Rice/WUSTL/Emory/gatech/MIT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I was hoping you guys could give me chances at the following schools(in order of preference):</p>

<p>Rice
Emory
WUSTL
Gatech
MIT
UNC chapell hill
Harvard(going to apply just to see if I can get in, since there's no way I could afford it)</p>

<p>I'm a white male by the way applying from GA
SAT scores:
SAT I: 2390 aggregate 800/770/720 first sitting, 740/800/790 second sitting CR/M/W
SAT IIs:800s in Bio M, Physics, US History, Math Level 2, 740 in Spanish(non-native speaker)</p>

<p>Schedule/GPA/Rank:
GPA is 99/100 weighted, 94/100 unweighted (is +7 pts for honors/AP)
Rank is about 25/550 (hopefully top 5% by application time) also, I'm going to try to explain that I'm at a rank disadvantage because my freshman year I wasn't able to take any weighted classes.
9th Grade
Precalculus, Principles of Tech., World History, Biology, English, Spanish III, PE
the school I was at this year did not offer ANY honors classes, I'll get my counselor to explain that
10th grade
AP Calc AB, AP Bio, AP Comp Sci A, English Honors, Spanish IV honors, PE
11th grade
AP Calc BC, AB Physics B, AP English Lang, AP Spanish Lang, AP Stats, APUSH
(self studied AP Physics C Mech and EM)
Proposed 12th grade
AP US/Comp Govt. AP Chem, AP Psych, AP Macro/Micro econ, College English at local CC, Advanced Calculus (Calc II and III) at a local university.</p>

<p>AP Scores:
Sohp:
Bio-5
Comp Sci-5
Calc AB-5
Junior:
Calc BC-5
English Lang-5
Physics B-5
APUSH-5
Spanish Lang-5
Stats-5
Physics C Mech and E&M(self study)-5,5</p>

<p>ECs:
Boy Scouts 9-12, 2 hours a week + campouts/projects
NHS 10-12, ~1 hour a week+ projects
Volunteering at local library 11-12 ~ 100 hours total
Recreational basketball ~10 hours a week.
Research internship with a professor at gatech this summer, ~30 hours/week, 8 weeks.
Have another internship lined up for during the fall, maybe 15 hours a week
Spanish Natl Honor society 11-12</p>

<p>Awards:
Eagle Scout
Student of the year in Principles of Tech.
Nat'l AP scholar
National merit finalist probably (233 on PSAT)
... thats about it.</p>

<p>Recs:
My physics teacher likes me enough to write me a great rec but I don't know how good a writer he is.
My English teacher liked me and I'll probably ask her to write the other one.</p>

<p>Other notes: This coming year will be the first time I've been in a school for two years in a row since 7th grade(could explain lack of ECs), I'm thinking of making all the places I've lived into my essay topic, maybe describing how each place changed me, does this sound like a good idea or too common?</p>

2

<p>Not sure about the essay question, but based on your stats alone, I would think you could get into Rice, Emory, and WUSTL. MIT and Harvard would be a reach for just about everyone, though your GPA and SAT scores suggest it's possible. Boy Scouts acts as a good primary EC. Also, do you think you could maybe get a rec written by this professor you're working with? As a third, additional letter, I mean...it could help sway the adcoms.</p>

<p>On another note, you don't seem to have any "true" safeties...so I would suggest also applying to UGA, as it is a fairly good public school, and you'd likely get in.</p>

3

<p>
[quote]
Harvard(going to apply just to see if I can get in, since there's no way I could afford it)

[/quote]

that's a bit mean... you will be taking a spot from the other applicants</p>

<p>low rank -- unless you improve i, it will be bad. ECs are fine, although the "recreational bball" seems fishy.</p>

<p>in at everywhere except for harvard (low rank)</p>

4

<p>My rank is pretty low, but like I said I'm at a disadvantage to all the other students in my class, the extra points would have probably bumped me up to ~10 or so. People have told me to mention everything I spend time on, and I do spend about 10 hours a week at a public basketball court in my neighborhood, should I call it something else? I don't want to give the impression I am being dishonest but I thought the "recreational" indicated that it wasn't on a team. About the harvard, its not just to see if I can get in because I would go if I got lucky and they offered me money but I think there is a very low chance of that happening. I am planning to ask the professor to write a rec for me, she thinks I am a very hard worker because I go in on weekends(when its really just because I have nothing else to do).</p>

5

<p>harvard doesnt give merit scholarship. so if your family makes, say, 100,000+, there is no way you will get anything.</p>

<p>bball is fishy because if you are not on a team, you could say anything about it, i.e. "i spend 30 hours per week", and no one will be able to contradict you. maybe you can boost the credibility by writing an essay on it</p>

6

<p>rank is top 5%, so it should be fine, and your 94 UW gpa is good. The lack of ECs will be a problem at H and MIT, even if you have moved around a lot. I say you will get into Rice, Emory, and you will get a lot of money at GT. WashU tends to waitlist people with overqualified stats, but you should get in. Harvard (if your family makes under 60K its free by the way) and MIT are both reaches, but its not out of the question you could get into one of them, most likely MIT with your math and science stats</p>

7

<p>@confused-student, do you think I could consider GT a safety or would that be risky?</p>

<p>Any other opinions about these schools and my chances?</p>

8

<p>Go for it. In at Rice. Harvard is doable. I would do SCEA at Harvard and ID at Rice. Don't let the financials scare you away unless you have run the FA calculators and know it won't work.</p>

