What are my chances? Cornell, UMich, NYU, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Rising senior 2016

—School stuff—
4.73/5 weighted, school does not do unweighted
Rank 32/368
School is top ~100 out of ~700 total high schools in Massachusetts

—Scores—
SAT: 2330 (800/770/760 CR/M/W)
SAT II: Math II 790 (retaking), Physics 760 (retaking), Literature 740, Bio M 720 (probably will not submit)
ACT: no

—EC—
4 years 1st Jazz band 1st tenor
4 years concert band principal alto sax
2 years FIRST Robotics
3 years as founder of own band, playing local gigs
4 years of badminton club
7 years of piano
Social media liason of National Honor Society
1 summer of hospital volunteering (54 hours)
4 years of ski team (Varsity captain)
3 years of Asian Culture Club (treasurer)
Recreational powerlifting
5 years of sailing recreationally
1 year of volleyball (should I submit?)
1 year of tennis (should I submit?)
Waiting on a job application lol

—Awards—
Fresh: Robotics team won the FIRST Regional Chairman’s award and went to national championship
Fresh: Johns Hopkins CTY winner of whatever the highest honor was
Junior: Massachusetts high school state skiing finalist
Junior: Massachusetts district jazz band
Junior: Perfect attendance (yeet)

—Courseload—
9: 6 Honors, 1 required CP (GPA 4.47)
10: 6 Honors, 1 required CP (GPA 4.75)
11: 5 Honors. AP Language and Composition (5), AP World History (4) (GPA 5.01 muh upward trend)
12: AP Microeconomics, AP Calculus AB, AP Government and Politics, AP Literature, AP Physics C, Band

—Letters—
Physics teacher: 8.5/10 maybe
AP Language and Composition: 8/10
Counselor: should be 9/10

—Essays—
I’m confident in my writing (overconfident? cocky?)

—Background—
Income bracket ~$170,000
Asian male

—Colleges—
Cornell (A&S)
University of Michigan (Ross school of business)
NYU (Stern school of business)
USC (Viterbi school of Engineering)
Carnegie Mellon (College of Engineering)
Wesleyan University
Carleton College
WUSTL (A&S)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Northeastern (College of Engineering)
Tufts (A&S)
Bucknell (College of Engineering)
UT Austin (Engineering)
UPenn (A&S)

—Additional—
My extracurriculars don’t really focus on business, and I quit robotics after two years to focus on school.
Class rank has gone up considerably since sophomore year
I will send music portfolios to any school that will accept them.
Shoot me
Thanks in advance for reading

2

Why would you retake a 790 SAT Math II? Or 760 Physics? I think that sends a strong message about misguided priorities.

3

Your test scores are all quite strong (that 2330 is impressive). I think you have quite a solid spread with the diversity of the colleges you have chosen to apply to. I see many engineering choices, which your robotics experience can definitely help. Your focus in music could be a great background to expand on, but it may shift focus away from science or other academic extracurriculars. Also, many of these are incredibly selective schools, with no guarantees for anybody. Adding more safeties to your list could benefit you. I would say that Cornell, UMich, NYU Stern, CMU, and UPenn are higher reaches.

4

@renaissancedad 800 is my favorite number.

5

Who cares? Personally, if I were on an adcom and someone re-took a 790, I’d pass. There are a lot better things to with your time.

6

@renaissancedad Any recommendations to make groundbreaking improvements on my applications between now and October 3?

7

“800 is my favorite number.” Lol. Very funny. Look at what other people said about test scores. It says a lot about your character to retake a test like that. A top ~100 high school in Massachusetts isn’t that competitive (I know because I attend a top 10 high school in MA and previously lived in a district that was around that area of top 100 and let me say it was a major shift to say the least), so the 4.73/5 while good does not reflect amazing numbers. For example, that GPA at my school would crack the top 1-2%, not barely make the top ten, but overall it’s not bad. Test scores are fine. Quitting robotics I think was a bad choice considering it might have been your strongest extracurricular outside of music. I would agree with kheunannyg about your chances (plus WashU) of the higher reaches.

8

Replies to a chances thread never relieve stress. One guy says wow. The next guy says meh.

So the only legit reason for posting one is to find out if its worth the $75 to apply.

The answer is yes to all those schools. But you knew that.

