You are misreading the cues here. The posters here are only rooting for you. We’re not trying to bash you.
The olympiad experiences are impressive, no doubt. But are they a slam dunk? No.
Your biggest weakness (that you seem to overlook) is your GPA. Being outside of the top 20% is going to be difficult to overcome. GPA is king in college admissions, and class rank moreso for a ORM. You might even get weeded out (auto-reject) by some schools that use an automated system for first pass. If your GPA/rank doesn’t cut it, then it will be a big hill to overcome.
Sometimes they will make exceptions for students that they really want (institutional needs). This goes for legacies, URM, athletes, etc. But you are in the opposite situation. There are THOUSANDS of high scoring asian students just like you that fit the bill.
Come Dec/Apr, I certainly hope that I was wrong and that you are accepted to MIT. I wish you the best of luck.
Interesting discussion. I find the EC list On CC to be fairly accurate in terms of ranking ec’s. There are many people with activities which are 9&10. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21758635#Comment_21758635
(Looks like your award are in the list )
After this discussion and feedback, I’d say the hardest part is going to be convincing you that anyone knows anything @swagmaster101 about your specific awards. Best of luck to you. I hope you have good choices.
People on these boards are quite knowledgeable. I learned a lot before my kids applied to BS. I used to think it was all about academics but it’s a lot more than that. There are people who have gone through the whole process and have great insights. I listen to them because I can learn a lot.
I actually think it’s funny @MWolf that you want to “break it down for me”. I am actually quite aware of what it takes to gain acceptance to these schools, HYPMS. Not only am I a graduate of more than one of the above but I also have very mathy kids. Kids who have done high level math and STEM things for a long time. One of my kids has been recruited many times for national Math teams. And has been on prep teams with kids who are 4-6 years older ( it’s based on knowledge not age). And has also participated in international awards ( and BTW, this kid will only be a 9th grader this year, so yes I do think I get it). My kid is actually upstairs right now talking to MIT camp which ends in a few days. So I guess you can “break it down for me”, but I also think that would be a waste of time. My kid just wants to do math for the fun of it. And IMO, those are the kids these schools want. The builders, the makers, the designers and the quirky kids are rare. They write compelling essays and they create amazing things. These are the kids we know who attend the schools above. Are there others, of course, but the best chanced kids are interesting. And the very best kids are stats positive and personality rich. They are humble about their achievements and can play on a team. All top schools value personality. Recommendations count, a lot.
I would even tell my kid, if they had similar scores to the OP, that they are all a reach. For everyone. Kids with a couple of 7,8,9& 10"s have a better shot, but there are zero guarantees. That is why the college admissions game is so frustrating to many.
Alright, thanks guys for your responses. From what I understand, what you all are saying is I’ll probably get into a few top schools, but for any particular one I don’t have an extremely large chance. I suppose that’s fair enough then. I’ve added UMich and CMU onto the list of colleges I’m applying to, and honestly my strategy is going to be to just shotgun all the top STEM schools and hope I make one. (And I still think that more likely than not I’ll make one of HYPSM, and if I don’t then I’ll almost definitely make one of the others)
Regarding safeties however, I do stand by my state school being a true safety despite it having a <50% admit rate. This is because 1) over 80% of my high school gets in each year and my profile is the best in my school by far, and 2) I’m legacy. But just in case, I’m going to add an auto-admit I can get a full ride to (still researching which one), and that should definitely be enough for safeties.
Supposing that the schools I listed are all reaches, I’m actually still not interested in a finding a “match”, because if I don’t get into any top schools, then I’d rather just to go to my state school since I’ll have a full ride if I get in.
@above I’m very curious what kind of math your kid is doing. AFAIK there’s no such thing as a “national math team”, and you need MOP before you can go to any international olympiads. Also, what’s “MIT camp”? Rising 9th graders aren’t even allowed into RSI, MITES, or SSP. Could you please elaborate? Thanks!
While I agree the OP’s stats and accomplishments are impressive, he may face difficulties for several reasons that are out of this control.
He is an ORM in an environment that is increasing placing emphasis/importance on being an URM.
The pandemic will likely decrease the number of admissions spots available for current seniors applying for the class of 2025 (2024 gap years and upperclassmen leave of absences are wreaking havoc on admissions planning for all the top schools).
With it becoming fashionable/necessary to become test optional, many of the normal/standard academic metrics will become less important in the coming few admissions seasons.
I also agree with most of the posters that suggest widening the scope of the OP’s college list.
As a veteran Ivy League alumni interviewer, I have seen many candidates with similarly impressive stats not get in. In today’s politically charged environment, being a stereotypical Asian applicant is not a plus (relax everyone, I am Asian) and the number of them is not in your favor. While this may seem frustrating/unfair, it is not any less true.
In any case, I wish the OP good luck. Please let us know what happens.
I’m just going to put it out there: I’ve know valedictorians with extraordinary SAT scores, top AP scores, and prestigious international winner/finalist awards who were denied admission to MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and UC Berkeley. These schools are high reaches for all.
I suspect that some of these students did not know how to leverage and craft their personal essays. This is critical for standing out in a sea of 4.0s.
Hi OP, just curious about your USAPHO silver medal in 2020. I thought this year’s USAPHO was canceled/not graded due to COVID. If so, how did you take the test and get a silver? Or did you really mean it was for 2019?
Look at the title of your post. I think you already know what the issues are and that you are not a shoo in for these schools. Also, you wouldn’t be asking us if you were so sure MIT is a match for you.
You need at least one school that is a true safety, and if that’s your state school, fine. Go right on ahead and hit those reaches.
You do have impressive awards and that may get you in there. How these particular schools look at those who place in competitions vs winners , I don’t know. The young man I know who had such a resume did get into MIT RD after being deferred EA. Also was deferred from Michigan which really rattled him, so get that state school app in early. It can be a demoralizer to get deferred
I would add Georgia Tech or another school in there unless you are solid about going to your safety. Though I think you look great, I’ve seen some kids with your type of application not get into some Highly selective programs, and when you are talking HPYSMC, which you are, I’ve been surprised at some really top kids who did not get accepted. You are a bit thin in community service, holding a job, other down to earth things. These schools seem to like well rounded kids that have that spike and I’m not sure whether what you have there is a spike to these particular schools.
@swagmaster101 Your chance at MIT and other equivalently elite schools is neither the average 6% nor guaranteed (obviously). I think you have around 50-60% chance for MIT. Another factor to consider is the locality: if MIT usually admits X number of people every year from your school, it’s reasonable to assume they’ll do the same this year. So you also have to compare yourself against the MIT applicant pool of your local region.
Let me share some stats within my school to give you some idea. Last year (2019), there were 9 people qualified for USAMO for the class of 2020, with two moppers included. As you can imagine, most of them were qualifiers for USAMO or USAJMO in the previous years. For college, 4 of them went to MIT, 1 to Harvard, 1 to Caltech, 1 to another mid-tier ivy, 1 to a top public and another to our state flagship.
So as you can see, the MIT’ish admission is more than 50% but not close to 100%, with the understanding that MIT typically admits 3-4 math people from our school every year.