What are my chances at MiT, CalTech, Harvard,...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

And other scientifically oriented schools like these. I’ve always wanted to go to MiT, I love the atmosphere and the opportunities there.

I’m currently a junior about to be a senior.

SAT: 2140 (670 Math, 740 CR, 730 Writing)
Though math is usually my best section, so I’ll likely be able to boost this up to around a 2200 by my 2nd try. I might get an 800 on it since I’ll be focusing on math over the summer for fun and maybe gain some insight that will help.

-GPA: 95/100 (Unsure of what that is in a 4.0 scale)

-Class Rank: 9/110 (Top 9%)

-AP: AP Biology, AP Language and Composition. These are two of the hardest APs my school offers, and the school only allows a maximum of 2 APs per year. I might take three as an exception though. I’ll be taking AP Calculus, AP European History, and possibly AP Physics if it’s offered.

-EC’s: National Honor Society, National Hispanic Recognition Scholar, Chess Club (President, have won official tournaments), Comic book club, Member of the Bronx Scifest Research Program at Lehman, Vice President of Student council.

Volunteer activities: Tutoring in algebra, chemistry, and trigonometry; Science lab assisstant; Parent-teacher translator; Park ranger assisstant. In total 110 hours

Notable events: Finalist at MiT iNSPiRe; Enrolled in Cornell Summer College for 6 weeks to learn Calculus; 97th percentile junior ranking in Chess after four tournaments; Translator (English - Spanish - Japanese - French).

State: New York
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
School type: Public School
Hooks: Taught myself operational calculus (I’ve taken derivatives and integrals with algebra to derive physics formulas, though I didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time); Curious about things that nobody thinks about too hard (i.e. baskets); Push myself to solve problems alone
lncome: 30,000-48,000 (Household of 3)

Regents: ELA REG 79 (I’ll be retaking this)
GLOB HIST REG 98
ALGEBRA REG 100
GEOMETRY 96
LIV ENVIR 86
CHEMISTRY 94

I may end up being salutatorian/valedictorian of my school. I’m looking to apply to Harvard, CalTech Cornell, Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Columbia, and Princeton, along with several backups.

I love physics and I want to study it at one of these top schools, but I feel like I haven’t been presented with anywhere near the same opportunities as many many many people with my same credentials, more extracurriculars, etc., so I don’t have a shot… Would anyone care to chance me?

2

Highly unlikely at most of these. Best shot is Cornell, but that’s a reach also.
Have lots of backups that you would be happy to attend as you are likely going to end up at one of them.

3

You definitely have a chance at all these schools, and being Hispanic you will have an advantage. I suggest taking the SAT again to see if you can improve your score. Your extracurriculars look good, but I would suggest looking for a way to stand out over the summer such as by doing an internship or mentorship in physics. Good luck!

4

@soze By highly unlikely, do you mean worse than the average acceptance rate or am I an extensive reach?

@pineapple86 I’ll be sure to try to do something like that. I’ll try to reach out to some physics researchers to get started on my dream.

5

By “highly unlikely” I mean that your composite SAT is well below the line for the typical admit at these schools.
Also a math SAT under 750 is pretty much a deal-break for a top STEM program.

6

Try taking the ACT, it tends to be more straightforward for STEM people.

7

I agree with @soze ^^^. You have to have top scores in testing because the workload at these schools will blow you away. You need more safeties.

8

Got’cha. Thanks for the clarification guys. I assumed from the beginning that I didn’t have much of a shot, but I’m glad you cleared up what was keeping me back. :slight_smile:

@soze: I’m getting the sense that the only problem with my application is my SAT score, but I’m not particularly worried about it because I’m pretty sure I can do much better on my second try. I only really studied for CR and W which, luckily, I did better than I expected I would on. I’m not as flimsy at math though, so I can almost guarantee that I can get a 750+, maybe even an 800.
Also, I didn’t put it up because I haven’t taken the test yet, but I’ve gotten a 740 on Barron’s Math SAT II book, and I’ve heard that that’s really good for Barron’s and can almost guarantee an 800 on the actual Math ii.
Would that 2270 composite make me a decent candidate for MiT?

