<p>colleges: Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Duke, UC Berkeley, MIT, Caltech**
ABout myself:** Asian, male
-Unweighted GPA;3.65 -Weighted GPA;3.92 -# of AP/IB/honors courses; 6 Total AP, 3 senior, 2 junior and 1 sophmore
Senior: AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP German
Junior: AP Bio(5), AP Physics B(5), AP Chem(5) =>without taking the class
Sophmore: AP Music Theory Senior Schedule Counselor said it is one of the most rigorous
AP Physics
Mythology
AP Calc BC
Lab Assistant
Economics
AP German
Engineering Tech
Other: Intermediate Quantum Mechanics -class rank/size; Probably in top 2nd decile; I'd say top 15%. -SAT/ACT scores
Not superscored highest ACT-30
Math: 35
Science;32
English and Reading:28 (27? I forgot) -SAT II scores
Bio:770
Math II:780 Work Experience
Interned at a nearby laboratory, and did research Clubs
Science Olympiad (2 years)
German (2)
Physics
Math Circles -ECs **--
Piano (12 years), Studied under SF Conservatory teacher,qualified international, won a national award in competition and a few local competitions
Robotics(2 years): I am the principal treasurer as well as animation leader, we nearly won at regionals and we went to nationals for FIRST, animation won the regional award
Science Olympiad: won 3 and 5th at states, 2nd and 3rd at regionals, also VP.
Tennis: Varisty, and somewhat high Norcal ranking
Boyscouts: Eagle scout,
MFT: Community Service, I lead it where we play music for elderly and disabled people, got local award for work
**Community Service:
Besides boyscouts and MFT
Tutoring in Physics, Chem and Math
Work at a mental disability center
MAGIC!; basically a group that likes to improve the environment by planting trees -honors/awards **--
Biology Olympiad Semifinalist
CSF (California Scholarship Federation)
Various piano awards, and science stuff mentioned above.
German National Exam-top 10%
Top 5% AMC
IN THE FUTURE; (did not happen but might)
Intel Talent Search
Physics Olympiad
MIT THINK
MIT InvenTeams
**recs
Counselor: I dont know too much
Physics: Outstanding
Calculus: Pretty Strong
*-additional information
*
Oh boy, I could fill this up with a page, I was pretty much in a disadvantaged scenario for most of my sophmore and junior year. I have notified my colleges of this, and perhaps they will understand</p>
<p>So this is me, please be as harsh in critiquing my chances at these colleges
thanks</p>
<p>I think the research thing is a big plus but it is becoming more common. Your ACTs and GPA doesnt really set you apart. Your in-school ECs are okay but you make up for them in outta school ECs. Eagle Scout is also big plus.
Still those are all Ivy (or equivalent) so you really never know, I think that you have a great shot at them all. GL!!</p>
<p>everything’s a reach…sorry but with your GPA and Scores…it is hard to see it happeneing, but your EC’s are impressive. Get the ACT up to 32+ and you’ll stand a descent chance</p>
<p>is this including explaining what happened during sophmore and junior year? it really did mess a good GPA, I mean straight A’s freshman, and like alot of B’s during sophmore and junior, and now like straight A’s as a senior. It should be the opposite lawl…
yeah, well i retook the ACT, and I definitely expect better than 30 this time</p>
<p>your ECs are VERY strong.
the only problem here is your gpa/ACT
since raising your gpa to top 3% is unrealistic at this point,
make sure you raise ACT score by a lot.
then you’ll have it</p>
<p>I don’t think you even chanced me. Could you please?</p>
<p>Your EC’s are quite impressive, especially the Eagle Scout award and the piano awards/dedication (piano more so). Teacher recs are great. However, your ACT scores aren’t really competitive, unfortunately. Make dang sure you tell your colleges about your disadvantaged situation. Talk about it poignantly in some well-crafted, moving essays. At least your math background is very strong, so some of the “techs” like MIT, CalTech, etc. will favor you. All in all:</p>
<p>Stanford - high reach (scores, GPA)
Princeton - reach (scores, GPA, but bonus of piano)
Yale - very high reach (scores, GPA, lacking in humanities/non-math areas)
Brown - reach/high match (scores, GPA) - luckily it is less selective than the 3 above colleges
Cornell - mid-high match
Duke - high reach (scores, GPA)
UC Berkeley - high match (scores, GPA)
MIT - high match (scores, GPA, but strong in math/science)
Caltech - reach (scores, GPA, but strong in math/science)</p>
<p>You should really apply to at least one safety. I’m pretty sure you’ll get into at least ONE of the schools you’re applying to, but what if you don’t??</p>
<p>oh , I forgot to mention that the Stanford auditioner was quite impressed with my piano skills, we had a good chat (even though he was clearly behind schedule), any difference then? (applied for stanford early)
as for the essay, already crafted @vaniificat; quite the contrary, my humanties are quite strong too</p>
<p>Before I start anything, your GPA is a bit low for all of these schools, actually pretty low. If your soph and freshman years have a good excuse as to why it’s low, then that should help out a lot. That said, your math and science ECs are incredibly strong, and thatll be the hook for some of the schools</p>
<p>Stanford - sounds like the interview went well, but its just an interview; reach
Princeton - high reach
Yale - reach
Brown - low reach
Cornell - Match just bc of ECs
Duke - Getting more selective. why do you wanna go here? reach
UC Berkeley - High match bc of ECs. OOS?
MIT - Low reach; pretty good chance because of math and sci ECs. Intel and MIT competitions can help you out loads and get you in
Caltech - same as MIT</p>
<p>Your humanities might indeed be strong, but I just didn’t see it in your AP courses, recommendation teachers, ACT scores, SAT IIs, or EC’s. If you are strong in the humanities, then make sure you demonstrate it.</p>
<p>And that’s very good about the Stanford auditioner. Yes, I believe it will improve your chances.</p>
<p>Haha good…I’ve only written one of my 4 essays - and I was late in thinking about SCEA Stanford so I was planning to write 3 essays in a night - HAH what a joke. Never happened, luckily for my chances and my sanity.</p>
<p>Schools beside Brown, and Cornell are reaches.
brown and cornell, with your EC’s and great essays should be lower reaches.
If you’re in-state for California, UCB should be a low-reach as well.</p>
<p>Threads like this one disturb me. There is tremendous misinformation. Brown a high match?</p>
<p>The OP is not in the top 10% of his class. At all of these schools only between 5 and 8 percent were not top 10%. That includes all athletes, legacies and URMs.</p>
<p>The 30 ACT is also well below average for all these schools.</p>
<p>Therefore, every school would have to make a MAJOR exception to accept the OP. That does indeed sometimes happen, but we have no way of knowing if it will in this case. If CC is an indication, a fair percentage of applicants are hoping colleges will overlook something. The numbers tell us that most of their requests are not granted.</p>
<p>So I’d very much like to see the OP add some safeties and for other kids who “chance” to acquaint themselves with the common data sets before they answer these posts.</p>