<p>I'm an Indian female and I was hoping someone could chance me:</p>
<p>SAT: 760 M, 660 CR, 800 W (planning on retaking in january)
SAT II: 800 chem, 770 math IIC, 710 physics, 790 math I
AP's: BC calc (5), bio (5), chem (4), eng lit. (4), latin vergil (3), euro (3)(3's explained by counselor), currently taking: physics C, gov., eng lang., latin lit.
GPA: 3.79 uw, 4.7 w
-I switched schools from 10th to 11th grade
EC's: President of Model UN (4 yrs), Vice President of Indian Club (2yrs), Secretary of NHS, Secretary of Latin Honor Society, Captain for Varsity tennis (4yrs), Mock Trial, Debate (placed 5th for Congress at States and 4th at districts), Choir, piano
Summer: Harvard SSP 2008, raised money and tutored to open three schools in India and am starting a chapter of the agency to open more such schools for Nevada, taught myself precalculus and AP AB calculus so that I could skip from Algebra II to AP BC calc in my junior year.
-I have published a poem and an essay, am in the process of writing a novel, and have submitted a case study with a reseacher in NV to the Residents & Staff journal for publication
Supplemental rec: from my research mentor at Harvard
Essays: great
Teacher recs: one excellent, the other good
Hook: Research, submitting a paper I wrote for research I conducted with a Harvard assistant professor this past summer along with her recommendation. I earned a research grant from the Academy of Science for a project I'm working on this year.
State: Nevada</p>
<p>I'm applying to Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Upenn LSM, MIT, Pomona, caltech, emory what are my chances?</p>
<p>I'm guessing the research would be a big plus in your favor. The self teaching of some math would demonstrate that interest, I would try to make sure that the math/science passion comes across although the science certainly seems to. The math standardized test scores are probably a little lower than the average admitted student, but is there really a significant difference between 760 and 780-800? Beats me. The published writings would probably be a plus, they could use some help on the student publications.</p>
<p>thanks! also, i forgot to mention that I am also in Science Bowl and math league. so do you think that i have a chance of getting in? is my uw gpa too low?</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, why is your list of schools: Two tech schools, four ivies, one LAC, and one LAC-like university? You don't even have the 'techy' Ivy (Cornell). What about places like Harvey Mudd, Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon?</p>
<p>If you're really passionate about math/science I suggest you apply to more schools along these lines (including some at the match/safety level). If you're not, why bother with Caltech?</p>
<p>I'm guessing Caltech is on your list because your main interest is science, but that maybe Harvard is your ultimate goal. My son only applied to one Ivy and mostly techie schools with some safeties, but I see nothing wrong in your list. I'm sure an interest in science can be pursued at any of your institutions.</p>
<p>While it's true that an interest in science can be pursued at any of those institutions (or hell, most colleges and universities across the country) the experience at an Ivy-like or LAC school is often incredibly different than at a place like Caltech. One of the worst things I personally see happen is every once in a while we get people who are interested in science, but aspire to the "Harvard experience". They apply to all the top-ten US News schools (or some other prestige-based ranking) and because of their background in science get accepted to Caltech, and not to places like Harvard. Then they come to Tech and have a really rough time of it--we aren't anything like an Ivy League institution. </p>
<p>It appears from the list above that many of the schools on it were chosen for a different reason than quality of education specifically in math, science, and engineering. That's totally OK, but a person who isn't convinced they want to go hardcore for M,S,E might have a hard time here. It's hard enough doing the work if you've convinced yourself that you want to. This is especially true if (this does happen) the OP has Caltech on the list due to prestige (not implying that this is the case). There are so many places with a larger prestige to required work ratio that I have to strongly recommend against coming here for that reason.</p>
<p>Again, I'm not implying that any of this applies to the OP, but I would like to understand the OP's choices better (which is why I posed the question above).</p>
<p>well, you are right and i am applying to Harvey Mudd and Cornell as well and a couple more safties but i didn't list all of them, and the reason I'm applying to Tech schools is because I aspire to go into the medical field and the majority of these schools have great programs which i have explored. Though I know the curriculum will be difficult at any of these schools, I want to go to a school where I will be challenged at that level and thus even decided to apply to all these places</p>
<p>Well, OP's clearly not going for purely prestige since she neglected Stanford and Yale. Of the schools on the OP, Brown and Emory look out of place since they're not really reputable in the sciences. I think you have a pretty good chance w/ a letter of rec from an assistant prof at Harvard--I don't think that's pretty common. As mentioned before, test scores are a bit on the lower side. Just about everyone used to get 800 on the IIc--is it harder now?. </p>
<p>I personally don't think there's anything wrong with applying with prestige as a big factor. I think Sakky is correct that prestige gives you good exit options. OTOH, if you are forced to choose between Caltech and a less prestigious program in April, make sure you consider carefully. Caltech will make you work, and if you don't like to work (on math/sci/eng), you might hate your time in Pasadena.</p>
<p>Sakky has not posted in this thread, but he's posted on CC (and the Caltech forum) extensively. I assumed most ppl here have read his posts by now.</p>
<p>but do you think that if i am able to demonstrate a passion for math and science which i really do have, that i have a decent chance of getting admitted?</p>
<p>Basically all anyone on this board can tell you with any accuracy at all (though some will try to claim a higher degree of accuracy than they are capable of) is if you should bother applying. Basically, if we see someone with incredibly subpar stats and little to no interest in math/science, it's probably not a great idea for them to apply. </p>
<p>You should know already that your stats are not subpar, and you clearly have some interest--but keep in mind that this is true of the large majority of our applicants and our admit rate is still pretty low. All I can tell you is that you're not wasting your time applying, but you should be able to figure that out based on the profiles of admitted students.</p>