Chances MIT/CalTech

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hello, </p>

<p>Like many who post threads on College Confidential I am a high school sophomore wondering what my chances are when applying to top universities. I go to a high school that is considered "prestigious" I assume. It is gold ranked (for whatever that's worth) and US News ranked it the 2nd best public high school in the country. Honestly, I sort of doubt that this ranking is accurate although this school is definitely in a much higher class when compared to any other high school's I have come across. </p>

<p>My Extracurriculars include: 2 years on a junior varsity hockey team two years on the varsity team (Junior and Senior year). I am also a member or the Science Olympiad and Model United Nations teams and will be a captain of both (most likely) by the end of my junior year. I am very interested in Marine Biology and have taken a trip to Key Largo, Florida to work with professional equipment and dive to learn about Reef Ecology. (I am a rescue certified scuba diver). I will also be going to Ecuador and the Galapagos on a related trip where I will study Marine Biology and such while diving. Last summer I worked inside a hospital in a Medical Supplies store and will continue doing that for the next two summers. This summer I am volunteering three days a week at the same hospital. I also am an assistant Coach for my brothers travel hockey team (I went through a certification process). I am involved in a school group called Community and Culture Committee (appointed by my teachers and counselor) to help get kids to interact and foster better relationships with eath other.</p>

<p>That is the gist of my Extracurricular involvement, nothing is spectacular but I was thinking about adding a couple of things such as: joining the board of a non-profit organization that helps women with cancer (I have family also on the board so I don't know if this is very impressive), I am also going to take a trip to Tibet and climb Mt. Everest with my father and I was thinking I could raise money to donate to a school there (something along those lines), Finally I was going to go to a summer program hosted by a university for science, most likely Chemistry as that is my favorite subject (I was considering the University of Michigan but have no concrete plans yet, I might just take classes there during the summer). If anyone thinks that these are worthwhile it would be awesome if you could let me know, and if anybody has any suggestions for extra-curriculars that I could do that is great too. Just remember that I don't really want to do them just to beef up my resume because if I don't enjoy doing something usually I don't do it very well. So things related to Biology, Chemistry (Medicine) , or Physics are my main interest.</p>

<p>So far my cumulative GPA is a 3.92/4
My school uses the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. I am not sure how familiar you will be with this program but it is, as you can tell from the name, more internationally focused. My school is one of if not the best schools using this program. But back to my GPA, it is lower because of my Freshman year where I got a B+ in a class that I didn't care about (Foods and Nutrition), and a few A-'s (not in any science classes). My sophomore year first semester I got a 3.95 with an A- in American Literature. My classes Sophomore year are:</p>

<p>First Semester:
Gym: A
Fundamentals of Art and Design: A
Honors Integrated Mathematics 3: A
Honors Physics 10: A
Honors American History: A
Honors American Literature: A-
Honors Chemistry 10: A
Honors Spanish 10: A</p>

<p>Second Semester (Not over, these are my current grades)</p>

<p>Speech: A
Drawing and Painting: A
Honors Integrated Mathematics 3: A
Honors Physics 10: A
Honors American History: A
Honors American Literature: A
Honors Chemistry 10: A
Honors Spanish 10: A</p>

<p>I am forced to take Art classes I have no interest in them.</p>

<p>Next year, I expect to do very well academically (hopefully with fingers crossed), I am currently applying to the IB board (with consent from my counselor and Assistant Principle) to take three science classes (IB physics, IB chemistry, IB biology). These are classes I will be taking junior through senior year and this specific class set is considered one of the most rigorous possible, only 5 (close estimate) students in the history of the school have done it and I believe I am the only in my class. Senior year I plan on taking all of the sciences HL along with Literature/History (for those who are familiar with how the IB program works).</p>

<p>I know that is a lot of information and I would be surprised if anybody actually took the time to read all of it, but that is the situation I am in. I know that there are many many high school students that will have much more impressive resumes than mine but I think I will be decently placed among them. I am not worried about getting into the top tier schools because I would not be terribly upset if I wasn't accepted to them. I simply want to know my chances with the higher ranked universities. Some I think I will apply to are Harvard, MIT, Caltech, UoC, Duke, and Columbia. I plan on going into either Medicine or Marine Biology although this isn't set in stone and might be liable to change. As for letters or recommendation, I have great relationships with my math, biology, chemistry, and physics teachers, as well as my assistant principle and counselor.</p>

<p>Thanks again for reading this and also for commenting.</p>

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<p>COnsider taking classes at a great university. Brown, Stanford, and Yale all offer great summerschool programs. I personally know two people who have gone to Harvard SSP and gotten into ivy league schools. These days, summers are very important. Your job looks interesting, but this is an idea.</p>

