You need to look at the Common Data Set numbers for the schools you are shooting at to get a realistic sense of where you stand, regardless of your being Asian. Here is the link to MIT’s latest. http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2017/c.html As you can see, only 1.8% of entering freshmen had an ACT score between 24-29 or 20 students (1.8% * 1,110). Your SAT’s look a little better, but you would still be substantially below the 25th percentile, especially if your math subscore is not in the 700’s. Unless you approach this process realistically and understand how competitive it is for many of these colleges, even for statistically perfect/near perfect applicants, I am afraid you will be setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. If we look at WPI, your scores put you in the middle 50% of entering freshmen for a school with a 48% admissions rate. Maybe your grades and rigor of courses lift you to a higher probability category, but based on these test stat’s alone, I would not consider it a “safety” and if this almost dismissive attitude comes through in your essays, you may be unpleasantly surprised by the results.
@alooknac Good thing is, I am definitely planning to submit an art portfolio as well as my research paper, definitely a MAKER portfolio, and (maybe) a piano supplement. I think my combination of arts and engineering interests are what I’ll try to emphasize in my application, with a dose of my character and personality. And I’m definitely going to try and raise my scores this summer.
Sounds like a great approach! Hope you broaden your search too.
I think people are being honest. People who go to the very top schools are doing much better than 29 on their ACT in their first attempt. Your ethnicity has nothing to do with the fact that those schools are a very high reach. You can definitely go to college and study in your area of interest. But you need to start with finding your matches & safeties. Pining for top schools isn’t going to be productive.
@momofsenior1 Is it expected of most of us college applicants to make a >1500 on the SAT or a >32 ACT on the first try on here? I see a lot of stats where people have taken the tests without any superscoring, which really daunts me. I don’t come from a good school exactly, I’m low income and live in an extremely small town in Florida so I don’t have the quality education that many of you guys have on here that results in high scores on the first try. I bought the Blue Book and have been doing practice tests nonstop lately to improve my scores so I’m trying, but I think that being expected to make a high score within the range of MIT on the first try just to have a good chance just doesn’t make sense in my situation.
While people have been talking here about you ACT score…
Is your unweighted high school GPA 4.0 or very close to that, in hard course selections? If not, then super selective colleges like MIT may not be very realistic.
Of course, top end GPA and test scores are merely necessary, not sufficient, for admission to MIT and the like.
@intparent Thing is, I don’t go to a top school. I go to a C school in a very small town in Florida where the dropout rate and pregnancy rate is high. And there are some good teachers here, but the majority is just bad quality. I’ve strived to take all the hardest courses I can and do dutifully pay attention. However, I cannot make a high decent score within the MIT or Ivy League range on my first try so the expectations on here are quite nearly unreal given my situation. I do, however, try to make the best of my situation and do a lot of test prep when I can so I’m trying.
Honestly — students from underperforming schools with limited ECs only get into the tippy top schools if they are true superstars, and show it all the way through HS. You need to stop obsessing with MIT and schools at that level. Do your best to raise your scores. Look for schools that have decent sized departments in your major. Run the net price calculators on each college website to see what you might be expected to pay at the colleges you research. Make sure you apply to a couple of in-state public’s and do whatever is needed to be eligible for Bright Futures scholarships. You can put in a couple of tippy top school applications, too, but you need to be very realistic about having other affordable, realistic options.
Definitely do as many practice tests as possible. That will help you the most.
And unfortunately, you will be competing against kids that do get those kinds of scores first time out. My daughter had a 32 first sitting and a 4.0 uw GPA, most rigorous courses offered at her school, tons of ECs, awards, etc… Was rejected at JHU and waitlisted at Michigan for chemical engineering. Both schools are less competitive than MIT. Her friend with a 35 first time out (and then 36 superscore and NMF) was waitlisted at all his top choices. No acceptance at any of the Ivies or that level school.
@ucbalumnus Unweighted GPA is 3.92. Weighted GPA is 4.92. I’ve made straight A’s in freshman and sophomore year, however, in the first semester with 4 APs I landed with 3 B’s. I’m planning to take a total of 10 APs or so by the end of my senior year.
