Harvey Mudd College, Stanford, Caltech, etc

If you guys could please give me some feedback and I will also chance any who respond if they wish :slight_smile:

Will be a senior in HS next year, here is the outline:

Gender: M
College Class Year: 2020
High School: Public
High School Type: rarely sends grads to top schools (Top 5 ranked kids usually get into schools like UCLA, last time someone got into a school of the caliber of Stanford was about 3 years ago, although someone did get into Harvey Mudd this year).

Academics:

GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.80 (Calculated by averaging AP and regular credits, AP Credit is a 5.0 A, regular is 4.0 A, school requires 3 non AP Classes, asked counselor and he said he has never seen anyone graduate with higher than a 4.7 at our school before)
Class Rank: Valedictorian
Class Size: 245

Scores:

SAT I Math: 660
SAT I Critical Reading: 620
SAT I Writing: 630
(Taking SAT again in October, expect no less than a 2100)
ACT: 33
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 780
SAT II Biology: (Taking in Fall, expect 800)

AP/H Classes Taken (Got A’s and A+'s in all of them, zero A-'s or below):
not allowed to take AP freshman year
4’s and 5’s on all tests
H English 2 (No Pre-AP offered for this class) (Soph.)
AP Pshychology (Soph.)
AP Environmental (Soph.)
H Pre-Calc (Soph.)
H Spanish IV (Soph.)
H US Hist (H is highest level offered at our school) (Junior)
AP Computer Science A (not offered at our school, took online) (Junior)
AP World History (not offered at our school, had to take online) (Junior)
AP Macroeconomics (not offered at our school, had to take online) (Junior)
AP English Language (Junior)
AP Calculus AB (Junior)
AP Calculus BC (Junior)
AP Biology (Junior)

Classes taking next year (Senior Year):
AP Lit
AP Stats
H Chem 2 (No AP at our school)
AP Physics C (Not offered, will do online)
AP US Gov
AP Microeconomics (Probably will not take class, just take the test because I know I can get a 5 self studying)

College Summer programs at local JC:
Spanish 103 (96 Percent, Freshman year)
Biology 110 (99 percent, Junior year)
Physics (99 percent, Junior Year)

Extracurriculars (Just listed the major ones, more than this but they seemed insignificant in comparison):

Leadership positions:
NHS President, Key Club Vice President, on school’s parliament (gov basically).

Athletic Status - list sport and your level: 3 time junior olympian Alpine Ski Racer (Non-school), Varsity XC, Varsity Track, Varsity Alpine Ski Racing

Volunteer/Service Work: 200 hours, mainly at the local hospital with Physical Therapists, other hours come from club service and doing an independent clothing drive for the local boys and girls club.

Honors and Awards: Nordstrom Finalist (Don’t know if received yet, find out in October I think)
Valedictorian (more than likely)

Other Extracurriculars: California Boys State 2015

Let me know if you would like more information, or would like to be chanced yourself (if so, can just use this template) :slight_smile:

Oh and Personal Statements are expected to be good, but not great as I have no truly moving/inspiring moments in my life yet.

Oh and I am also interested in applying to Dartmouth!

Caltech might be difficult with a low math score (and also b/c it’s rather small). I applied to Caltech with 800 on math and some national-level awards and 4.0 UW and still got rejected…

@MITer94 By your username, will you be attending MIT/ already do? And yeah, my standardized testing is not very good at all. Unfortunately I didn’t think to study for the Subject test and now it is too late + I’m just ‘bad’ at standardized tests in general if there is such a thing. But, no excuses I know colleges won’t care about excuses.

@Runners Yes, currently a student.

Of course, test scores are only one part of the application (in a pretty holistic process), but a low math score can hurt. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t hurt to apply to Caltech or Stanford, but definitely apply to one or two safety schools.

Thanks for your feedback! @MITer94

Your ACT score is better than a 2100 on the SAT so why are you retaking the SAT? What is the breakdown of your ACT score and how did you do on the essay (not that it matters much)?

@Falcon1 I got a 34 Math, 34 Reading, 32 Science, and 32 English with an essay of 8 (got a 10 on the one I did sophomore year, this year I just wasn’t prepared for the time crunch so I didn’t finish the essay).

Don’t take the SAT again, it’s too low right now and you most likely won’t get your score up to the level it needs to be for those schools. Focus on the ACT instead, try to improve your essay score and shoot for a 34/35. I’d say Mudd-match, Stanford-reach, Caltech-low reach

Those are generous chances @JPhilly99, I wouldn’t have given myself that much credit but thanks for the self-esteem boost haha :). (I expected them all to be about -reach)
And maybe I will just get the ACT up then… because realistically I could focus just on the SAT and get it up to a 2150 or focus on the ACT and get it up to a 35, with a 36 math, which you are right, is better.

Oh and I got a 5 on AP Calc BC test with a AB subscore of 5 if that matters, though it’s curved pretty heavily.

Class of 2019 Harvey Mudd SAT Scores – Middle 50 Percent
SAT Critical Reading: 670–760
SAT Math: 730–800
SAT Writing: 680–760
SAT Subject Test Math II: 750–800
ACT Composite – Middle 50 Percent
32–35