Prediction Game - Top Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

As decisions start rolling in, I thought I’d de-stress a little and see what the CC community thinks of where I will ultimately be accepted/waitlisted/rejected!

Schools list:
-Columbia (rejected ED)
-UChicago (deferred EA)
-Harvard
-University of Pennsylvania
-Princeton
-Dartmouth
-Duke
-Brown
-Cornell
-MIT
-Rice
-Stanford
-Washington University in St. Louis (accepted)
-Northwestern

SAT I (breakdown): 2360 Superscore, 2290 Single sitting
ACT (breakdown): 35
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Math 2, 740 Bio/chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 2% at large public (class size ~600)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): PM for specifics, but ~10 national/state STEM awards, a good number of journal/conference publications, some state music stuff too

[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): leadership in the following: science club, band, orchestra, two volunteer organizations, journalism, business club, math club
Job/Work Experience: paid intern at the NIH two summers ago through their Summer Internship Program
Volunteer/Community Service: ~500 community service hours total
Summer Activities: research all three summers in various fields, STEM camps, working on patent
Essays (rating 1-10, details): CommonApp was 8.5/10 (really tells a part of my life very well, PM for essay), supplements/other essays were generally from 7/10 - 9/10 (honestly the most creative and thoughtful essays I have ever written for anything)
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 8/10 for both; solid, but nothing revolutionary
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 8.5/10; I have a pretty close relationship with her considering the massive size of my school
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details): 7/10 research mentor; didn’t really get to interact with him over the summer but he seemed to like me
Interview: interviews were generally meh (6/10) to solid (8/10), nothing decision-changing

Other
Applied for Financial Aid: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): TX
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: asian lol
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none really

Haha sorry for the vagueness of some parts of my application, but I hope you have a clear picture of me as a STEM oriented yet well-rounded kid. If you want some further details, feel free to PM me!

2

As an aside, I am more than willing to predict/chance anyone back!

3

No one here will tell you anything you don’t already know. You have a solid chance at any of these schools. Congrats on WashU! You should be very proud of that accomplishment, fantastic school, especially for what you are interested in.

4

Obviously I could be wrong, you have a shot everywhere, but here are my guesses, don’t take them too seriously, I’m sure you’ll get into at least one awesome school here.

-Columbia: Rejected (obvs)
-UChicago: Rejected
-Harvard: Rejected
-University of Pennsylvania: Accepted
-Princeton: Rejected
-Dartmouth: Waitlisted
-Duke: Rejected
-Brown: Waitlisted
-Cornell: Rejected
-MIT: Rejected
-Rice: Accepted
-Stanford: Rejected
-Washington University in St. Louis: Accepted, Congrats!
-Northwestern: Rejected

5

For the record, I’m not looking for my chances into these schools (despite the name of this forum); I’m just curious where fellow CCers think I will be accepted/waitlisted/rejected from.

Thanks for your input, @jamesjunkers‌! Hopefully the actual outcome results in more acceptances haha :neutral_face:

6

I hope so too! But realistically it’s all a crap shoot - you have a virtually equal shot at getting into all of these, it depends on if the admissions counselors are in a good mood or not :slight_smile:

7

I wouldn’t bet against you being shut out from all but two or three of them… Your app is average besides scores. Middle of the road ECs that look generic and the ones that arent seem money based(STEM Camps, etc), you’re asian, GPA is bad, you had bad interviews, and you are getting mediocre recs…

You’re leader in “band, journalism, and orchestra”? Are those clubs? Are you directing a orchestra/band?

It is too late now but I think you would have served yourself better by helping in your community rather than sorta doing your own thing. I mean really, only like 150 community service hours per year? C’mon!

Really cool that you have some national awards but unless they are COMPETITIVE national awards they dont mean much. You know if theyre comparable to stuff like USAMO. If they are your chances go up a bit. If it is “US mid level water horse robotic plant potting champion of the United States” then you’re not in as good shape. The music stuff won’t help much, but the publications might.

Anyway,

You’ve already been rejected by Columbia, and, for all practical purposes, UChicago. I think you’ll be rejected by HYPSM although one is possible. You have a pretty good shot at Dartmouth,and Northwestern. Duke is a low reach, as are Rice, Brown, and UPenn.

P.S. Chancing me back would be awesome, link is in my profile.

8

@YoungShoppah‌ Thanks for the input! And I fear that’s what is going to happen too…several of my friends from last year with similar stats were shut out almost everywhere D:

But as for the ECs and awards, I intentionally made them sound very vague to maintain anonymity. The national awards, for example, include AIME, USABO, Siemens, etc.; nothing as illegitimate as “US mid level water horse robotic plant potting champion of the United States” lolol

PM me for details, as I’d like to maintain confidentiality haha

9

Siemens regional is cool, if you got national then I’m suprised you’ve been rejected anywhere, AIME is cool but not very rare, again with USABO, if you made it onto the US team that is amazing. Otherwise, semifinalist, is just meh.

How would aomeone identify you based upon describing AIME? You’d have to give EXACT things which you can just be vague about… say like “prestigious math camp” instead of texas state math or stuff like that.

P.S. Chance back?

10

Duke is not a “low reach.” Like it’s peer institutions, it is a high reach for every applicant unfortunately. I also can’t tell what @YoungShoppah is saying about Dartmouth and Northwestern in comparison to Duke, Rice, Brown, and UPenn. Both of those schools are easier to get into than Duke and UPenn, but harder to get into than Rice and Brown. Not sure why he/she grouped those schools the way he/she did.

11

@YoungShoppah‌ I’m not necessarily scared of any singular component in my application that would give my identity away, but rather the entire package (e.g. specific placings at competitions, specific camps), which has given away myself in the past on CC haha. But yeah, everything is just semifinalist, nothing of the likes of Siemens nationals or USABO camp or anything :frowning:

Anyway, thanks for everyone’s input! Hopefully I fare better than what everyone is predicting thus far haha :pensive:

12

@StanManYeah‌, they are very similar in terms of selectivity… Brown is known for looking at persinal qualities which he is lackingin a bit, and it also has a lower acceptance rate than Dartmouth. Rice is similarly selectivein although its acceptance rate is just above Dartmouth’s. Pretty obvious that UPenn and Duke are harder than NU and Dartmouth and I grouped them in that way.

Also, low reach covers a wide range… not just a few percent.

13

Any other predictions before UChicago and MIT later this week?

14

Update - Rejected at both UChicago and MIT. No surprise there, as my EA essays and application for Chicago were horribly rushed and as for MIT, well, it’s MIT. :disappointed:

15

-Columbia: Rejected (obvs)
-UChicago: Rejected
-Harvard: Rejected
-University of Pennsylvania: Accepted
-Princeton: Rejected
-Dartmouth: Accepted
-Duke: Accepted
-Brown: Waitlisted
-Cornell: Waitlisted
-MIT: Rejected
-Rice: Accepted
-Stanford: Rejected
-Washington University in St. Louis: Accepted, Congrats!
-Northwestern: accepted

16

@DrunkScholar‌ Haha thanks for the optimistic predictions! Fingers crossed for N’Western this Thursday…