Stereotypical Asian Applicant - Still working on where to apply

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1580 (800 Math, 780 English), only took once

SAT II: 800 Math I, 800 Math 2, 800, Bio E 800, World 760, English 710 (won’t submit)
Unweighted GPA (out of 100): 98.7 (constant throughout HS)

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): unofficially #1/350, no official rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s in Calc BC, CS A, Lang, MicroEcon, Gov and Politics, Physics C Mech, Bio, APUSH, Stats, World

Senior Year Course Load: AP CS P, AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Physics C E&M, Multivariable, College Finance, Regular Engineering

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
AMC 12 Distinguished Honorable Mention (top 1%)
AMC 12 Top 50 in Country
PVSA Gold
National Log1 Contest: 3rd/500 in division
Tied for #1/3000 (one of 40 perfect scores) on (less prestigious) international math comp
Team Honorable Mention at High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HIMCM)
USABO Semifinals
USACO Silver (hoping for Gold by RD)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Varsity Tennis (1st singles in 9th and 10th grade, hopeful for Captain)
Local Science Program at an Elite College (17% admit rate)
Award Winning Math Newspaper (Chief Editor)
Local Math Circle (Team head for one competition)
SciBowl-esque club (VP)

Job/Work Experience: None worth mentioning
Volunteer/Community service: Math tutoring for PVSA Gold
Summer Activities:
8th + 9th grade: MathPath (ik it probably doesn’t matter)
10th: Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics
11th: Ross Mathematics Program
12th: Research at Mathworks Honors Summer Math Camp

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Still working on them, writing about my research but hopefully in a more unique way

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Not sure, all my recommenders have recommended me for summer programs in the past so I’m hoping they’ll be strong (I’m close with all the teachers)

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Math
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public (top 10% school but not too many ivy acceptances)
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 250k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): No

2

Princeton

MIT

RPI

CMU

Stanford

CalTech

Harvey Mudd

Which schools are you targeting ?

Any career objectives ?

3

Your background is not stereotypical. You should be in the mix at any school where you apply, of course you still must submit a well researched and thought out application.

What are you looking for in a school? Size, major, location, etc.?

Most importantly is to take time to identify a handful of matches and a couple of safety schools that you would like to attend. What are those schools?

I will call @hebegebe and @richinpitt, as they know the high end math awards very well.

1 Like
4

This topic may serve as a source of ideas for colleges to research further: For Students Seeking a College Strong in Mathematics.

2 Likes
5

You are likely competitive anywhere. With a family income of 250+, you are likely full pay. What are your parents able/willing to pay? Places like UChicago are over 80k/ year. Do they have different price points for different level schools? Are they willing to pay 80k for Princeton but not CWRU? The good thing is that math has a lot of very good schools.

2 Likes
6

I’m relatively flexible with most sizes and locations. If I had to give preferences, I would say I’d prefer smaller (small, medium, not too large colleges) and towards more urban areas. However, these are relatively minor preferences.

As far as major, I’m planning on majoring in math and maybe minoring CS.

As far as schools, I’m planning on using an in-state school as a safety and also UPitt

Targets/Hard Targets are closer to NYU (legacy), Northeastern (my school has very good placement), UCSD, UMich, CMU (22% acceptance rate for Arts and Sciences), GaTech, Harvey Mudd, USC

Reach: Yale (legacy), Harvard, MIT, Columbia, CalTech, Stanford, Berkeley, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Princeton

However, idk if I’m hyping myself up way too much as an Asian in Mathematics in NY since I don’t have USAMO or any massive mathematics awards and will be competition against people who do.

7

Post graduation goals?

I.e. PhD program in math leading to research jobs, or BA/BS-level employment in some math-heavy area like finance, actuarial, computing, teaching math, etc.?

8

Likely the 2nd route, although I wouldn’t be opposed to getting a masters later down the line. I originally considered the PhD route with the eventual goal of being a professor, but my cousin has had a very tough journey doing that, so that might be something I decide on in college.

9

I sent a list down below, but I’m planning on applying to all of those schools (possibly besides RPI)

10

I put RPI on the list because you might be offered a merit scholarship. Just a guess, however. RPI is a great school.

Your high school has to nominate you for the Rensselaer Medal Award scholarship.

11

@Mwfan1921 is right. @Mathlete1, you are not a typical applicant, but a strong one. While you are right that there is an admissions benefit for USAMO, it is better thought of as a continuum, and achieving DHR on AMC-12 is very commendable. Be sure to put down your score for the Common App (MIT’s app has an explicit place for it).

If you want to shoot for a HYPSM school early, I recommend Yale EA for two reasons. First, because you are a strong STEM student and Yale favors STEM applicants in admissions more than any other HYPSM (unlike the rest, Yale sends likely letters to strong STEM students that apply RD). Second, that is also the place where you have a legacy advantage.

