Last Comments on college list for a senior? Much appreciated

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,
I just want just last opinions on my list before I roll the dice</p>

<p>Asian male
Income 35k
Northern California resident
First generation to go to college</p>

<p>ACT: 36
Math II subject test: 800
Chemistry subject test: 800
Physics subject test: 780</p>

<p>GPA: 3.98 u/w, 4.5 weighted. 11 APs by end of junior, 17 by end of senior</p>

<p>AP tests: taken 11, gotten 9 5's and 2 4's</p>

<p>ECs:
Participated in prestigious summer research program, did research at a local university the summer before
-Wrote a research paper, submitted to Siemens competition, submitting as supplement if possible
Founder and president of tutoring club at school
- counselor knows all about it, will write LoR focusing on this topic. Got the principal and admin actively involved, growing this into a school-wide program
President of the regional chapter of a statewide student-run non-profit organization
- ran a fundraising event to collect sleeping bags for the homeless, raised about $1000 dollars
Student President at a school for children with mental disabilities, 4+ years
Captain of varsity science bowl
Coach at Science Olympiad, got a couple regional awards
Playing on Varsity Academic Decathlon for 4 years, league champion for 3
Teach Chinese at local church</p>

<p>Will have completed ~1000 hours of community service by end of 2014
AIME Qualifier
Few regional science bowl/science olympiad awards
Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award x3 (250+ hours / year)</p>

<p>Here's my list:
EA: MIT, Caltech
RD: UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCSB, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, WashU, Williams, Princeton, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Yale</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Intended major (which can affect selectivity at the UCs and some of the private schools)? Have you run the net price calculator on every school?</p>

<p>Presumably, you consider UCSD, UCD, and UCSB as your almost-safeties (not 100% certain due to essays and the like being considered, but very likely, so three of them would make the risk of a shutout very low, assuming affordability), right? However, check carefully to see if your intended major is more selective than the school in general.</p>

3

<p>@ucbalumnus‌ Still deciding between chemistry and economics. Yes, and they mostly came out to be about 1-2k per year for private schools (excluding work-study), and ~8500 for UCs which should be manageable with loans.</p>

<p>And yes, I do consider the 3 UCs to be safeties, and I don’t think they’re impacted.</p>

4

<p>The $8,500 student contribution at UCs is typically a combination of federal direct loans (up to $5,500 frosh year) and work(-study) earnings.</p>

<p>If you like math with your economics, or want to go on to PhD study in economics, you may want to check the course catalogs for how much math is used in the economics courses (i.e. what math prerequisites they have).</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus‌ otherwise, do you have any comments on the list in general?</p>

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<p>Note that Berkeley offers the chemistry major in either the College of Chemistry (CoC) or College of Letters and Science (L&S). Admission selectivity may differ, though it is not clear which is more selective (CoC is commonly thought to be more selective). The courses are the same, except that the CoC major has more required upper division chemistry courses (L&S chemistry majors can take the additional courses as electives). CoC students have the option to switch to chemical engineering more easily than L&S students.</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus‌ is the final degree the same for both?</p>

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<p>CoC grants BS degree, while L&S grants BA degree. However, the degree title BS or BA does not matter if you take the same courses. Chemistry job prospects are not that great in any case, if that is what your are concerned about. Chemical engineering is better.</p>

9

<p>Williams and. Harvey Mudd seem out of place in your list. I would encourage you to add two low reach universities to your list, possibly John Hopkins and CMU.</p>

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<p>@fogcity‌ I know they’re pretty different from the rest of my list, but I wanted to have the option for a couple liberal art schools just in case. Would you happen to know how the economics programs are at JHU/CMU?</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus‌ is the chemical engineering course path drastically different from chemistry? how are job prospects for economics majors?</p>

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<p>Post-graduation survey by major at Berkeley: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Comparison of majors:</p>

<p>Chemical engineering: <a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/cheme_major/index.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/cheme_major/index.php&lt;/a&gt;
CoC chemistry: <a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/chem_major/index.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/chem_major/index.php&lt;/a&gt;
CoC chemistry (materials concentration): <a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/chem_major/materials_chemistry_concentration.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/chem_major/materials_chemistry_concentration.php&lt;/a&gt;
L&S chemistry: <a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/chem_major/chemistry_ba.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/chem_major/chemistry_ba.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>bump</p>

13

<p>bumpp</p>

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<p>Bump</p>

15

<p>OP, my D had stats like yours, but very different EC’s - athletics and music as well as some hospital work. Anyway, she turned down Stanford and Yale for Williams because Williams offered her their Tyng scholarship. I think you are a great candidate for the Tyng. It’s a 4 year full ride with no loans and no work study, no summer work expected -in fact you get a summer stipend each year and 4K extra one summer to do research. Then they give you 180K for grad school anywhere. Or if your grad studies are funded they let you use that 180K over 6 years for something else you want to do. It’s a pretty astounding scholarship. What blew me away when we went to to the Tyng reception was that there are kids who are offered the Tyng who turn it down for HYPS - they just don’t have the financial need component and the family is willing to shell out 500K for a brand name. If they offer you the Tyng, they will fly you and a parent to campus in April and put your family up in the Williams Inn (so no worry about the travel expense)…</p>

<p>Anyway, Williams also has a world class math department - look into it. And with an LAC, you don’t go into it with a major. You have 2 years to explore disciplines before you declare, (and even then students often change). </p>

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<p>@honeybee63‌ are there any eligibility requirments for the scholarship? Also, do you know how many kids receive it compared to the number of applicants?</p>

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<p>OP the only requirement is that you need to be eligible for some financial aid and then the scholarship can kick in - I think that must have to do with Williams being a need only FA institution. Based on your income you would receive the full ride (plus summers and the grad school funding). I don’t know if you can apply for the Tyng or if the college just offers it. There’s only a handful of Tyng scholars per class. I’ll see if I can find out more, or you can inquire. You certainly look like a likely candidate!</p>

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<p>@honeybee63‌ hmm ok thanks</p>

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<p>honeybee, I’m a little confused by the Tyng scholarship. You mentioned that there needs to be a financial aid component but then also mention that kids turn it down for Ivy’s and pay the big bucks. Can you please clarify? Not that my kid would ever be a candidate but I also like helping other kids who may have a chance.</p>