Ivies and others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:
SAT I superscore (breakdown): 2300 (770 M, 750 CR, 780 W)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 Math II, 760 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World (5), AP CS (5), AP Chem (5), AP BC Calc (5, AB subscore 5), AP Physics 1 (4), AP Lang (5), APUSH (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP French, AP Physics C, Multivariable Calculus, AP Stat, AP Gov, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing major, spoke at an international conference, won some global robotics awards, National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, admitted to STEM Gov School but couldn’t attend, Honor Societies, All A Honor Roll, etc.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Football, Research (2-3 published papers), Robotics (won some regional, global competitions), CS Honor Society Prez, Science Olympiad, Minor Guitar/Piano Awards
Job/Work Experience: Pool snack bar employee during summer
Volunteer/Community service: tutored CS to underprivileged kids at local community center, board member of school club that emphasizes improving literacy around the world especially in underprivileged females, peer mentor at school, tutoring for various honor societies
Summer Activities: Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institute (2014), Research at local university (2015), internship at government agency (2016)
Essays: Common App - 8/10. Unique topic, good ending but not the most tear-jerking or intellectual essay ever

Teacher Rec #1: 10/10. CS teacher, had him for 3 years so he knows me very well. He’s written the recs for all the programs and internships I’ve done over the past few years.
Teacher Rec #2: 8/10. Lang teacher, didn’t know him amazingly well but he liked me a lot, thought I was a genius for some reason lmao. He’s known for writing good recs.
Counselor Rec: 8?/10. Definitely know her better than vast majority of her students. Don’t know how good of a writer she is though.
Additional Rec: 8?/10. From advisor at internship, also not clear how good a writer he is.

Other

Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Comp Sci or something similar
State (if domestic applicant): VA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: ~200,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Indian dude playing football? I dunno lol. Indian in comp sci def doesn’t help XD.

College list: MIT, CMU, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford (Rejected REA lolz), Yale, Duke, UPenn, Columbia, Brown, Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, Cornell, UChicago, GATech, Michigan, VATech

Any help would gladly be appreciated. List is kinda long so let me know if you feel some schools should be cut.
Thanks :slight_smile:

2

Forgot to mention I have legacy at Cornell and will definitely chance back if asked! :wink:

3

College list:
MIT, - Maybe b/c of ur research
CMU, - I thought I knew what they wanted but…
UPenn - Reach cause they like roundish people
Berkeley - 50/50
UCLA - Accepted
UVA - Accepted
Cornell - Should be 50/50 (legacy only works ED)
UChicago - Reach - unless you are godly in writing
GATech Should get in
Michigan Should get in
VATech - Accepted

Can’t comment on rest cause I don’t know much about non engineering schools

Chance mine?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1944514-chances-to-upenn-and-cornell-engineering-ill-chance-u-back.html#latest

4

Sure thing! Thanks for the feedback. What do you mean by roundish people btw? Also I forgot to mention that my internship involved creating a product for UPenn, so I dunno if that may have any impact.

5

Being an Asian male intending on majoring in CS makes admission to all of the schools you’re interested in very tough except for the ones that are less selective/ don’t use affirmative action.

MIT - out of reach
CMU - Low Reach (SCS)/high match
Harvard - out of reach
Princeton - out of reach
Yale - out of reach
Duke - reach/low reach
UPenn - reach/low reach
Columbia - out of reach
Brown - reach/low reach
Berkeley - low reach (EECS), high match (L&S)
UCLA - High match
UVA - High match
Cornell - Low reach/high match
UChicago - Reach
GATech - high match
Michigan - high match
VATech - safety

6

Thanks for the feedback! By out of reach do you mean I shouldn’t even bother applying? Or is there still a chance I could get in depending on my essays and whatnot (albeit low)?

7

For MIT its pretty much a roulette so u should apply

8

i think he’s being a little harsh saying out of reach. still apply imo, your scores are competitive

9

That’s reassuring lol. Thanks so much!

10

Also I forgot to mention I’ve applied to Berkeley’s LS comp sci rather than their EECS.

11

disagree strongly with yinuos, I think you have a good shot at all your schools because your ECs/tests grades/GPA are solid. They’re still reaches, of course, but I think yinuos is being quite a bit too harsh.

12

thanks!

13

I know this is late and hopefully you’ve followed the excellent feedback above, but not one school on your list is out of reach. Your credentials are excellent. I hope your essays are excellent and have had plenty of time to marinate and development over a period of weeks/months and not just days, because that’s the single biggest thing you can control at this time - your application’s [hopefully] compelling narrative. Good luck to you! You will no doubt be attending an excellent school next year no matter the outcome, so congratulations to you on your exemplary high school record.

14

Thanks so much! That means a lot to me :slight_smile:

15

The UC’s do not fund OOS students. At most, you might get $2K per year but not enough to fund a full year
Can your family afford $55-58K per year for the UC’s?

16

Income of 200,000 and you want financial aid? Do you need it, or just want it?

17

That’s a long college list

18

@CottonTales Our house was recently remodeled, so we have a significant mortgage. The net price calculators estimate that I’ll receive a significant amount of aid. And from my understanding, many colleges give financial aid to people with incomes of ~250k, more so for Harvard, Princeton types

@“aunt bea” Sorry for the financial aid thing, I basically copied and pasted from another college thread. I know the UCs don’t fund OOS students, however I’m looking to keep my options open, and if necessary my family will be able to afford it through loans or whatnot. If I get into Berkeley, this is more likely, since for CS I hopefully shouldn’t have too many issues getting a job post-graduation.

@BlingBlingBling Yeah I guess lol. I’m not very picky. I’ve loved pretty much every campus I’ve visited, and could see myself at nearly all of the schools I’m applying to!

19

I think you’ve got a decent shot at all of these. The thing to remember with Ivies and very selective schools is that there are so many students just like you out there who are applying to the exact same schools with almost the exact same credentials. I don’t mean that to sound discouraging, but it’s the truth. Also, being an asian male going out for Comp Sci also doesn’t help. With that being said however, the more of these schools that you apply to, the more likely you’ll get into one of them. I know you’ll get into one of those schools and while your list is long, the fact that it is long is a good thing. The more of these schools you apply to, the more likely you’ll be accepted to at least one of them. Good luck! Also, would you please chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1945080-what-are-my-chances-for-elite-colleges.html#latest

20

You are within the admission ranges of all these schools. Their admission rates are low so you may get accepted by some and rejected by others. To increase your chance, you should spend more time on your essays and focus at a small number of those reach schools. Most important, make sure they are affordable to you before applying. You are not likely to get much need based aids if at all and neither merit aids from any of these schools.