Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Does anyone mind chancing me for UC Davis, UC San Diego, UCLA, USC, UPenn, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia? I will do my best to chance you back.

Also, what are my chances of Regents at those UC’s?

GPA and Background
3.94 UW, 4.74 W
4.4 UC GPA—Capped and Weighted

Asian female, California

COLLEGE DECISIONS SO FAR
Deferred from Yale EA
No merit scholarships from USC
Accepted to Berkeley early but no Regents invite
Invited to UCSB Chancellor’s Reception
Regents and CHP at UCI

CLASS RANK
<1%, 4th of 529 students

SAT
2240 (2400 scale), 720 CR, 740 Math, 780 Writing,

SAT II’s
750 Chemistry, 750 US History, 800 Math Level II, 750 Spanish Reading

AP CLASSES
AP World History (4), AP US History (4), AP Chem (5), AP Lang (5), Calc AB (5)

SENIOR YEAR CLASSES
AP Literature, AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP Psychology, Photography 150 (community college class offered at my high school)

MID YEAR REPORT: All A’s first semester of senior year

EXTRACURRICULARS
Mu Alpha Theta (12)
Key Club (9-12)
CSF (9-12)
Academic Decathlon (9-11)
Math Club (9-10)
Tutorial Club (11-12)
Piano (4-12)
Sync or Swim (9-11)
Toastmasters (11-12)
Your Vote Matters—Advancing Justice (11-12)—Asian American Voting Campaign
Homework Helper at local libraries (11-12)
Theater Usher (11-12)
TeenInk Advisory Board (10-12)

LEADERSHIP
TeenInk Advisory Board (10-12)
Your Vote Matters—Advancing Justice (11-12)—Asian American Voting Campaign
Counselor at Tech Trek, STEM camp for pre-teen girls

SUMMER INVOLVEMENT
Empowerment Program—program that encouraged Asian-American youth in political engagement (12)
Doctor Shadower at private gastroenterology clinic (12)

AWARDS
• AP Scholar with Distinction, 12th Grade
• Academic Decathlon Language and Literature Silver Medal, 11th grade
• Academic Decathlon SuperQuiz Silver Medal, 11th grade
• Academic Decathlon Science Bronze Medal, 11th grade
• Academic Decathlon Speech Bronze Medal, 11th grade
• Academic Decathlon Interview Bronze Medal, 11th grade
• Academic Decathlon Economics Bronze Medal, 11th grade
• Published a personal narrative in TeenInk
• TeenInk Editor’s Choice Award, 10th grade
• CM Level 10 Piano, 9th grade

POOR ATTEMPTS AT HOOKS
Worked on an astrophysics research project for 3 summers with PHD and grad students and work got published in a physics journal—I was a co-author
Published a personal narrative in TeenInk, a national magazine

ESSAYS
I would say my UC essays were decent, and I’d say my essays for CommonApp schools were a 7.5-9.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Physics teacher gave a solid recc, English teacher gave maybe a 7/10, and the doctor I worked with sent a really nice recc

2

UC Davis-match/almost a safety
UCSB-safety
UCSD-match
UCLA/USC low reach/high match
Yale-defer/reject
Other Ivies/Stanford-likely reject although you might be lucky and get into 1.

If you are accepted to an Ivy, Penn is the most likely one. HYPS are massive reaches with less than 5% acceptance and your SAT while very good is slightly low compared to your demographic. ECs are good within the local context but remember your fellow applicants may have national level recognition and even they may get deferred or outright rejected.

3

SAT is good but iffy for some schools. I’d say don’t lose hope on Yale. Realistically, though, I believe their RA acceptance rate is about 2%.

4

*RD

5

If your passion is astrophysics and your essays and recs support this, I would say you have a decent shot at all of the schools on your list, especially Yale (assuming your co-authorship was in a peer-reviewed reputable journal). Yale’s Megan Urry was a past President of the American Astronomical Society and still currently sits on the Council.

If you stated your intended major was biology or neuroscience, etc. and you wanted to be a doctor, I would say you’re in a VERY competitive pool and nobody can adequately chance you. It all comes down to how the various components of your app come together to form a cohesive narrative and which school(s) sees you as a fit. We can’t know or even begin to guess about any of this. Best of luck!

