MIT, Stanford, several Ivies, CMU

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi.</p>

<p>Korean permanent resident, male, very good public school in Los Angeles, CA</p>

<p>Freshman year
English B, A-
Precal [H] B, B
Bio [H] A-, A-
social science [H] A-, A-
Spanish 1 A, A-
Orchestra A, A
cross country and track.</p>

<p>sophomore year
English [H]B, A-
AP Calc AB A, A
Chem [H] A-, A-
AP Euro B, B
Spanish 2 A-, A-
Orchestra A, A
cross country and track.</p>

<p>junior year
AP Language B, A-
AP Calc BC A, A
AP Chem B+, B
APUS A, A
Physics [H] A, A
Spanish 3 A-, A-
Orchestra A, A</p>

<p>senior year
AP lit
AP comp sci A
AP physics C
AP gov/econ
AP spanish
Orchestra</p>

<p>multivariable calculus from stanford EPGY</p>

<p>[H] denotes honor credit</p>

<p>overall 3.76 UW, 4.39 W.</p>

<p>Nov 2008 800CR, 740M, 710W (essay 9)
Jan 2009 800CR, 760M, 680W (essay 9)</p>

<p>SAT II
math 2c 800
korean 790
chem 770
us history 720
physics 720
lit 730</p>

<p>AP
euro 4
calc ab 5
calc bc (and subscore) 5
us 5
chem 5
english language 4</p>

<p>concertmaster of school orchestra 9, 10, 11th grade
orchestra president All nations church 9, 10 grade
soloist with korean american youth symphony 10th grade
American Youth Symphony 11th grade
scored 101.5 on AMC12 11th grade (qualified for AIME)
organized fundraising solo concert for american red cross summer before 12th grade</p>

<p>Recs
2 very good ones from teachers. counselors rec is also good</p>

<p>colleges interested:</p>

<p>stanford (top choice, EA)
MIT
columbia
Duke
cornell
Rice
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon
UC berkeley, UCLA. Thanks</p>

2

<p>I think your gpa will be holding you back slightly. Overall, your SAT’s seem great.</p>

3

<p>What’s your rank?</p>

4

<p>Top 10%, class size is 390. Thats as far as my counselor will tell me…</p>

5

<p>Good shot at the UCs and CMU, Duke/Cornell/NU/Rice decent shot if you’re in the top 5% (they will know) the others are unlikely as an ORM from an overrepresented state, not top of class and no stand out EC.</p>

6

<p>American Youth Symphony’s kinda major…most ppl there are music majors at Colburn or USC…</p>

7

<p>BTW I’m applying SCEA to Stanford if it makes any difference.</p>

8

<p>Your GPA is pretty bad. Test scores are mediocre. Course rigor is pretty mediocre.
No good ECs. Some mildly interesting leadership positions.
You have no distinguishing awards.</p>

<p>Get some amazing essays, and then these will be your reaches/matches.
EA makes it harder to get into Stanford btw, that’s when they let in lots of legacies.</p>

<p>stanford (top choice, EA) Super Reach
MIT -Super Reach
columbia H-igh Reach
Duke High -Reach
cornell -Reach
Rice -Reach
Northwestern -Reach
Carnegie Mellon -Low Reach
UC berkeley -Reach
UCLA. -Low Reach</p>

9

<p>^that’s a really really tough judgment.</p>

<p>honestly, I think you’re in great shape. youre scores are NOT mediocre… you have an 800 in CR, which is very impressive. Your GPA is a little low, however. I dont know if a 3.76 can be top 5%. You do have very good E.C.'s, with a passion to music so that is good. Good shot at CMU, lower ivies, duke etc. Okay to low chances at stanford/mit</p>

10

<p>Sorry, but i cant believe a person from California wouldnt know that applying SCEA would be harder! SCEA Stanford pool is one the most competitive and challenging pools in the country( EA or RD). That is when they get most of their legacies, athletes, URMs, etc.
You have absolutely NO CHANCE if you apply SCEA, if you apply regular you have atleast a little smidgen of a chance.</p>

