Chances based on stats

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some insight on colleges I should apply to (I’m a Junior). I know that there are a lot of subjective parts of the college admission process, but I just want to have an idea of what colleges should be my match and reach schools solely based on my stats. Here it goes.

SAT I: 2230 (800 math, 740 reading, and 690 writing 10 essay). I also got a 221 on my PSAT so I’ll probably be at least a semifinalist (Pennsylvania)

Unweighted GPA: Based on my school its a 3.96 but I got 3 B+'s so I think that’s wrong. I tried to convert it to a normal scale and I got something like 3.81

Weighted GPA: My school has a weird system so its like 4.97. On a system based out of 5, I think I have a 4.3 or 4.4

Class Rank: I wasn’t looking into competitive colleges as a freshman and sophomore so my class rank was 39/558 at the beginning of the this school year. It is now 19/558 after one semester and it will likely go up.

AP Classes: Due to scheduling errors, I was not able to take AP Chemistry this year but I was able to take AP Statistics. Next year I hope to take AP Chem AB, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Micro, AP physics AB, and AP physics BC. My school has 4 classes one semester and 4 new ones the next semester.

EC’s: I know these are subjective so I will just list them.
-Robotics Club (FTC) since 10th grade. Co-Captain this year and most likely Captain next year
-Anchor Club (Community Service) no position

  • Peer Tutoring in Math since 10th grade
    I’m very committed to Robotics Club and Tutoring so don’t criticize me for not having a lot of EC’s

I’m definitely more math, science, and engineering oriented as compared to English and the humanities. I live in Pennsylvania so Penn State will most likely be my safety. Could you just give me an idea of what colleges I would have a chance at. All types of colleges would be appreciated (Public, Private, LAC’s, Ivies). Thanks

P.S. I would probably need financial aid for most colleges. I think that I’ll apply to Princeton just for fun.

2

Try UPenn as a reach.

3

Bump

4

Woot, bump! I don’t know much about admissions, but you have really good stats!

5

How much can you afford per year?
Do you have significant awards? It’s okay not to have flood of ECs but it’s disadvantageous not to have some achievements when you apply to top schools(which could be compensated by your VERY good recom letters and Very good essays)

Penn State is a good safety to have. Also, if you are interested in scholarships, UA-Huntsville is a good school for engineering. You can get full tuition there.

I would also recommend USC, Washu, CMU, MIT, and Colorado school of mines. UCB as well, only if you can pay.

If you decided to do engineering, this website might be interesting
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/cities/best-places-for-engineers/

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@paul2752‌ Thank you for your response. Would you have any idea which schools could be matches and reaches for me? I want to stay in the Northeast and I was looking into Cornell and Williams college

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Bump

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Try some “lower ivies” as reaches - Brown, UPenn, Cornell. Your EC’s aren’t great (as in, anything special), but your stats are fairly good, and an ED at Cornell could give you an extra boost. Don’t bet on it, but go for it.

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Penn State is indeed a safety - apply on September 1st.
Your schedule next year is totally unbalanced. For Top 25 universities and LACs, out of those 8 classes, you need 1 English, 1 Math, 1 Foreign Language, 1 Social Science, 1 Science + 3 classes you find fun or are really into. 5 of these should be Honors OR AP. I would suggest limiting yourself to 2 APs per term, especially since you’ll have awhole extra “course” (time-wise, at least), ie., writing applications.
One of these 3 could be BC after AB in the Fall, but taking AP Calc AB but not BC will not make or break your application. BC + Physics C is excellent if you want Stem, but wouldn’t be the best ROI considering the few time slots you have if you’re not thinking of STEM subjects; in addition, you’d need to have A’s in Honors Precalc and Honors Physics/AP Physics 1 to be able to handle these two together in one term. If you took them 2nd semester after taking AB first semester, I would recommend 2 easier classes as a complement.
Ask each subject’s teacher if they think you can get a B in the AP class - no college will be impressed with a C in an AP class.

Any school with an admission rate below 40% should be considered an automatic reach.
Possible matches: look into Dickinson, Brandeis, Hamilton, Vassar, Colby, Boston College, Kenyon, URochester, Case Western Reserve. Which ones look appealing to you?

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@MYOS1634‌ Thank you so much for your response. I will have honors english senior year. I got an A+ in precalc this year and I have an A+ right now in honors physics so I’ll probably do fine in AP calc and physics at the same time. I need to take more than two APs in one semester to make sure that I move up in class rank. Thank you for your college suggestions. I find case western and URochester the most appealing and I was also looking into Lehigh. Also, do you think I would have a chance at early action at MIT if I make it into the Summer Science Program this summer which is run by Caltech, university of Colorado and MIT?

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Summer Science program, unless competitive one, is basically saying: Oh I can afford expensive summer program.

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@paul2752‌ I think that the SSP is considered competitive considering that they have a 9% acceptance rate

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Bump

14

Could somebody else please respond?

15

What MYOS1634 said is pretty much what other posters(excluding oblivious high school kids and random posters) would say.

With your stat,UA-Huntsville or UA is a good safety. You will get full tuition there. Former has a bit higher rank in engineering while the later has overall higher rank

USC and Colorado school of mines could be a match.

CMU and MIT are reaches.Your ECs are weaker than other applicants but you still have time. If you make it to SSP, which sounds quite competitive.

UCB would be a high match/low reach, but apply only if you can pay.

please look at this link that shows list of good Engr. schools:
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/cities/best-places-for-engineers/