Please chance me for T20s, Ivies, UCs (especially MIT and CalTech), and if any, recommendations

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys! Please chance me thanks~~ :3 I

Note: currently a rising senior.

Colleges: Ivies, T20s, UCs (my dream school is MIT ehehe)

Background:

  • School: large public on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, very competitive and rating 10/10 on greatschools.org lmao
  • Asian female
  • Income bracket: pretty high, probably not getting much financial aid unless it's HYPSM
  • Major: ChemE or CS?
  • Hooks: none, and actually most everything is against me except for female in STEM lol

Objective:

  • SAT: 1540 (740 E, 800 M, 7/6/7 on essay)
  • ACT: 35 (36 E, 35 M, 33 R, 36 S, 10 writing)

(should I retake any of these?)

  • SAT 2: math 2 800, bio M 800, will take chem
  • PSAT: (doesn't really matter but) 750 E, 760 M
  • APs: (didn't self-study any RIP) World, Bio 5's, soon to take: US History, Spanish 4, Calc BC, Chem, Lang (predicting 5's on all of them except for Spanish 4, maybe a 4-- my school teaches APs really well)
  • UWGPA: 4.0, WGPA: 4.3134 so far (up to 1st sem Junior year, I have all A's this semester as well)
  • Rank: unavailable, literally no idea but at least top 4%
  • Senior year courseload: AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP Stat, AP CS A, AP Gov/MacEcon, Multi, Higher level orchestra
  • Awards: hahaha

Chemistry Olympiad local exam qualifier (currently waiting for national results but 0 expectations) 11th grade

regional Science Olympiad Chemistry Lab 5th place (lol) 11th grade

All-State Orchestra since 7th grade (2nd principal of Symphony orchestra in 9th grade)-- yes I’m probably listing this as an award

Toronto Biology Olympiad International Biology Scholar (10th grade)

Modeling the Future Challenge (math/stats competition) Semifinalist

Some little MiniCon DECA awards in 9th grade (probably not writing this)

Subjective:

  • Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Neuroscience Club 9-12 (Treasurer 10, Co-President 11, President 12), Chemistry club 11, Society for Neuroscience Youth, a non-profit trying to teach neuroscience in the community 9-12 (Student Rep 10, Student Executive 11, Treasurer 12), Science olympiad 10-12 (Officer 11, probably VP of something 12), Competitive youth symphony 9-10, liberty in north korea club 9-10 (VP 10), string quartet 11, concert-master of freshman school orchestra 9, concert-master of symphony orchestra 11, 2nd principal of symphony orchestra 10, Science for Youth 10-12 teaching elementary kids science (may be getting officer position 12), VP of an organization that hands out hygiene products to homeless women around my community, but the president kind of killed it
  • Job/work experience: tutor for school academic assistance program, wondering if I should get a job somewhere later? Waiting to hear back from lab internship as well
  • Volunteer: science for youth thing I mentioned, volunteer at local hospital, volunteered at autism center, Red Cross blood donation center
  • Summer: toured the Baltics with the competitive youth orchestra I mentioned, ALA Girls State delegate this summer, got into Davis COSMOS but will not go if I get that internship

Teacher Rec:

  • ap chem teacher, eh or ap world/ta teacher, p good
  • hon pre-calc and multi teacher, actually good
  • counselor: dont know her well, so eh
2

For the most selective private schools: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges.html

For UCs: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/2127392-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-2018.html (but note that CS and chemical engineering are typically more selective majors than the overall campus stats may suggest)

3

Be sure to apply to likely and safety schools. Possibilities may be UCR, UCM, and SJSU, assuming affordability. Some out of state schools may have automatic admission and/or scholarships for your stats.

4

Good shot but as stated by @ucbalumnus , get some safeties. Also, CS gets more and more competitive, so if you’re not 100% committed to CS, consider applying for another major.

5

However, at colleges where frosh admission as a CS major is more selective, changing into the CS major after enrolling in a different major or undeclared may be very difficult and competitive.

6

You have excellent stats, and have the talent to do well at any of those schools. No crystal ball here, but best of luck, I bet you’ll find success at least a few of those Top 20s.

