What are my chances to get into MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Cornell, Northwestern, UCLA, and U of Minnesota, Michigan (Ann Arbor), and Texas (Austin).
3.9 gpa (4.2 weighted)
2380 super scored sat
35 act
Subject tests:
800 math 2
800 U.S. History
750 biology M
Have taken 6 ap classes so far (four 5’s, a 4 in bio and a 3 in Chem)
40 hours of alternative science teaching to low income middle school students, and started an organization to continue that work when I graduate
Wrote a paper published in the national high school journal of science
Wrote proposals to Minnesota state math league and knowledge bowl to alter competition structures and content level (still waiting for a response, was told it will come in the fall)
Plan to major in engineering
Also, I skipped two grades and will graduate high school at 16, if that means anything
Thank you!
amazing wow. i’m about to be a freshman at UCLA so i feel i can chance. MIT, princeton, stanford, caltech are all reaches. ucb is a high match/low reach as is ucla. rest are safeties. i don’t see a lot of depth nor breadth in your ecs. i’d recommend taking a year after you graduate and working on those. good luck.
Impressive. Writing paper and publising = huge hook for colleges. You will definitely get into Cornell, UCBerkeley, and possibly Northwestern. All of the upper-tier schools on your list (MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Princeton) are kind of a long shot but you have a better chance than most people on CC and probably in your school as well. The other schools on your list are safeties.You shouldn’t waste your time applying to UMinnesota. I can say with certainty you will be admitted to UMich
I’m speaking from some experience as I have a son who went through the process and was waitlisted at MIT, Cal Tech and Stanford (but accepted at Columbia). He had similar stats as you and had some major accomplishment (Siemens finalist, research w/ college professor, internship at major technology company). He also wrote amazing essays and was on cross country and head of the computer science club.
I would highly recommend you apply early action to Michigan because it is much harder to get in regular decision. Since you don’t really have any hooks I would say you have only a 20% chance of getting in Cornell (very big on legacy), UCBerkely or Northwestern. If you are familiar with statistics they you know the more you apply to the larger your chances so you need to apply to several plus have a backup or two. My son’s backup was RPI and he almost went there even after applying to 10 top schools and 3 backups)! The application process is extremely competitive with schools looking to fill there needs and not yours.
The biggest problem he had was having enough time to fill out all the applications. Only half the schools you mention use the common app but have large supplementals. MIT, UCBerkely and UTAustin have separate applications which are quite long. Michigan uses the common app and only usually has only one additional essay so it works well for early action.
My second son will be a senior and I’m hoping he will apply early decision using the common app with a few backups that require no or short supplements (like Michigan, RPI, Northeastern).
Remember if you only get in a backup school it’s not the end of the world. If you do well undergrad you can go to a great grad school which works well for your resume.