Ivies, Stanford, Duke, Berkeley, UVA, UMich - HS Junior - LONG

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a high school junior, interested in math and physics. I realize that these colleges are basically all crapshoots, but I would like to know what direction I should take to improve my chances, even marginally. For example, should I study more for Olympiads or take more classes, etc.

Objective:
SAT I (CR/M/W/Essay): 800/780/800/10 - 2380
ACT: none
SAT II: will take Math II in May and Chemistry later, don’t foresee issues there
Unweighted GPA: 3.98 (Curse you Latin I)
Weighted GPA: 4.41 (we don’t use the standard AP = 5 system) All As in all courses except for Latin I, A-
Rank: 1/470
APs: AP Human Geography – 4, AP Computer Science – 3, AP Psychology – 5, AP Microeconomics – 5, AP Macroeconomics – 5, AP Physics 1 – 4, AP US Government – 5, AP Latin – 4, AP Statistics – 5, currently taking AP Comp Gov, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C; by the end of senior year I’ll have taken 17-18 APs
IB: Currently taking SL Chem (will take exam this year, but take HL Class next year), HL Math I (basically AP Calc AB), SL Latin, IB History of Europe, HL English, HL Bio

Awards:
AIME Qualifier (pretty bad AIME score, made 3 careless mistakes)
USNCO Qualifier
Captain of the Science Bowl team - 3rd place at States (TJ is OP)
Quiz Bowl - 2nd Place at States (TJ is OP)
Captain, Governor’s Challenge in Econ team - Regional Winner, attended states
WorldQuest regional winner - will attend Nationals in April
Attended Summer Residential Governor’s School for Math, Science and Technology
National AP Scholar/AP Scholar with Distinction
Probable NMSQT Semfinalist (PSAT 1510)
Won several local/regional piano competitions
2nd place at ODU Harold Protsman Classical Competition - draws people from multiple states
1st Place American Protege Competition - will play in Carnegie Hall this Dec.
Went to prestigious-ish music camp as a rising sophomore (not Interlochen or Tanglewood, by any means)
Princeton Book Award <---- award for academic excellence, granted by Princeton alum, should I put this on my Princeton app?
Other local awards for academic excellence/some middle school things like Mathcounts, NSSL
Hopefully get into HCSSiM, SUMaC or MathIly, rejected from RSI already
Silver medals in NLE, Classical Association of Virginia tournament honorable mention

Extracurriculars
Science Bowl, Quiz Bowl, Economics Challenge
NHS, NLHS, Volunteer at local library/nonprofits
Tutored dyslexic child in arithmetic
Helped tutor local MATHCOUNTS team
Internship at local university studying nanomaterials - created semi-functional spectrometer with around 5 dollars of materials
Internship at another local university studying protein structure/computational biology- not really any results here lol
Play at nursing homes (for community service), malls (to raise money for music scholarships)
Play badminton for 4-5 days a week, attend tournaments and do OK, will attend some youth tournaments soon to see how I fare against my peers (certainly not national level though), won regional youth badminton competition - this is more of a hobby to keep myself sane
In the development stages of creating a student run hedge fund (we’ll see how this goes, really pre-alpha atm)

Recommendations:
Should get at least decent recs, hopefully stellar

Important Information
State: Virginia
School: Large Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income: Some FA, maybe like 30k
Hooks: none

Sorry this was so long, I probably should have condensed it a lot. I’m looking for chances (which may be spotty since these are all reach), but also for some advice. Should I just quit with the APs or continue this track? I’m thinking of doing Chem and Physics II next year as well as Euro. I also missed the USAPho cutoff by one point. Is that worth really pursuing or should I focus only on USNCO?

2

I think you have a decent shot at all these places especially Berkeley, UVA, and U Mich. HYPS and Duke are a reach for everyone and being Asian will hurt a bit for spots there but I would honestly be shocked if you didn’t get into atleast one of them. Everything in your stats, ec’s, etc. are awesome. Berkeley cant use race as admission factors and weights gpa heavily so your great there. UVA your instate, I think your in. U Mich, again very grade heavy, (top publics are) I think your in. The rest are a crapshoot but you’ve got a good shot.

3

If you need FA Berkley and Mich will be tough. You will probably get in but may not get enough FA.

You are one of the high stat kids. Many other Asians just like you. Loads of colleges and universities outside of the ivies MIT and Stanford would love to have you.

However your main issue is that you look exactly like many other high stat Asians. You don’t stand out well. You might be able to get in to some of these schools but honestly will be tough.

There are some great schools that you might have a better chance: MIT, Caltech, British Universities, Ga Tech.

4

What part of VA are you from?

5

The south eastern portion.

6

Try the NPC. UMich’s FA may surprise you. Berkeley is by no mean comparable to UMich in terms of FA to both in state and OOS students.

7

Better chance than what? I see some with equally bad or even worse chance on your list than most of the schools on OP’s title.

8

Your stats are like amazing.
Personally, I think that you could get in anywhere as long as your interview goes well, as well.
I was accepted into Yale with a 32…regular decision.
Have faith in your abilities!!

9

awwww thanks @SantiagoAlverez your words bring me comfort

10

you got a 3 on the AP comp sci exam and an A in the class? That kinda screams grade inflation to me…

11

I was going to suggest you try to make usamo/usnco finals. That will help a lot. However if you’re a junior already its too late for next year’s competition results to go in college apps. Don’t think that your stats will surely get you in anywhere top 20. You are an orm (don’t listen to Santiago who probably means well but is gravely mistaken). Do science research and submit to Siemens and Intel (the latter will only go on Rd apps). Good luck! Focus on writing unique essays this summer. Have realistic expectations and maybe apply to some colleges between your publics and ivies (John Hopkins, wustl, rice, Notre Dame, etc). With your strong academic record you should be able to have good chances at those

12

lol that grade inflation though. That’s actually true though, it was certainly an easy class. I wasn’t really prepared for the AP exam as a freshman so I kinda bombed it @jake071999