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<p>Ok thanks for the advice. Should I look into taking classes at a “prestigious” University during the summer or enrolling in a similarly “prestigious” camp run by a school? And do you have any that you could recommend me?</p>

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<p>First of all, regarding the comments posted so far: beware. I know many, many, many kids who did those (reallllllly expensive, prestigious) summer programs. Only about 5% actually got into Ivys and other top tier schools. The only reason that the few people who go to those programs then go on to Ivys achieve those admissions is because they were top kids in the first place, so the summer thing was just another resume-padder that was unnecessary.</p>

<p>These types of programs do NOT make a diffierence, and if they do, it is sooooo negligible. I know about a dozen close family friends on admissions committees for different schools, and they have all said that these look basically exactly the same as any other summer activity kids could have chosen. These programs are NOT exclusive, and their high price tags do nothing but show the adcoms that you have money. It does not impress them at all.</p>

<p>That being said, here are some other summer options that actually look really good for adcoms: 1) a lot of community service
2) research at an institute/university/hospital/etc (science, math, or social science are all fine) –> try to then get your research published if it’s really good
3) creating your own small business (whatever it is)
4) working at a serious job (not necessarily an important job, but just show that you were committed to it, whether it was as a lifeguard, a cashier, or working at a corporation) –> shows good work ethic and willingness to be responsible and a hard worker
5) selective programs that really only except a very limited number of kids (though these could get extremely expensive, and everything else I listed can look just as good)</p>

<p>Okay, now as for your original post. You seem to be doing really well, so keep up the good work. The only thing that could be potentially detrimental is that you come from such a great school. Because it is ranked so high, as you said, adcoms will most likely hold you to a really high standard. Whereas a kid in Nebraska may have similar ECs as you and a 3.7 GPA and get accepted, they might expect a 4.0 from you, etc…</p>

<p>Good luck, however things turn out! And don’t forget, even if you don’t go to an Ivy or Top Tier school, if you work hard, you can become just as successful (if not more so!) in life than people who did.</p>

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<p>Good advice except for this last part. Having a 3.7 in a very competitive school is actually better than having a 4.0 in a totally non-competitive one, since non-competitive ones usually have huge grade inflation, and the admissions officers know this.</p>

<p>As for OP’s chances, you don’t really have any notable ECs, so I’m not really sure about MIT or Caltech. It’s possible you may get into Caltech because they’re slightly less EC-heavy. What was your SAT/ACT?</p>

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<p>Actually, I’ve found that many times more competitive schools do grade inflation. My school is highly competitive and has grade inflation, for example.</p>

<p>But either way, it’s a moot point. Because when it comes to unweighted, a 3.7 and a 4.0 are on the <em>exact</em> same scale, with no inflation whatsoever. So as I said, a kid in a less competitive school could have a 3.7, which for their school could be top of the class, especially if they have much fewer resources than a more prestigious school.</p>

<p>On the other hand, a kid with that same 3.7 at a prestigious school would be among the average for their class, where it is likely that kids get 4.0 pretty frequently, in fair part to access to better resources. And a kid with 4.0 at that school would just be one among many, a student fortunate enough to have been born to a family with enough money to live in a town with such a prestigious/competitive school. </p>

<p>In the end, if the 3.7 unweighted GPA Nebraska kid and the 4.0 unweighted GPA prestigious school kid both have their applications being reviewed by the same committee, both with similar (or equivalent) ECs, good recs, and good essays, it will seem more impressive that the kid with less resources managed to fare so well. Furthermore, if the 3.7 Nebraska kid goes up to bat against a 3.7 (or say 3.92 Nebraska against the OP 3.92 kid), which would be more likely to be admitted? In almost all cases, it will be the kid from Nebraska.</p>

<p>**by the way, I have nothing against Nebraska. I’m sure there are some great schools there, but the truth of the matter is that there are a startling amount of underprivileged schools there, and there are pretty high poverty and illiteracy rates as compared to some other states.</p>

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<p>Born2dance-
Thanks a lot for your advice. I plan on keeping my GPA high. I realize that my weak points are EC’s. I am actually in the process of signing up for classes at a semi-local university for independent research done with a professor. I hope that will be published. I am also volunteering at a hospital/somewhere when I go to Tibet. For the school I go to I have to write an Extended Essay of at least 4000 words. I will be conducting primary research in the Nepal/Tibet area and writing the paper on the differences in medical systems there and how it effects the lives of the people. I expect to be spending a very substantial amount of time on this and will try to get it published. </p>

<p>For volunteer time like I said I will be doing that at the hospital (hopefully in the surgical wing/section) and I hope to have >100 hours. On top of that I will be working there probably >175 hours.</p>

