Just Another Guy Who Wants in to HYPSM (Will Chance Back)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys, after spending a good year (a year too many) looking at thread after thread (especially the ED and RD results) calculating my chances at some of the most highly ranked schools in the nation, I’ve finally taken the time to create this to see what the people of CC think of my chances. A little about myself, I’m a junior looking into Chem Eng.

Looking at HYPSM and a couple other Ivys like Columbia, Berkeley, Vandy, CalTech, and UMich (Dream is Stanford though)
Thanks for giving me your input and I’ll be glad to chance you back if you leave the link

Objective:
ACT: 35 (35 on all but a 34 on Reading)
SAT II: 750 BioM, 760 Math II,
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighed GPA: 4.501
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 1% out of 500
AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio (5), WHAP (5)
11th Grade APs: Lang, BC, Physics 1, Chem, & APUSH
12th Grade APs: Lit, Stat, Physics C, Spanish, Music Theory, Both Govs, & Macro

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Boy Scouts (6-12) - Eagle Scout, Patrol Leader, and other random positions
Model UN (9-12) - Elected Justice (11-12)
Youth in Government (9-12) - Elected Justice (11-12)
Habitat for Humanity (10-12) - Elected VP
Debate (10-12) - Placed a couple times at tournaments
Young Democrats (10-12) - Elected VP

Environmental Club
Synthetic Biology Club that entered a national competition (10)
Math Honors Society (9-12) - VP (11)
Other Honor Societies include Science, English, Social Studies, and Spanish
Guitar (4-12)

Volunteer/Community service: 
       Boy Scouts (not much though)

Summer Activities: 
       Co-Hosted a cultural event in front of a 1000 people 
       Internship related to Chemical Engineering
       Expect to be accepted to alteast one of my state's Governor's Schools

Other:
School Type: Large (Competitive) Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Middle Middle Class

Yeah, I realize I barely have any ECs that relate with Chem Eng., hopefully Gov. School and the internship will come through

2

bump 2char

3

ECs kind of look like a laundry list. Since you’re still a junior, I would reccomend shifting your focus on your most important ECs and win some state/national awards.

HYPSM- reach/might get into one if you get some awards and focus on a few ECs extensively
Columbia- reach
Berkeley- high match
Vandy- high match
CalTech- reach
Michigan- match

4

I would take the math II subject test again. A lot of applicants have super high scores on this and your’s only puts you in the 66th percentile of all applicants taking the test.

Source: https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/sat/sat-percentile-ranks-subject-tests-2014.pdf

Besides that though your scores and test scores look stellar. I hope the Chem Engineering thing works out!

5

I never imagined the median math 2 sat subject test score is 710.

6

Scores are great and ECs are decent. SAT 2 math could be a bit higher but not a big deal.

HYPSM- reach/might get into one if you have some amazing essays
Columbia- low reach
Berkeley- high match
Vandy- high match
CalTech- low reach
Michigan- low match

Good Luck!

Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1726865-dear-fellow-lovelies-please-do-me-the-kind-favor-of-a-chance-for-the-big-names.html#latest

7

The SAT Math 2 score is great, for it is only those who want to apply to top schools that require or recommend SAT Subject Tests, and usually those who are good at Math who take it, although that is not definitive for all test takers, though if you want the 800, then go for it.

8

I’m sure you will have a chance at all of these schools. How much of a chance depends largely on how well you present yourself. As people here can’t judge your application, essays, recommendations, and interview, predictions are largely useless.

I don’t think the lack of direct Chemical Engineering experience will hurt you - you’re not applying to a graduate program, you’re applying to college. Few of these schools have separate admissions for engineering, which means you will be in the same applicant pool as everyone else. Being an Asian male with an expressed interest in Engineering does puts you in an over-represented demographic in the applicant pool, which is not to your advantage.

FYI, Harvard does not offer a degree in Chemical Engineering. I believe most of the others do.

9

hypsm: reach (ecs should show depth, though breadth and depth is good)
caltech: reach for the same reason as above
michigan: high match
berkeley: high match
vandy: high match

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18030162#Comment_18030162

10

HYPSM- reach but you have to show yourself through essays
Columbia- low reach
Berkeley- match
Vandy- high match
CalTech- high reach
Michigan- low match

11

Thanks for your opinions Guys!

12

This is really weird, I currently have very similar stats as yours, am applying for the same major, schools, and even VIPER too!

13

it’s funny cuz i feel like M stands for MIT? if OP said HYPSM (harvard yale princeton standford mit)