Schools:
HYPSM
Caltech
U Chicago
JHU
Cornell
( and I have safeties as well )
ACT:
35C (35 E, 36 M, 34 R, 35 S) — 36 C and 36 R if superscored
SAT: not taken (should I take it?)
SAT II: Math 2, Chem, BioM (projected 750+)
GPA: 4.0
Rank: 1/300
AP:
Calc BC (5), USH (5), Bio (5), Chem, Stats
IB:
Bio HL, Physics HL, English HL, Spanish
College:
2 upper division biology, Diff EQs, Calc 3
Senior Year Courses:
some AP, some IB, some college
Major Awards:
NHD national finalist, State Science Fair place, Chemistry Olympiad National Exam, NSDA Premier Distinction, NMSF
ECs:
YMCA Youth Government (elected governor)
Speech and Debate (captain)
Science Olympiad
Quiz Bowl
Mock Trial
NHS
Scientific Research
NIH SIP internship
Research at local university
Presented at some conferences, symposiums, etc for science and history
*** Might have high impact research paper published
Community Service:
political campaigns
founded science workshop lectures (1 hour/week for 8 weeks, taught ~20 adults and students)
Other:
Computer programming: advanced in Python and C
Ethnicity: Asian-American Male
School: fringe rural, public high school
******** I appreciate all the chances and feedback. I’m always looking at new opportunities to learn/compete in things so if anyone has suggestions to improve my application, I’m all ears. Thanks!!!
Yeah, you’re in the running academically, along with 30,000 others. But you don’t have much dimensionality to that presentation. You are going to have to write some memorable and likable essays.
Make sure to get some quality recs as well. For these top schools, amazing recs will most definitely get you over the hump. If I’m not mistaken, teacher recs are weighted as much as GPA/Test Scores/EC’s/Essays which is pretty significant. Considering most people already have good grades/EC’s and will most likely spend a lot of time on the essays, finding a teacher that knows you (in a class that you participated a lot in), is crucial.
@tooty44 - no reason for you to take the SAT. You’re in great shape, your job now is make sure your application stands out from the crowd. The stronger you are academically, the better your odds at these schools, and your academic qualifications are outstanding.
Assuming your recommendations and essays are stellar, and you interview well, I’d expect you to get into at least two of these schools, and possibly more.
Like everyone else said, you are qualified. Things you can do that will from this point onwards that will make it less of a crapshoot:
Do Intel STS. Try to get semifinalist/finalist. Finalist will give you a pretty much guarantee of making one if not all of HYPSM. This is the most important thing that you can do right now- dive in and spend tons of time on your paper.
Start racking up TOC bids. Qual to Nats/States again, and place in top 5 in your event for WL situations.
Start working on your essays right after AP tests are over. Polish them till they are perfect, and then work on them some more.
If you get no other major awards, just apply to your reaches broadly and strategically apply to schools early. Then hope you get lucky and get into at least one- it worked for me.
@rdeng2614 I have a pretty good rapport with several of my teachers, and I’ll make sure to let them know early to get some honest, quality recs. Thanks!
@puzzled123 I’m definitely looking at Intel STS (I have a pretty decent computer project going on with a rough draft paper).
As for debate, I made semis in PF at a large TOC-bid tournament this year, but sadly this is the only TOC tournament that my team goes to. I should make state and be very competitive at Nats next year, but it may be too late in terms of college applications. I’m looking to start my essays early this summer as well!
I think you have good chances for these schools; you definitely have the stats for them! You’re finished with standardized testing (besides the subject tests), a 35 is an excellent score.
However, try to have more variety in your ECs, and make that essay truly stand out. Study for those SAT IIs over the summer, or be ready for them in June.
Schedule looks good, lots of APs and IB courses are great. The best thing to do is stand out!
See what you plan on majoring in college, and do ECs related to it. For example, if you plan on going into medicine it would be a great idea to shadow a physician or volunteer at a local hospital to gain patient experience. Or, since it looks like you are going into computer science (I’m just assuming), possibly create an app with the experience you have in programming.
Anything works, but what will really work best is if you show passion and dedication in a few good ECs (some of yours are great already!)
Your as qualified as it gets for applicants to all of the schools you have listed. As long as you can get 800’s on your SAT 2’s, and can write really good essays you could definitely have a shot at making it into HYPSM. All those schools are so tough so its hard to chance, but I think you will definitely get into at least half of them. Good luck.
Did you play any team sports? They like balance and time management of athletic schedules.
I know most people don’t think sports are important but all of my son’s classmates who got into Stanford were extremely competitive athletes and scholars. Letters of Rec from coaches were always glowing.