Chances for a junior?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi CC! I'm a 15 year old Indian male from Illinois (skipped a grade). I go to a completely new school that opened my freshman year.</p>

<p>I posted pretty much the same thing on the admissions forum to ask for tips and things, but this is my straight up chances thread. On the current track I'm on, what are my chances? </p>

<p>Colleges I'm considering:
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, UIUC, UMich, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford. </p>

<p>I'm also looking for some easier schools to get into that accomodate my interests. </p>

<p>I can speak English, Telugu, a tiny bit of Hindi, and i'm getting closer to becoming fluent in Chinese. </p>

<p>The majors that i'm most intrested in are Astrophysics, Physics, and Mathematics. Also, I would like to minor in Chinese. </p>

<p>These are my stats. </p>

<p>PSAT: 221 (80 CR, 72 M, 69 W)
SAT I: 2240 combined, 700 CR, 750 M, 790 W (E: 10). (I will probably be retaking in October of senior year, though it may not be all that necessary)</p>

<p>SAT II: Haven't taken yet, but I will take Math II and either Physics or Chemistry. </p>

<p>ACT: 32 Composite, 31 English, 35 Math, 31 Reading, 32 Science, 30 English w/ Writing (got a 9 on writing). I took this ACT partway through sophomore year, and I'm planning to take one in February. My scores will have gone up by then. </p>

<p>Classwork:
Freshman Year:
AP Computer Science: A/A (4)
Honors Algebra 2/Trig: A/A
Honors Biology: B/B
Chinese I: A/B
Honors English I: A/B
AP Human Geography: A/A (5)
Gym: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Gym/Health: A/A
Honors Chemistry: A/A
Honors Precalculus: A/A
Chinese II: A/A
AP Euro: A/A (5)
Honors English II: B/A
Honors Physics: A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year:
AP Calculus BC: A
AP Physics C: A
Gym: A
AP US History: A
AP Chemistry: A
AP Language and Composition: A
Chinese III: A</p>

<p>Senior Courseload:
AP Biology, Calculus III (Multivariable Calc, in conjunction with the University of Illinois), AP Literature and Composition, AP Government, Honors Chinese IV, Gym, Modern Physics (Special Relativity and an intro to quantum mechanics, in conjunction with Wheaton College)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.543 (w), 3.829 (uw).
However, i've heard that some schools (like Princeton?) do not factor in freshman year GPA. 4.667 (w), 3.952 (uw)</p>

<p>Class Rank: My school does not provide class rank anymore, but I'm in at least the top 5% of a 650+ student body. </p>

<p>APs: Freshie year: Computer Science, 4. Human Geography, 5.
Sohpomore year: AP Euro, 5. </p>

<p>Junior year: Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, Chemistry, Language and Composition, US History, Calculus BC. </p>

<p>Senior Year: US Government and Politics, Comparitive Government and Politics, Literature and Composition, Biology, and probably Art History (self taught) and Psych (self taught). </p>

<p>Volunteering: Volunteered with an FEA tutoring station at my school, along with feed my starving children.....probably 40 hours or less in total. I don't exactly record hours I volunteer for, I just kind of do it for fun?</p>

<p>ECs:
QuarkNet: We work with Fermilab on experiments that utilize Cosmic Ray detectors in different scenarios. We built the detectors ourselves. We also occasionally go to Quarknet Masterclasses at Fermi.</p>

<p>Asian American Club: We do lots of different projects and generally embrace Asian culture, with heavy focus on Chinese culture. </p>

<p>Woldwide Youth in Science and Engineering: I'm on the WYSE Team for Physics and Chemistry. Regional competition on Monday. Hopefully that turns out well. </p>

<p>Math Team - Leader for 2, most probably 3 years (by end of senior year). Achievements include 2nd place at regionals freshman year, making state freshman year, leading 2 teams to 3rd at confrence sophomore year, 3rd place at Varsity Invitationals and MANY more to come junior year. </p>

<p>Science Olympiad - Leader for 1, most probably 2 years. Main event is Astronomy, I also partake in technical problem solving, fermi questions, and thermodynamics (and whatever else my coach tells me to do). Being a new program, we have yet to achieve anything except for the 2011 Spirit award.....with me at the helm next year, hopefully that will improve. </p>

<p>Scholastic/Quiz bowl - Varsity player for 2, probably 3 years. Captaincy guaranteed next year. Started off as a reserve jv player, worked my way up with lots of studying and the like. I have attended a couple of camps for the purpose of increasing my quizbowl knowledge; I have improved a lot.
Achievements include 2011 Turnabout Tournament All-Tournament (answered the most tossups), 2011 New Trier Scobol Solo Category Champion (for both Biology and Architecture), 2012 TRIUMVIR 2 All-Tournament, won 2011 Confrence Tournament, 2011 Regionals Tournament, came 3rd at 2011 Masonic Regionals (earning us $200), came 2nd at SCOP Novice 2011. </p>

<p>Tennis - JV player for 1, probably 3 years. Made the team freshman year, didn't make it sophomore year. I pretty much view tennis as a fun sport, and i'm definitly not extremely serious about it. I have gone to a lot of clinics and coaches to improve my skills, though. I have 1 JV letter. </p>