9

I would focus on how you want to present yourself. What is your story? What are your priorities? What drives you? I don’t get a strong sense of who you are or what you want to do - including mixing applying to A&S programs at some schools with applying to engineering and business ones at others. That confuses me.

10

Safeties
UMass
WPI
UIUC
BU

11

Strong stats, diverse ECs, real music interest, and balanced college list. Odds that a college will accept you with a retake in Physics and Math are roughly equivalent to the odds of being struck by lightning and eaten by a shark after winning the lottery on the same day. Great chance for those engineering schools (sans Ivies because crapshoots and CMU/WUSTL/NYU/UMich are low-mid reaches). But what hampers me up here are your choices for NYU/UMich business schools. Sure they are top in the nation but why choose them? Seems to me like you are picking them just for the sake of getting into those great schools. Maybe you are really interested in the programs and that’s fine but I fail to see anything in your stats that reflect a business-minded individual (which would really help you). If business is truly your passion and you want to have a strong chance then where are your startups? Business clubs? Internships? Summer programs? Hell even more business classes? Wouldn’t applying to Stern/Ross hurt your chances and put you under a whole bunch more wholly qualified applicants? Why not just apply to their engineering or CAS where you would have a much higher chance? Something is a bit off here. Just my two cents.

12

And BU is not a safety even if you are in Massachusetts, but rather a low match. and I’m pretty sure UIUC has a pretty prestigious engineering school so I’m not sure if that is a fair assessment.

13

You’re probably not going to like this. But based upon your profile and the persona you exude on these few posts I have a strong feeling you will be rejected by all of the ivies.

You come across as arrogant and headstrong. This will surely be reflected in your letters. Once a reader sees this you will surely be passed over. Your stats are good so you stand a great chance at the schools which are numbers based like UT Austin.

14

@sgopal2 Ouch. What other schools should I consider whose admissions are based largely on numbers? I know Penn State does as well. Guess this puts me out of the running for anything remotely prestigious…

15

I’m sorry-- I can’t make myself get past your user name to actually read your post.

16

I also find it difficult to address the OP by username, which I think is representative of a generally irreverent approach to this whole process.

OP, I think you’re doing and have done a lot of things with some poor judgment and a lack of focus:

  • Your ECs are all over the place. You dropped one EC in which you had won awards and kept much less impressive things. It seems like business + engineering is of interest to you, but you have no business related ECs and you dropped the only engineering related one on your list.
  • You list awards like perfect class attendance and something from CTY that you don't even know what it is. What was it for? The only CTY awards I know of are for doing well on the tests required to get in (SATs for 9th graders), so I don't know what value that would have.
  • Your strategy with schools seems to be to throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks. A&S, engineering, and business schools.

I wouldn’t say that you won’t get in anywhere “remotely prestigious”, but you have to seriously edit yourself. Think about what you want to do and how you want to present yourself. You seem interested in engineering + business. I would apply to a range of places with strong engineering which would allow you to minor in something econ or business related. Keep yourself focused, and drop some of the fluff.

17
  1. Yeah, that's my primary concern and something that I will keep thinking about going forward. I have had an interest in engineering for as long as I remember, but I knew that my GPA would take a hit if I participated through competition season this year, as my team met for around 25 hours during the week. I had auditions for the district band and practices for the ski team as well. Furthermore, I am not the brightest student, so I needed the time to study for class. I will admit that my business schools are a kind of afterthought, though.
  2. CTY was high honors for the SAT in 8th grade.
  3. You're right. I have little sense of direction in what I want to study in the future. I included the liberal arts colleges on my list for that reason, but I feel like I would be happy with admissions in any of those schools. I am aware that most/all of those schools were reaches, but I just wanted to know if there were any I probably shouldn't just bother applying to, UPenn being one of them.
18

Have you thought at all about what kind of college environment might fit you best? You mostly have research universities and some state schools. Have you thought much about LACs? I know that Wesleyan, Carlton and Bucknell are on your list. My impression is that you need some time to find yourself, and sometimes a bigger and more competitive environment can be overwhelming. There’s nothing wrong with that. Kids develop at different rates, and some of the ones who get into the “elite” schools are sometimes just the ones that blossom early. College is not the end of your education, or your life, and an environment which nurtures you and gives you support to find yourself may be a better fit than a more competitive university oriented around students who are more focused. I’ve known lots of incredibly brilliant and successful people who didn’t find their focus and passion until in college, or after. I’ve also known some people who excelled in high school and had trouble adapting down the road.