@“aunt bea” Noted. I’m definitely building a big list of safeties. I didn’t ask for my chances at them because I assumed that the Cappex calculator is a good enough estimate at my chances. I’m planning on having around 10-15 more schools I’m applying to, with around 9-11 targets and maybe between 6-4 safeties.

@ivyhopes12 I’ll have to check it out. It seems more straightforward on sites like testive, but I need to get a more accurate idea through prep books. Thanks.

9

A 2270 is “ok” (and just “ok”) for MIT.
I’m going to be frank… if you need to “study” to raise your math SAT above a 670, then a top-tier STEM program is likely going to be too much to handle.

If you did get into MIT, you would find that most of your classmates got an 800 walking in cold.

10

I don’t think “study” is really the correct term for what I’ll be doing. I’m not going to be learning anything new or looking at any specific ‘types of problems’, I just have to learn to better manage my time and read the questions more carefully. Most of the points I lost on my first try were lost because I kept checking my answer because I’m so prone to making a mechanical error in my rush. For example, I get the idea quickly, and while writing out my calculations I write “2” instead of “-2” in the following line. I was so afraid of that that I didn’t want to rush through and lose easy points, and so I didn’t finish as many of the harder questions as I could’ve. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I don’t think the SAT math questions are super-challenging or anything, or at least, that wasn’t my problem with them. My problem has been that I either go through a question too quickly and make a careless error, or too slowly and miss other questions.

I appreciate your candor, and I’m certainly going to have to think long and hard about what you’re saying, but would you not agree that, with my ambitions, getting into MiT (disregarding possible financial issues) would be beneficial regardless of my classmates’ performance? That’s an honest question, because I’m not sure what that experience would be like. I feel right now that being around such intelligent people builds an awesome and beneficial atmosphere that I don’t want to pass up.

11

@StrikerX That is true that being around intelligent people makes for an amazing learning environment. But many of my friends who were accepted to Harvard or MIT…opted not to go. The environment there is extremely competitive, every classroom is filled with valedictorians/2400’s/Physics, Bio Chem Math Olympiad champs, and none of them stop to wait and help the others who are falling behind.

I had a friend who unexpectedly got into Caltech. He went there, killed himself two years in. The competition, especially at MIT and Caltech is absolutely brutal. That’s just something to think about when you’re applying. But if you think you can handle the challenge, which I think you are very much capable of, then by all means apply. Soze is more of just reminding you what you are getting into if you decide to go to MIT/Caltech/Harvard.

A lot of colleges use the bell curve which means a limited amount of people get A’s and B’s on every test. Essentially you’re competing with your classmates for that A and you’re competing against the academic elite of the country who especially at STEM heavy institutions like Caltech and MIT, are just incredible.

It’s both a plus and a minus. You can learn a lot from them but also the competition to get into MIT is tiny compared to the competition actually at MIT.

BTW: The chess may help as it shows a lot of talent and potential. What rating are you?

12

@rdeng2614 For MIT at least, I’m not sure if the above is true. Yes there is competition, but students are more likely to collaborate on psets and projects, and professors usually encourage collaboration on psets (as long as each student attempts and writes up his/her own solution). Also, I’m pretty sure MIT’s grading policies strongly discourage using bell curves. I’m saying this from experience…

However you bring up some good points. It’s one thing just to get into MIT (or Harvard, Caltech), another to perform successfully.

13

This should be an essay topic, or at least a substantial portion of one of your essays: Taught myself operational calculus (I’ve taken derivatives and integrals with algebra to derive physics formulas, though I didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time)

From what I see, you have several good hooks and activities:

  • URM
  • Chess. There is a big difference between what most people do (start a chess club, that’s it) and what you do (play competitively and succeed, as demonstrated by your ranking).
  • Four languages, parent-teacher translator
  • Comic book club (This sounds interesting to me; you might want to incorporate it into an essay depending on your involvement with the club)
    I like the spread of your ECs – Clear focus on math and sciences, yet some developed interest into the humanities. Your volunteering (aside from park ranger assistant) corresponds well to your main activities and interests. This is something you should be able to play to your advantage.

