What are my chances for T20 schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I’m a Junior. I copied this form from the Stanford Class of 2023 REA thread. Thanks for reading!

SAT I (breakdown):
1540(760 English 780 Math) superscore
1460(730 English 730 Math) single sitting
SAT II: Taking in June(Chem, Math II, German)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/408
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Euro(5), AP Chem(projected to get 5), AP Calc AB(projected to get 4), AP Lang(projected to get 5),
Senior Year Course Load: AP German, AP Physics 1, AP Econ/Gov, AP Calc BC, AP Computer Science A, AP Literature, Soccer
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Placeholder for American Chemical Society National Exam

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Scholar’s society club at my school that focuses on college admissions, expanding intellectual curiosity of members, and community outreach(started this spring) (Co-Founder and President)
Soccer for 2 1/2 years(took a break fall semester so I could fulfill A-G Req. and still play Senior year)

Volunteer/Community service:
Founder of a homework help/tutoring program for middle schoolers,
Founder of a mentorship program that matches motivated minority 8th graders with seniors to help them through school and life in general(both of these are through the club I mentioned in ECs)

Summer Activities:
Summer@Brown(Intro to Engineering and Design)
Stanford Pre-Collegiate University-Level Online Math & Physics-Modern Algebra
CS 101 Online Stanford class

Planned Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
1.Chem Teacher(10/10): Had him for two years and we’ve grown much closer over the last year to the point where I’m most likely his favorite student.
2.Math Teacher(6-7/10): I’ve had him for two years as well and we’re not extremely close but I’ve been a good student in his classes, pay attention, and stay on task. Really nice guy and a good teacher.

Intended Major: Chemical Engineering/Computer Science(undecided)
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: Public(2000 students)(not very good test scores)
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 1 parent: 22,000 Both: 85,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Raised black in majority white and Latino community(SoCal)(?), went through two divorces

Please Rate me on:
Stanford(REA), MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, UC Berkeley, UCSB(engineering), Caltech, Northeastern, Northwestern, USC, Vanderbilt

If anyone has any advice for how I could improve my application I would really appreciate it.

2

I think you have a very good chance at all the schools listed above. The UC schools as you know are mostly stats based. You might want to add some schools that have higher % acceptance rates as ‘matches’. Virtually all of the schools on your list are reaches (not just for you, for everyone).

You will probably get good financial aid packages. Suggest to add some more match schools: Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, RPI, Case Western, Lehigh, U Rochester. You can probably ask for fee waivers at most of these schools.

3

Thanks for responding. The college list in there isn’t a comprehensive list of what I’m planning to apply too, and I left out the lower half of my safeties and some of my reaches as I figured they were pretty redundant. I’m planning to apply to UMass Lowell, UPitt, SeattleU, Purdue, and UCSB as my main targets/safeties and UCSB is the one I like the most out of those.

I have a SAT fee waiver so from what I know that transfers over to the CommonApp and UC app so I’m definitely going to use it to my advantage and apply to a lot of schools. I’ll definitely look into the colleges you suggested though.

4

“SAT II: Taking in June(Chem, Math II, German)”

Wouldn’t recommend taking more than two SATII in one sitting, particularly if you are also taking AP exams this year.

Only so much time to study, and better two great scores, than 3 less great scores.

Some of the schools you are interested in don’t formally superscore, but instead “review all submitted test scores.”

As to chances, when applying to schools with single digit acceptance rates, any degree at all of certainty is hard to come by for anyone but the usual hooked suspects: athletic recruits, legacies, children of major donors, national or international level academic achievements, etc.

URM helps, but not to the level of the hooks I listed above.

Your application list seems very University heavy, would recommend you also consider applying to some of the top LAC’s with excellent fin aid like Williams, Amherst and Pomona

5
  1. Make sure to get 5s on your APs. If you are projected to get a 4 on AB Calc, study harder.
  2. Maybe make your app less stem heavy/stronger elsewhere. Your APs are almost all STEM. Same with your subject tests (except German). Same with your recs. Makes you look a little one dimensional academically. Maybe add another humanities/social science ap, change a recommender, etc.
  3. Not sure on your ECs. Depends on how involved you actually are in them.
  4. Start practicing writing your essays this summer. Doing so will help you write better essays.
6

@tdy123
Ill keep that in mind for the SAT II. I wanted to see if I could get 600 or higher on it so I could get the bilingual seal on my diploma without taking AP German. I will put 99% of my study time into the Math II and Chem tests though, wasn’t planning to report the German unless I got a high score. You make a good point about colleges requiring all tests though, I’ll rethink it.
Ill also do some more research into LACs, I’ve only really considered universities.ever.

@TheSATTeacher

  1. I definitely will. Those scores are based on mock exams that I’ve been taking and I’ve definitely improved at Calc since then.
  2. I also forgot to put that I’m taking APUSH and I’ll most likely get a 5 on that as well. I might be able to get my AP Lang teacher to reccomend me but I’ll have to feel that out.
  3. As for my ECs, I’m pretty involved. I’m the one organizing the two programs for tutoring and mentorship and I also manage most of the club activities.
  4. Yeah I’m planning to start this summer, I still have yet to find a really great essay prompt for me, but I also haven’t made a list of ideas either. Essays will be my main focus after Subject Tests.
7

@dwscout

I’d recommend writing a bunch of essays. It takes some practice to get good at the whole essay writing thing. Try writing an essay or two for each prompt. It will make you a better writer. If you see one you like, use it and make it better.

8

Your stats are good and you have a good courseload, I would say decent shot.

9

@dwscout Would you mind sharing which test dates went with which scores? Did you use the recent tests on r/SAT to study for these scores?

10

None of the OOS public universities in your list here give guaranteed merit aid…and none meet full need for all accepted students.

Do you have a plan for funding these OOS colleges?

11

For most of the “top 20” private schools, will both of your divorced parents cooperate on the financial aid forms, and do the net price calculators show affordability when both of their incomes and assets are included?

Unfortunately for you, divorced parents is an anti-hook for financial aid. See http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html for more information.

Of the most selective private schools, Chicago and Vanderbilt require only the parent you live with (but Chicago does not have chemical engineering).

Out of state public universities generally will not give good financial aid.

You may want to expand your list of in-state UCs and CSUs. Be careful that engineering majors and CS are generally more selective than overall admission stats may suggest. You may want to put all UCs on your UC application (or leave off UCSC and UCM if you are set on chemical engineering, since they do not have that major). CSUs with chemical engineering are CPP, CSULB, and SJSU.

UCs and CSUs require only the parent you live with for financial aid purposes.