<p>I have contemplated starting my own business but I honestly do not think I have the time to make it worthwhile, and I have also put thought into starting a non-profit organization of my own but I can already get on the board of one that makes thousands of dollars for cancer a year. I am also an event coordinator for it too.</p>

<p>Finally, about summer programs… my parents are not poor, but nevertheless i am the major financial contributer to my recent trip to Florida, my car, and the trip to the galapagos, so a $6,000+ camp would be out of the question.</p>

<p>Bob-
As a sophomore, i have not taken either tests, but I took the PLAN (pre-ACT) and it was projected that my score would be around 33. But that was without any prep whatsoever and I think I can score higher. Almost certain. </p>

<p>For EC’s do you think that getting research/a paper published is good?</p>

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<p>Oh, no! I didn’t mean to do ALL of the things in the list. Even just 1 would look great for your apps! Lol, sorry if my post was confusing.</p>

<p>…Yeah, I know what you mean about the money thing. My parents certainly have money, but with my sister in college and me about to head there in a year, such expensive trips are a little pricey when placed on top of the $100,000 per year for both of our schoolings. Plus my little bro will take his turn at school in a few years. Those Ivy summer programs can cost anywhere from$12,000 to $20,000! Holy crap! Honestly for that price, it better come with a printed contract assuring acceptance. ;P</p>

<p>Getting a paper published would look fabulous on an app! It shows that professionals in the field you studied in took your work so seriously and felt it would be a great contributor to the knowledge of the published world. This summer, I’ll be researching neurotransmitters and proteins in the brain associated with epilepsy at a Neurology lab, and I severely hope I will be able to get it published. Less so for college, and more for just my own satisfaction. Keep that in mind: don’t do anything <em>just</em> because you think colleges will like it, but rather because YOU will like it. :)</p>

<p>P.S. the best (aka funniest aka most holy crap!iest) thing I got was a letter from a 4-day college app-writing workshop. They said I was “invited” to the workshop, and that I should feel honored for being “invited.” And for just the low cost of $16,000, I could attend their 4-day workshop! Lucky me! How prestigious ;P</p>

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<p>Haha I know what you mean, countless emails asking me to go to those summer programs, enroll in “special scholarship clubs”, etc… Used to think I was special :p</p>

<p>And I definitely wouldn’t do anything I don’t receive personal enjoyment out of. I like absolutely everything I am involved in and thats why I am convinced I am going to do well on them. I love traveling so you can probably see that is going to show through in everything I do, and I also love science. Model U.N. is the only thing that seems like an outlier but I like it a lot and I am pretty good (decent) so I am going to stick with it. Plus it has a very balancing nature.</p>

<p>Honestly like I stressed in my original comment, I don’t really worry that much about what University I get into, I would be fine with a decent scholarship to the University of Michigan and such. They have very good programs and I love Ann Arbor (favorite place in Michigan). </p>

<p>Are you a junior? Where are you applying? That sounds amazing the brain is fascinating to me and I sincerely hope I can do research related to its inner workings when next year, this summer I am thinking I might just make an appearance at the OU (university I might take classes at), to see how it feels.</p>

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<p>And by make an appearance I mean take some Independent Study classes in Chemistry/Biology, some 200 classes (if they allow me :/). Since I am not in AP (IB) its more of a grey area. Otherwise I love the IB program.</p>

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<p>Hey does anybody know any other good EC’s that would look good and I would enjoy?</p>

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<p>Yeah I’m a junior. I want to do international business so I’m looking at schools with business, international relations, or both. My top is Wharton, where I will apply ED. It’s super hard to get in, but eh, I can dream lol.</p>

<p>As for other ECs: if you like MUN, you’ll probably also really enjoy debate. It is sooo much fun. It’s probably my favorite part of school, even though it’s after school. It is similar in ways to MUN; after joining debate I realized MUN was similar and looked awesome, but unfortunately they meet on the same day for us. (except this one kid is involved in literally 28 clubs, 16 of which he is the president/captain of. Including debate and MUN. He never showed up to either because he had mock trial and newspaper too on he same day. Too bad he falsified involvement in all of them and got into Princeton, UPenn M&T, Columbia, Duke, Stanford, and Yale, among other schools. Too bad he also cheated profusely in every single class. Oh well.) </p>

<p>Lol but I digress. Basically, as I was saying, of you have a debate team, consider joining. It is immensely satisfying and the national tournaments are really fun! Plus most schs have well-funded teams, so for example at our school I didn’t pay for a single tournament last year including the nationals, and this year I only had to pay $200 for Princeton and Yale nationals combined. And that included 4 star hotel accommodations. Lol yeah debate is awesome!</p>

