Please Give a Good Student Honest Chances for Top Schools!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>Here is some information about me:</p>

<p>Graduation Year: 2010
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
State: Oregon</p>

<p>School: Small international school
GPA: 4.0 (unweighted)
Class rank: 1 out of 20
SAT: 2400, 12 essay
ACT: 35 composite, 8 essay (I think most schools will disregard this in favor of the SAT score?)
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2, Chemistry, Biology (I plan to take these soon)
Courses: IB diploma candidate</p>

<pre><code>* IB English HL
* IB History HL
* IB Biology HL
* IB Math HL
* IB Chemistry SL
* IB Mandarin SL (I've heard that this makes my application unique... does it?)
* (IB) Theory of Knowledge
</code></pre>

<p>Recommendations: Good at least, probably pretty good.</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities:</p>

<pre><code>* Model United Nations - 4 years - Founder, President/Ambassador all four years
* Student Government - 3 years - Founder, Public Relations Officer
* Boy Scouts - 7 years - Eagle Scout
* Jazz Band - 3 years
* School Newspaper - 2 years - Founder, Editor-in-Chief
* Interact Club - 1 year - Founder, President
</code></pre>

<p>Awards:</p>

<pre><code>* National Honor Society
* Eagle Scout
* AMC 10/12 school winner - 3 years running
* National Merit Semifinalist (PSAT 223)
</code></pre>

<p>This summer, I will be working at a renewable energy company. I will also be working as an intern at Portland State University, researching solar energy.</p>

<p>Please give me honest chances for:</p>

<pre><code>* University of Washington
* University of California, Berkeley
* University of California, Los Angeles
* University of Southern California
* University of Texas, Austin
* Carnegie Mellon University
* Cornell University
* University of Pennsylvania
* Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Stanford University
</code></pre>

<p>Thank you very much!</p>

2

<ul>
<li>University of Washington - in</li>
<li>University of California, Berkeley - in</li>
<li>University of California, Los Angeles - in</li>
<li>University of Southern California - in</li>
<li>University of Texas, Austin - in</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University - in</li>
<li>Cornell University - in</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania - most likely in</li>
</ul>

<p>MIT and Stanford are the only ones where I won’t say you are in, simply because they are 2 of the top 5 schools in America, but I will certainly not say that they will surely decline you. Your EC working with a renewable energy company will make things very interesting for your application to those 2 schools. Best of luck; I do think you have the potential to land in one of those 2.</p>

<p>Also, just one small criticism on your awards, since when is achieving a top AMC10/12 score amongst your very small school considered an award?</p>

3

<p>Your stats are excellent, but I think monstor344 may have been a slight bit generous. I don’t think that Cornell and University of Pennsylvania are safe for anyone, unless you are a recruited athlete or internationally acclaimed in some field. While you do have quite a good shot at these schools, they still are ivy league, and shouldn’t be underestimated. Stanford is anyone’s guess, I would say you have around a 20-30% chance of getting in, and the same (or maybe a bit lower) for MIT. You are a very solid applicant, and should find yourself with a lot of acceptances if your essays and recs don’t unearth some giant character/intellectual flaw. Good Luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks for your input!</p>

<p>@monstor344 - I know the AMC 10/12 awards are not very impressive, but it’s the best I can do at such a small school!</p>

<p>@Sirensong - What percent chance would you give me for Cornell and UPenn?</p>

<p>Anyone else, please?</p>

5

<p>How is it possible that you can take that many IB courses for such a small school like yours?</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>Every IB school has to offer at least 6 IB courses + ToK, otherwise it is not allowed to host the IB curriculum. Most offer around 10 IB courses, even at a small school.</p>

<p>IB isn’t like AP. IB is a curriculum, whereas AP is for individual courses. You can be an AP student with 1 or 2 AP courses, but you can’t be an IB student with less than 6 IB courses (+ToK).</p>

7

<p>@G.P.Burdell - Thanks for backing me up! I’m definitely not lying. My school has IB courses for all six subject areas - sometimes multiple courses for each area. My school’s focus is IB, so it would be ridiculous not to have those courses.</p>

8

<p>I would say you have a better than average chance at all your schools.</p>

9

<p>@teenage_cliche - Thanks! Does that include Stanford/MIT?</p>

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<p>I think you should apply EA to Stanford. I would not be surprised if you got in EA.</p>

