Chances at top engineering schools and others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello all~ I submitted all my apps, but the wait is killing me, and I figured that besides forgetting about college for a few months, I might as well see what kind of chance you guys think I have ^^</p>

<p>Colleges
Olin College of Engineering, Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, UCB, UCSD (Linguistics for Harvard/Yale, Engineering for the rest).</p>

<p>Personal Info
Ethnicity: Asian (Japanese)
Gender: Male
Residency: Southern California</p>

<p>High School
Type: Public, competitive
Demographics: 50+% Asian, 15% White, 20% Hispanic
Classes: Most rigorous available (IB) + Community college + Japanese School
GPA: 3.8UW, 4.3ish weighted
Rank: 60ish/650 (Unweighted)</p>

<p>Tests
SAT I: 2230 superscore (700CR,800M,730W). 2160 single sitting (690CR,740M,730W)
ACT: 35 (33E,35M,34R,36S)
SAT II:
Math IIC: 800
French w/Listening: 800
Japanese w/Listening: 790
Physics: 760
Biology E: 760
French Reading: 760 (During French 3)
APs: Calculus AB, Biology : 5
IBs: Economics SL: 6, History SL: 4
In Progress: French SL, English HL, Math HL, Biology HL, Calculus BC AP, French AP, Macro/Micro Economics AP</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Environmental Club: 10,11,12. Cabinet 10,11. Webmaster 11,12. Publicity Officer 12.
Concert Band: 9,10,11,12. Top level band 10-12. Flute/Piccolo/Trombone
Marching Band: 9,10,11,12. Flute/Piccolo
Full Orchestra: 10,11,12. Only wind player in this for 3+ years. Flute/Piccolo/Saxophone
French Club: 9,10,11,12. Vice President 11. President 12.
Martial Arts: 7,8,9,10,11,12. Black belt 10.
Computer Repair: 10,11,12. Free computer service for friends
Animal Rescue Volunteer: 11,12.
Musical: 12. Non-ensemble role with solos. Only Asian member, only non-drama, non-choir member.
Study abroad: 11. Studied abroad in Paris with a French host family.</p>

<p>Honors/Awards
National Merit Semifinalist: One of 16 students in school to get it. 222PSAT.
Junior Honor Guard: One of 16 students in school. Chosen holistically, not just GPA
French Camp Bronze Medalist. 10,11. Scored 3rd place twice in a regional French camp with over 100 attending students. First French 2 student in 20+ year history of camp to win medal.
Foreign Language Award. 9,10,11. Only French student to win this award every year.
I-SAFE Internet Security Conference: One of 5 students in my graduating class to be selected for and attend this conference.
Summa Cum Laude. 11. 4.0 GPA 2nd semester 11th grade.
Dean's List. 9,10,11. 3.5+ GPA every semester.</p>

<p>Hook...ish?
Studied 7 languages so far to varying levels, plan to learn more. English/Japanese native (English K-12 education, Japanese K-9). French AP level. Spanish and German second year college level. Self studied some Italian and Chinese.</p>

<p>Yeah, my GPA and rank somewhat suck, but would the fact that I'm consistently given awards that only go to the top students balance that out? Like.... my de jure rank is just about top 10%, but de facto, it looks a lot more like top 2% or so. Oh, and I took classes at community college and also attended a Japanese school made for international students every Saturday until Sophomore year. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance! =D</p>

2

<p>In at the UC's, reach at all the others.</p>

3

<p>rs8389: UCLA-Bound/UCB-Bound: Match UCSD-Bound: Safe Match</p>

4

<p>So I'm in at SD, probably in at LA/B, likely rejected from the rest? Haha, that's somewhat what I was thinking too, though I was hoping I could make it into at least one of the privates ^^</p>

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

5

<p>The above seems about right, but watch out for UCB and UCLA, they seem to be very erratic when it comes to admissions (especially asians). </p>

<p>Even so, I would be ****ed if you did not get into those UC schools.</p>

6

<p>Thanks ^^ I shall indeed keep an eye out for those UCs! Anybody else? =D Everybody seems to be avoiding chancing me for the privates... I guess cause they're all reaches? =P</p>

7

<p>oh man ur the only japanese in this country
I would say they should grant admission to you since ur the only one :D j/k</p>

<p>All the UC's should be good (as people already said) The other ones are unpredictable since ur kinda like a multibrainer (linguistic & engineering???) that's a weird combination, but some top school will like that. A shot at all of them, Harvard is a reach.</p>

8

<p>Lol, seriously, who's ever seen a Japanese guy before? =P As if anybody can even tell the difference between Asians, hahaha</p>

<p>And yeah, the three main focuses I've had throughout my life are engineering, languages, and music... Kinda random, I know ^^ I sorta tied them together in one of my college essays though, with languages tied to cognitive sciences and music tied to physics, due to wavelengths and stuff in harmony.</p>

<p>So would most of the top universities not like it so much cause I'm sorta more "rounded" rather than "spiked" in my interests? And btw, chaoses, do you mean "a shot" as in "reach" or "slight reach" or...? Kinda confused cause you said I have a shot at all, and a reach at Harvard...</p>

9

<p>You might also want to consider Harvey Mudd for engineering since you are applying to lots of schools in California. You'd have a solid chance to get in there.</p>

