Chances for me!?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hi I was wondering what my chances are at these schools:</p>

<p>MIT, Caltech, Stanford, CMU, Berkley.</p>

<p>I'm posting in the MIT forum because I'm primarily interested with MIT and Caltech.</p>

<p>(I'm a rising senior)</p>

<p>GPA (weighted): 4.7 ish (.5 for honors, 1 for AP / college)
SAT I: 2130, but retaking for 2250+ after this summer.
SAT II: 800 Phys, 780 Math IIC
Rank: School doesn't do rank
Race: Asian Indian</p>

<p>My school is pretty prestigious for math and science.</p>

<p>AP's Taken:
AP Statistics - 4
AP Calc BC ( self study) - 5
AP Comp Sci AB - 5
AP Phys B - 5
AP Phys C Mech - pending
AP Phys C E&M - pending
AP Chem - pending
AP USH - pending</p>

<p>Taking next year:
AP Bio
AP Econ (both)</p>

<p>other notable classes:</p>

<p>multivariable calculus
linear algebra
differential equations
MIT OCW 6.001 (this was guided study w/ teacher, so nothing official)
graph theory
Research Computer Science
Research Chemistry
astrophysics
numerical analysis
combinatorics
complex systems</p>

<p>EC/Awards</p>

<p>AP Honorable Scholar (the one with 3+ AP Exams) </p>

<p>Harding Tennis Team
– 6th Seed – Rookie of the Year Award </p>

<p>Taekwondo
– NC State Gold Medalist (Form)
– NC State Silver Medalist (Sparring)
- Registered Black Belt with World Taekwondo Federation</p>

<p>Harding Math Club – 3rd Place Team Award at Panther Number Crunch (Team)</p>

<p>Model UN
- Appalachian State University – Afghanistan - Honorable Mention (Individual)
- University of North Carolina Charlotte – Lithuania – 2nd Place Delegation(Team)
- Winthrop University – Benin
1st Place Legal Committee (Individual)
1st Place Delegation in General Assembly (Team)
Benin Delegation won Winthrop Cup (Highest Award Given) (Team)
- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill – Brazil – 2nd Place in Committee(Individual) </p>

<p>Charlotte Mathematics Club
- Mandlebrot – High Scoring Individual
- 3rd Place Team Award at Panther Number Crunch (Team)
- 2nd place for AMC 10 </p>

<p>Charleston Math Meet
- 1st Place Level II Team Score
- 2nd Place Level III Team Score
- 2nd Place Programming Team</p>

<p>Regional Science Fair
- 1st Place in Senior Technology Division</p>

<p>North Carolina Student Academy of the Sciences
- 1st Place overall conference paper
- 1st Place in Computer Science Division
- National Finalist, presenting at AAA Conference in February 2007</p>

<p>North Carolina State Science Fair
- 2006 Intel International Science and Engineering Finalist
- 1st Place Senior Technology Division
- Yale Science and Engineering Award
- 1st Place United States Army
- Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award
- 1st Place United States Naval Academy Award</p>

<p>2006 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
- 3rd Place Computer Science
- 1st Place Airforce Award</p>

<p>I did a research internship at UNCC after sophomore year, and am doing one at Duke with synthetic biology this summer to enter in Siemens and STS. </p>

<p>Essays and Recs will be stellar I believe.</p>

<p>I want to also know what are the areas I can improve on? </p>

<p>Courses I took this year:
(Predicted Grades)
APUSH B+
AP Phys C A-,B+
Multivariable Calculus B+/A-
AP Chemistry B+
American Studies (APUSH + AP Eng Lang) A-
Intro Spanish (scheduling forced, I've already taken French III) B+ (don't ask)
Adv Problem Solving A+
Research Chemistry A
Research Computer Science A
(still taking linear algebra)</p>

<p>my grades slipped this year because I did so many activities near the end. I guess I learned how to balance things, because I pulled an F in math up to an A- (had to nail every other assignment in the trimester, we had 5 total grades). I'm hoping to ace all my 1st trimester courses this year. What should I do about this?</p>

