What do you guys think? (mit, uchicago, mudd, ivies)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a 16 high school senior that’s been working on college apps and I’m STRESSED OUT. I’m hearing different things from my friends than my parents than my counselors than my own research and…I’m confused.

I’m applying early action to: MIT, UChicago, University of Wisconsin

I’m applying regular decision to: Cornell, Harvey Mudd, Harvard, Princeton, maybe Columbia, maybe Cooper Union

Here are my objective stats:

ACT composite (english, math, reading, science, writing) : 36 (35/36/36/35/9)
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math II, 770 Chem (might retake)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.975
Weighted GPA: ~4.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): of 443
AP (place score in parentheses):–didn’t take most AP tests because of financial difficulties: World History (N/A), Calc BC (5), Chem (3, probably won’t send score), Eng. Lang (5), French (N/A), Physics 1 (N/A), Comp. Sci (N/A)
Senior Year Course Load:

Sem. 1: Honors English (took honors rather than AP because of teacher preference), AP Physics, honors gov, AP Comp Sci, Dual Enrollment Calc 3 at local university

Sem. 2: Honors English, AP Physics, honors psych, AP Comp Sci, Dual enrollment Complex Analysis and Topology at local university.

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): haha none (that i can think of)

Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP scholar, honor roll, renaissance, etc the usual (nothing too important)

Subjective: (in approximate order of time spent per week)
Extracurriculars : I intern at UChicago’s observatory, Senior Class President, founder/captain/president of Math Team, varsity soccer player, varsity golf player, tutoring ESL speakers for literacy council, Model UN, student gov, jobs working construction (present) and in a bakery (past)

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: really good, definitely what I spent the most time on. Tried to make them relatively informal and fairly personal. I wanted to give the colleges a good picture of who I am.
Teacher Recommendation #1: very good
Teacher Recommendation #2: Good
Counselor Rec: Good
Additional Info/Rec: n/a
Interview: went really well for MIT!! Haven’t had the others yet.
Art Supplement: n/a

Other
U.S. State/Territory or Country: WI
School Type: reasonably large public school
Ethnicity: one quarter Thai, one quarter Lao, half white
Gender: White
Income Bracket Range: 50-90k (I know that’s a big range)

Reflection
Strengths: extra curricular, test scores?
Weaknesses: AP scores/classes, overall rigor (excepting math courses)

Also, can anybody think of any other universities that would be a good fit for me? I’m planning on pursuing a math degree (going on to graduate school). I have A LOT of non-STEM interests though…really big in art and creative writing, as well as playing piano. I want a rigorous school with a reasonably competitive environment, excellent STEM programs with strong humanities as well.

2

class rank is 9 out of 443, forgive the typo. Will probably increase by a few following the first semester.

3

I think you will get into UW. The rest are reaches. You certainly have the stats to be considered, but admissionrates are low at all the rest and the competition is intense. Your essays matter a lot, at Mudd especially (be sure you take the time to understand the culture there).

If so were you I’d add a few more matches. Maybe Case Western as a low match, for example.

4

You are definitely competitive for all of these schools. I would say that MIT is a little bit more than a reach than some of the Ivies as most MIT applicants have heavy STEM backgrounds. UChicago is also extremely hard to get into EA as they like to accept students who apply ED. You should apply to 1-2 more safeties/matches that you would be happy going to.

5

retaking a 770? waste of time and money btw.

6

Academically you are definitely there for all the schools. UW is definitely a match, maybe even a safety for you, and Cornell and Harvey Mudd are also probably good chances. Ivies might be a reach just cuz they are ivies (they’re reaches for everybody unless you’ve cured AIDS or something) and your non academic EC’s aren’t super amazing (most colleges won’t consider athletics unless they can either recruit you or you’ve emailed the coach for a walk on tryout).

7

@waterbrether725

update: i didn’t end up retaking the SAT chem. the only reason I was considering it was because the registration deadline was before the test scores were released and I didn’t know how well I did, so I registered for the Oct. 7 test date anyway.

also bump

8

also, after a lot of careful deliberation with parents, family, etc, we have narrowed down my final list to

early: uw, uchicago, mit

regular: cornell, mudd, princeton, harvard, carnegie mellon, wash u in st louis, vanderbilt

9

What is your actual order of preference?

10

^

  1. MIT (by far. ik it's a reach but..the place is incredible)
  2. Mudd/UChicago (the environment at mudd is so cool!! I like the small school vibes with such a heavy focus on undergrads. Plus..being from wisconsin ive never had a california-like climate and..that really appeals to me. I know a lot of uchicago people from the area and...everyone is very well rounded and dynamic and I just enjoy the schools culture)
  3. Princeton (love love love the academics, don't love the culture..eating clubs, very wealthy, several a capella groups, etc)
  4. Harvard (it's Harvard. Tbh I was a little off put by the visit but...I'm chalking that up to a really bad tour guide. Living in Cambridge makes up for it)
  5. Mellon/Cornell (both are still incredible schools that I would be absolutely breathless at having the opportunity to attend but..they have pretty stiff competition on this list...I loved Ithaca, in terms of the nature and scenery)
  6. Vanderbilt/ Wash U (Vanderbilt to make dad happy -- he has a weird obsession with Nashville so I'm kind of just doing him a favor by applying there. Nothing against the school, I just really don't know anything about it. Same with Wash U- my counselor is an alum -- he wont shut up about it--and he's been entering me for scholarships and stuff there. he's just sending my materials because I have a fee waiver and they don't require any additional essays so the application will be very little work. Again, I know absolutely nothing about the place)
11

.

12

If you love the Boston/Cambridge area you will find Northeastern a great place. You would be above average in score. It has a great engineering program with a wide variety of other programs for your other interests. Fantastic campus for inside a major city. Tufts is good in that area too.I think you cant go wrong at NEU but it might be a little late to add something to your list this late

13

lol you have Gender listed as “White”. Sorry, I can’t really give you new advice, but I’d really like to second what these people have stated above.

14

^lol