<p>Female, white
Applying for Materials Engineering programs, very specific goals
Top 10% but school doesn't rank
GPA: 97%
SAT: total 2250 but will likely be close to 2300 on my retake
Math: 770
CR: 720 (Will get this up to at least 750 )
Writing: 760</p>
<p>SATII:
Math I: 790
Math II: 760
Physics: 780
(Math II is gonna be an 800 soon mark my words)</p>
<p>Leadership positions in a few areas including theater, robotics, and a local nonprofit. Won't bore you with details but I am very very committed to everything that I do</p>
<p>800+ hours community service</p>
<p>I've won a bunch of school awards in the math and science areas, and a book award, plus a state wide testing award and National Merit SF probably/AP Scholar</p>
<p>I come off well in interviews and can write passionately/not bore adcoms to death</p>
<p>MY LIST:
MIT
Caltech
UC Berkeley
Cornell Engineering (legacy with both parents and my grandpa)
Olin
Carnegie Mellon
U Rochester
RPI</p>
<p>Do I need to add more REAL safeties, or am I good with this list?
I posted here a while ago, but I've changed my list since then</p>
<p>Don’t worry about retaking math level 2, other CCers can correct me if I’m wrong, but after 750+ it’s all really the same, even if it’s MIT. You can try, but if you apply to any schools that don’t use score choice, you might come off as pushing it.</p>
<p>Otherwise, best chance at Cornell Engineering, especially if you ED. But MIT/Caltech you have an average chance, maybe a little higher cuz you’re a female. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sweet thanks! I’ll chance you back. Yeah I wouldn’t bother with math 2, except caltech’s range is 800-800 so if I want a shot there, I’ve gotta bump it up.</p>
<p>MIT is my dream school so I want to tear those essays up. I’ve actually been planning them for like two years. Actually, my chance at MIT is really the only thing stopping me from doing Cornell ED.</p>
<p>MIT’s Mid 50 for SAT2 Math is 760-800 with median close to 800. Your currents scores are quite marginal for MIT and Caltech. Also, why bother to take both Math1 and Math2? It is a waste of money and time.</p>
<p>Maybe apply to one easy state school or such that you know you’ll get into, cuz you want to prepare for the worst. (Some schools have fee waivers which makes it super easy) But yeah RPI/U Rochester are the “easiest” schools for you to get into, but that’s still at 40%! Add a couple safeties!</p>
<p>If you’re worried about safeties, just add your state flagship or something similar that you’re pretty sure you can get into. My application list consisted of about 4 crapshoots, 4 matches, and 2 safeties (one was a school that sent me a free application, the other was my state flagship). Some would say that that’s a little top heavy but it ended up working out splendidly for me and I’d say my app was pretty similar to yours. I was decently sure I would be accepted to my state flagship because they accepted almost all students applying from my school.</p>
<p>For MIT I think my scores are fine (they don’t care too much after a certain point), but they’re a bit low for Caltech. I took them both in case I did way better on one (which wound up happening), because most schools take one or the other. I didn’t prep for either.</p>
<p>Oh, if you’re going to retake the SAT you might want to try the ACT instead. I signed up for the ACT before getting my final SAT scores back and ended up going into the test relatively indifferent because I had decent enough scores for the schools I was applying to. Ended up doing significantly better on the ACT English section because it had no vocab :)</p>
<p>You know, I’m actually reconsidering this plan…</p>
<p>I think I have a really solid shot at Cornell ED. Cornell is already my second choice behind MIT. However, applying ED to Cornell significantly ups my chances, to the point where I feel like I could really get in. Maybe I’ll just give up the tiny chance of MIT in favor of a real opportunity at a top notch engineering school. Plus, the concept of only filling out one college application is just too tempting to pass up.</p>
<p>I think the outcome is best with Cornell ED.</p>
<p>The highly possible Cornell ED scenario:
-I get into Cornell ED
-I go to cornell</p>
<p>The realistic MIT EA scenario:
-I apply to MIT EA and get rejected/deferred
-I fill out applications to 10 other schools RD including Cornell
-I get into some of them and then have difficult decisions
-I probably still wind up going to Cornell, unless I don’t get in because it’s harder RD</p>
<p>I’ll have to think about this a lot, but it’s a very tempting plan</p>
<p>its pretty much a guarantee at cornell ED vs a solid chance at MIT EA. if I were you, i would do cornell rd and mit ea, along with caltech ea and berkeley and cmu rd.</p>
<p>@afroninja, but what if I didn’t get into Cornell RD, while I would’ve gotten in ED? Hmm I have some thinking to do. I am pretty in love with MIT.</p>
<p>I think you’re a reach to MIT and low reach to caltech/cornell while being a match for Berkeley and CMU. This may not be entirely accurate bc you’re EC descriptions were rather vague, but yeah! Good luck!!</p>
<p>Rochester looks like it could be a safety for you.</p>
<p>Make sure that you pick safeties that you would be happy to attend. Picking a state school as a safety where you would regret your decision to attend would serve no purpose.</p>
<p>IMO one thing that CalTech really stresses is solid research experience. Your scores are fine. No retake needed. The only thing you don’t mention is money. Are you prepared to spend $300,000 on your undergrad education?</p>
but I think you’re right I should have UConn</p>