What are my chances for any top schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, I am a freshman but I want to calculate my chances of getting into any top schools (anything from Ivy League to UT Austin(in-state)).
By the time I apply in senior year, I expect to have most to all of the things listed below:</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.90
Weighted GPA: 4.75
Class rank: top 5 out of 550-600 students, I go to a suburban school that is second in district</p>

<p>SAT: 2300+ (math:800 critical reading: 750 writing: 750)
PSAT: National semifinalist
ACT: not sure of score, but I will most likely take it.
SAT2: Math 2: 800, 750+ on two other ones</p>

<p>AP Exams: (mostly 5's)
Before Senior year:
-AP Calculus BC
-AP Chemistry
-AP Biology
-AP English III
-AP US History
-AP Spanish IV
-AP Computer Science II
-AP Human Geography
-AP Psychology
Senior year:
-AP Statistics
-AP Physics B
-AP Environmental Science
-AP English IV
-AP Government
-AP Macroeconomics</p>

<p>Classes: all Honors/PreAP/AP if possible</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Competitions:
USAJMO/USAMO qualifier, attended several prestigious summer math camps, attended and placed at Mu Alpha Theta national convention, multiple places in many competitions in region
Science Olympiad: top 10 teams at state, medal in my category
Violin All-state Philharmonic</p>

<p>Clubs:
Mu Alpha Theta (all four years, president)
Science Olympiad (all four years, regular officer)
Tennis (played since young, two years in school, varsity team, been to many USTA competitions)
Orchestra (played since young, three years in school)
National Honor Society
Debate
Also, two of the following:
1. Founded environmental/recycling club in sophmore year
2. Created school chapter for a non-profit organization for public service, organization is found throughout district and has been recognized by the mayor of Houston
3. Reviving Model U.N. school chapter </p>

<p>Volunteer Service:
150+ hours
Tutoring students in math and science subjects
Public service events at clubs, including recycling around city and teaching students about the environment
Volunteering at cultural events that pertain to my heritage</p>

<p>Recommendations:
At least one good teacher recommendation
A decent counselor recommendation</p>

<p>I am pretty sure that I can fulfill most to all of what I have written above. Any advice and ratings will be gladly accepted! Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>What’s the point of chancing your expectations? People fail to realize that chancing is very much guesswork, so guessing at your guesses is pretty much useless. Just work hard, actually fulfill those high expectations of yours, then come back in a few years and maybe you’ll get an answer you like</p>

3

<p>Also:</p>

<p>-My ethnicity is Asian
-I am leaning towards a major in science and minor in business, but I am nowhere near entirely sure.</p>

4

<p>@Texasian0</p>

<p>I know there is a lot of variability in what I am expecting throughout the course of high school, but any sort of judgment would give me more knowledge and put me in a better position for later on than I am in right now.</p>

5

<p>One thing for sure is safety for UT Austin through the top 7% autoadmission.</p>

6

<p>As long as you have most of those things, you should have as good of a chance as any to get into several “top” schools (MIT, Stanford, Ivies, New Ivies) but keep in mind that with your EC’s it’s better to do 3-4 things and do them really well, such as getting awards/recogntion and pursuing them outside of just what your school offers. However, you need to understand that the admission process is fairly random, and there will be hundreds if not thousands of other students applying with the same qualifications as you, so you need to make yourself stand out, dramatically. Examples of such things would be doing very well in prestigious competitions such as the Google Science Fair, one of the Intel Science Fairs, and like you said USAMO, but just know that to qualify for the USAMO in its own right is not exactly easy, but to do well on it and perhaps even get invited to the summer camp competition (sorry don’t remember what it’s called) to determine who gets to be on the USA IMO team will certainly do that.</p>

7

<p>You are admirably ambitious and I hope that you achieve what you aim to here, but it’s ridiculous to say that you’ll be in the top 5 in your school, and to assume that you’ll get the scores that you anticipate, etc. You have four years. Focus on what you’re doing now. High school is going to be a doubly miserable experience if you have a (possibly unattainable) set of expectations for yourself and a rigid checklist that won’t pay off until WAY down the road.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>

9

<p>@iamthecowgodmoo</p>

<p>Other than the Intel and Google Science Fairs, are there any other possible out-of-school EC’s that might suit me?</p>

10

<p>Come back in 2 years.</p>

11

<p>I can’t think of any of the top of my head, buy FYI although winning those competitions may seem impossible, they certainly aren’t. Find a real world problem that isn’t getting enough attention and take steps to solve it. Start doing research, and junior year enter it in as many science competitions as possible. Also keep in mind that although certain schools that have low acceptance rates, it doesn’t mean they are the best. For example, if you want to go into engineering, yes some of the top schools have low acceptance rates (MIT and Stanford), but UC Berkeley and University of Illinois have acceptance rates of 25% and 67% respectively, and they are ranked in the top five for engineering in most rankings. Although you should try to get into the best schools possible so you have a lot of options, know that many of the top schools have their flaws.</p>

12

<p>Yes, I have been considering UC Berkeley. Do you know how difficult it might be to get accepted?</p>

13

<p>If you have what you plan to have, I’d say you can expect to get accepted, but FYI it’s extremely expensive out of state and I’d recommend looking at some student reviews before deciding to attend, I was accepted to UC Berkeley and Stanford and some of the less exclusive ivies and chose to attend U of I because after scholarships it would be free and because of all my AP credits I could have a double major in EE and CS and graduate in 3 years, then I went to Stanford and got my masters in computer engineering in 3 semesters. If you plan to do grad work then you might want to go to a public school with an excellent engineering program and take the full/mostly full ride.</p>