Chances for engineering? (MIT, Caltech, UCSD, Mudd, others)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Caucasian male, inland SoCal inner city public school</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.3
W GPA: 4.1
Rank: top 3% (12/575)
Senior Classes: AP Gov, AP Econ, PE, Virtual Enterprise, Honors Chem, AP English Lit
APs taken: Calc-5 Stats-5 English Lang-5 Physics-4 Euro-4 US-3<br>
SAT: 2290 (800 math, 690 reading, 800 writing, 9 essay) retaking SAT saturday for CR
SAT II: none yet...
Intended Major: Aero/Chemical/Nano Engineering</p>

<p>ECs:
- 2 years National Honors Society (community service, relay for life, book drive, high way cleanup)
- 4 years Tennis, Varsity (most improved, spirited, best doubles)
- 2 years XC and Soccer JV (most inspirationalx2, most improved)
- 2 years Virtual Business Branch Banker, team won state and was national finalist
- 3 years Academic Decathlon, team placed 15th in state last year, ive won county and state medals
- 3 years Debate, qualified for regionals in public forum and parliamentary
- Intramural Sports (champion at Ping Pong and Soccer)</p>

<p>Awards: AP Scholar w/ distinction
National Merit Semifinalist</p>

<p>Other: COSMOS at UCSD (California State Summer School for Math and Science)
Low Income (<40k), Single Parent home, parents have just high school education
Started high school 12 years old, 4'8" 60 pounds. that's my essay topic.</p>

<p>Applying to:
MIT
Caltech
Stanford(probably not actually)
UC san diego
UC la
UC Berkeley
UC santa barbara
Colorado School of Mines
Harvey Mudd
USC</p>

<p>I just don't know how my application looks to someone else who doesn't understand all the activities. My mom and teachers tell me it looks great but they understand the work put into these activities while an admissions committee won't. So I feel like a huge longshot at these colleges but my counselor/teachers/mom all tell me I have a shot and to apply, but I have doubts. So I'm just wondering what you all think, and I really appreciate your input! :)</p>

2

<p>I hate to bump up my own post, but it’s been a couple hours and it’s falling off the front page. I would appreciate if anybody could just share what they think of the application, places that seem strong/weak, anything really helps. I’m just trying to get some input on what it looks like to someone else</p>

3

<p>Your UW GPA puts you at a large disadvantage for almost every school on your list. Your ranking is high, which helps offset your GPA a little. How competitive is your school? That might explain a lot.</p>

4

<p>Did you get the UC letter notifying you that you were an ELC applicant, in the top 4%, using their UC GPA grading system?</p>

5

<p>Yeah, I did get ELC. </p>

<p>Well the school is not very competitive. Usually 2-3 4.5 valedictorians per year but I’m almost embarrassed to rank so high with such a low gpa. But the classes are very hard. But it isn’t an LA school, and so my rank is higher than it should be.</p>

6

<p>HS sports are a tremendous time commitment and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed about your GPA. Your other EC’s look good and so do your SAT scores. You have a very ambitious list of schools and that’s okay, as long as you have a few matches and a safety that you’ll be happy attending, if your top-tier choices don’t pan out. Good luck on your SATII’s coming up next month-- you’re registered, right?</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the input. I got the fee waivers but I haven’t officially signed up on collegeboard yet. I’m excited/worried about Physics. haha</p>

8

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

9

<p>As noted earlier, everything looks good except for GPA. How did you do in math and science classes? I don’t think CalTech cares much for lower grades in other classes.</p>

10

<p>HP Math Analysis-B/C
Biology- A/B
AP Calc AB- B/B
AP Stats- A/A
AP Physics- B/C
HP Chem- This year (Probly A)</p>

11

<p>Also, accepted to Colorado School of Mines this morning! big relief. I got one of those special no-fee, no-essay, 21 day notifications applications. very happy.</p>

<p>And i looked at my UC ELC letter and I actually didn’t get ELC, I am on track for statewide eligibility though. :/</p>

12

<p>If your EC’s showed your interest for major, it would’ve helped out (in my opinion)</p>

<p>UW GPA is very low for the top schools (MIT Caltech), but class rank does help out a bit.</p>

<p>I can’t predict for the UC’s, mostly because I’m on the East coast and I never found interest in them (nor tried to find what they were until this year).</p>

<p>Stanford is going to be really, REALLY hard if you do not have a special characteristic. For example, a student from Korea got accepted into Stanford for excellent poems and creative writing, which exceeded many students’ writings. Another example: a student didn’t do too well in school compared to other kids applying to Stanford. However, he was ranked top10 in the nation for DDR. Guess what? He got accepted while the other kids were rejected.</p>

<p>Individuality counts a lot when it comes to the competitive schools. MIT admissions officer (recently had a chance to ask her tons of questions) said: First we look at GPA. If it’s good enough, then we move on. If we doubt that the student will do well here academically, we spend more time looking through the transcript: what kind of classes did he take, what kind of classes were offered to him, and are there any special circumstances?</p>

<p>After that, the admissions officer said that the administration spends a LOT of time looking through the recommendations, EC’s, awards etc.</p>

<p>At this moment, your EC’s don’t look very promising compared to other applicants. For the MIT/Caltech/Stanford combinations, I will have to say very high reach.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1008044-chances-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1008044-chances-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>Thanks for the information, that’s an interesting point about the individuality and ECs.</p>

14

<p>I strongly encourage you to apply for Caltech (offers great financial aid) since you have awesome SAT I scores and good science ECs. In a way, it’s slightly easier for you to get into Caltech than MIT and Stanford since Caltech loves applicants that are passionate and score well in math and science. If you can get 800s for the math II and physics subject tests, it will definitely help your cause. Just make sure you write a good essay that can convey your passion in science. :slight_smile: I’ll be glad to proofread your essays if you need.</p>

15

<p>Berkeley COE - reach to super-reach
your GPA will hurt your chances, but apply. You wouldn’t know.</p>

16

<p>Thanks for the help guys. Retook SAT reasoning today to redo CR and it felt good. Registered for ACT and went through most of UC app today. College is exciting.</p>

17

<p>One last bump…</p>

18

<p>Update: SAT scores came in, 750/800/750, which makes my superscore a 2350 (750/800/800)
also narrowed down my college choices just to UCs, MIT, and Caltech</p>