Do I even have a shot?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>White male from a small town in NJ.
These are all the reach colleges that I'm thinking of applying to:</p>

<p>MIT, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, and Rice. </p>

<p>I really don't know if I have any real chance at MIT, Harvey Mudd, or Rice, but I feel like I might be able to get into Carnegie Mellon since my Java teacher graduated from there and is writing a recommendation for me. </p>

<p>Academics:
Public school, but I had to take a test and an interview to get in (don't know if that would factor in or not); I think it's called a "magnet school" or something similar and is divided into several academies. I go to the IS academy there.
3.4 GPA (UW)
All Honors or AP courses:
AP Chem (B+), AP Environmental Science, AP Stats, NJIT Physics (dual-enrollment course with the local college).
3 years of physics courses (H. Physics (B) is the only one from last year); highest math is H. Calc (A-)
National Honor Society Member
7 years of science by the time I graduate
Honor Roll 9th, 11th, 12th grades</p>

<p>SATs: 2110 (will retake)
Crit. Reading: 700
Math: 720
Writing:690</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
Chem: 750
Lit: 670 (will retake)
I haven't taken Math IIC yet. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
track team (1 trimester, which is a little over 3 months)
tennis team (1 trimester)
private tennis lessons (6 months)
Worked as a web designer for both my district and PCOR
Worked as a private tutor for another summer (for elementary and middle school children)
Researched computer hardware to build my own computer on my 3rd summer. I'm hired from time to time to build computers for others and do odd jobs like design templates, photoshop, etc...
Research at Columbia University for my senior year (my mentor graduated from MIT and will write a recommendation for me)
NJIT Website Competition participant
Part of a team for the Panasonic Creative Design Challenge this year
Founder of a local parkour club
20 hours of community service working at a camp for children with disabilities</p>

<p>I don't know if this will factor in, but I've only been in this country for about 7 years and will be the first from my family to go to any college. I'm also currently looking for a second internship. </p>

<p>Sorry in advance for writing so much. I'm spending a lot of time on my essay to make sure it comes out as nice as possible.
So, again, the question is: do I even have a shot?? Thanks for any comments :)</p>

2

<p>um your test scores might hold you back. Even if your scores were 2300+</p>

<p>I’d still be hesitant to say you have a decent chance considering your GPA and typical EC’s.</p>

<p>I dunno,</p>

3

<p>I’m a little bit more optimistic.
You seem to be a pretty good student, and yes those other schools are very hard to get in (Including Carnegie) but I feel like Carnegie is one of those schools that wants over achievers, but also looks for special guys. Have you read the Last Lecture by Randy Paulsch? He’s the guy who was a professor there and had cancer and so wrote a book about his life before he died. You know the java intro program Alice? Well, he founded that, and the book is really inspirational. I think the teacher recommendation will go a long way. Randy himself tried to go to CM for graduate school (after attending Brown for undergraduate) and was rejected. He then went to his professor (CS professor I believe) and his professor convinced CM otherwise, and he went there, and ended up teaching there.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, CM is a school with history (CS wise, anyway) and so I think that they might be more willing to say “This kid isn’t the best to apply here, but he’s one of the most interesting” While other schools might just turn you down flat.
I’d use the recommendation and the essay to my full advantage (Heck, read the book Last Lecture and talk about Randy in the essay, colleges love things like that).
Best of luck to you!</p>

4

<p>I think you have a good shot at CMU if you are full pay. For the others you’ll want higher scores and hopefully your rank is in the top few percent. Even if your school doesn’t officially rank.</p>

5

<p>I really appreciate the comments guys.</p>

<p>I know that my scores are not very high (especially my GPA), so I was hoping my background and ECs, especially my research, would get me through the door. I’m going to to lean pretty heavily on the college interview and essay, since I have quite a few interesting and funny stories from my country and from when I immigrated here. </p>

<p>I am focusing more on CMU, so I’ll be applying second early decision. I wanted to see what people thought of my chances of getting into my other reach schools before I decided to try Early Decision at CMU. A possible problem is that I will definitely need financial aid no matter where I go. </p>

<p>csbram: Thanks a lot for the info. I never heard of that person before, but I’ll be sure to check out his book.</p>