2

<p>haha wow, your app is scarily similar to mine, though quite a bit stronger in ecs. well know this: i got in, with worse ecs for sure, and my grades also slipped junior year to the extent yours did. i think the midyear grades helped show that i was still going strong, but i doubt you even need that because of the amazing # of college classes. i've taken a lot myself, but not quite that many....</p>

3

<p>27%</p>

<p>.</p>

4

<p>you could have at least provided an error bound river phoenix. I'm thinking +/- 1%?</p>

5

<p>All he's saying is there's no way to tell.</p>

6

<p>You should get your SAT scores up. I live right by Caltech and my school sends about 5 kids ot Caltech every year. A 780 is not enough. Is your unweighted GPA higher than 3.85? If it is, then you are fine. </p>

<p>You have really good ec activities and that will probably get you in</p>

7

<p>I'm retaking the SAT and shooting for 2250+. </p>

<p>My school is wierd. Because it is public residential for 11th and 12th only, they list both our 9th + 10th GPA (like 3.98 un weighted, and like 4.6 weighted (.5 for honors, 1 for AP's). </p>

<p>At my new school I'll probably have like 3.75 un weighted, and maybe 4.7 - 4.8 weighted.</p>

<p>My school gets 7-8 MIT admits each year and like 6-7 Caltech admits each year.</p>

8

<p>you're kidding me... you get .5 for honors, and 1 for AP? when i was in school, we got like .025 for honors, and .05 for AP...</p>

9

<p>You sound like a great candidate for either tech school. You show passion with your ECs and have research to boot. good luck. both schools are great</p>

10

<p>Alrighty. I've been toying with the idea of trying to somehow be superhuman next year at GT, and apply for a transfer to MIT, but I look like a hobo compared to you. Not even. I look like a puddle of urine. Wow.</p>

11

<p>Getting a 4.0 at GT and being superhuman next year might attract MIT because that ensures the institution that you can perform at the highest level in college.</p>

12

<p>Make sure your freshman courseload includes calculus, physics, chemistry, and bio, as recommended on the Transfer Applicants webpage, and do well in them.</p>

13

<p>I got my last trimesters report back. Slight dip in grades, but nice comments from teachers. I'm still trying to find that "balance" between my EC's and grades (and I took way to many courses, so i'm learning to limit myself). I mean I'm a 17 year old guy who is still experimenting w/ the world. Do you think it would be wise to write one of the essays explaining what I have learned in the process? Or maybe a supplementary essay?</p>

14

<p>The essay topic questions are going to be posted with the application, just wait for them.</p>

15

<p>differential, I would play that aspect down, in fact; a common thread among MIT students is that in high school they were able and motivated to do awesome things in their free time, even while maintaining great grades (that doesn't neccessarily mean a 4.0 or anything, don't worry). It looks silly to be crushed about 1 or 2 B's (unless they are in math classes), but even then its silly to write an essay about it. If you have truly bad grades then you should have a better explanation, or it better have been only for one semester.</p>

16

<p>It was actually only for one trimester of HS (but it was 4 B's, two science B+'s and two humanity B's). If I make straight A's the first trimester of senior year, you think they'll be convinced I just had a slip up?</p>

17

<p>There's really not some sort of magical weighting algorithm that will tell you that two additional extracurriculars will make up for a B in math and an A- in social studies... MIT applications are evaluated holistically, so every piece of context matters.</p>

<p>Bryan</a> Nance wrote an awesome analogy (which I cannot for the life of me find right now) about an MIT application being like a table with various strengths of the applicant making up the legs. One leg can be weak without the table falling over, but if two or more legs are weak, your table's not looking too good.</p>

18

<p>What about this table?
<a href="http://www.djwhite.co.uk/furniture/furnpics/tab4.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.djwhite.co.uk/furniture/furnpics/tab4.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

19

<p>...and if your table has six or more legs, you're automatically admitted.</p>

20

<p>Sweeeet
"Yeah bro I totally got into MIT, my hook was being an octopus"</p>