Need some help deciding safties/matches...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>GPA - 3.95 unweighted, school does not rank. I've taken every Honors/AP available.
SAT - 2240 (First time, retaking I think I can get around 2300 super)
ACT - 33 (First time, retaking in two weeks. Expecting 34ish super)
SAT II - Math II: 780, Chem: 800, USH: 800
Class Rank: Can't remember but I'm top 6%.
Senior Year: AP Stats, AP Physics B, AP Lit, CIS Composition, German 4, AP Econ, Choir, Calc III at the U of M.
Ehtinicity - Asian (Indian)
State - MN</p>

<p>I've taken 5 APs, APUSH, AP Euro, AP Lang, AP Chem, AP Comp Sci - all 5s.
My grades have improved significantly since freshman year - I got a B, a B+, and several A- that year, since then I've had all As and 3 A-. Also I've taken math classes through the U of M all through high school through a pretty esteemed program. </p>

<p>Extracurricular:
- Volunteering at the hospital/library. Probs 150ish hours total.
- Tennis for 3 years, no Varsity.
- Chess 4 years. Captain, but largely ceremonial.
- Quiz Bowl 2 years.
- Science Olympiad 2 years.
- NHS 1 year.
- I did debate 2 years but I had to quit due to a speech impediment :( (think the King's Speech type thing). </p>

<p>Awards:
- RPI medal thing
- Hopefully some level National Merit something.
- A few chess awards, at the local level.</p>

<p>One short (but ongoing) job experience at Kumon, which is a math/reading tutoring center.</p>

<p>Recommendations:
I'm expecting one really good one from my 11th grade AP Euro teacher (History is by far my favorite subject, teacher liked me) who is also the NHS adviser. Also I'm hoping to get one from my math prof at the U of M. We'll see how things go. </p>

<p>Pretty weak non academics, I know. </p>

<p>So yeah. What would you guys rank the University of Minnesota (local flagship), U Mich (Ann Arbor), Case Western, and RPI for me? Also if you could suggest some possible reaches for me based on my stats, that would be great. My intended major as of right now is Physics, but I want to go somewhere with a decentish humanities program as well since I really like History and hope to possibly minor in it. I was really hoping for MIT before but I found out that they don't have an Applied Physics major which was my tentative plan... anyways that would be too much of a reach. </p>

<p>Also, I was hoping for some advice on essays... I have a speech impediment and I was wondering if I should write about it at all in college essays. On one hand that's definitely been a defining feature in my life and colleges claim to want to get to know you in essays, but I don't want to come off as whiny or something and I haven't overcome it and won some National Speech Tournament or anything like that. If I were to talk about it I'd discuss my time doing debate; I wasn't particularly successful at it but I got to octo-finals at state.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading.</p>

2

<p>University of Minnesota - acceptance
U Mich - likely acceptance
Case Western -acceptance
RPI - possible rejection (most applicants will have perfect Match SAT scores, but who knows)</p>

<p>I don’t think you need safeties since you have great stats. I actually think you need to look at some “better” schools. </p>

<p>No MIT – but what about CalTech? It’s a reach, but worth trying
Harvey Mudd - really great school for sciences, you’re a likely admit
USC - strong engineering and physics, really strong humanities
UT Austin
Cal - they like out of state students and you have the numbers for a decent shot
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon</p>

3

<p>@ Zelda - thanks. What do you mean by Match scores though?</p>

4

<p>Typo - I meant Math. Sorry.</p>

5

<p>I was looking at some of those places but really I don’t want to take on a lot of debt for my undergrad when I’m almost certainly going to grad school, which will matter more for jobs. Cornell is definitely on the table, though I’m not sure I like how the frat influence they have there. Still, obviously it’s a great school for Engineering and Physics and Ivies have attractive financial aid.</p>

<p>Also how reachish would you describe some of the better schools?
Obviously some place like CalTech that only takes on 200 undergrads a year is a reach for pretty much anyone… but the others? </p>

<p>Finally… the SAT Math I’m doing over. I got a 720 but I definitely can do 800s. I’m not sure if the Math II is worth retaking for a 20 point boost though…</p>

<p>Would you say that techy schools generally care comparatively more about grades/test scores? I’ve heard people say this but I’m not sure.</p>

<p>Also what would you say about Stanford? Far reach or possiblish?
8% admit rate according to US News, but how self selecting?</p>

6

<p>'I want to go somewhere with a decentish humanities program as well since I really like History and hope to possibly minor in it."
Eliminate CalTech for that reason, but add U of Chicago and Reed. They both have incredible Humanities and Science programs. The same can be said for Carleton. As well as Columbia.
The History dept at USC is NOT strong, I’m sad to say. My history loving son was very disappointed with their course offerings. Their Science and Engineering programs are much stronger. </p>

<p>“Cal-they like out of state students”
sure-they LOVE OOS students who can pay full fare!!! Is it worth it to pay the OOS rate plus the high cost of living in North Calif? For crowded classes and the likelihood that UC budget will continue to be greatly impacted by Califs huge fiscal defect? compared to the smaller class sizes,and more personalized attention from profs that one can expect to find at a private college, at the same price? Not really!</p>

7

<p>“Also what would you say about Stanford? Far reach ?”
Yes. For virtually everyone. an 8% acceptance rate= 92% rejection rate. And its not slef selecting like say, MIT or Cal Tech or as self selecting as Chicago was until very recently.</p>

<p>“Would you say that techy schools generally care comparatively more about grades/test scores?”
they care about those as starting points only. There is much more you have to do to get accepted there than just have good scores/ grades.</p>

8

<p>Thanks. I’ll look into U Chicago and Reed. Carleton - nice campus, but it’s kinda down the road from here. Meh. Also are MIT humanities considered semi-ok? Also you can take classes at Harvard too… wouldn’t that be cool. Of course MIT itself is a great place too. Really I don’t want to rule it out as I don’t even know if I’ll like academic physics.</p>

<p>Edit: Btw thanks for the responses both of you. Much appreciated.</p>