@intparent I am planning to apply to FGCU or the FSW community college as back ups, other than that the schools I’m applying to are Harvard, MIT, NYU, Northeastern, Fordham, and Brown. Yes I know, you’re all going to judge me and tell me they’re all reaches and unlikely given my scores. What’s new…
Yes, students do get top scores on first attempts. One of my kids got a 35 first attempt with no specific studying for the ACT. The other happened to get a 29 —and extensive studying raised her scores a bit, but she could have stdied a ton more and I suspect it would have had little impact. Thing is, the kid with a 29 attended a school that was a great fit for her, graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and got a good job after graduating. There are tons of colleges in the US, and many can help you reach your goals.
Have you run net price calculators on those schools? NYU, for example, gives poor financial aid. What about UF or FSU? There is a huge gap between community college and Harvard & MIT.
Also, you might explore test optional schools. Here is a list — there are some good schools on this list:
Just a heads-up about the art portfolio…
It will be a lot of work even if you already have photos ready, so plan for that. Every college may have a different mode of submission and what may or must be included. Some of my D’s pencil drawings did not photograph or scan well and needed a lot of computer adjusting to resemble the actual piece. Try to line up an art advisor to help you with this process. You can begin to research each school’s portfolio guidelines and requirements now, remembering anything can change between now and next fall’s application cycle.
Some kids score brilliantly on the first try without studying. BUT you have no idea what kind of background and enrichment those kids had. Were they in excellent school systems? Years of summer math camp? There is no way to tell. Some kids really do improve with study and a second try. I think it depends on the cause of the lower score. If you simply need more familiarity with the test or to brush up on a subject that was lacking your background, you can absolutely raise your score. For example, my daughter got a 26 on the English section of the PreAct. The problem was that our school doesn’t teach grammar and she really didn’t know a lot of the specific, picky rules that were tested.
A bit of study, and yes, some outside help, and she raised her score from 26 to 35 in that section.
It won’t be held against you if you need two tries.
OP: No need for community college, what about University of Florida? With those scores, you will be eligible for Bright Futures FAS, which should take care of tuition. Room and board might be tougher, but Gainesville is cheap to live (at least compared to NYC and Boston!).
For the SAT, look at the Meltzer books (grammar and reading strategy) and read, read, read as much as you possibly can. Take the Math Level 2 test, because the curve is much easier than Level 1. I have known personally a number of first generation and poor kids from poor schools who got 1500+ on the SAT, and that was back in the 1980s (1500+ back then would be equivalent to 1570-1600 today). Don’t give yourself an excuse because of your humble circumstances. Put your head down and do the best you can, on the tests and on your applications generally. Good luck!
Will you be excited about FGCU? I think what everyone is trying to say are there are some great match schools in between. It doesn’t have to be tippy top or community college. There is LOTS in between!
You’re not going to apply to a single four year university that is likely match for both admissions and financial aid?
I wouldn’t even bother with NYU or Northeastern unless the financial aid calculator says they’re affordable. Every year there are kids asking how to convince their parents that NYU is worth tens of thousands of dollars of loans. Take the time to research affordability and you’ll save yourself some time and effort.
The “quick way” is to use Debt By Degrees to see an overview of typical financial aid packages by income band
https://projects.propublica.org/colleges/
The “slow way” is to enter your family’s detailed financial information in each school’s Net Price Calcuator.
https://collegecost.ed.gov/netpricecenter.aspx
The “fast way” can help you rule out some colleges. But do the slow way in the college’s NPC even if the fast way looks reasonable. I’d use the links directly from the college websites — they should be the most up to date.
@intparent I know there’s lots of colleges that do fit me, however, I’m expected to and am planning to stay near family, most of which are up in Massachusetts. I used to really wanna go to University of Washington and study Computer Science, I felt as though it was a match, and they do have a high percentage of Asians (which I know is irrelevant but, you know).