What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>(Hi Qoburn if you're reading this...)
I'm an American-born Asian male and currently a junior. I know my stats are not the best, but what are my chances at these schools? Feel free to give your honest opinion. Any suggestions for improvement in areas that I lack in will also be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>

<p>MIT
CalTech
Harvard
Columbia
Princeton
Stanford</p>

<p>Cornell
Berkeley
UPenn</p>

<p>U Chicago
CMU
Brandeis</p>

<p>Numbers:
Weighted GPA: 7.8/8.3 (A 8.3 is an A+ in a honors/AP class and a 8.0 is an A in a honors/AP class)
Unweighted GPA: 3.93/4
Class Rank: 2/3 out of ~250 students
PSAT Junior: Math: 73 V: 61 W: 54 Total: 188
SAT Junior: Math: 780 Verbal: 640 Writing: 580 Total: 2000.
-Retaking it in October (hoping for 2100-2200+...or should I aim higher?)</p>

<p>AP Classes:
APUSH this year (hoping 4-5)
AP PhysicsB, APChem, APCalcAB, APWorld Lit next year
These are all the AP's I could have fitted into my school's trimester system and I have taken all honors classes in everything else. The only B's I've had so far are in Freshman Honors English (B) and one in Gym (B+).</p>

<p>EC's:
Math Team (2002/9 - Present) (Possibly co-capt next year);
-3rd Highest Scoring Freshman (2003);
-4th Highest Scoring Sophomore (2004);
-8th Highest Scoring Junior (2005);
Project Search, (2004/9 - Present)
National Honor Society, (2004/11 - Present)
Tech Crew for Theater Productions, (2004/11 - Present)
Co-Webmaster School Website, (2005/5 - Present)
Astronomy Club, (2004/10 - Present)</p>

<p>Awards & Recognition:
National Honor Society Inductee;
Tri-State Math League Award, 9, 10, 11;
NHTM State Mathematics Contest;
-Algebra 1 Perfect Score, 9, 10;
Academic Awards;
-Algebra 1 Honors
-Geometry Honors
ACL NJCL Nattional Latin Exam;
-Outstanding Achievement, Intro To Latin Exam, 9;
-Gold Summa cum Laude, Latin One Exam, 10;
National Medusa Mythology Exam;
-Silver Medal, 10;
High Honor Roll (2002/9 - Present)</p>

<p>Summer:
Harvard SSP (this summer):
-Laboratory Electronics: Analog & Digital Circuit Design</p>

<p>Community Service:
-Various fundraising activities locally, and for technical crew for school plays.
-Around 100+ hours overall.</p>

<p>I'm expecting great recommendations from teachers. I'm also taking the SATII's (2C, Chem, USH) in June 2005, SATI again next year, and AMC12 next year.</p>

2

<p>just my thoughts, don't know if they are accurate, it seems that if you go to ssp, your college will think you are a rich bastard! and they'll step up the standards for you, but if you do well at ssp say an A or A- or B+ and maybe B, it may be a good thing, anything lower is not worth putting on college app.
you have a very good chance at cornell ED</p>

3

<p>I have exactly the opposite problems with the SAT (high english, low math). If I were you, one of my first priorities would be boosting those scores... I agree with newby that cornell is probably a good bet for you. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>MIT and Caltech are the top schools most likely to consider you with your CR and writing scores. </p>

<p>I would totally focus on raising those 2 scores to be in the running at top schools. I don't think Cornell ED is realistic unless those scores improve.</p>

5

<p>The colleges that you listed have very different atmospheres. How many have you visited / will you be able to visit?</p>

6

<p>Unfortunately, I haven't been able to visit any of the schools yet. I live on the east coast and this summer I will be able to have time to visit some colleges like MIT, Brandeis, and possibly find out about some other ones nearby at the SSP college fair. I've done research on MIT and I really like the atmosphere there.</p>

7

<p>If you can narrow down the types of colleges you feel comfortable at, your final application list will fit you better. When you are in the Boston area, try to also visit Amherst College - that will give you an idea of what an LAC is like. If you like that, you can think about places like Carleton. If you like the tech atmosphere at MIT, adding in safer schools like WPI or RPI make sense. </p>

<p>Brandeis would be a good match - if you like that, you will probably like UChicago as well. </p>

<p>Harvard and Princeton - if you can pull your verbal and writing scores up a lot, you will have your lottery ticket. If you pull them somewhat, I think you would have a decent chance at Cornell.</p>

8

<p>Hmmm........</p>

9

<p>Anyone have anything more to say. I'm willing to get more feedback... Thanks.</p>

10

<p>...Bumpty bump...</p>

11

<p>Anybody else?</p>

12

<p>-Algebra 1 Perfect Score, 9, 10;</p>

<p>some of this stuff is extraneous and not really needed.</p>

<p>-Algebra 1 Honors
-Geometry Honors</p>

<p>NHS is also not that great.</p>

<p>and do you really need this?</p>

<p>Math Team (2002/9 - Present) (Possibly co-capt next year);
-3rd Highest Scoring Freshman (2003);
-4th Highest Scoring Sophomore (2004);
-8th Highest Scoring Junior (2005);</p>

<p>I think you need to show demonstrated achievement in terms of math...all your stuff seems non-standard, which is good, but its low-level nonstandard. Have you taken AIME? AHSME? did well?</p>

13

<p>I'll think about crossing out some extraneous info...</p>

14

<p>Even for CC, your's is a particularly unrealistic list. You can do very well at your high school, but without strong scores it just looks like your high school is easy. Almost every school you list is a real reach without a 2200. There are lots of good colleges, why does everyone want the super reaches?</p>

15

<p>What if I was able to increase my score to a 2200? How much more of a chance would I have then? Of course, this is hypothetical.</p>

16

<p>With 2200 you would become more of the average candidate at your top group of schools, but without different ECs, I would still think they are major reaches.</p>