10

<p>I wanted to apply to Harvey Mudd, actually, but my mom, being the typical Asian mom was sorta anal about having me apply to a school she's never heard of... Her idea is pretty much that if I'm applying to a school in California, it'd better be really famous (Caltech/Stanford) or be public so that it's not as expensive (UCs). =&lt;/p>

<p>And plus, I probably need to get recommendations and stuff to apply anyway, and the deadline is in less than a week, so I guess it wouldn't work out either way =[</p>

<p>So yeah.... Any other opinions on my chances at the schools listed?</p>

11

<p>a shot is a glass of wine
j/k</p>

<p>that's a match, harvard might be a reach but it could be a match too.</p>

12

<p>Olin College of Engineering - great chance
Caltech - good chance
MIT - decent chance
Stanford - good chance
Harvard - decent chance
Yale - decent chance
UCLA, UCB, UCSD - in</p>

13

<p>I don't agree with datadriven about Olin, MIT and Yale. (Others I can't comment on because I haven't researched). I rate your chances as
Olin - slight reach
MIT - reach
Yale - huge reach
Your class rank is too low and SAT is about 100 points lower than required for an Asian male. I am not trying to discourage you, but giving my honest assessment.
My reasoning is as follows.
I applied to the above 3, my stats are better than yours (Rank 2/450, GPA 4.0 (u.w.), SAT-I 2360, SAT-II > 750 each, know 2 foreign languages well, 2 yrs of highschool abroad, sustained commitment to ECs, part time work, NMS & other awards, fantastic recs, etc.) PLUS I am a female which should help in engineering admissions. I always thought my chances were as follows.
Olin - Match
MIT - slight reach
Yale - reach
It turns out I am not too pessimistic, I got deferred by MIT in the EA round.
But I don't care, I already got admitted to WPI. I'll be happy to go there... lol.</p>

14

<p>fyi you have just as good a chance as anyone</p>

<p>your ranks isnt outstanding, but everything else is good</p>

<p>an unqualified kid at my school who was ranked like 60th got into duke ed and he had way worse ecs and awards than you</p>

<p>its a tossup, you could be rejected from all, accepted to all, or whatever</p>

<p>just dont worry, you know youre a good applicant</p>

15

<p>Thanks guys ^^ I appreciate it~</p>

<p>Lol @ chaos, good to know that not everybody's being so serious and tense =D</p>

<p>Beantown, that's somewhat... scary for me =\ At MIT/Olin at least, I know that they have some major affirmative action for girls =P There are so many more guy applicants than girls, yet the student ratio is generally close to 1:1. But yeah, congrats on getting admitted to WPI though! Although that looks like a complete safety for you ^^</p>

<p>Yeah, you're right benitocamela.... Nobody can ever know if we'll get accepted. Which is why I sorta made the crazy decision to apply to these schools (for which my parents laughed so much at me) =P</p>

<p>Btw, just wondering, but don't colleges take the better of SAT/ACT? In which case my 35 would translate to 2300+?</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
Lol @ chaos, good to know that not everybody's being so serious and tense =D

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm not tense but I'm always serious on giving people's chances and stuff, well seriously relaxing.
I will print this page out and make sure 20,25 years from now my son/daughter will be like this (one thing missing and son/daughter, ur going back to ur room to get it right haha) :D man, 7 languages. You're going to be an engineer who loves to talk :D</p>

<p>
[quote]
Olin College of Engineering - great chance
Caltech - good chance
MIT - decent chance
Stanford - good chance
Harvard - decent chance
Yale - decent chance
UCLA, UCB, UCSD - in

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm not saying that's wrong, just looking at that you must be living in California :D</p>

17

<p>Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, UCB, UCSD (Linguistics for Harvard/Yale, Engineering for the rest).</p>

<p>Caltech: slight reach
MIT: reach
Stanford: slight reach
Harvard: reach
Yale: reach
UCLA/UCB/UCSD: match</p>

<p>Your ECs tend to focus on more music rather than academic-related ones (and since music doesn't have anything to do with any of your intended majors, that doesn't look as good). I envy your honors/awards, though (no such opportunities for language-related stuff here).</p>

<p>And btw, UCB isn't erratic in its choice of Asians, considering about 46% of the student body is Asian; the Ivies tend to be rather sporadic though (10-15%), which is why people find that the Ivies are being harder on Asians to "combat" affirmative action.</p>

<p>Also, w00t w00t for linguistics+cognitive science (my intended majors = linguistics+psychology ---> research). :D</p>

18

<p>rs8389:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Match (Engineering)
UCSD: Safe Match (Engineering)</p>

19

<p>I'm not really one to rate people since I really have no knowledge about college, haha. But just for consideration, why not look into Cornell? It's one of the best engineering schools in the country, an Ivy League school, and I'm positive you'll get in. Good luck!</p>

20

<p>As long as you are in the top 10% rank wise, and have the strongest courseload available, your class rank wont hurt your chances to any of these schools. I think you'll get into all the UC's and two of your privates. </p>

<p>You seem to have a lot of interests. Since you have serious awards for all of your three major fields, you don't necessarily come across as a jack of all trades (master of none), but you need to write very, very strong essays.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>