HYPSM - Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'd greatly appreciate it if you could tell me how likely I am to get into HYPSM and what I can do to improve (I'm a junior). I also have a few specific questions at the bottom.</p>

<p>Info about high school: I go to a small private school. Although there are very few AP's (just Math and Language), it is a pretty rigorous school (only 10 4.0's in 30+ years; graduating class is approx 70 students)</p>

<p>Rigor of secondary school record:
- Took all Honors classes available
- Took all AP classes available (4)
- Taking a ton of math and science electives (by the end of senior year, I will have taken all the math and all but one of the Spanish courses offered by my school)</p>

<p>Academic GPA (unweighted): 4.0</p>

<p>Class rank: top 5% (my school doesn't rank)</p>

<p>Standardized test scores:
- SAT: 2350
- SAT Math II: 800
- AP Calc BC (9th grade): 5
- AP Physics C - Mechanics (9th grade; self-studied): 5
- AP Comp Sci (10th grade): 5
- AP Chem (10th grade; self-studied): 5
Tests I will take:
- SAT Physics
- AP Spanish
- AP Stats (self-studied)
- AP English Lang (self-studied)
- AP Bio (self-studied)</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities:
- Club swimming since 5th grade
- On Varsity swim team of local HS since 10th grade (my school doesn't offer swimming)
- Founder and Head/Captain of my school's Speech and Debate team (Varsity; since 9th grade)
- Part of a graduate research group at a local university (since summer of 9th grade)
- JV2 soccer (since 9th grade)
- JV tennis (since 9th grade)
- Science Research
- 2 Research papers published in professional journals (separate topics)
- Research presented at professional conference</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
-Varsity letter in swimming (10th grade)
-Scholar-athlete (10th grade)
-Various science research awards ranging from school to national level (some had cash)
-Various math awards ranging from school to state level
-Various policy debate awards (won a few competitions, including districts my novice year)
-National AP Scholar</p>

<p>Talent / ability:
- Math
- Programming
- Spanish</p>

<p>Alumni/ae relation: none</p>

<p>Volunteer work:
-Tutoring/TA at elementary school (once or twice a week for 45 minutes; since 2nd semester 10th grade; will have approx. 75 hrs by the time I apply)
-Assistant MathCounts coach at middle school (since 9th grade; 2 hours per week; will have approx. 144 hrs by the time I apply)
-TA with a freshman orientation course in HS (~40 hours)
Will do:
-Teaching kids at a local Spanish elementary school (1 hour per week; all of 12th grade; speaking Spanish)
-Helping with a computer-based project at a local children's hospital (in the process of starting it)
-Service Trip to Guatemala (24hrs/day for 10 days; speaking only Spanish)</p>

<p>Work experience:
-2-week research internship at a major health university (summer 10th grade)
-Out-of-state, paid internship (summer 11th grade; will try)</p>

<p>Other info:
- Asian male
- Parent income: $100,000 - $200,000
- Speak 3 languages (English, Spanish, Hindi)</p>

<p>Questions:
1) In addition to all the "Wiill do"'s, should I start being an assistant coach for my Middle School's Science Bowl team? </p>

<p>2) How about starting a tutoring program for low-income students (in both English and Spanish)?</p>

2

<p>Wow! You have an excellent resume. Are you the first author on those research papers and what type of journal were they published in? Regardless, you stand an awesome chance at any school. Work hard on more SAT IIs and maybe pack a rigorous senior schedule and you should be a very competitive candidate. (I’m a junior as well, GO Juniors!!!)</p>

3

<p>Also to answer your questions:</p>

<p>1) If it doesn’t eat up a lot of time then I would go for it.</p>

<p>2) Unless you can recruit a few other students that are avid about tutoring, I would stick to just being a tutor instead of going through the trouble of starting a tutoring program.</p>

4

<p>The academics and test scores are impressive. You can clearly handle the academics at any college in the country. Doing more academically will not help you, except for scoring well on a second SAT subject test. I think your plan to add a Physics subject test is a good one. </p>

<p>If some top ten schools are going to reject you, it will be because you do not seem to have one EC that is incredibly impressive as far as I can tell. Don’t get me wrong, I think you have above average ECs, but there is no wow factor item. </p>

<p>I think you have a good chance to get into at least one or two of HYPSM. However, I would recommend that you also visit and consider applying to Penn, Columbia, and Cornell. You may even like one of those schools better once you visit. </p>

5

<p>tooty44: Thanks a lot. I am a single author on one and the first author on the other; they were published in a not-so-great journal.</p>

6

<p>Much2learn: I’m definitely planning on visiting, and possibly applying, to the schools you mentioned, as well as a few other ones. HYPSM are just my uber-reach schools, and I was wondering where I stood and what I could do to improve.</p>

<p>Along those lines, what extracurriculars have a wow factor, or how could I further develop my extracurriculars to turn them into wow factors? Thanks for your responses.</p>

7

<p>Much2learn: Also, what kind of chances would I have at places like UPenn, Columbia, Cornell, etc, as well as places like UDub, UCLA, and USC? Thanks.</p>

8

<p>I was also wondering whether I was too weak in art/music.</p>

9

<p>Your stats look good. However, in reality more than 80% of the very qualified applicants are rejected or waitlisted at HYPSM; Georgetown ; Stanford etc. That does not mean you cannot get in, but you have to be very outstanding and different in some way. For the Asian applicants pool, I assume your academic profile is just in the middle of the pack. Speak with your high school counsellors for honest opinion.</p>

<p>Work hard and good luck!</p>

10

<p>Wow, you took Calc BC as a freshman? What are you taking this year, and what did you take last year? Also, what about AP physics C E&M?</p>

11

<p>@blazers1234 To improve your chances, it will be important to present your ECs in a way that tell them what you did that was significant and what you learned from them. Also, you need to take time to get to know a lot about each school and why you would want to attend. Then you need to get started on those essays early and put a lot of thought into them.</p>

12

<p>@blazers1234 Your chances at UPenn, Columbia and Cornell are better than the first 5, on average, but they can be unpredictable in individual cases so taking any of them for granted is a big mistake. One of my daughters best friends is starting at Harvard this fall and was rejected by Penn, Columbia, and Cornell, so individual results can be unpredictable.</p>

<p>To me your research background suggests a potential fit with Penn, Columbia or Cornell because they tend to be the ivies that are the most research intensive. </p>

<p>The settings of the three schools are very different. Penn has a large urban campus (300 + acres), Columbia has a small urban campus (about 30 acres), and Cornell far removed from large cities. The type of setting you prefer can have a significant impact on fit. </p>

<p>I would put your chance at Penn and Columbia as close to 50/50 each if the recommendations and essays are strong and you apply ED. That is just my opinion, and most will say that that is too high of a number for anyone to guess. I would say that Cornell is a 70% chance. Again, that is just the opinion of one person with no influence. </p>

13

<p>@MathNScience Both this year and last year I’m taking/took math electives offered by my school.</p>

14

<p>@MathNScience‌ I’m not planning to take E&M. Should I (I’m already self-studying 3 AP’s this year)?</p>

15

<p>@Much2learn‌ Thanks so much for all your advice!</p>

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<p>@houseofcats‌ Thanks!</p>

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<p>@blazers1234‌ What do people mean when they say that their research was published in a not so good journal? </p>

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<p>Also, I disagree with the poster who said that there was nothing unique about your post. I think that getting your research published and working in a research lab is a great accomplishment! </p>

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<p>@onlythebest13‌ I mean that in accordance with how professional journals are ranked, my paper was published in a below average one. Also thanks for you advice!</p>