6

@Multiverse7 I did get co-authored in a reputable journal, but yeah I do want to be pre-med and my major at most was bio :frowning:

7

Well, you have to be true to your passion otherwise your apps wouldnt sound genuine. Unfortunately, there are many high-performing Asian females applying as premeds. Hopefully, your app stands out amongst them. You’ve already gotten into some outstanding schools so congrats. Hopefully, you will be adding some Ivies and S to the list. Good luck!

8

Hi!

I commented on your last thread, but I didn’t specify each university, so I’ll do that now:

UC Davis - Accepted
UC San Diego - Accepted
UCLA - Accepted
USC - Accepted
UPenn - Likely Acceptance
Stanford - Waitlisted/Rejected/I don’t really know about this one… How were your essays?
Harvard - Waitlisted/Accepted
Princeton - Rejected
Yale - Waitlisted/Rejected
Columbia - Waitlisted/Accepted

You have more than what it takes for all these universities. Your scores are great, your course load is great, your ECs are great. However, I’m worried cause all these universities are VERY competitive, so you never really know what they’re looking for, or if they like your essays and overall profile. There’s a solid chance you’ll be accepted in places where I said you’ll be rejected (Yale, Stanford), and rejected in places I said you’d be accepted (Especially Harvard and Columbia). But I tried to reach a logical conclusion in each university based on EA and ED acceptances this year and RD acceptances in the last couple of years.

Best of luck with everything!

9

@jinxorchestra Thank you for the reassurance :slight_smile: Why do you think Penn will be a likely admit? Just curious.

10

Well, as I mentioned above, you don’t have any particularly identifiable weakness in your application.

According to CollegeDate, Penn lists “Academic GPA”, “Standardized Testing”, and “Rigor of Secondary School Record” as very important aspects of an application. Your individual SAT Test Scores are all either on their average (Math and Reading), or well-above their average (Writing). Same thing could be said about your SAT 2 Scores. You’ve taken 4 tests in that region which is already great, but your lowest score on these is a 750, which is even more reassuring. An 800 on Math Level II and 750 on Chemistry are great (Even though your percentile in the latter might sound a little low). Also, it’s obvious that you’re in a great shape when it comes to your GPA and School record, so I’m not going to talk a lot about that.

The only “very important” aspect of the application that we are not aware are your essays. If you rocked your essays, then that means you’re on a really good level.

Additionally, your ECs, class rank, and overall character make UPenn somewhat of a match for you. I hope that is true, but you can never know for sure. Wish for the best!

11

I’d say you have a good chance at the UC’s. My sister and cousin are at LA and Berkeley, respectively, and they had similar SAT, GPA, and class ranks as you. Your EC’s are impressive as well, so I’d say you have a great shot. I’m not sure how many community service hours you have, but at least have a few hundred to make it well rounded.

As far as the Ivy Leagues go, you’re probably around their average applicant, maybe slightly better than average. You have a shot, but its probably not the best chance.

12

My opinion (harsh) is that your chances at Regents for the top schools are weak. There are so many students with deserving stats that the universities have to be picky. Those awards typically go to the students with near perfect scores (i.e. National Merit winners), who will get into the HYPS. The UC’s use Regents to attract those students.
My son (National Merit Winner) was offered Regents at several UC’s and USC scholarships. (My dd’s were close for Regents but, their scores weren’t as high as his scores.) It was all about his GPA and SAT and varied activities (including sports teams).

*That SAT score will limit your chances at the Ivy’s.

*You’ve padded your resume by including the generic activities that all the students have (especially ORMs) like STEM-oriented academic clubs. (Posting each Academic Decathlon for each 11th grade award is grasping for attention.) You didn’t step out of the “academics” comfort zone. The universities like to see variety.

HOOKS are something the university requires or needs. (It’s not something you make up for yourself):
Underrepresented Minority (URM), Recruited Athlete, Legacy, Celebrity, Specific Talent (artist, musician) and large, uber-large donor.

You’ve gotten into some good schools. Pick one!

13

Accepted at UC Davis, UC San Diego, UCLA, and USC. As for Penn, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia, they’re crapshoots for most everyone. I predict you will get into 1 or 2 of those 5.

14

Accepted at all the schools you guys said I’d be accepted at, waitlisted at UPenn and Columbia, rejected at HYP and Stanford. You guys are good at what you do!