<p>Schools: Early action at UChicago/MIT/Caltech, RD at Northwestern, UPenn, Stanford and HYP. I also have safeties that I won't post here.</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 800 M 800 R 780 W
ACT: 36 comp 36 M 36 E 36 R 36 S 10 W
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9 (4.6/5.0 W)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):Top 5%
-- Grades and APs-</p>
<p>AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Calc BC (5) Bio(5) AP English Language(4) AP Macro (5) AP Micro (5) AP US History (5) AP Physics B (5) AP Spanish Language(5)</p>
<p>Junior Course Load: AP Bio, AP English, Honors MV Calculus, Honors Linear Algebra, AP Spanish lang, AP US History</p>
<p>Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP US Gov, AP Statistics, AP Physics C, AP Chem, AP Computer Science</p>
<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, National Honor Society, National Merit Semifinalist, School's Honor Roll, Math/Science Scholar Ribbons from school, 4th Place National TSA TEAMS Competition, 1st Place Stock Trading Competition, more minor ones.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Economics Club (Co-president), TEAMS (Exec Board), NHS, Symphonic Band (1st Chair), Marching Band, Pep Band, Debate, Edufund (classroom leader, community service club).</p>
<ul>
<li>Work and Volunteering---
Job/Work Experience: 2 paid summer internships for software development company. I wrote test code for a portfolio optimization web app that assigns weights to individual assets based on stock volatility, risk, and expected returns. Worked past two years as Russian to English translator in large financial company. Now work as part time programmer for the company I interned at.</li>
</ul>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: 100 to 150 hours. 100 from Northwestern Civic Leadership Institute where I volunteered in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods and took classes that taught students about financial and social inequality. Other 50 are from school clubs including Edufund and NHS.</p>
<p>Summer Activities: 2 paid summer internships in software development. Band Camp for past 4 summers. Northwestern Civic Leadership institute for 1 month last summer.</p>
<p>-Recs-</p>
<p>Teacher Recommendations: Should both be anywhere from above average to great. One is from my math teacher who I had two years in a row and also knew my brother well. Other is from an english teacher who liked me.</p>
<p>Counselor Rec: Honestly have no idea. I go to a very large school and she doesn't know me well. She is also a new counselor since my old one, who i had for the first two years, retired. I'll make sure to give her as much information about me so she can write a good one though.</p>
<p>Additional Rec: It's from my manager at the summer internships I had. He loved working with me and it will most likely be great.</p>
<p>Essays: My essays range from good to very good. None will result in an automatic rejection, and a few stand out. I am not a great writer, though, when looking at some of the other HYP essays.</p>
<p>Intended Major(s): Double major in Math and Computer science, or Math/Economics</p>
<ul>
<li>demographics-
State (if domestic applicant): IL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income bracket (if applicable): 200K +.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): A sibling attended UChicago. Not sure if these are hooks (for northwestern, maybe), but I was in 2 Northwestern programs: Civic Leadership Institute and Courselinks AP Micro/Macroeconomics.</li>
</ul>
<p>I would like an additional perspective on my chances at the schools I posted. I'm probably in the Mid 50% or top 25% for some. Any additional tweaks I can make before I apply to these schools would also be helpful. Thanks!</p>
Anyways, MIT/Caltech vs. UChicago have very different educational philosophies, so make sure you know what your goal is for sure. Legacy at UChicago will help, strong GPA/Stats, average ECs/awards/recs means you’re a decent applicant that will likely get into one or more of these schools. Good luck!</p>