What are my chances for MIT, Stanford, etc.?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>What are my chances for MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, Olin College, Vanderbilt, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and Georgia Tech?</p>

<p>Here's what I've got:</p>

<p>SAT: 2270 (CR 720, M 800, W 750)
I'm retaking this to try for at least 2300.
ACT: 34 (33 E, 35 R, 36 M, 33 S, 30 W)
I'm retaking this purely for the Science section (I want a 36)
SAT II: Math Level II - 800, Chemistry - 800
AP Exams taken: Biology, Language and Comp, Computer Science A, Chemistry, European History, U.S. History (I plan on taking Physics C (both), Calculus BC, Macroeconomics, Literature and Comp, Government and Politics, and possibly Chinese Language and Culture in my senior year)
GPA: 3.97 (4.37 weighted)
Class rank: Top 5%, possibly top 1% now (out of 545)
Clubs and Activities: Science Club, Mu Alpha Theta, Student Government, SkillsUSA, Chess Club, Scholar's Bowl (Academic Quiz Bowl), Science Bowl
Officer Positions: President of Science Bowl - Science Club, Treasurer - SkillsUSA
Awards (since starting high school):
2nd place - 2006 Tennessee Mathematics Teacher's Association Math Competition (Region, Geometry)
4th place - 2007 Tennessee Mathematics Teacher's Association Math Competition (Region, Algebra II)
3rd place - 2007 TN Tech Science Bowl
1st place - 2008 TN Regional Science Olympiad
School Winner - 2008 AMC12 (got a 105, didn't do so swell on the AIME though)
3rd place - 2008 DOE TN State Science Bowl (Captain of team)
National Merit Scholarship Qualifier (223 on PSAT)</p>

2

<p>I forgot one award:</p>

<p>1st place - 2008 TN SkillsUSA State Conference (Related Technical Math)</p>

3

<p>wow. you seem to have a great chance. go ahead and apply.</p>

4

<p>Thanks snowgurl.</p>

<p>Anyone else have a take on this? Advice would be nice too.</p>

5

<p>I second snowgurl's opinion. Great chances at all the schools. But college applications are still a crapshoot :(</p>

6

<p>You should pull off a nice amount of money at GA tech</p>

7

<p>why retake your tests? You can't get much better than 720 and 750 anyhow, so unless you are pretty confident of a 2400, doesn't seem worth retaking.</p>

8

<p>^ seconded. There's no reason to - your scores are already awesome as they are.</p>

9

<p>well, there was this senior who applied to MIT this year with these incredible stats and got waitlisted (which is OMG???):</p>

<p>2350 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA, 10 AP 5s, and was a USNCO qualifier, USABO semifinalist, 4x AIME qualifier, Siemens AP scholar, and Siemens Regional Finalist...(yea i dont know what happened...so you never know)</p>

<p>he got accepted to Stanford though, but thats just a person you can reference...</p>

<p>you never know...couple years back this person had nothing but Siemens Regional Finalist (was a lot worse than the above person) and got accepted on EA....and his stats are similar to yours but i guess siemens is pretty big...</p>

<p>but i would say besides the first 2 (and maybe calTech) you have a very very good chance.</p>

10

<p>if you have all above 700, you know your chances are fair. you will never have "amazing" chances unless you have a 2400 or 36. thats it (applies to ivies too). everyone should know that. chance threads are only warranted for schools that have less obvious admissions.
i refuse to continue to stroke egos.</p>

11

<p>It's not like all of my AP Exams are going to be 5's. The retake is to try and compensate a little bit, since MIT, Stanford, and Cal Tech probably see everything else hundreds, if not thousands of times every year.</p>

<p>Did I mention that I'm Asian?</p>

12

<p>they don't care about ap tests. they have no weight in admissions. none. you could get all 3s. i doesnt matter.</p>

13

<p>Uh, I think they put SOME weight on AP classes. Particularly if you win a prestigious award like Siemens AP or National AP scholar (by junior year)</p>

<p>Obviously, colleges don't want you to make 1s on everything.</p>

14

<p>actually, i'm kind of positive AP scores don't have to matter unless you want to mention them in your essay (for whatever reason), the thing that matters though is the grades you got in the AP class, not the final grade on the AP though...</p>

15

<p>those are awards, not scores. the actual scores do not help or hurt you. they are not part of the admissions decision. that is based on gpa, rank, classes, sat/act/satii, essays, interview, etc. not ap tests. </p>

<p>if you made 1s on all your ap tests, you wouldnt show the college anyway.</p>

16

<p>Whoa what?
Colleges dont care about AP scores???</p>

<p>But my school puts AP scores on our transcript so dont they have to count for something?</p>

17

<p>Yeah, the thing is, I'm pretty sure my school also puts the AP Exam grades on the transcript, so it's not like I can hide those either. </p>

<p>Of course, I don't think I failed any, but I'm pretty sure there's a couple of 4's, and maybe a 3. I'll have to see in a couple of weeks.</p>

18

<p>I'm actually quiet sure that at elite universities like HYPS and other Ivies, AP scores are often examined when considering whether to admit you or not...</p>

19

<p>I wish they counted. It is much easier to get a 5 on an AP test than to get an A in the class all year. I love how, at my school, history classes change your grade if you get a 5. Now if only the science and math teachers caught on.</p>

20

<p>no. if you ask the admissions people they will tell you that they don't matter. i guess if they happen to see you got 5s it might subconsciously help you, but there is no overt weight given to them. the grade you got in the class is more important.
ap tests are for placement. that is when they matter.</p>