Please chance for Princeton/MIT/Harvard/Uchicago/Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I am a rising senior and I will be applying to Harvard, Princeton, MIT, UChicago, and Stanford and will major in math or physics most likely.</p>

<p>-Unweighted GPA: 3.86, Weighted GPA: 4.32, Community College GPA: 4.0(only 4 classes).</p>

<p>-Class Rank: top 6% in a class of 400.</p>

<p>-I have taken 9 ap exams and 7 of them are 5's(biology,calc bc,stats, psych, us history, physics b, physics c mechanics) and 2 are 4's(euro history, english language). Senior year 1st semester schedule: AP Lit, AP chem, orchestra, Hrs Spanish, AP Gov, AP microeconomics(online), AP enviromental(online), DFQ+Linear Algbera(both independent study using MIT's curiiculum), and Engineering Physics II(its like physicsC E&M only more in depth) in a CC. 2nd semester Ill probably take 1-2 proof-based math classes(numerical analysis/theoretical stats/number theory) in an actual university. Also, I will probably get an associate's in applied science from the CC in may/june of next year(not sure if this affects admission chances).</p>

<p>-My SAT is 2030 (math 800, reading 570, writing 660) and my ACT is 30 (33 if suprescored)
Ill retake SAT and try to raise it to 2100-2200.</p>

<p>-SAT II's: Biology 660, Math1 750, US History 670, Math2 800, Hebrew 800, Physics 720( I mgiht retake physics and US history)</p>

<p>-EC's: I play violin in Youth Symphony, District Orchestra, and State Orchestra and have been tutoring kids on violin for free for 2 years. I play viola section leader in my school orchestra. President of ping pong club, where I started the first competitive team and hosted the first competition in my county. President and creator of National Community Service Performers, a selective state organization for top high school musicians that I started, where we perform in retirement communitites and fund raising events. Will be President of math club next year, where I will prepare students for competition such as AMC, AIME, etc. VP in KCNCSY, an club for Jewish teens from all over the city.</p>

<p>-Employment-My only work is private violin lesson, which I started giving this year once a week.</p>

<p>-Honors/Awards- won 3rd in 2 national math competitions for 8-9 grades in Israel when I was in 8th grade. 1st place in AMATYC( math competition for community colleges) in my county and certificate for outstanding achievement on the national competition, which i got this year. Total of 12 medals on highest ranks in violin and viola solo/quartet festivals at district and state level. Got President's silver award for 200+ community service hours. AP national scholar.</p>

<p>-recs/essays- I will get recs from physics and Englsih teacher in september. Essay is about the effect of reading a book about a specific culture when I am surrounded by </p>

<p>-additional information: my family is very poor. I moved to the US from Israel right before freshmen year and lived with grandparents for 2 years. Then my mom moved here and now I live with her; she is unemployed. I speak English, Russian(my entire family is Russian) and Hebrew fluently; English is better than my Russian but worse than my Hebrew. I am participating in a research project in physics(nothing serious, i play a minor role). I will attend SSP(summer science program, cosponsored by MIT and Caltech) this summer, where I will do a group research project about astreoids. After SSP, Ill probably do a more intense research project in astrophysics with one of SSP's professors.</p>

<p>I am sorry if this was too long. Thx for taking the time to read this and chance me!</p>

2

<p>I would definitely prep for and retake either the SAT or ACT, because your current scores (though still good) are the only thing keeping you from a decent shot at the schools you’ve listed. I know Stanford does use the super scored ACT, so that should help you somewhat. Not sure about the others. Otherwise, your class schedule seems very rigorous, so your 4.32 GPA is impressive. Also, taking college courses and keeping a 4.0 college GPA will look good. Your strong ECs should help a lot, as well as your academic awards. Just make sure you write interesting/unique essays for the common app and supplemental apps (I recommend “Find x” for the UChicago supplement) AND raise those test scores (Kaplan and Princeton Review are excellent sources for this). Then you should have a very good chance at the schools you listed. Good luck!
Oh and your associate’s from the CC will be too late to affect college admissions, and I’m not sure if saying you’ll probably get it will be good enough. Pretty awesome, though! Maybe ask one of your professors for a letter of recommendation and give him/her hints to mention it:)</p>

3

<p>Most likely rejections, considering your GPA and SAT&SATIIs. However, just apply to them for the heck of it. Who knows? You might get in.</p>

<p>Edit: I apologize. I missed that you will be participating in SSP. So your chance at MIT will probably the best amongst the aforementioned schools.</p>

4

<p>Princeton/MIT/Harvard/Stanford: Out of reach
Chicago: High reach</p>

<p>You need matches and safetys, a lot of them.</p>

5

<p>The 2030 SAT is kind of too low for the schools you’re looking at, so see if you can improve it as much as possible. I love your passion for music though… if you connect the music part with your involvements in the community and your background, I think that may work in your favor. Hope you’ll have fun at SSP :)!</p>

<p>Like soze said, you’ll definitely need to add a few match schools to your list as well as some financial safeties.</p>

6

<p>If you enter your research project in Siemens/Intel and become a semifinalist, you would have a VERY strong chance for MIT.</p>

<p>But yeah, you need to retake those SATs :/</p>

7

<p>^I don’t think he/she will make it on time. Also, even with these awards, MIT will still be a reach for the OP.</p>

8

<p>Rank and scores are both low for all of these schools.</p>

9

<p>^Yep. It’s also worth mentioning that the ACT is never “superscored;” rather, your highest composite is considered.</p>

10

<p>[Testing</a> Requirements : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/testing.html]Testing”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/testing.html)</p>

<p>“If a student takes the ACT more than once, we will mix and match to focus on the highest Composite score and the highest Combined English/Writing Score. We will also be sensitive to individual sub-scores.”</p>

11

<p>^does this mean they mix and match subject test scores, or just the composite and combined E/W</p>

12

<p>i’d also like to know</p>

13

<p>soze, can you explain y the schools you mentioned are out of reach?
see, 2/3 of ssp alumni get into harvard/princeton/stanford/mit/caltech, and i know
for sure that im not in the bottom 3rd.
I can retake the SAT in october and get somewhere in the 2100’s.
Question: do those schools seriously expect me to ace reading+writing when they know that english is my 3rd language? i mean, its only a test after all.
Also, the professor in physics that i did the physics research with is a former stanford professor, so should i ask him for a recommendation?</p>

14

<p>I forgot to mention this: the only b’s that i got were in english/history courses during freshmen and sophmore years, when i had really bad english. All the grades in junior year were A’s and same will probably happen for senior year.
The point is, i think i made a big improvement overmy high school years: feshmen year was regular classes, sphomore year with 2 ap’s, junior year with 7 ap’s and 2 cc classes, and senior will be alot of cc and university classes, along with 5-6 ap’s at schools.
Dont you think that those universites will see and appreciate the improvement that i made?</p>

15

<p>I think they will expect quite a bit higher from someone who has been in and studied in the US 4 years, they expect and get much higher from many who have never set foot in the US.</p>

<p>There are also very, very few getting into HYPS (or an ivy save Cornell land grant schools) without a genuine hook that rank as low as 6%. Your SATll scores also don’t say top math/science student and ECs are not the type that bowl HYPS over.</p>

<p>While there are some immigrant stories they may buy, top colleges are not lookig for improvement, they are looking for consistently outstanding performance.</p>

16

<p>Srry, one more thing that I forgot to mention:
Appearantly, I will be getting a recommendation from SSP that will be written and signed by people from Princeton, Caltech, and MIT. So maybe this recommendation might help me, take it into account.
Thx for your opinions/suggestions :)</p>