Final opinions for senior/ MIT+Caltech EA

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello,
I just want just last opinions before I roll the dice</p>

<p>Asian male
Income 35k
Northern California resident
First generation to go to college</p>

<p>ACT: 36
Math II subject test: 800
Chemistry subject test: 800
Physics subject test: 780</p>

<p>GPA: 3.98 u/w, 4.5 weighted. 11 APs by end of junior, 17 by end of senior</p>

<p>AP tests: taken 11, gotten 9 5's and 2 4's</p>

<p>ECs:
Participated in prestigious summer research program, did research at a local university the summer before
-Wrote a research paper, submitted to Siemens competition, submitting as supplement if possible
Founder and president of tutoring club at school
- counselor knows all about it, will write LoR focusing on this topic. Got the principal and admin actively involved, growing this into a school-wide program
President of the regional chapter of a statewide student-run non-profit organization
- ran a fundraising event to collect sleeping bags for the homeless, raised about $1000 dollars
Student President at a school for children with mental disabilities, 4+ years
Captain of varsity science bowl
Coach at Science Olympiad, got a couple regional awards
Playing on Varsity Academic Decathlon for 4 years, league champion for 3
Teach Chinese at local church</p>

<p>Will have completed ~1000 hours of community service by end of 2014
AIME Qualifier
Few regional science bowl/science olympiad awards
Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award x3 (250+ hours / year)</p>

<p>Here's my list:
EA: MIT, Caltech
RD: UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, WashU, Williams, Princeton, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Yale</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Caltech - good chances
I think you will get into most UCs and maybe also some privates. Not sure about Stanford, Harvard, Princeton or Yale. Not sure thing but not too high of a reach for those schools.</p>

3

<p>bump</p>

4

<p>bumpp</p>

5

<p>Good chances at the UC’s.
The other schools are extremely selective for you because you haven’t stepped out of your “academic” comfort zone. I know this sounds awful but it sounds like a “rubber stamp” resumé. Nothing is setting you apart from the crowd. </p>

6

<p>Caltech doesn’t do early action.</p>

7

<p>@"aunt bea"‌ Caltech most definitely does EA. Is my resume really that stereotypical? I only spend only about half my time on academic endeavors. As I’ve stated above, I have nearly a thousand hours of volunteer service and I’ve run my own fundraisers and such.</p>

8

<p>I think your resume has conflicting info. You cannot spend time to do serious research and other academic activities while acculating 1000 hours of community service. Quality counts, not quantity.</p>

9

<p>@coolweather‌ that’s 1000 hours over 4 years</p>

10

<p>I think that your résumé sounds really good. If you really did 1000 hours of community service, that is awesome. Plus, your test scores look great and you took so many AP classes. Good luck, I think you will do great!</p>

11

<p>I just try to give you advice. Honestly, you may have achieved what you described here but I still have some questions in my mind. Some of them you may need to prepare to answer are:</p>

<p>How did a low income student attend a prestigious summer program? Did you get scholarship? I know many low income students don’t have time to study because they have to help their parents to run swap meet market or to work part time.</p>

<p>How did you manage your time? How much time did you give to yourself for fun?</p>

12

<p>@coolweather‌ I understand. I did research over the summer since I didn’t have time during the school year, which is when I did my academics/volunteer work. The program I attended was all expenses paid. Though my parents don’t make much money, we live conservatively and they made sure I could focus on my studies. </p>

<p>I had fun doing my volunteer work and school activities so I didn’t really need to allocate time but I did have with friends and such haha. </p>

13

<p>My opinion for chances:</p>

<p>MIT: accepted
Caltech: rejected
UC Berkeley: accepted
Stanford: rejected
Harvard: rejected
Yale: rejected
Princeton: rejected
Others should be accepted
Good Luck!!!</p>

14

<p>@tryhardalay‌ thanks!</p>

15

<p>@tryhardalay, you have no idea… </p>

16

<p>@intparent would you care to share your opinion instead of shooting down others’ ?</p>

17

<p>No one can give you “chances” for schools like Harvard, Stanford, or even MIT. Your stats are good enough to be considered, but so are most of the applications they get. When they accept less than 1 in 10 of a pool of highly qualified applicants, how can anyone tell? I will say that if you get into MIT, odds are good that you will also get into CalTech. But for a school like Mudd, a lot depends on your application. They will want to know if you really have interests outside math & science, which is important to them. Wash U has a reputation of rejecting students they think are using them as safeties – unless you showed heavy interest there, you may not get in. I expect you will get into the UCs and Cornell. No one out here can tell you what will happen at the rest.</p>

18

<p>@intparent‌ thank you for your opinion</p>

19

<p>EA: MIT (Waitlisted), Caltech (Accepted)
RD: UC Berkeley - Accepted
, UCLA, - Accepted
UCSD, - Accepted
UCSB, - Accepted
Columbia, - Rejected
Cornell, - Accepted
Harvard, - Rejected
WashU, - Accepted
Williams, - Waitlisted
Princeton, - Could go either way; Waitlisted/ Accepted
Stanford, - Accepted
Harvey Mudd, - Accepted
Yale - Rejected
You honestly have a terrific application and I don’t really understand the above point but 250 hours per year over 4 years is a lot but not impossible. Congratulations! And overall great Ec’s, terrific strength of curriculum. I think what it will boil down to the ones I listed as reject or waitlist is your essay and the story you tell. Make sure no one else tells the same one (you cant literally do that but just make yourself an individual!)
Good luck!
Chance back? - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1692015-chance-me-ill-chance-back.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1692015-chance-me-ill-chance-back.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

20

<p>@ht1997 thanks and good luck to you too!</p>