<p>Religious Group - I am Hindu, and have helped form a group from the ground up. Since then, we've had 3 public concerts, with attendance ranging from 50-400 people. We have performed at the Chicago Telugu Association, in front of famous actors from India. At that same performance, we earned a cameo on an international television channel (TV9 in India) that was broadcasting the CTA performances. </p>

<p>Chinese - By far, my biggest EC. I'm coming closer and closer to being able to speak the language fluently. My speech and tones are both superb; my writing, while extremely sloppy, is pretty good as well. My teacher sent me to a Chinese speech competition in freshman year, because she thought I was pretty good at speaking the language. I ended with a gold medal. I did the same in sophomore year. Next year, if I excel with the speech competition, I might earn an all-expense paid scholarship to Taiwan to study. I have also done lots of translating for Chinese ambassadors from Beijing that visited our school. I helped them learn about the American education system and culture, and in the process, I got to know about theirs. </p>

<p>Random stuff: I'm learning how to play piano and chess. Also, I enjoy long walks on the beach.</p>

2

<p>anyone out there willing to chance? I’ll chance back, and as you can tell by my lengthy resume, I try to be thorough :)</p>

3

<p>UIUC and Mich most likely in</p>

<p>Northwestern-fair chances, match</p>

<p>Ivies-always reaches</p>

<p>ECs are above average i’d say, definitely will help you especially if you can secure a major award, will be the push factor to guarantee you ivies</p>

4

<p>thanks samir! that’s some valuable input. although, what do you qualify as a “major award”? like…quizbowl nationals or like…physics olympiad pro</p>

5

<p>I think that you have really, really good chances for UIUC, UMich, and Northwestern, but the Ivies are always hard to say for sure. I think your stats are great and put you up there, but so are a lot of people who are applying for Ivies. However, you have pretty good extracurriculars, so that combined with your scores gives your a nice chance. :)</p>

6

<p>For UIUC and UMich, I say that you’re pretty much in. :smiley: and I think that you have a great shot for Northwestern as well. Ivies are always a reach, but you have stellar scores and EC’s. To be honest, you have just as good of a chance as any other competitive applicant.
I also think that it’s really cool how you are almost fluent in Chinese! That’s a great EC, especially if you get the scholarship to Taiwan. And it’s awesome that you do community service just for fun, and not to impress anyone.
Overall, I think you have great chances! Good luck!</p>

7

<p>thank you both :slight_smile: is there anything that anyone would reccommend me doing to increase my chances for something like an ivy - such as winning a major award, like samir proposed?</p>

8

<p>A major award would help, but unless you are that good at AMCs (or you are already working on something) it may be a bit late for that. I agree that your EC’s are impressive. Maybe try to get a little more involved in service (if you enjoy it, start logging your hours. They add up fast, especially if you are having fun). Your math team is much better than mine haha (I can do math, as I’m in Calc C this year, but math team is not my strength). The thing is, your awards for Chinese, Math Team, and Quiz Bowl really do add up. I wish my school was more hard-core for quiz bowl so I could do some of this stuff.</p>

<p>You will be absolutely fine for UIUC, Michigan and you are in good shape for Northwestern and Cornell.
The others will be tougher, especially for an Indian male. Keep up the good work (your commitment/achievements in ECs are especially impressive) and all of the rest of the schools are ones your are on track for. </p>

<p>In terms of other schools: If you don’t mind a big school (UIUC and UMich show this IMO), consider UVA, Cal-Berkeley, UNC-Chapel Hill (as a double legacy Duke it pains me to say this), and even UCLA. These, + UMich, are the top 5 public schools in the country, and should be no problem for you. If you like Stanford, Princeton, and the like, you might also want to consider Duke. It’s a beautiful campus and a top 10 school (not as great for engineering, but not bad either). Now it’s more right in the middle in terms of admit rate considering your list (higher than Princeton/Stanford/Brown/Columbia but lower than Northwestern, UMich out of state, Cornell). Chicago is similar, but with better math and engineering.</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post. Best of luck!</p>

9

<p>I totally didn’t sign up for the AMC 12 ■■■. I probably should’ve done that…</p>

<p>But thanks for your suggestions! umm, i don’t believe i can do a UC because of the arts requirement, but UVA, UNC, and Duke are good schools to look into. idk if i’m going to do chicago or not…</p>

<p>and our school isn’t THAT hardcore at quizbowl either, i just annoy our coach until we go to tournaments lol</p>

10

<p>UIUC, UMich and Nortwestern you’ll most likely get into
The Ivies, well, are the Ivies for a reason but I’d give you a 15% chance (same as Stanford too)
Try and improve that ACT score (haha it’s funny because that’s exactly what I have to do too)</p>

<p>Also, if you’re thinking about Physics I highly recommend UChicago (a great school that you could easily have a shot at getting in to) and perhaps Carnegie Mellon for the Mathematics. Just some suggestions of mine as you mentioned you were looking for easier schools to get in to (though these two schools aren’t that easy but you have good enough stats, I feel, for them)</p>

<p>Chance me?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1282445-chance-mit-other-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1282445-chance-mit-other-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>I think you have a high chance of getting into UIUC and UMich. Your focus on Chinese is pretty interesting since I’ve never met someone not Chinese who speaks it fluently - I think your extra-curriculars are definitely above average, and I would say you have a nice chance for the Ivies/Stanford.</p>