If you want to go ED on the other hand, I think you have a very good shot at Cornell and HMC. I think you also have a decent shot at Brown and UPenn.

But in either case, I also recommend Michigan EA. It’s a world-class university that wants strong math students like you. In fact, in previous years they actually sent out letters to students that took the AIME.

Given that you are from New York, Stony Brook EA makes sense as well. It should be a safety for you, but it has a very strong math program and decent computer science program.

At this point, we have a safety in Stony Brook, a match in Michigan, and a reach. If you don’t get into your reach, you can then decide if want to do ED2, or simply go RD. UChicago would be a good contender for ED2 if you wanted to play that card. Again, an exceptional math program, but do note that CS is rather theoretical there.

Now with the UCs, they don’t have an EA, meaning you won’t get results in December. But the benefit is that a single app lets you apply to Berkeley, but also UCLA, UCSD, etc. If you decided to apply to Berkeley, apply to some of the the less selective schools in that system as well so that you end up with a mix of match and reach schools.

Now onto RD, and assuming a bad-case scenario where you get into Stony Brook but not the the others, the next step up from there is NYU, which is a low-match but world-class in Mathematics. RPI should also be added at this time.

But if you get into Michigan but not your early reach, then the scenario changes and you can go reach-heavy for RD. I recommend picking four reaches and creating great applications for them before adding more reaches. Quality of applications is more important than quantity of applications. The only thing I would say is that you didn’t apply to Cornell earlier, it should be one of the four reaches. After you have created four great reach applications, you can consider adding more.

6 Likes
12

First, thank you so much for the longer and detailed response. I’m thinking about Yale, GATech, UMich, StonyBrook, and UPitt for EA. UPitt just because I like the school. One issue I see though, is that only UPitt (Safety) and Yale would give me a response back before RD. In the very plausible scenario where I get waitlisted/rejected from Yale (and hopefully accepted to UPitt), I’m unsure whether I can apply super reach-heavy as I’d be without any target acceptances. I also think I’ll apply to UCLA and UCSD. I’m not sure whether I want to apply ED2 to UChicago yet as that is rather committal (although I’m sure I’ll apply RD). Are there any good public schools that give responses back before RD?

1 Like
13

If you really like Pitt it’s a slam dunk….great school but easy admit and if you applied this week you’d probably have an answer mid- late September. That would allow you to shoot for the stars since you love Pitt and it would be in the bag. A safety you love and can afford…that’s the perfect safety.

1 Like
14

One other thing, I’m currently training for USACO Gold (I would train for USAMO but that would only be useful for Waitlist) and spending like 6 hours a week on it (was spending 12 before but cut down). Do you think that time prepping is worth it, or would it be better to spend that time on essays, maybe some kind of research project (although I do already have some research), or maybe an NYAS challenge (if I’m lucky enough to get in)?

15

Love Pitt might be a little strong, but I do like it as a safety. I don’t have all my essays down yet and I still want to send the best possible essays to each school, so I might wait a bit

16

I am not sure if you are being self-deprecating by calling yourself a “Stereotypical Asian Applicant”. If that is who you are, be proud of it!

The “Stereotypical Asian Applicants” seem to have gotten a lot of beatings lately in college admissions. Pendulum swings back and forth. You may be just in time to be sought after.

You are definitely competitive for ALL schools. My advice to you is to choose one safety school you will be happy to attend, then apply to all the reach schools that you think are best fits for you.

17

The US college admission process doesn’t resemble a self-restoring pendulum swing. It’s more akin to a self-reinforcing downward spiral that may be out of control.

3 Likes
18

I agree with Yale REA, especially since you’re a legacy.

I don’t really have any advice other than that Brown is a great school, you have as good a shot as anyone does at such a high reach, and you should totally apply there.

Also, beware that Michigan is an amazing school but they defer sooooo many highly qualified applicants EA, so if you apply and get deferred don’t feel bad about yourself.

1 Like
19

That’s unfortunate re Michigan. For Class of 2024, Michigan responded by Christmas. For Class of 2025 I knew they delayed but I assumed that was a one time thing due to covid forcing test-optional and a massive increase in applications. I just checked and see that for Class of 2026 they only promise a response by end of January, too late to be useful for determining where to apply RD.

As far as other public universities that respond by December, the only one that comes to mind is Penn State.

1 Like
20

I would put CMU and GaTech on your reach list, maybe UMich too. Yes, it’s easier to get in as a math major and not an engineering major, but those are still long shots for anyone, especially out-of-staters. They are not target schools.

And yes, I too would add RPI to one of your lists — probably the match list. Very strong math school.