okay! so just an update, here are my results so far:
UIUC OOS ChemE - accepted
UMN TC OOS ChemE - accepted w/ 60,000 scholarship
UT Austin OOS ChemE - denied
Will keep you all updated in March! And thanks again
Counselor Rec: Probably garbage
lmao don’t get too caught up in counselor rec. My counselor hated me, but she still wrote me a decent rec
Its not like she hates me or anything, I just go to a relatively big school and she doesn’t know every student in our class obviously. Oh well /shrug
@DieLit colleges will know this, they’ll get the school profile including stats of students per counselor. Had a few colleges say they don’t place great weight on counselor recs in big schools for this reason. I wouldn’t worry about it.
The Texas rejection is shocking, although not surprising because of their mandate to take 80% of in-state students.
UIUC for ChemE is a good acceptance.
Eh, I wasn’t really expecting much, but UT Austin was really competitive this year for OOS. A friend of mine that got into Princeton early got flat out rejected from UT. Only 1 or 2 people from my school were admitted this year, but they weren’t as competitive stats-wise as you’d think. I think UT really puts an emphasis on essays and extracurriculars, and theirs must have been stellar.
Anyways, my UT essays were not as good as the my CA schools, so I’m not really as worried as I might have been before. And thank you @Hamurtle !
And just another (annoying) update, my midyear report is going to look like this:
ERWC: A
American Government: A
AP Biology: A
AP Calculus BC: A-
AP Human Geography: A-
AP Computer Science A: A
That brings my UW up to 3.94. Not sure if it really makes a difference, just putting it out there.
@DieLit my son’s high school (one of the Bay Area pressure cookers) had 3 kids go to UT in 2017. 2 for CompSci and 1 for Bio/Pre-Med. All good students but not with your GPA/test scores. So I was surprised about your rejection.
My stats aren’t anything special, but thanks for the vote of confidence haha.
@DieLit With the UIUC acceptance and the UMN acceptance+scholarship, you are essentially set. UMN is an excellent school, and UIUC is a top engineering school. So you already have two great choices even before you hear from the rest.
I wish you an even more difficult time making a choice for next year 
Thanks @MWolf ! UMN is great, but unfortunately I don’t think UIUC will be affordable at all, with its 50000 OOS pricetag. Oh well.
okay! a couple more updates:
UCSB in-state chemE - early acceptance
UC Davis in-state chemE - accepted but no regents ):
CSULB and Cal Poly Pomona in-state chemE - accepted
Georgia Tech OOS chemE - accepted
Caltech matSci - rejected!
overall, extremely surprised at GAtech, considering the OOS acceptance rate this year was super low. very very happy about that, even though I won’t be able to afford it unless money starts growing on one of the trees outside. to caltech: i applied and wrote my essays in the last couple days before the deadline, and I was never really sold on it. just felt like I wouldn’t fit in, and I think they sensed that too. oh well! i’m excited for the rest of the month!
Congrats!!!
You shall have more exciting news in March!
I don’t know about the other schools, but the U of M would definitely be a safety for you. I know a bunch of people who got in with much lower scores and barely any ECs.
You are doing quite well for yourself. Write some killer essays and you have a lot of doors open for yourself. Best of luck m8.
Final results
Accepted:
UC Berkeley chemE (will attend)
UCLA chemE
UCSD chemE
UC Davis chemE
UCSB chemE
Cal Poly Pomona chemE
Cal Poly Long Beach chemE
Carnegie Mellon chemE
Minnesota chemE
UIUC chemE
Georgia Tech chemE
Waitlisted:
UCI chemE
Vanderbilt chemE
Cornell chemE (i was this close haha)
Rejected:
MIT chemE
Stanford chemE
Princeton chemE
Caltech matSci
Penn chemE
Columbia chemE
Northwestern chemE
Rice nanoE
Duke envE
Johns Hopkins chemE
UT Austin chemE
I really fell in love with Cornell the last three months, and that waitlist hurt my heart more than all of the rejections combined. But it’s okay! Because I’ve been admitted to the College of Chemistry at Cal, #1 for my major!!! I’m beyond excited for what next year holds for me.
To all of you:
@BreakingBadViking
@hotelspunk33
@sunquebec
@GoBears2023
@Hamurtle
@nomansland
@SJ2727
@MWolf
@Gumbymom
@oscar63
@ProfessorPlum168
@gurt567
Thank you so much for the advice you gave me! Tagged you all to thank you (and hopefully you were interested in my final results).
Otherwise, peace out College Confidential. Go Bears <3
congrats! Stanford never gives any love to any local STEM male Asians, so screw them. Welcome to the Club! Any questions, don’t hesitate to PM or ask.
Dude, well done. Congrats on all your acceptances! You really deserve it 
Warm congratulations on your excellent choice, I’m very happy for you. Now go and shine at UCB just like you did at your High School!