MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I'm a senior right now in California and I'm getting ready to apply for college. I have some idea of what my chances are, but I'm not too sure. My top 3 are MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley. I want to major in engineering and business</p>

<p>So in terms of academics:
AP Scholar with distinction, 5s on all Ap exams taken: euro, psych, calc ab (no bc at my school), physics B, and bio (would the fact that the bio test changed this year and only 5% of people getting 5s make it look better?)
4.00 unweighted GPA, 4.83 junior year weighted, estimated 4.45-4.5 cumulative GPA
IB Diploma student
11 total school awards for being top of certain classes, notably all my science classes, AP calc, and IB english HL1
2230 SAT, 780 reading, 790 math, 660 writing (yeah. its bad. im retaking it)
34 ACT composite
800 on the physics subject test, 760 on the bio, 730 on the math 2
I also used to occasionally help teach my ap calc class with my teacher
Clubs:
MCJROTC (not a class, but similar) c/2nd Lt, and established my unit's academic support branch this year designed like tutoring services. received a total of 10 ribbons and 3 organizational medals. i was also a student instructor last year for a freshman class. </p>

<p>Science Olympiad VP junior year and now president senior year. as VP i was in charge of all team issues like scheduling events and coaches etc. and I helped take my science olympiad team from 29th place, dead last, to 3rd at regionals in a year. the year before, i won a 1st place forensics medal which saved the club from being shut down (essay topic?)
extra curriculars:
competition and concert piano, 4 time international gold medalist in the national piano guild exams in the college preparatory special category with 15 piece programs, 3 time certificate of merit advanced panel completion. a state finalist in the CAPMT honors competition. winner of the steinway piano competition. participated in an international master class organized by the joanna hodges international piano competition</p>

<p>volunteered in china for a month teaching english. set up all the curriculum I'd be covering, designed all the classes etc. and received an excellence award</p>

<p>volunteered at the international chinese robotics expo and worked as a salesperson and performed basic maintenance of showcased products (mainly small recreational use robots), also did translation work for the expo and exhibitors and acted as a guide for foreign businessmen. received an award.</p>

<p>starting a kickstarter for a business selling a chinese sleeping aid</p>

<p>acted as translator/ guide for chinese foreign exchange students</p>

<p>500+ IB CAS hours </p>

<p>im also a good public speaker, doing sales and making speeches for clubs, but i dont have any awards for it.</p>

<p>any kind of feedback would be great!</p>

2

<p>You have good chances at all of those. You’re not guaranteed into any of them (except for maybe Berkeley), but you’re definitely competitive for them</p>

3

<p>You are a very competitive applicant for all three schools…Berkeley should be a match since you are from California. And if you truly are from California, strategically, you should apply to Stanford REA to get the best chance of acceptance since Stanford likes to get as many of the TOP California students in the early round…similar to MIT wanting to accept as many of the TOP Massachusetts/northeast students in the early round…MOST top schools prefer their local/regional candidates over others since MOST students prefer staying within their local region if the schools were basically EQUIVALENT academically/prestige wise…</p>

<p>…if you were living in Massachusetts…I would have recommended that you apply to MIT EA…hope this makes sense.</p>

4

<p>yeah, i get what you’re talking about. but i thought that rea limits me to applying to only stanford…? i heard that rea means that you have to both apply to only that school and have to commit to only that school as well.</p>

5

<p>^It’s non binding, but yes, you can apply early to only Stanford. If you really like Stanford, though, that’s not a bad thing.</p>

6

<p>OP. Don’t confuse ED with EA/REA/SCEA…only ED schools make you commit…but Stanford and MIT are versions of EA (they are both non-binding) which allows you to apply to the other schools in the regular round whether you get into Stanford or MIT in the early round…the only issue is that you cannot apply to both Stanford and MIT in the EARLY round…</p>

<p>…look at both schools websites and see what their restrictions are for early round…and you will see what I am talking about.</p>

7

<p>oh ok thanks for clearing that up, i was worried for a bit. aside from that, I’ve also heard that college recruiters generally look for something that sticks out about applicants, like a unique story or activity. i know that a lot of competitive applicants, especially asians, have things like piano and science olympiad, but would going from last to 3rd place help set me apart?</p>