Where can I get in??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi!

So I’m really concerned about where I can get into college; here is a basic outline of who I am.

Rising senior in a large city in the South

Attending a private school ranked in the top 40 in the US

Hispanic female, fluent in Spanish; waiting to hear back about National Hispanic Scholarship

Current weighted GPA 88.64 (considered Honors at my school)

ACT composite 32 (planning to retake; 35 English; 35 Math; 30 Reading; 29 Science)

Interested in a double major in mechanical engineering and astrophysics, minor in philosophy

Junior year courses: Chinese III, Honors Physics, US History, Independent Study, AP English, Advanced Precalculus, Astronomy

Senior year courses: AP Chinese, Honors Physics II, History of Art, Independent Study, Honors English IV, AP Calculus AB, Computer Hardware and Networking, Intro to Java Programming

For the last three years, I have been working on my independent study project, which involves reading scientific publications on methods for the detection and identification of dark matter. As part of this project, I have been able to communicate with professors and researchers, and hopefully in the near future, I will find a position in a laboratory.

Last summer, I was an intern in the President’s laboratory at one of the nations largest cancer hospitals. The experiment I worked on explored the relationship between telomerase, aging, and cancer in the small intestines of mice.

My leadership positions at school include: President of Coding Club, President of Philosophy Club, President of Math and Science Club, President of Astronomy Club, President of Hispanic Student Association, President of Philosophy Club.

In addition, I have experience in the following: 100+ Hours in technical and performance theater, Mathematical Problem Solving Club, Model UN, Quiz Bowl, engineering competitions, and managing baseball statistics.

My awards and certificates include: National High School Ethics Bowl regional awards, academic honor roll, and National Science and Technology Leadership Award (presented to me by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin)

If I’m missing any details, please let me know. Otherwise, here are some of the schools I’m applying to and would really love to attend:

MIT, Caltech, Yale, Harvard, McGill, UChicago, Stanford (among others, of course)

What are my chances?? Any feedback/advice?

Thanks!

2

Chicago doesn’t have mechanical engineering as a major, and they only have an astronomy and astrophysics minor (I’m an incoming student). Your reaches are super reaches. You have little to no chance at most of these schools because of your GPA, unless you’re leaving out information that makes that GPA put you at the top of your class, and in that case you would have a small chance (but worse than average) because as of right now, your test scores are low. But I wouldn’t say it is quite out of reach yet.

3

You being the President of all those clubs doesn’t necessarily look good. It shows that all the clubs are easy and there was not a large input needed (unless you did- if you did do a lot for each club, make sure to say that somewhere). It’s like you went for quantity over quality. I’m not extremely familiar with that grading scale so I’ll take Jarrett211’s word for it and agree with them. Make sure to pick some colleges you will get into like state schools. There are pretty good schools in the south like The U and UT (depending on where in the South you live). Your test scores are solid and if you do apply to those colleges listed, make sure try to get higher scores and to do SAT II’s. I would definitely apply to colleges you can get into in case none of those schools you listed accept you. Dream big but have a balance of reality too.

4

@almondine15 You say that your GPA is a 88.64 weighted and my school uses a different scale. Our weighted GPA is out of 5, with straight A’s in normal classes being a 4.0 and straight A’s in all weighted classes being a 5.0. On this scale an A is 90 or higher. So if your average is 88.64 WEIGHTED, then that means your average is basically C+'s with all weighted classes. You are basically getting 78.64% in weighted and 88.64 in nonweighted, which would mean you are a B+ student in easy classes. In hard classes, You are a C+ student. Your GPA on my weighted scale would be something like a 3.25 or 3.5 at the highest, which is extremely low for any selective college. I do not think that you should be applying to Ivy league colleges with that as your GPA unless you have done AMAZING EC’s on a national or even international level. I would recommend applying to less selective schools as the average GPA for the schools you are applying to is at the lowest 4.3, whereas your GPA is around 3.25/3.5. Best of Luck.

5

@PetEngineer Thanks for your input ! I’d just like to clarify that my school does weighted GPA differently than most. My unweighted GPA is 88.39

6

@almondine15 What is your class rank?

7

My school doesn’t rank, but I am on academic honor roll, and fewer than 25% of students are

8

@almondine15 So here is what I get from that. You could either be in terrible shape and have no chance at the Ivy’s (those grades from the typical high school would get your application almost immediately thrown away at Ivies), or your school could just be ridiculously difficult. It’s all relative. From what you are telling me right now though, you are not competitive with those grades, and until you can tell us approximately where you stand compared to other kids at your school, your grades will be judged objectively, and objectively, they aren’t even close to where they need to be for the Ivy Leagues unfortunately. Top 25% won’t cut it. Top 5-10% might.

9

My school is very competitive; it’s the most competitive in my city and state (both large), and it’s 40th in the country in terms of difficulty. My 88.64 GPA at my school is in the A to A+ range at an average school.