Chances for Ivies, MIT, Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Currently a rising Junior (class of 2016), I'd like advice on my chances on getting into:
Ivies
MIT
Stanford</p>

<p>I'm a math guy, so most of my EC's are centered around mathematics.</p>

<p>SAT-(750 M/ 720 CR/ 720 W) (Yes I know, ew, but I'll be retaking it)</p>

<p>Freshman year (4.0uw/4.67w)
AP Calculus BC-5
AP Physics B-5
AP Chemistry-4
Honors English
Spanish 2
Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>EC's that year:
Varsity Baseball, California State Science Fair- 4th in Mathematics & Software, Published paper in Undergraduate Math journal written under chair of mathematics department at UCR, AP Scholar with Honors, Scholar Athlete</p>

<p>Sophomore year (4.0uw/4.5w)
AP world history
Honors English
Spanish 3
Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>Multivariable Differential Calculus-A
Multivariable Integral Calculus- A</p>

<p>Taken at Harvey Mudd College:
Linear Algebra- A
Differential Equations-B+ (I was out of town for the final -_-)</p>

<p>EC's this year:
Member of two Professional Research groups at UCR for post-docs and professors, named the "Fractal Research Group and the "Mathematical Physics and Dynamical Systems" research group. Only high school student in 25+ years of existence</p>

<p>Invited/attended AMS (American Mathematical Society) Sectional Meeting held at UCR by math chair.</p>

<p>Taught AP Calc BC- (I know this sounds strange, but I literally would teach the course for our calc teacher on days he wasn't there. He'd excuse me from class and I'd teach for him for the day)</p>

<p>Tutoring of Harvey Mudd students in Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations</p>

<p>Collaboration with recent UCR post-doc and MIT student on mathematics paper, completed last month.</p>

<p>Professional Seminars given:</p>

<p>"On the theory of Lures with Dynamical Action on Manifolds and Fractal Strings" part one. Fractal Research group, UCR, hour seminar</p>

<p>Part two, Fractal Research group, UCR, hour seminar</p>

<p>Varsity Baseball, Captain as sophomore</p>

<p>Intel ISEF regional sweepstakes award- given to the best overall project in the high school division.</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta award for excellence in mathematics- International award given on the basis of individual research in mathematics.</p>

<p>Intel Award for Excellence in Computer Science- Given to a research project in mathematics or computer science.</p>

<p>Intel ISEF 2014 finalist in Mathematics</p>

<p>European Award for CERN Exploration: Given to 12 international students on the basis of their STEM research at Intel ISEF. Includes all-expenses paid trip to Geneva, Switzerland to tour CERN for a week.</p>

<p>Self Studied: Topology, Analysis, Algebraic Topology, Differential Topology</p>

<p>Junior Year Courseload:</p>

<p>AP Language
AP U.S. History
AP Spanish
Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>At UCR:</p>

<p>Distribution Theory (PhD level class)
I couldn't afford to take the course for credit, so I'm "auditing" the course with the prof's permission, but still ascertaining the knowledge nonetheless)
Graduate Analysis (PhD level class) (same as above)</p>

<p>Via Stanford Online: Abstract Algebra, Real analysis, Complex Analysis</p>

<p>At Harvey Mudd:
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations II
Discrete Mathematics</p>

<p>This year's EC's so far:</p>

<p>Still a member of the professional research groups at UCR, will be giving two one-hour seminars in November. </p>

<p>Still teaching AP Calc BC occasionally </p>

<p>Little to no competition for my regions ISEF this year, so expected 2015 ISEF finalist.</p>

<p>Work Experience: I work at a math tutoring center for k-12.</p>

<p>Currently writing a math paper with a undergrad friend from Harvard, will later submit for publication.</p>

<p>Submitted last year's science fair math paper to the arxiv. </p>

<p>Goethe Institut Award for German Exploration: International award given to 12 students on the basis of his/her intel ISEF research. Includes an all expenses paid trip to Germany for a week. </p>

<p>Varsity Baseball- 3rd year</p>

<p>Hook: Heavily recruited D1 athlete, currently being heavily recruited by 4 of the ivies, and talking to all of them. Will be flying back east to visit the campuses soon as per coaches' requests. Pending offers from highly competitive programs, but not academic fits.</p>

<p>Letters of Rec: Glowing from a professor that I've worked closely with for a year and a half now. My AP Language teacher wrote that I was the "most talented student [he's] had in 9 years of teaching".</p>

<p>However, I'd like to know my chances from a purely academic viewpoint. Just in case something goes awry with athletics.</p>

<p>Any comments appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Your EC’s are amazing and if you can get your SAT scores up, it would be very difficult for a college to decline you, including Ivys. </p>

3

<p>With those EC’s?? Your SAT you have now is awesome. Here’s the scatter plot for MIT:</p>

