Mathematics League (NEML) 5th place
MA Science Olympiad 4th place
American Mathematics Competition (AMC) finalist & top scorer/ AIME qualifier
essay contest finalist
USA Mathematical Talent Search bronze prize winner
National Latin Exam perfect score
Some major school awards</p>
<p>Hooks:
1st generation to go to college
parents are divorced
low income (<20000)
older brother who smoked marijuana and is sometimes violent and abusive (how do i emphasive this on the college app?)</p>
<p>UC Palo Alto kak Stanfurd likes to show off HYP cross admits, so if you are an EA at HY they will sign you you up. They want look good by association. They loose most of these (60-70%) cross admits. Since they have a large CA pool 45-50% admits where yield are in 90%, they can balance the overall yield to 66%.SEe there is no magic simple marketing gimmicks.</p>
<p>Of the schools you mention, think your best chance is at Brown. At the rest, you'll be among the majority of applicants and there's nothing distinctive from what I see that separates you from the pack. As for your older brother, no need to mention his problems -- unless of course they've had a profound impact on you. If that's the case, then it's a possible essay topic for you. You'll also have to apply ED to increase your odds.</p>
<p>You might also consider other schools such as Cal Tech, Dartmouth, Penn, Georgetown and Duke as first choices. Among smaller universities, you should also look at Johns Hopkins, Tufts, CMU, Chicago, WUSTL and Northwestern.</p>
<p>Gee, my guess would have been that polaraxis has a fairly good shot at any of those schools given that his stats and ECs place him right in the pack but he has the added diversity factor of first generation to go to college and low income. I would guess that those stats are not common for someone coming from this background and would not be the typical asian applicant profile. Do those factors not carry as much weight as I would have thought? Of course he would have a better shot at Brown just because of the higher acceptance rate and no one is a shoe in at any of the other schools he listed. </p>
<p>Do you know what your intended major would be?</p>
<p>Ability to pay will factor into the decision; scholarships & grants may not be available to him at the the schools where he's only one among many in qualifications. Hence, my suggestion of the other schools where he may get some financial aid. With that in mind, think his best bets lie with JHU, CMU, WUSTL and possibly Duke.</p>
<p>Since the schools on polaraxis's list are need-blind, promise to meet the full amount of aid that the student qualifies for, and do not give merit aid, I don't think financial aid offers will be a big admissions factor for him since he will most likely qualify for full financial aid at all the schools since he claims that his family income is less than $20,000.</p>
<p>you should also consider Princeton. I didnt have stats as impressive as yours, and i got into Yale, Princeton and Stanford and I come from a low incom family. (well i live in a very misrepresented country, which helped me) I think you have a nice chance to get into at least one of those universities, just make shure to write great essays that show who you are, not stupid essays about people you dont even know, or about obscure academic subjects you write just to show off.</p>