Chances for Ivys and Some Other Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Sex: Female
Race: Asian
Ethnicity: Chinese
Major: Math (better to put down undecided?)
Career Interests: Academia, Scientific Research (Would it be better if I put down undecided instead, as I am Asian and it might actually hurt my chances?)
High School: public school in Pennsylvania</p>

<p>GPA: 4.95
Class Rank: 4/814 (This because 3 people are tied for 1st with a 5.0. However, if I graduate with this year's class, I will be 1st.)</p>

<p>SAT: 2250
SAT II: Math II (800), US History (770)</p>

<p>APs
Sophomore: AP US History, AP Calc AB, AP Psych, AP Stat (I got all 5s on my AP exams. No one else at my school has ever taken more than 3 AP classes sophomore year.)
Junior: AP US Gov, AP Econ, AP Chem, AP Calc BC</p>

<p>Senior Course Load: Honors English 3, AP Econ, Honors Physics, AP US Gov, Honors French 4, AP Chem (I will also be taking Calculus 3 and Linear Algebra at Lehigh University.)</p>

<p>Honors/Awards
AP Scholar, National Honors Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Principal's List</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
Math League student representative (2nd place at Bloomsburg Competition, 3rd place at Lehigh Compeition)
French Club (volunteered for Boys and Girls Club of America, international student assembly, elementary world language education program)
Chinese Club founder and president
Science Fair Club founder and president (1st place at regionals, 3rd place and $100 at states)
Science Olympiad secretary (2nd place, silver medal)
Teen Advisory Board president
Youth Group leader
volunteered over 300 hours at hospital
research in biology lab at Lehigh University (neuropeptides and brain aging, used ImmunoCytoChemistry)
church pianist (also won 3 awards for piano, taught piano to little kids for 2 years)</p>

<p>Summers
Freshman: Honors Precalculus with Trigonometry class through CTY Online, Teen Advisory Board president, Youth Group Leader, volunteer at hospital, church pianist
Sophomore: Calculus 2 class at Lehigh University (got the best grade a class full of college students, will get a great supplementary letter of recommendation), research in biology lab with neuroscience professor at Lehigh University (should get another great supplementary letter of recommendation), Teen Advisory Board president, Youth Group Leader, volunteer at hospital, church pianist</p>

<p>Additional Info:
I am applying for early admission (waive senior year to go to college early, running out of math and science classes to take).</p>

<p>Of the following Colleges, which do I have a good chance of getting into?
Harvard, Columbia, UPenn, Dartmouth, Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins</p>

2

<p>Running out of math science doesn’t seem like a good reason to skip a year when you don’t seem to have taken AP’s in other important areas. Being good in math/science at the ivy level means AIME and RSI level activities. Looks to me like you need the extra year to make yourself a competitive candidate. And while 2250 is a great SATI, it’s not going to beat out the competition in the Asian from mid Atlantic pool.</p>

3

<p>The thing is that I am stronger in the theoretical sciences, not so much applications (thus the reason I am not planning to go into engineering), so unfortunately I don’t have those AIME and RSI level activities. Is there anyway I can I can possibly convey this to the admission officers on my application?</p>

<p>Also, I don’t think my SAT score is going to get much higher. It’s been at 2250-2300 for a while. Additionally, the only classes really worthy of taking next year are AP English and AP Physics.</p>

<p>My safety schools: Barnard because of it’s affiliation with Columbia and Lehigh because I know I will get a free ride there (tuition, room and board all included).</p>

4

<p>Do you mean your school doesn’t host the AMC contests? If so, then just state that in your application.</p>

<p>I also thought that AIME doesn’t mean anything. I think USAMO is more on par with RSI.</p>

5

<p>AIME means something but it’s not near RSI. I agree that RSI is more in line with USAMO in terms of prestige. I think like 39/41 RSI applicants were accepted by MIT last year?</p>

6

<p>I think the very top colleges want to see very high level honors and awards in whatever you excel at. That’s missing here. If you’d be happy at Barnard and Lehigh, you have far less to lose skipping senior year and the opportunity to have outstanding ECs/awards.</p>

7

<p>Okay, thanks for the great advice, but can you guys actually chance me for the following schools:
UPenn, Dartmouth, Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>Would they be considered reaches or high matches for me? Which one would I most likely be able to get into?</p>