<p>And no, you are not "taking someone else's place" by applying to Harvard, even if it's not your first choice.</p>

9

<p>GA tech is a safety</p>

10

<p>Just wondering...how long did you prepare for the sats? Did you go through a lot of books? Wondering if there's a discrete correlation between preparation done and score earned...</p>

11

<p>Your ECs and awards are a bit lacking, but your scores are so awesome it should make up for that. Plus, it should be perfectly understandable with all the moving youve done. Dont say you cant afford Harvard. From what Ive heard, top schools offer good financial aid usually. If moneys an issue, you might wanna check out Olin college. Its harder to get into than MIT and they only offer several engineering majors, but tuition is free. Anyway, I think you have a good shot at MIT/Harvard, and the others shouldnt be a problem.</p>

12

<p>kE-, were you looking for a number of hours or advice? If you wanted a number, then I probably spent about 20 hours taking 4 practice tests before each SAT I sitting, so about 40 hours total, no tutor or class or anything. I did buy the online practice tests CB offers just because it made grading them a heck of a lot easier. I didn't go through any books. For the SAT IIs I didn't study, I just took the AP course corresponding to them-except Math II, I got Barrons for that.</p>

<p>if you wanted advice, I would take the tests timed, and after I graded it I would go through each question that I missed and figure out why I missed it. Then I would go through and look up every vocab word on the test that I didn't know (even the ones that weren't answers) I noticed that several words seemed to appear on multiple tests(for example "mollify" was on my PSAT, two practice tests and the second SAT setting). I probably spent just as much time going over each test as I did taking it. I didn't get a tutor or take a class or anything. Just get used to the types of questions each section will ask, there are many similar</p>

13

<p>Quick question- Do you need merit aid or financial aid? Given the Ivies give some of the best aid so I am not sure why you think that is a barrier for a place like Harvard. Harvard gives out loan free financial aid - and is one of the most generous schools in the world. the only people I've met who "can't afford it" usually aren't on financial aid. Don't "not apply" somewhere because you think you can't afford it, I know a kid who it was significantly cheaper for him to go to Princeton than Emory. </p>

<p>You'll get into pretty much all of the schools on your list except MIT/ Harvard which will be a toss-up. My only criticism is that the schools you have are high matches or super reaches, why not add a few realistic reaches. The schools above Rice/ WUSTL but below Harvard like Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, and Brown will be at least 30% successful for you I think and I think looking at your list that you would prefer/ like all of these.</p>

14

<p>I need merit aid--my Dad has a lot of assets saved and makes a good bit per year but is very cheap (only going to pay for instate-public, I would have to pay the difference anywhere else I go, and am averse to taking on more than 40k total in debt for an undergraduate degree since I'm planning to go to med school too) So basically minus 10k/year off the school price and thats what I have to figure out how to pay for.</p>

<p>Oh also, by "high match" do you mean its a high probability I'll get in or that its barely a match?</p>

15

<p>think about it- middle class families making 100000 and trying to pay 50k in tuition - its not doable but u wont get aid</p>

16

<p>slipper is totally understimating the difficulty of getting into Rice and Wash U</p>

<p>both accept under 22 percent, and have very outstanding applicants to choose from, measured by sat scores and grades</p>

<p>don't be fooled. The only difference might be is that the other schools he listed have better yields. They aren't any more difficult to get into. The only thing is that most kids getting into one of those are probably going to turn down rice/wash u for them.</p>

17

<p>If you look at somewhere like UTexas, the cost of attendance is close to $25,000 a year with living expenses. </p>

<p>A family income of $100,000 will likley get you a cost of attendance of around $15,000 at a $45,000 a year school that guarantees to meet need. It depends on assets, other kids, etc., but you need to really run the calculators. The Princeton website has one that was pretty accurate for us.</p>

18

<p>baball how many times have you gotten into Rice, cornell, northwestern, or WashU. </p>

<p>How many times have you gotten into any of Brown, Duke, or Penn.</p>

<p>Exactly.</p>

19

<p>slipper, that is just me</p>

<p>go look at archives at the RD results pages for cornell, wash u, etc...</p>

<p>you will see that a bunch of kids that got rejected from cornell got into penn, brown, and duke</p>

<p>in fact, just alone on duke's pages, a ton of kids didnt get into cornell. I am sure that a bunch did get into Cornell.</p>

<p>these schools are really competitive. And btw, i got w.listed at duke and columbia (very close at both).</p>

<p>And you have a really inflated opinion of Upenn. When I applied, I really wanted to go to Columbia. I realized that Penn is no better than Cornell (sure us news thinks so). But, prove to me that Upenn CAS is better than Cornell CAS. The problem, there is no proof.</p>

<p>Even though I am not returning, Cornell is an amazing school, that is getting increasingly harder to get into. Look at this yr's transfer stats, kids that got into brown, columbia, duke, penn GOT REJECTED at Cornell. Cornell CAS admitted very few transfers.</p>

20

<p>Thanks for the reply! The problem i have(with the math section anyways) is making stupid mistakes. I'll know exactly how to solve the problem, and my thought process will be correct, but i'll accidentally forget an operation. This happens on about 1 question per math section.</p>

<p>As far as verbal goes, I'll have issues with the writing MC section, and definitely with the essay. Any tips for those?</p>