7

While your application for a most science majors are about as solid as anybody’s, you are unlikely to be accepted to any top college for CS. You will be competing against kids with multiple awards in CS, Math, and Robotic related competitions. You have not done hackathons, Girls Who Code, etc. you have not done math competitions or tutoring. You have You have not taken any extra math classes beyond CalcBC, You’re good at math, more than good enough for any science field, but you really don’t show that you are interested in going into the level needed for CS or engineering. Same issues for ChemE.

Being a girl will help, but I don’t know how much.

In fact, looking at your ECs, I cannot figure why you are looking at a CS major, or any engineering major at all. There is no indication of interest, not indication that you have any idea as to what these majors actually entail. You have the profile of a Biologist. You have the courses, the ECs, and it looks like you have the passion.

Go for a Chem, Bio, or Neuroscience major, and shine.

8

https://news.yahoo.com/10-national-universities-where-grads-paid-well-130000240.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=tw

9

Completely agree with @MWolf . What is your intended major? There are lots of people who pick a major based on what they think the smart kids are supposed to major in and they are better off picking something they are really passionate about. Your ECs are more arts focused (I wouldn’t list that liberty in NK club) and life sciences based. Are you thinking of a health career of some sort?

10

^ “but you really don’t show that you are interested in going into the level needed for CS or engineering”

While true, half of Carnegie Mellon’s incoming CS class has no programming experience. Figure that.

11

@MWolf, you said:

But OP has Multi and AP CS in the senior year course load…isnt it enough for the college to conclude that she is going beyond CalcBC and coming in with enough CS fundamentals? (honest question - trying to understand the importance of math courses beyond BC ‘before’ senior year - thought senior year course load is as important and colleges look at it critically; also hackathons - there are many regionals which OP can still participate but wondering if participating in hackathons gives a great fillip to premier colleges?)

12

The lack of females in CS is sometimes attributed to boys getting an earlier start in computing (possibly due to gender bias among parents and teachers) and therefore being better able to show HS course work and ECs in CS to more selective colleges, and getting a head start in introductory CS courses in college (despite the fact that CS majors typically are not required to have computing experience prior to college).

Perhaps the OP realizes that, even if these subjects are passions, they are much less likely to lead to good careers in the field than CS or chemical engineering. Indeed, someone who really likes chemistry may want to consider chemical engineering over chemistry because it is more likely that one can develop a good career from chemical engineering than chemistry (i.e. more likely to be able to continue the passion through a career, rather than having to switch to something else after college graduation or seeing weak career prospects after a few entry level lab tech jobs).

13

I also don’t think OP’s “lack of CS” ECs are going to be an issue. Sci oly and chem oly are both solid STEM ECs and she has great course work.

My D was just saying yesterday that in her flagship’s honors program, the vast majorities of the engineers and CS majors are much more well rounded than the overall student population in those majors. OP’s well roundness could very well be a strength.

Most students don’t have the opportunity to take beyond BC calc in HS, nor do even top colleges expect that.

Of course the T20s for CS are crazy competitive and that should not be the focus of anyone’s college search.

14

Also, many students do high school ECs that do not define their college majors. For example, those doing math contests do not necessarily become math majors, those doing music do not necessarily become music majors, those doing debate do not necessarily become rhetoric majors, those doing robotics do not necessarily become engineering majors, those doing scouting do not necessarily major in anything commonly associated with scouting activities, those doing cultural/ethnic/religious/LGBT activities do not necessarily major in cultural/ethnic/religious/LGBT studies, and those doing sports do not necessarily major in sports-related majors.

15

@Greymeer CMU Has a tendency to look like non-traditional approaches in engineering, and, if the OP wanted to look into a CS department, CMU would be my recommendation. On the other hand, MIT, Stanford, etc, tend to be a lot more traditional in their approach. Harvey Mudd may be another choice, since they have a more personalized approach and will provide support.

Again, I think that the OP has an outstanding STEM background, and is competitive for most science programs, but my wife, who teaches CS, and studied in very competitive programs for her undergraduate and her PhD, has seen how many students drop out of engineering and CS programs pretty early on because they were not prepared for what the math actually looks like.