I feel as though other commentators looked merely at your SAT score and then decided that you have no chance. My suggestions would be, as far as standardized testing goes:

  • Improve SAT Math to 700 - 800
  • Take SAT Subjects Math Level II (800 here would be nice) and Chemistry / Biology / Physics

Finally, to confirm what has already been said: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/16/suicide-rate-mit-higher-than-national-average/1aGWr7lRjiEyhoD1WIT78I/story.html

14

@MITer94 Thanks for correcting some things in my post. I have no real experience at MIT, but I just wanted to get my idea across that schools like MIT etc. are a totally different level when compared to high school academics. I think the bell curve is for medschool then, not for MIT.

15

None of this is remotely true.

If you do go to MIT, you will find that you are competing against the image you have in your head of how well you should be able to master the material. Others will help you, you will not be left to fall behind. Your competition will be versus your own standards you set for yourself (which may be very stringent).

The picture painted by @rdeng2614 is truly grim and depicting of self-centered students. Why would anyone willingly go to a school like the one in his description?

16

@rdeng2614 I’m truly sorry about your friend. That’s such a harsh way to go. :frowning: My condolences to his family and you.

The bell curve you speak of would’ve definitely enlightened me of what the atmosphere there is like, but from what it seems, those policies aren’t at MiT like you thought. I’ll have to look a little more into it, but since MITer94 is speaking from experience, it seems like that’s not the case. I still have to think about how I would perform there though. I don’t come from a particularly demanding background, at least compared to my cognitive bias of what people at MiT have had (at least 6 APs with tons of everything).
By the way, I’m 1806 right now, but I perform better than my rating. I’ve choked a few times at tournaments, which brought me down from around 1950 to where I am now.

@1golfer1 I actually talked about that in my application to Cornell Summer College, though I only briefly mentioned it. Most of the essay was about how I have an urge to want to understand things, but I have a limited toolset (algebra ii and trig), and so I need to learn Calculus and I’m willing to learn it myself, but I want the university experience too. I didn’t want to sound arrogant, so I only brought it up a little bit… I’m not sure how to bring it up without that pestering tone, but I’ll have to figure it out. The chess thing is especially nice because it comes with a story about my competitive nature, and that a single snarky comment led me to get to where I am in a summer.

And thanks for the advice. I’m planning to study for the Math II and Physics/Chem/Bio (not sure which one yet) subject tests over summer. I think I have a good shot at an 800 in Math, but I haven’t tried the sciences yet.

And those statistics are… daunting to say the least. This is pure speculation, but I could definitely see it as being the result of what ItsJustSchool said. The image people paint of themselves leave them feeling hopeless when they don’t reach such difficult goals. I don’t know, I think I’ve always been fairly… measured, I suppose. I don’t want goals, like nobel prizes, that only present a challenge to you based on other people’s perception of what you’ve done is like. I just want answers, and that’s why I would be willing to put myself in that kind of an environment.

Thanks to everyone for your input! :slight_smile:

17

@ItsjustSchool Maybe I shouldn’t have said MIT in particular. But Caltech, I know for a fact (from my friend and others) is extremely competitive Sorry if it seemed like I was trying to discourage him from attending these schools. I am not. The bell curve thing I just heard my friends talk about it and thought it was true, but apparently not.
If you go to MIT/any other school and put in the hard work, you will ultimately be a much more knowledgeable person when you graduate and you’ll have experienced one of the most stimulating intellectual environments in the country.

@StrikerX However, what I’m trying to say is to make sure the school is a good fit for you when you decide to attend. Fit plays a huge role in determining how well you do at that institution and that’s what the most important. Many of my friends went to schools for the brand name but never thought how they fit. They perhaps could have thrived better at smaller LAC’s where it is more personal or places where the competition is not so fierce… Ultimately, find the school that you think will fit you best and go on from there. If you think Harvard/Caltech/MIT are 3 schools that you believe are a good fit for you, then by all means apply and I wish you the best of luck come admissions time.