<p><a href=“MIT: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/mit-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Not only are you in a good spot there, but you have all those EC’s and College courses? auditing or not, still impressive I must say and those self-studied subjects put the proverbial cherry on top of your life sundae. Keep it up.</p>

4

<p>You’ll get in to most of the schools on your list.</p>

<p>I assume by something going “awry” you are referring to injuries impacting your recruitability. I would urge you, if recruited, to play - the Ivies are probably your best bet at pursuing both the math and the baseball. Doing both is a very rewarding experience.</p>

5

<p>Yes, by “awry” I meant something that may inhibit my future athletic career, such as an injury. I do think that pursuing both math and baseball at an ivy would be difficult, yet rewarding. </p>

6

<p>For math/physics not all Ivy’s are equal. I think Harvard and Princeton are the ones to consider and you should be fine for admission at either. MIT is probably the best for math/physics though and if you are the jock/nerd type that might be the best “fit” given the fraternity centric culture. I would be surprised if MIT didn’t take you. </p>

<p>One thought - Yale does have Yair Minsky who has a reputation in topology so maybe you should consider Yale. Having said that, you should apply the way grad students do - seek out specific professors in your area of interest since most of classes you end up taking in your major will probably be at the grad level.</p>

7

<p>@keesh17‌ I’ve definitely been looking at MIT, but only for academics. As far as athletics are concerned, they’re division 3, and not the most competitive. </p>

<p>Yes, I definitely agree that Harvard and Princeton share the top spot amongst the ivies for math, but I do believe that all of them are superb and can provide a quality education in pure math. </p>

8

<p>My kid is at Yale and was a math kid in high school but not at your level though. He feels Yale is not great for pure math. He’s doing the Econ Math major and really likes it. His high school econ teacher thought he was the “best mind he’s ever taught” similar to what was said about you so given the similarity perhaps his opinion on math at Yale could apply to you as well. On the other hand, if you want a truly rounded liberal arts college experience with super friendly students and a warm, scholarly environment, Yale is right on the money.</p>

9

<p>Yale will definitely be a top choice for mathematics and baseball. </p>

10

<p>Bumpity bump bump </p>

11

<p>Question - if you don’t do early decision at Yale will the baseball team hold a spot for you during regular decision? I was under the impression that all recruited athletes do early admission at Yale and that they receive their “likely letters” well before the December admit date.</p>

12

<p>Well for all ivy athletics, the seriously recruited athletes tend to receive likely letters autumn of their senior year. Yale is a top choice academically, but not athletically, as I have had little contact with its coaches. 4 of the other ivies have been in constant contact, Yale not being one of them.</p>

13

<p>So if you do Yale (or any of the Ivy’s) regular admission, the odds of making it onto the team are diminished?</p>

14

<p>You may still play for the school, but you are not one of its top recruits for your respective sport if you do not receive a likely letter. However, coaches are only allocated a small number of slots for possible likely letters, so some players will not receive a likely letter even though they will eventually play for said school.</p>

15

<p>Excellent chances with or without baseball, assuming your SAT IIs are excellent and your SAT retake improves. Just be aware that the recruiting process is very fluid and can change week to week depending on the other recruits’ choices, transcripts, and coach support. Best of luck!</p>

16

<p>You have awesome chances if your ec’s are actually true (i’m sure they are but a lot of people on this site lie). I might even think that you won’t even have to re-take your sat’s with all of your math extracurriculars. If you really want to go to MIT, I would suggest applying to RSI for this summer (you have a great chance of getting in and it helps a lot for mit).</p>

17

<p>Luckily I have better things to do than make up EC’s on the Internet… But yes, I’ll most definitely be applying to RSI, although chances are always slim. </p>

18

<p>Your EC’s are absolutely amazing. Your SAT scores really don’t need much additionally. They’re good enough, and recruited athletes normally are at the 25th percentile, anyway. It doesn’t hurt to improve the scores, though. Even if you aren’t a recruited athlete, your recognition for doing what you did in sports will sill play a huge role. On top of that, everything else you did. Wow. It is amazing. I did not know that someone could could fit so many things into his or her schedule!</p>

<p>Dang, almost everybody reading this would love to be in your position, but I am sure you worked hard for it, and completely deserve it all for yourself :P. Your grades also aren’t that bad. I would be completely surprised if even half of the ivy leagues do not accept you. </p>

<p>Basically, you should be a shoo-in to at least the top 10 to 20 ranking schools that you are applying to. <–That is something I never imagined myself saying before. lol</p>

19

<p>Oops forgot to add a research internship over the summer at UCI in the mathematics department. I was given a research grant that included a private office at UCI in the mathematics department building for 4 months. During such time, I collaborated on a research paper. </p>

20

<p>From an academic standpoint, your extra-curriculars are amazing. I think you have excellent chances at Caltech and MIT, but of course the Ivies will rely a little more on the personal aspect of essays, recommendations, etc.</p>

<p>On a side note, you’re really Google-able, if that matters to you. I just sent you a connection request on LinkedIn.</p>