Here’s some CC threads about LACs (broadly defined) with engineering programs:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/957914-liberal-arts-colleges-with-engineering-programs.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1691039-liberal-arts-engineering.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1676790-liberal-arts-colleges-with-good-engineering-programs-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1220934-a-liberal-arts-school-with-a-good-engineering-program-p1.html

Another great school which would be a reach for you but worth considering, with great engineering, is Rice. It could be a terrific environment for you. Vanderbilt should also be somewhere you consider closely, and it has the Blair School of Music as well. These are really, really good schools.

In general, I’d target a range of schools with engineering + strong liberal arts, hopefully with the ability to do some econ/business as well. I’d present yourself as someone with an engineering + business long term focus but wanting a strong liberal arts grounding to provide a good education and flexibility down the road.

What about a tentative starting list that looks something like this:

Tier 1: Reaches or near-reaches

  • Harvey Mudd (might be a really great place for you)
  • Rice (ditto)
  • You might also want to take a hard look at Vanderbilt, which could also be a great environment for you; it also has a terrific music school
  • Swarthmore (awesome LAC with engineering)
  • Cornell (college of engineering)
  • Carnegie Mellon (college of engineering)
  • UMichigan (college of engineering)
  • Georgia Tech (maybe; not as strong liberal arts as the other places listed)
  • Penn SEAS is very competitive, and may be too much of a reach, but you can consider it

Tier 2: Matches and Safeties

  • Bucknell (LAC with engineering)
  • Northeastern (college of engineering)
  • University of Maryland
  • Lafayette College (LAC with engineering)
  • Lehigh University (small with good engineering)
  • Union College (LAC with engineering)
  • Trinity College (LAC with engineering)

I’ve left off some schools on your list in the OP because I wasn’t sure how strong they were in engineering (Carlton and Wesleyan are great schools, but neither has an engineering major), but by all means consider them. I’m not suggesting applying to all of these, but I’d take a look at these, and I’d throw out applying to business programs.

You have the test scores and GPA to do well if you can organize yourself and focus. You might think about applying EA to one of the tier 1 schools. I’d take a very hard look at the first 4 that I’ve listed, because I get the sense they might be better fits for you than some of the schools currently on your list. You would get a world class education at any of those places, with tremendous opportunities.

You may also want to look at:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1806602-making-your-app-stand-out.html#latest

I hope this helps. Good luck!

19

Only college I have personal knowledge of on your list is Ga Tech. I don’t consider it an LAC. It makes its money from grants. So its top priorities are research and grad students. Pressure and competition are high, and undergrad student interaction with profs is low. TAs and weed out courses are the norm.

That being said, Ga Tech can be a great experience. It should not be automatically discarded. My opinion is that a student who comes in more sure of what they want to study, confident in their path, might have more determination to stay their course and do well.

A cocky student who has skated by in high school without having to buckle down and develop good study habits could have a meltdown at Ga Tech freshman year.

I suggest you try to find some real life employees to shadow and/or question to get more practical input on a possible future career.

I might have missed it, but didn’t notice anything written about finances. Have you had a realistic talk with your parents about how you will fund your college education? You need specifics, like “we can pay $30,000/year.” Choosing a college list without knowing your financial limitations is a disaster waiting to happen. Also, if you realize your parents can’t pay much, you need to switch your focus to colleges that are known for giving out more merit aid.

20

@renaissancedad

Ah beautiful post, thank you for all this information

-Harvey Mudd seems like an awesome place, I’ll research it some more, but it’s probably a really high reach.
-Rice: My parents are kind of nervous about me going south for college, but I’ve talked to them and they will definitely make exceptions for a school of this caliber.
-Swarthmore: I actually interviewed here, and I thought it went well. The only gripes I have about Swarthmore is the stickied post in the Swarthmore subforum on CC about how tough the school is academically.

As for the liberal arts schools, I was considering majoring in physics and getting a graduate degree later. There are also widely available 3+2 programs, but I’m not so sure about those.

@powercropper My family is sound financially, but my parents are willing to pay more for a school, scaling on its prestige and potential return on investment. They are planning to finance my education for the first two years of undergrad, and I will be on my own from then. So obviously while financial aid is not the first or second priority, it is of a decent amount of importance.