Please put me out of my misery: MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, & Carnegie Mellon

I already know that I have some bad stats holding me down. MIT is my dream school, and I’d rather fully accept the fact that I probably won’t make it in now than later when I actually get the notification. But the others are on my list too so I’m curious about them as well. Here goes:

SAT: 2120 (meh), M-730; CR-630; W-760
ACT: 33 composite
UW GPA: 3.86
Rank: 4/575
Top student in school’s STEM Academy

Freshman:
-AP human geography (4 on ap exam)
-PreAP physics
-PreAP English 1
-PreAP geometry
-Regular Spanish 1
-Regular band/JV drumline
-Intro to Engineering Design

Sophomore:
-AP world history (2, shoot me)
-PreAP biology
-PreAP English 2
-PreAP Algebra 2
-PreAP Spanish 2
-Regular band/varsity drumline
-Principles of Engineering
-self-studied precalculus

Junior:
-AP U.S. history (4)
-PreAP chemistry
-AP English Language (3)
-AP calculus BC (5 on both parts)
-PreAP Spanish 3
-Honors band/varsity drumline
-Computer Integrated Engineering
-Govt and econ taken over the summer as dual credit, A’s on both
-Interned at Cisco Systems for two weeks over the summer

Senior:
-AP psych
-AP physics C
-AP English literature
-AP statistics
-Honors band/varsity drumline
-Engineering design and problem solving
-Professional internship program (2nd semester)

Extracurriculars:
Band- 6 years, 4 region band awards, advanced to area this year, solo competition award, 3rd chair
VEX robotics- 1.5 years, 7th place worldwide in college division last year, captain
National honor society- 2 years, presidential assistant
Tutor/mentor for juniors- 1 year, selected principal mentor
STEM senate (student govt)- 1 year, technical committee chairperson
Mu alpha theta (natonal math honor society)- 3 years, member
Pianist- 6 years, self taught, invited to perform in youth ensemble
Homemade speaked building- 1 year, building speakers from scratch for fun
Spanish club- co-president

I’m a Vietnamese male, which probably decreases my chances also. Texas.

Chance me and I’ll chance back at request?

Thanks!

Oh, forgot.

SAT ll:
Math 1- 740
Eco bio- 600 (cocks gun)
Chem- 590 (shoots self)

Scale: Safety, Low Match, Match, High Match, Low Reach, Reach

MIT - Reach
Stanford - Reach
Berkeley - High Match
CM - High Match

For MIT and Stanford, your scores are low. Your extracurriculars are impressive, but are typical of STEM applicants to those schools.

For Berkeley and CM, your scores are a match for an average admit. Your extracurriculars would be typical of STEM applicants. These two schools are high matches as they are competitive STEM oriented schools.

Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat, I’m an Asian male and made 2200 on SAT I, but made high 500 on my SAT II tests. I wish you luck though.

You appear sort of unfocused, for lack of a better word right now. Not so much in breadth, but in depth of your schoolwork and activities. Is there some reason you score low on tests? And, what kept you from getting a 4.0?

what is ap geometry?

oh wait i get it. lol good luck! wherever you end up is the right spot for you!

@JustOneDad you sound incredibly condescending… are 4.0s a given now?

Sorry you don’t have much of a chance at MIT/Stanford.

Know much about applications at MIT/Stanford?

First of all OP, your test scores and stats are very good. While they may be a little low for the schools you are targeting, they definitely don’t knock you out of contention. It is very hard to predict admissions to these schools. While they all post stats for admissions, there are many exceptions and stats are far from the only thing considered. We have a very good friend who was admitted to Cal 2 years ago with much lower scores and grades - 3.6/1900ish SAT. She is not sure why she got in other than I will say she is interestingly quirky which may have come across in her essay. Colleges always consider the difficulty of your high school program, so if your high school is very competitive (it sounds as if it might be given you are ranked #4 w/ a 3.86) your GPA may not be an issue. In any event, these schools may be reaches but are not completely out of your league. Just be sure to review your list of colleges to be sure you have some back-ups. If not, you should look for a few schools that are still accepting applications. Best of luck!

Yeah, I figured that my college list was basically a suicide list. But hey, I’d rather get a rejection on paper than never know. I’ve dedicated my four years to band, which takes tons of time, and therefore limits everything else I do. I’ve had world tournament experience with robotics too, so those two activities are my strong EC’s. But probaby far from enough. My GPA suffered from freshman year. I was a stupid freshman. My rank actually started out as 18th before I hauled butt and rose to 4th. If I could go back and redo my high school experience and tests for college, believe me, I would (but then again, tons of people would). I appreciate the feedback. I needed to be told that MIT and Stanford wouldn’t work out.

I agree, your SAT and GPA aren’t your strongest… at least 3.9 and 2200 would be more doable for such a prestigious school. Don’t expect much. But your ranking is fairy good.
Hey… I take Principles of Engineering and Computer Integrated Manufacturing too! But I’m from New York, not Texas.

The Good:

  • STEM international recognition
  • AP Calc BC score
  • rank

The “Ok”:

  • GPA
  • courseload
  • ACT/SAT scores

The Bad:

  • low scores on other AP tests
  • lack of breadth in ECs (just one outstanding achievement)

Chances:

MIT - high reach
Stanford - high reach
UCB - mid reach (out of state)
CM - high match to low reach

Advice:

I would only report the ACT score if I were you as it translates roughly to a 2200+ on the SAT.

Best of luck!!!

Stanford and MIT are a reach for everyone, but I’m pretty sure that you have a match at Cal.

Optimistic chance of acceptance: 100%

Pessimistic chance of acceptance: 0%

Be optimistic or not, it’s your choice.

Going back to the GPA argument up there: the avg gpa at MIT is a 3.85 unweighted according to CollegeData so I don’t think his gpa will be a problem

@MikeJuhuoski‌

If you’re looking at the same CollegeData MIT page that I’m looking at, it says:

“CLASS OF 2019
Profile of Students on COLLEGEdata
Interested in This College”

is 3.85 UW

And guess what, their admit rate is 8%. Not to mention that the OP’s testing isn’t going to help him either. In fact, his SAT II’s might just be the last straw.

I’m not saying that he can’t get into MIT, but realistically, I’d just move on already.

Recent reports on MIT GPA have most admits at 4.0. This would be the case for everyone I know that got admitted.