Chances for MIT, U Chicago, Princeton, and Harvey Mudd

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a current High School Senior. My top choices are MIT, U Chicago, Princeton, and Harvey Mudd, but I'll also be applying to Stanford, Cornell, Harvard, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, Northwestern, U of Pennsylvania, WUSTL, Williams, Pomona, Grinnell, and Case Western as well, in case you have anything specific about them. If you have any safety school suggestions, I'm all ears.</p>

<p>Objective:
- 4.5 / 4.5 GPA (4.875 / 4.5 Weighted)
- 36 ACT on all four sections
- 9 ACT Writing
- 800 Math 2 SAT II
- 800 Physics SAT II
- Rank 1 / ~300
- 6 on AIME</p>

<p>AP Exams:
- AP World History (5)
- AP United States History (5)
- AP Calculus BC (5)
- AP Language and Composition (5)
- AP Physics C - Mechanics (5, self-study)
- AP Physics C - Electricity and Magnetism (5, self-study)
- AP Macroeconomics (4, self-study)
- AP Microeconomics (5, self-study)
- AP Environmental Science (4, self-study)
- AP Literature and Composition
- AP Chemistry
- AP Government
- AP Computer Science</p>

<p>Other Schoolwork Information:
- Skipped 7th grade
- Self-studied Pre-Calc. in order to take AP Calculus BC a year early
- Self-studied four AP Computer Science pre-requisites
- Currently taking Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations with JHU CTYOnline</p>

<p>Important Extracurricular Activities:
- FIRST Robotics (President, 2 time World Champtionship qualifier)
- Eagle Scout
- Varsity Swimming (Captain)
- Math League (President, 2 time ARML qualifier)
- Math Madness (President)
- Started 2 FLL (middle school robotics) reams and spent more than 200 hours mentoring
- First chair saxophone in my school's jazz band</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
- Last two summers were at selective summer programs in upper-level mathematics (think something like Ross or Mathcamp - I won't say exactly which ones to somewhat preserve identity)</p>

<p>Regrettably, I am not a very strong essay writer or interviewee. My Common App essay is about my passion for mathematics, and I don't think it is that bad, but I find it hard to believe it will stand out from the crowd. Also, I did pretty poorly at my MIT interview (my U Chicago one went somewhat better), so that does not bode well for that school or for schools to come. My question is: are my objective stats good enough to outweigh my weaker categories?</p>

2

<p>You will get in to at least one of your top choices. I’d say Princeton because historically, they’ve liked perfect scores on standardized tests with a perfect GPA and a lot of robotics involvement. </p>

3

<p>I wouldn’t pinpoint any particular school, even Princeton, but you clearly have a strong application (given that you’ve also written a bomb personal statement). </p>

4

<p>That’s the thing: I don’t really think my personal statement will be much of a bomb. What counts more in those - the content or the quality of the writing - for someone going into math? I think that the content is fairly good, but my writing abilities are nothing to brag about.</p>

5

<p>The colleges will care a lot about the quality of the writing, for all majors. Unfortunately, this is where humanities majors possess an advantage.</p>

6

<p>That’s unfortunate. I’ve heard that schools don’t really care about scores once they reach a certain bar - is that really the case? I find it hard to believe (or I guess I just don’t want to believe) that a 36 equals a 33 in admissions officers’ eyes.</p>

7

<p>@Sesquipedalian4 I sure do hope that a 33 equals a 36 in their eyes lol. I got a 33 and am banking on that score as of now. However, statistically, 36s have had a very high rate of acceptance, but maybe that’s because very few even get 36, and usually those that do get a 36 do better in other parts of their application, too. </p>

<p>Writing is important for all states of life because when I asked this Director Electrical Engineering what he wants in a guy straight out of college, he said that he looks for a broad knowledge of engineering, and even more than that, very good communication skills, including writing skills. </p>

<p>He said that he would much rather take someone from a lower ranked college for work, over a person with a 4.0 GPA from the best university if that person from the lower ranked college shows better communication and social skills. Emphasis on the “shows” part. He has to be convincing that in his actions and the way he carries himself.</p>

8

<p>Interviews, while significant, are far less important than LOR and GPA, Don’t worry, unless the interviewers wrote like: DON"T ACCEPT THIS KID.</p>

<p>Your stats and ECs are fine, but you have only one safety, Case Western. Are you okay with it?</p>

9

<p>@paul2752‌ My plan is to add a few more (RPI, U of R, etc.) depending on my EA results, but I’m hoping that I won’t need them.</p>

10

<p>bump .</p>

11

<p>Pretty good chances at all of them. Nice job! Chance me back<br>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1709846-chance-an-international-student.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1709846-chance-an-international-student.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>MIT reach
U Chicago reach (UChicago is BIG on essays)
Princeton low reach (robotics, perfect score, etc)
Harvey Mudd low reach
Stanford reach
Cornell high match
Harvard reach
Caltech reach
Carnegie Mellon match
Yale reach
Northwestern high match
U of Pennsylvania low reach
WUSTL match</p>

<p>Chance back?<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1711439-chances-for-ivies.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1711439-chances-for-ivies.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;