Got into UMich, Minn., and Wisc., but what about MIT, Princeton, Stanford, etc.?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>(some of you may have already seen this information...)</p>

<p>I live in Minnesota, and I got into the University of Minnesota, Michigan, and UW-Madison. What about these other schools?</p>

<p>Duke University - Pratt Engineering School
Carnegie Mellon - 1st IT, 2nd Science, 3rd Tepper Business
Berkeley - bioengineering
UCLA - bioengineering
Princeton - B.S. Engineering, bioengineering
Harvard
MIT - EA, deferred
Stanford
UPenn - Fisher Program for Management and Technology, 2nd choice technology not management, bioengineering (this is a dual major program awarding a B.S. Economics and B.S. Engineering at the end of four years' study)</p>

<p>And my information:</p>

<p>Male, public high school, Minnesota</p>

<p>Courses in school:
Tons of AP's, always enriched, very college-preparatory curriculum (a lot of science, not much art). Some testing out, too.
Did University of Minnesota advanced math program, so Algebra I/II in 6th grade, Geometry/Pre-calc 7th grade, Calc I 8th grade, Calc II/Lin Algebra 9th grade, Calc III/"Calc IV" 10th grade, no math ever again, however; these courses are all universities honors courses (e.g. 1737H)</p>

<p>(unweighted) GPA after junior year, 3.87 (~110 of 800)
(unweighted) GPA after first semester, 3.82 (~150 out of 800)</p>

<p>This year I'm taking all classes at the University of Minnesota through the post-secondary options program, except for AP English because it's more rigorous. My grades from last semester:</p>

<p>PChem 2, Quantum Mechanics, Spectroscopy: C+
PChem 1, Thermodynamics, Kinetics, Stat Mechanics: A-
Physics III: A
Organic Chemistry I: B
Public Speaking: B+</p>

<p>This was my worst semester by far, ever, my first C+ also. I was either unprepared for the college experience or the tests were horrible at testing actual knowledge (I prefer the latter explanation).</p>

<p>Spring semester I'm taking</p>

<p>AP English (at high school)
Organic Chemistry II
Quantum Physics
Quantum Physics Lab
History of 20th Century Physics</p>

<p>I wrote letters to colleges about why my grades were so low first semester (bad tests, one late homework assignment, etc.) and why they were so low before then (review sheets, stupid homework, I tended to do well on tests though, etc.)</p>

<p>AP Tests: </p>

<p>8th grade - Calc AB, 5
9th grade - Calc BC, 5; Stats, 4
10th grade - CompSci AB, 5; Micro, 4; US Hist, 5
11th grade - Macro, 4; Bio, 5; Chem, 5; Phys B, 5; Phys C Mech, 5; Phys C E&M, 5; Env Sci, 5; Stats, 5; Psych, 5; US Gov, 4; French Lang, 3; Comp Pol, 4
12th grade plan to take or retake - US Gov, US Hist, Comp Pol, French Lang, Macro, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Human Geo, Art Hist, World Hist</p>

<p>I'm really proud of all of those :-)
Thus, I became a National AP Scholar, also Minnesota's male Siemens Award Winner (male/female in each state with most 5's on eight math and science AP tests, I got 5's on all eight; a $2000 scholarship)
The tests also let me get into some of the more advanced college courses.
Many of the AP tests I took I did not take the courses for (though Psych was, for example, offered as a non-AP course)</p>

<p>Test scores:</p>

<p>National Merit Finalist (226)
SAT I: M - 780, W - 800, R - 740, essay - 9 --- 2320,
SAT II's: French w/o listening - 800, Bio M - 800, US Hist - 770, Chem - 800, Math 2 - 800
ACT: S - 33, R - 36, M - 36, E - 35 , E/W - 32 --- 35</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
(no sports)
Quiz Bowl - probably 2nd or maybe 3rd best player in MN, best team in MN by far, for sure, undoubtedly
Math Team - on scoring team of eight and on "state team"
Science Olympiad - won 3rd place in two events last year
FIRST robotics competition, my school's first year this year
I also do amateur chemistry experiments at home, I wrote about how I synthezised copper (II) acetate on my back porch in my 100-150-word extracurricular activity essay.</p>