11

<p>Why is the SCEA applicant at a disadvantage relative to the regular pool? Doesn’t the fact that the student named Stanford as there number one choice increase odds of acceptance?</p>

<p>To the OP, you are an ORM (over-represented minority) from California (where statistically a high % of students go to top 20 universities). I think that will play a role.</p>

12

<p>i say you have a good chance. good job on getting back to back perfect CR score.</p>

13

<p>@Invisibleman I haven’t been able to find some info on Stanford SCEA…I know MIT’s EA had lower admit rate one year…</p>

<p>@advanced lawlz mediocre course rigor? hello? I never took a regular class if I had the option of taking AP’s so it’s as mediocre as you think…colleges have profiles of high schools all over US…theres at least 15 ppl getting into berkeley from my hs with lower GPA/SAT…</p>

<p>yes i know my ECs are weak…</p>

<p>@Jason110 SCEA people are confident about Stanford (i.e. they either have excellent GPA, test scores, E.C., etc or they’re legacy or athletes) in other words u have a more competitive pool cuz everybodys better than u basically</p>

14

<p>Ignore advanced_lawlz – he needs to find something better to do.</p>

<p>I think people think too hard about the strategy behind applying early. They are solid people applying early and during the regular process. If you know its your #1 apply early. Stanford doesn’t defer that many people, which I think is a good thing. They aim to defer 15% of the early applicants, so if you are deferred from Stanford it has a lot more meaning than it does at other schools that defer everyone.</p>

<p>Stanford I think is probably the least predictable of the HYPS schools in terms of admissions. One of my best friends at Stanford didn’t really have any crazy ECs in high school and had about the same GPA as you, and he not only got into Stanford but he thrived. Basically graduated with a 4.0 in CS/math. So, you never know…</p>

15

<p>don’t get your hopes up though. advanced lawlz tells the truth, though a bit harshly. You aren’t up to par with other asian guys in california.</p>

16

<p>These people are being way too harsh and they are incorrect. Although being an ORM with your stats will put you at a disadvantage, they are not horrible, people have been accepted with far worse stats. The EA rate for Stanford is higher than its RD rate because a lot of strong applicants apply EA. EA is not the same as ED, meaning that legacies have the same chance of acceptance whether they apply EA or RD and the admission people aren’t any more lenient on EA people. Also, URM’s and athletes have the same chance of acceptance in the EA and RD applicant pool.</p>

<p>I recommend that you apply RD, that way you have the 1st semester of you senior year to raise your GPA/show improvement and maybe add on to your EC’s.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

17

<p>One more thing, Stanford puts a lot of weight on its essays compared to other schools. So if you be yourself and write creative/genuine responses, your chances will definitely increase.</p>

<p>so get to work!</p>

18

<p>All of you ignored this sentence,
“Get some amazing essays, and then these will be your reaches/matches.”
Show individuality/uniqueness/amazingness, you don’t need amazing stats.</p>

<p>It is true that your stats are mediocre though, that doesn’t mean its detrimental, it just means…they’re mediocre lol. There are people with higher chances that have much lower GPAs and SATs than you. Forget your mediocre stats, you can’t rely on stats for admissions to Stanford level Us.</p>

19

<p>Thanks everyone</p>

<p>I know my grades arent as high as most ppl who get into Stanford…</p>

<p>Right now I feel my list is like</p>

<p>Stanford MIT : high Reach (basically for everyone)
columbia duke: reach
NW, rice: also reach
cornell, berkeley (i have friends at berkeley who got in with similar/lower grades, SAt, etc): match-ish
cmu: match/safety</p>

<p>What are some safety/match schools for me based on these stats?</p>

20

<p>Although I said “these people are being way too harsh,” I think you’re being too easy on yourself, lol. Before we give you other schools to apply to, we need to know what you’re interested in/plan to major in.</p>

<p>I think you list is more like:</p>

<p>Stanford MIT : high reach (basically for everyone)
Columbia, Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Cornell & Berkeley: reach
Carnegie Mellon: low reach (that does not mean match or definitely in)</p>