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<p>P.s. it also helps build great skills in public speaking, writing, forming a persuasive piece of rhetoric, and building confidence.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot for the advice… Unfortunately the Debate team at my school was just created this year … so not very good. They haven’t gone to anything. Model U.N. is much better, we have competed at Lansing, and this year we went to Chicago. I want to focus a lot of attention on that because I think I have a real shot of becoming the captain next year, and I want to go to the UoC event and win best delegate (although I would take it in Lansing too).</p>

<p>Science O. is something I want to focus on too. Our team of 15 runs every event so I will probably have 2 build and 2 study events to work on and I want to be able to compete competitively at the state level. That is also a lot of work :confused: (And I want to be captain)</p>

<p>On top of that I will be studying like none other with the whole Three Science thing. I could join debate but I was actually looking at the Student Paper, I like to write freely and I think I could be the editor if I joined next year :slight_smile: But we will see if that works out. Thankfully I am pretty good at public speaking and I have a good amount of confidence. </p>

<p>What Ec’s (major ones) have you done? International Business has always been interesting to me, for some weird reason it seems like it would be very cool to work in Import/Exports.</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>Any chance you go to International Academy?</p></li>
<li><p>You have a great shot if you make your ECs more in depth. Colleges want to see that you actually strived and when deep into an activity, and that you genuinely have the interest in a given area to display potential in that area beyond the scope of a high school classroom. Look at summer programs everywhere; I’m personally a math kid, so I’ve been looking at stuff like PROMYS and HCSSiM and whatnot. There are thousands of programs out there, and it isn’t too late to apply to…some of them.</p></li>
<li><p>Any chance you go to International Academy? ahah</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>@Connor10 Student paper is great too! I did Newspaper last year and loved it, but this year the days coincided with debate so I couldn’t. As for my other EC’s, apart from 5 honor societies, I’ve done 12 years of dance, did the school dance team until last year, Newspaper, Natural helpers, relay for life, quizbowl, and of course debate (which takes up like 15-20 hours a week during season). Oh and National Latin exam I guess is an EC, and I was captain of the winning Latin TriState Certamen teams for my level both years since I began Latin. Also, I’m in the science research program. It is soooo annoying, and literally takes 30 hours a week or sometimes more when it’s crunch time. My family has had to cancel 4 family vacations for me to go into school almost every day to do my project, and I also have spent countless weekends there as well. Then there’s a bunch of science competitions when we finish. Rewarding in the end, but makes me regret it so much as it goes on lol. Sadly enough though, even with doing all this crap (these are my major ones, I think I’ve forgotten a few like volunteer stuff but whatever), but chances of getting into Wharton are soooooooo slim because everyone has stats like these! It’s like you work 24 hours a day, but there’s always that kid who somehow manages to work 25 hours a day and gets in. Lol</p>

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<p>Great chance :slight_smile: and thanks for the advice. I will look into those programs :slight_smile: Why do u ask about the IA? Maybe I know you?</p>

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<p>And born2dance: I known what you mean, haha I really don’t get stressed very easily but it seems like there is always the kid who can do what you do with less time for having fun :confused: but i guess if they can do that then props to them. Your research project sounds very interesting. I would love to be a part of something like that and I am really hoping I can find something like that at a university/college/camp/school/whatever this summer that I can continue through the school year. Thats awesome that you are involved in so many clubs. Latin is always something I wanted to learn but I never did sadly. It’s ok though my true calling is Science and I get a lot of that already. Always looking for more though. I might try for the School Newspaper.</p>

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<p>Latin is great! We have something called intensive Latin at our school, so even though Spanish is the language I started taking back in 6th grade when we chose our languages, I was able to take all of middle school and the first year of high school Latin all in one class last year, and with honors this year, they are letting me skip ahead to AP next year to be fully caught up with my grade for Latin. I know a few other schools do this, so if you really want to learn Latin and your school is one of those that has such a class, I totally recommend doing it.</p>

<p>For research, it’s really not all that hard to get a placement! Just start contacting mentors (because programs cost a shiznitload!) around December/January/early February next school year. They can be at universities/hospitals/research institutes/labs/etc. Just look into fields you’re interested in, find the names of people, and shoot out an email expressing your interest and asking if they have any spots available for a high school researcher for the summer. Every person in science research (10 kids per grade) is required to work in a lab before senior year (whether a program or mentor), and so far in all the years our school has had science research-- which is a lottttt-- no one has been unable to find even just one mentor.</p>

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<p>I wish I would have gotten involved in Latin when I was younger :confused: but idk. And oh by the way my biology teacher just recommended to me that I do Ocean Bowl next year, so I might tack that on to my resume as well.</p>

<p>Sorry but I wanted to clarify a few things about what you said. For research, what do you mean by contact mentors? Also what is science research, is it like a class at your school?</p>