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<p>I would say that you have a very good chance at all the other schools and an above average chance at Stanford and MIT, yes. I also agree that applying EA to either Stanford or MIT might help you as well.</p>

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<p>Obviously the stats are solid.</p>

<p>Your ECs seem typical for top school applicants. Also, I have a question: how do you have time to be the president/founder of 4 different organizations with your courseload? To me, it seems like you founded 1-2 of them for the sake of saying you are president/founder.</p>

13

<p>ive seen two people with 2400s today, and am flabbergasted. that’s just amazing. being an eagle scout is a great accomplishment too.</p>

<p>you’re in great shape man. no matter what school you go too, after high school im sure you’ll do great things</p>

14

<p>@jamesford - Unfortunately, I’m not doing all of those clubs currently. Newspaper was canceled after sophomore year, because our advisor couldn’t commit to another year, and we couldn’t find another advisor. Also, I’m not going to be Public Relations Officer of student government during senior year. In reality, during senior year, I’ll just be President/Ambassador of MUN, President of Interact, regular member of student government, regular member of jazz band, and a member of my Boy Scout Troop.</p>

<p>@NuclearPakistan1 & teenage_cliche - I’ve heard that Stanford’s SCEA is almost tougher than RD. Do you know anything about that? Also, the other thing is that since it is Single-Choice Early Action, I would not be able to apply EA to MIT. So, I can apply EA to either Stanford or MIT, but not both. Which would you suggest?</p>

<p>Thanks for everyone’s advice!</p>

15

<p>Sirensong, I don’t think my predictions were incredibly generous. Cornell is a great school, but its admissions policies simply aren’t random. A student like you will be accepted. UPenn, although it is also a superb school, is most likely not going to turn down the OP. It is only at schools with insanely low acceptance rates where I’d be concerned; schools like HYPSM are where OP definitely needs some luck or something extra to push him in.</p>

16

<p>Personally, I think that false hope is the worst thing to have going into the college admissions process. Monstor344, your predictions were not “incredibly” generous, just slightly. I would probably chance the OP 50% at Cornell and around 40% at University of Pennsylvania. To me, those percents mean that you will likely get in, but you shouldn’t depend on receiving a large envelope. Someone in my school got into UPenn with very similar stats: Eagle Scout, he was 2/200, really good SATs and ECs, but he was also pretty athletic, which seems like it would give him (possibly) a slight edge over you. It also depends on the applicant pool, which seems to be getting progressively better. But I have very little doubt that you will get into at least one ivy/top tier school you apply to.</p>

17

<p>I’d say you’re in great shape for all those schools! Maybe not MIT/the Ivies/Stanford though. That may be a toss-up, but you definitely have a chance (unlike others).</p>

<p>“* IB Mandarin SL (I’ve heard that this makes my application unique… does it?)” -You</p>

<p>Yes, it does, considering that you’re Indian. But, well…I think you should seek for your passion than look for whatever makes you “unique”. By doing so, you’ve become completely not unique. Trust me…everyone out there is something to make them “unique” and go to the greatest lengths to do so. Just be yourself and pursue your passion! If your passion is Chinese…good for you! </p>

<p>Good luck wherever you go. Chance me too :smiley: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/720727-chance-me-please-bit-long-but-still-thanks.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/720727-chance-me-please-bit-long-but-still-thanks.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@monstor344 - You said earlier that you think I have the potential to get into at least one of the two - either Stanford or MIT. What can I do to improve my chances to those schools?</p>

19

<p>Sirensong, your prediction of 50% chance at Cornell would say that you think it’s a toss-up, and that if he didn’t get accepted by Cornell, you wouldn’t be surprised. I would be incredibly surprised if he didn’t make it into Cornell, and I’m sure most people who have witnessed witnessed for themselves instances of admissions at Cornell would be very surprised as well. He would really have to do something to mess up, such as writing a terrible essay that shows no interest in the school whatsoever.</p>

<p>soadquake, you can’t really improve your academics, so the best way to improve your chances are through ECs, awards, and showing great interest. It’s probably too late to significantly improve the first two, but with a stellar application essay you’ve got a solid chance at Stanford, which heavily weighs the application essay.</p>

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<p>@monstor344 - So you’d say that my chances of admission at Stanford are greater than at MIT?</p>