chances at MIT/Stanford/Berkeley

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,
I'm a US citizen and a permanent resident of CA, currently living and studying in India, and I'm in the second year of my International Baccalaureate program. I wanted to know my chances at MIT, Stanford, Berkeley for a Math or Engineering (undecided at this point, more likely math major) major: (ANY OTHER COLLEGES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR MATH?)</p>

<p>IGCSE (= 'O' levels) unweighted GPA = 4.0 (approx)</p>

<p>IB Score = 40 (3 7's in HLs 1 7 and 2 6's in SL)
(I don't know how to convert this score to a GPA)</p>

<p>SAT I: 1490/2230
Math 800
Critical Reading 690
Writing 740 (with 9 in essay)
(***SHOULD I GIVE THE SAT AGAIN?)</p>

<p>ACT: 33 composite with 12 in writing (essay)</p>

<p>SAT II:
Math IIC 800
Physics 800
Chemistry 800</p>

<p>Extra curriculars: good. a few varsity sports plus tons of volunteer work, and leadership positions in school clubs.</p>

<p>I also have NMS recognition, member of NSHSS and Who's Who. Please advise on what I should do - any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Kishore</p>

<p>Ps Does anyone know if the UC system still admits students by the Eligibility by Examination alone criteria to Berkeley?(see link below) and how would the above profile be fit for princeton (for math major)?
<a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/exam_eligibility.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/exam_eligibility.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>berkeley is definately a match, probably with full scholarship even</p>

<p>if you get an IB diploma, forget MIT, go to Harvard!!!</p>

<p>Math major eyy?? maybe University of Chicago, there's lots of international students there... and you're in for sure.</p>

3

<p>kishoremehta:</p>

<p>UCB: Match</p>

4

<p>hey,
hahaha ya harvard might be better...hmm, what about stanford? any ideas on what i should do to maximize my chances there? and the news for berkeley sounds great..what i need to know, though, is whether berkeley is as well respected in the US as say, MIT or Stanford, just for engineering. i know the quality may differ slightly, but is it as respected/nearly as well respected by employers?
thanks,
kishore</p>

<p>PS AND DO I NEED TO GIVE THE SAT 1 AGAIN?</p>

5

<p>FYI: Who's Who and NSHSS are worthless memberships. I know people with 2.5 GPA's and low SAT's who get invitations to those.</p>

<p>you look like a strong candidate, I'd say youve got 55% MIT, 45% Stanford, 70% UCB</p>

6

<p>I don't know much about UCs, but you'd seem good there. I don't see Princeton, Stanford or MIT, low CR score, not atypical ECs and Asian.</p>

7

<p>MIT might be a toughy, solely due to the fact that you are asian (I hate to be racist, but so many people of asian decent apply to MIT every year with fantastic stats. I know....I live right near Cambridge and the MIT populace is loaded with asians.)</p>

<p>You still have a good chance at MIT, but remember you are a shoe-in at any school with the exception of HYPS and MIT. You should check out Carnegie Mellon and Caltech if you are interested in a math major...</p>

8

<p>I second Caltech.</p>

9

<p>I third Caltech - it is easily your best shot (although by no means a shoo-in, especially if you don't have much in the way of science-related extracurriculars).</p>

10

<p>Berkley is a safety. MIT and Stanford are reaches (probability of acceptance<50%) because your EC's are not very interesting and you have no real awards.</p>

11

<p>Berkeley's not a safety. He has average chances for MIT (15%), and Stanford (10%)</p>

12

<p>you might consider looking into IIT (Indian Institues of Technology)...</p>

13

<p>I second dooit... except I do think that Berkeley is match-safety range for you.</p>

14

<p>im pretty sure he knows about IIT, since he lives in india</p>

<p>and your SAT is competitave, if you have time you can take it again if you want</p>

15

<p>hey,
ya i know about IIT, it's great but i can't get in; on paper, its more selective than MIT, stanford or all the ivies...2 hundred thousand people appear for a common entrance exam (like the SAT, but in Math, Phy, Chem) for engineering, and there are less than 2000 places in all the IITs...besides, due to the fact that the entrance exam requirement of special training, which involves a lot more mugging up of facts and therefore a completely different style of "learning" than the IB, i won't be able to get in unless i take a gap year to train for the test. anyway, i may be apply as an international student (for which there are different requirements), as i am after all a US citizen, and i have studied in an international curriculum...let me look into it.</p>

<p>anyway, any other suggestions to look better on paper? i'll try to take the SAT in dec for all my other apps - where should i apply early though, MIT or Stanford?
thanks,
kishore</p>

16

<p>hey,
ya i forgot to mention that i am in fact also applying to caltech and carnegie. but i figured, at least at carnegie, my chances are pretty good. what do you think? are caltech/carnegie really that much better for math than my other choices?
thanks,
kishore</p>

17

<p>hey,
thanks for the info...didn't know - should i avoid mentioning them on the "Academic honors" section or is it worth mentioning even though it doesn't really mean much?
thanks,
kishore</p>

18

<p>hey kenneth,
would my chances in MIT/Caltech increase significantly (more than 10% of what it is now) if i applied for Early Action to both?</p>

19

<p>Wait...berkeley's a safety? Which part of his/her application suggests that? A 2230 SAT score is pretty average for someone applying to those schools. No hooks, average ECs...what am I missing here? I mean that SAT II score is good but not unheard of.</p>

20

<p>hey "sup"
what SAT score do you think would be a good way to increase my chances at the schools by at least 10% (or more)? would a 2350 make a big difference? let me know, so i can register for the test in nov, if necessary, or if an increased score like the one i mentioned would help.</p>