@ucbalumnus I agree that this is the problem, globally, but, locally, looking at the OP as an individual who wants to optimize her own chances at success, she needs to know what she is getting into. Encouraging girls to go into CS and engineering does not mean trying to get as many girls who demonstrate interest in STEM in general to apply for undergraduate degrees in these fields as possible.

Engineers and CS people aren’t smarter than natural science people, and I don’t think that the OP isn’t super smart, because she is. The difference between scientists and engineers isn’t just about passion, it’s about what they are best at doing. I think that her strengths are in science - she has explored and done very well in at least three different life sciences.

My feel from the OP is that she has not put much thought into her choice of majors, and, at least for T-20 CS or engineering. That is not a good idea for somebody who is aiming at taking one of the most challenging undergraduate degrees out there, and one the majors with the highest level of transfers out. If the OP comes back and writes “I’ve thought about it, looked into what a CS or an engineering degree entails, and I feel that it would be the right path for me”, I’ll change my mind and my recommendation.

I will also admit that, as a scientist, I do not want to lose her to engineering…

16

While there probably is an established lane into CS for students with multiple awards in CS, robotics, etc it is by no means the only only lane. Our S had no “awards” but strong academics and was accepted at Stanford, CMU SCS, Cal, and others. Of those three, CMU and Cal require a declared major, Stanford does not. We know several students/friends of our S that had zero prior coding experience and are thriving at Stanford. Not a large sample size, but real none the less.

What you need is a list of colleges that align you your interests (financial, academic and other).

17

However, it does not mean discouraging them from doing so based on speculation about their true passions in contradiction to their stated preferences.

There is not exactly a shortage of graduates in biology and chemistry.

18

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for everything!

So just to provide some background information, I’ve actually had kind of a hard time finding what my passion really is. At first, I went into the biological sciences and really liked it – but I’m starting to realize the physical sciences and engineering are more fun so might be better for me, after looking into the majors and the careers. Chemistry is a relatively new interest that I developed, and computer science is something that I’ve very recently started to be interested in. One of the things I did consider, definitely, is job prospects – but looking into my personality, interests, etc. I think engineering would be awesome to go into, personally.

But, with what I currently have, please do provide feedback about if I should really try for engineering. Since CS is just such a new interest and I don’t have much foundation, I’m probably leaning more towards chemical engineering. But would it be better to just apply to chemistry? And from there, will I be able to carve out a path as an engineer?

And, (I’m assuming the answer to this question is yes, but I’ll just throw it in here just in case) is it too late to start developing CS ECs? I actually do think I like it but it’s just based off of learning online, nothing too big lol. But it’s fun :slight_smile:

Also, what are some things that people looking to go into Chemical Engineering do? I did assume in the beginning that I would just do chemistry activities that interest me, but I feel like I’m not understanding these fields terribly well, so–any suggestions?

Again, thanks so much for the advice and for even going so far to provide specific college suggestions! These help me a lot.

19

My D is a chem e (just finished her freshman year). In HS she did sci oly as her main STEM EC, took pre engineering courses (in addition to core math and science APs), joined and participated in SWE’s HS events, did summer robotics and STEM camps.

Research your schools carefully. At some schools applying for chemistry may make it nearly impossible to transfer into engineering later. The course requirements are quite different.

In terms of what’s she’s interested in pursuing as a chem e, she has a co-op lined up with a polymer company. She’s mainly interested in their health care division. She’s trying to decide now if she wants to concentrate in organic materials or in biochemical eng but she has another semester and a half before she needs to decide.

She hasn’t ruled out pharmaceuticals, general materials, or food manufacturing just yet, but knows she doesn’t want to go into the energy field. Lots of possibilities!

20

It is commonly easier to switch from chemical engineering to chemistry in college than the other way around, but harder to get in initially for chemical engineering.

Chemical engineering graduates commonly have better job and career prospects than chemistry graduates:
https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2018Majors
https://db.career.vt.edu/scripts/PostGrad2006/Report/DetailReportSalaries.asp?College=00&Majors=Y&Cohort=2017-2018

In terms of what your actual interests are, would you be more interested studying the natural universe (science) or solving design problems based on science (engineering)?