Reverse Chance Me Please!

College Search & Selection
1

I am an asian female from a competitive school in Illinois planning to major in STEM. I will be a junior this fall. No hooks, income is 90k per year however the area I live in is extremely wealthy, the median income is 170k. I am looking for medium to large co-ed schools. An environment similar to that of Northwestern’s (not in the city like NYU but also not in the middle of no where) is preferable, but I am open to all recommendations.

Here are my academic stats:

-Took all honors freshman year except for band, took 3 APs (chemistry, physics 1, and computer science A) and 4 honors sophomore year
-SAT Subject Tests: Math II (800) and Chemistry (800)
-AP: Chem (5), Physics 1 (5), Computer Science A (5)
-ACT: 35 (35E 36M 34R 33S 8 Writing, planning to retake as I did not prepare for the test and was not aware of the time crunch it would be. I think I can get higher in science, I ran out of time during the test)
-GPA (on a 5.0 scale): 5.88 weighted 4.96 unweighted - got a B freshman year & didn’t take honors band freshman year
-Next year I am taking: AP Language and Composition, AP Calculus BC, AP Microeconomics, AP US Government, AP Biology, AP Physics C , German 3 Honors, Band honors (highest band at my school)

Extracurriculars
-Varsity Poms/Dance Team (11, probably 12)
-JV Poms (10)
-Novice Level figure skater for Moves in the Field (3rd highest level of 8)
-Juniors in Engineering Technical Society (10, probably 11 & 12) - Team placed third at state, however I did not get any individual awards
-Marching band/pep band (9, 10, 11, probably 12) - section leader (10, 11, probably 12)
-Figure skating coach at a figure skating school (10, 11, probably 12)
-Assistant figure skating coach (9)
-Former member of a competitive dance team at my studio (9) (quit last year because I joined poms at my school)

  • I own an online etsy shop where I sell random crafts (112 sales so far) but I’m not sure if this is worth mentioning

Achievements:

-Qualified for an international dance competition (9) (couldn’t attend because of time conflict)
-Gold award in National German Exam (97th percentile) (10)
-Chemistry Olympiad national finalist (10)
-Chemistry Award (10) - from my school’s science department, probably not worth mentioning though
Thanks for the help!

2

Don’t retake the ACT, a 35 → 36 is not worth your time.

3

Good Stats. Some pretty unique ECs. Good awards. I would say you have a shot

4

Hmmm… great STEM school, not in the big city but not in the middle of nowhere…

Besides Northwestern, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, Caltech ,Duke, Virginia is what I come up with. Others are either in a big city or in the middle of nowhere.

5

UW-Madison, Purdue and RPI would fit the bill of Engineering schools based on OP’s criteria.

6

Most of the public schools above are likely not affordable to an out of state student with a 90k family income.

7

Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon (both in cities technically but not like NYU) Rice, Brandeis (both smaller), Tufts.

8

If you need merit maybe UT Dallas, Ohio State, Pitt? Case Western is pricey but they offer merit.

9

Look carefully at UIUC, your in state choice is well ranked for EECS, physics, most engineering majors, as well as business.

Are you likely to win NMF for the state of Illinois?
Look up previous years PSAT cutoff score for Illinois. Then, UT Dallas will be very affordable, as will U of Oklahoma, and Arizona State. Arizona State will fly NMF to visit their campus, they send you an airline ticket.

10

Emory, WashU, Vanderbilt, and Rochester. Although some people would think that Rochester is in the middle of nowhere.

Atlanta, St. Louis, and Nashville aren’t that large based on population, even though they are considered major cities.