<p>Peer tutoring after school (or whenever I can), so about 7 hrs/week, 30 weeks/year</p>

<p>Took an intro chemistry course over the summer at UMinn</p>

<p>Last summer took a French language course in Paris for 8 weeks (AFTER the AP test)</p>

<p>Admissions essays: poor to mediocre.</p>

<p>Common app essay: I wrote about how reading Einstein's "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" when I was in 9th grade permanently changed my writing style and made me realize his deep insight and showed me that the best way to get to understand a theory or development is to go directly to the source, and it "influenced me to read such original and influential works as On the Origin of Species and In Praise of Folly [...]".</p>

<p>My teacher recommendations were probably all right to good. My teachers hate me....</p>

<p>A few other distinctions that I put into my college applications:</p>

<p>I have the most high school credits of anyone in my class of 800 or so (but again, a very low GPA).</p>

<p>I have the most UMinn credits of anyone in my year as well, because of the courses I took.</p>

<p>Due to all of the physics and chemistry courses I'm taking, I will have fulfilled the requirements for a MINOR IN PHYSICS by the time I leave high school and I will be one course away from a minor in chemistry (all caps because I think that's kind of cool).</p>

<p>Also, I was born in Uzbekistan and I speak Russian. </p>

<p>So, will I get in?</p>

<p>Will my low unweighted GPA hurt me?
Will my first semester of low grades in college courses hurt me?
How much do my essays matter?
Do these answers vary between schools?</p>

<p>I'd really like to get into some good schools....</p>

2

<p>Holy Crap. You have the best chances that anyone could have for these schools.</p>

3

<p>First off, U of Michigan and U of Wisconsin are very good schools. Don’t dis them.</p>

<p>Now the rest. Will you get in?</p>

<p>Duke University - Maybe
Carnegie Mellon - Likely
Berkeley - Likely
UCLA - Likely
Princeton - Probably not.
Harvard - Probably not.
MIT - Probably not.
Stanford - Probably not.
UPenn - Probably not.</p>

<p>Notice I’m not saying absolutely not for Princeton, Harvard, etc. You do have a small chance at each one, and it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them accepted you.</p>

4

<p>I’m not an expert on colleges or anything like that, but I have to agree with amptron2x. You have a chance in getting into Princeton and Harvard and whatnot, but yes, your low GPA will hurt you. Badly. Essays count for a whole lot. These answers don’t really vary between schools.</p>

<p>But then again, you do have a whole lot of stuff dealing with science and math, so that will definitely get you points. Not to mention the Russian. But if you just say you speak Russian, colleges probably won’t care. Either take a standardized test on it or take a class…but both might be kind of hard to find =/.</p>

<p>Uh, the letter to the colleges about why your grades were low will probably hurt you rather than help you, unless you were abused/family crisis/caught in hurricane katrina or something around there. The bad test/missing homework assignment is totally your fault, so colleges might see you as a complainer and you’ll lose points for that.</p>

5

<p>You know why you didn’t get into MIT?..
It’s because you have no life and they realized that! GL w/ everything else though. Try to enjoy yourself a little?</p>

6

<p>I’m surprised you get deferred from MIT. In at Duke, Carnegie, Berkeley, UCLA, Penn, and maybe 1 of harvard/princeton/stanford.</p>

7

<p>how is 3.87 a low gpa? i mean 4 is the best right? if 3.87 is low then i’m f**kin screwed lol</p>

8

<p>Being an OOSer applying to bioengineering at Berkeley will usually make it a reach. However, your app is strong, so you do have a shot – I’d say 50-50 (slight reach).</p>

9

<p>I think you have great courses. I do think the C+ will hurt you though, because ass you said. You may not be ready for the college experiences. Your standerized tests are GREAT. Your ECs are okay. But your courses are GREAT. I am just wondering how the advanced math program works? Do you apply for it or do you just enter it?</p>

10

<p>Thank you for all of the replies, everyone.</p>

<p>I’m sorry if it sounded like I’m dissing Madison, the U of M, or Michigan. The are indeed great schools and I would totally considering going to them.</p>

<p>I do understand the thing about the losing my homework and bad tests being my fault. I did not really talk about losing my homework or anything though. Those /would/ be my fault. More I talked about how I don’t like to do review sheets and that colleges don’t have review sheets anyway. I also put in some extra stuff so we’ll see…</p>

<p>Does my app really look like I don’t have a life? I hope it doesn’t, because that’s not really true…</p>

<p>Thanks for your optimistic predictions :-)</p>

<p>I kind of think that, in my school, 3.87 is very much a low GPA because people are so obsessed with maintaining a very high one. We have like 20 valedictorians every year. The kid who went to Harvard last year was not one of them though.</p>

<p>Sorry I’m so ignorant, but what’s OOS? And is bioengineering really that selective?</p>

<p>You do have to take a test to apply for the math program (called UMTYMP, if anyone cares).</p>

11

<p>^^ OOS means out-of-state. Berkeley holds out-of-staters (OOSers) to a higher standard. Bioengineering is probably its third most selective program for freshman admissions – the first two being engineering undeclared and EECS.</p>

12

<p>Why, oh why are you bothering to retake AP exams? It’s not worth it! You are very defensive about your record. Don’t be. Lesson to others reading this thread: don’t complain about why you got a B (or even a C+) in a class. Don’t b*&^% about review sheets. It makes you look bad.</p>

<p>A 3.82 UW will not keep you out of elite schools. (Trust me on this.) Poor essays and defensiveness will. Your test scores are great, obviously. I have never seen anyone post on CC who re-took AP exams. That would be a big red flag to me if I were an admissions person. At the top schools, essays are what distinguish you from everyone else who has stellar numbers.</p>

<p>If you are re-taking AP exams on top of your college courses this semester, I suggest you drop the re-takes and focus on getting the best grades in your college courses you can.</p>

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<p>By the way, did you apply to RSI last year?</p>

14

<p>Thank you again for all of the comments and advice!</p>

<p>Oh, out-of-state, I see. For Berkeley, OOS admissions is like 20%. I realize bioengineering is a selective program, but obviously it is closest to what I’d want to do.</p>

<p>I’m starting to regret b@#ching about review sheets now… I didn’t write it like that, I just wanted to show that I focus more on reading the book than on filling it out like 90% of the kids that do the assignment. Maybe they’ll just ignore it…</p>

<p>I’m retaking AP exams only so I can get credit for them if I go to an elite school that only gives credit for 5’s. I am definitely focusing more on my college courses, of course. The AP exams won’t be that hard, I don’t think…</p>

<p>I guess I seem ignorant again, but what’s RSI?</p>

15

<p>It is difficult to assess your chances for admission to these schools as your posted info. is insufficient. Need more info.</p>

16

<p>Your GPA is not low at all.
I had a 3.8-ish GPA around this time last year and still got into Duke.
I’d say that your chances are great for Duke actually! </p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon is a safe match.
Berkeley and UCLA are both slight reaches, since you are out of state. These two schools tend to waitlist/reject a lot of brilliant OOS people, more so than other state schools.
Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford.. good luck.. difficult is an understatement.
U-Penn: The Fisher program is tough to get into, but they will likely decide to just accept you for CAS instead.</p>

17

<p>icy9ff8, what additional information should I put on here?</p>

<p>thank you for the predictions, Mondo. Hmm…this has made me more worried about Berkeley and UCLA somehow…</p>

18

<p>Interview information for me:
MIT (EA) - I was quite unprepared and made a somewhat bad impression, I think.
CMU - Reasonably okay, I guess.
Harvard - Pretty well, actually. My interviewer was Indic and spoke Russian and he told me a whole bunch of stuff about Borat and whatnot. He also advised me to not go to Harvard for undergrad, but either Princeton, MIT, or UChicago.
Duke - Very well, I think. I talked about how my school’s education isn’t that great and she was a psych major at Duke so it was really good.
Princeton - It was very short for some reason and I think I made a bad impression.</p>

<p>Hope this helps decide more?
I’m not sure what other information I can give…</p>

19

<p>pretty good chances at all of the schools. amazing AP record, which might help with the relatively poor academic records.</p>

20

<p>I don’t think there’s any way to predict your admissions. Your courses are all over the place, at a separate university, etc. I can’t really make heads or tails of all of this information. This is no knock on you, but you just had a unique high school education and I don’t think people here can have any idea if an admissions officer is struck by this application.</p>