10th grader looking to be matched (stem and engineering)

Chance Me / Match Me
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Guidelines

:check_mark: No identifying information included
:check_mark: Race not included
:check_mark: Details generalized where needed

Demographics

Citizenship: US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident)

State/Location of residency: Redacted (US)

Type of high school: Large public high school

Other special factors:

  • Not first-generation

  • Not legacy

  • Not a recruited athlete

  • No formal hooks

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • Family budget: Unknown / Moderate (seeking good value; merit scholarships preferred)

  • Will use Net Price Calculators

  • Prefer schools with strong STEM ROI

Intended Major(s)

  • Mechanical Engineering

  • Robotics Engineering

  • Electrical Engineering

  • Computer Engineering / AI-related engineering
    (Open to interdisciplinary engineering programs)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

Unweighted HS GPA: ~3.7–3.8 (approximate)
Weighted HS GPA: ~4.0–4.1 (school weighting; includes Honors/AP)
Class Rank: Not officially ranked

SAT/ACT:

  • SAT: Not yet taken / planning

  • ACT: Not yet taken

HS Coursework

English:

  • Honors English (9–10)

Math:

  • Honors Algebra II

  • Precalculus (planned)

  • Calculus (planned)

Science:

  • Honors Biology

  • Honors Chemistry

  • Physics (planned)

History / Social Studies:

  • Honors World History

  • US History

Language other than English:

  • Language through intermediate/high level

Visual or Performing Arts:

  • Guitar (multiple years)

Other Academic Courses:

  • 1 Computer Science / Programming electives

  • 1 Engineering-related electives

Awards

  • National-level youth award in competitive board sport

  • Tournament placements (state/national level)

  • Recognition through competitive sports & community leadership

Extracurriculars

Co-Founder & Lead Instructor — AI Education Startup (for-profit, early)
Founded online AI education organization teaching middle & high-school students; created 25+ lessons, led multiple in-person workshops, taught 200+ learners globally.
10 hrs/wk, 40 wks/yr

Independent Mechanical Engineering & Robotics Projects
Designed and built 6-axis robotic arm, ball-balancing robot, self-driving RC car, and RWD electric vehicle; fully documented and open-sourced.
12 hrs/wk, 52 wks/yr

National-Level Board Sport Competitor & Content Creator
Competed nationally; received youth award; produced 200+ instructional videos and organized community clinics.
5 hrs/wk, 45 wks/yr

Competitive Badminton (State Level)
10+ tournaments; 6–8 hrs/wk training; mentored juniors; helped organize local competitions.
6 hrs/wk, 40 wks/yr

STEM & Coding Instructor (Youth Programs)
Led hands-on STEM workshops for K–6 students; taught block coding through Python/intro AI; mentored 50+ students.
4 hrs/wk, 40 wks/yr

FTC Robotics Team — Technical Lead
Led robot design, programming, and strategy; coordinated build sessions and competition prep.
8 hrs/wk, 40 wks/yr

School AI Club — Founder/President
Founded and led AI club; organized projects, workshops, and peer learning sessions.
3 hrs/wk, 30 wks/yr

Guitar Instructor & Performer
Teach guitar to younger students online; preparing for community performances.
3 hrs/wk, 30 wks/yr

Research Experience (Planned)
Planning faculty-mentored research in robotics/AI with focus on system design and experimentation.

Internship (Planned)
Seeking technical internship in robotics/AI/engineering; expected coding, prototyping, and collaboration.

Patent Development (In Progress)
Preparing provisional patent for original technical concept; conducting prior-art research and prototyping.

Essays / LORs / Other

Essays:

  • none

Letters of Recommendation: none yet

Other Notes:

  • Honors-level coursework

  • Our school doesn’t offer AP courses in 9th and 10th grade.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely:
  • Toss-up:
  • Lower Probability:
  • Low Probability:
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Honestly, you didn’t provide a lot of info like your state, and your too early. But you need to provide your state - as not only will your state have options but often there are compacts where you’ll get discounts at other state’s schools.

STEM ROI can be had anywhere.

Some might argue that a $20K school will give you a greater ROI than an $80K a year school - given many work side by side.

You want to determine two things:

  1. Budget - doesn’t need to be today but you’ll need a figure before you can build any list. Saying merit scholarships preferred is not helpful. Some schools are cheaper full cost than others with merit - so you’ll need a specific amount from your family - like $40K a year or $80K a year, etc.
  2. You can visit schools with your family - different sizes (small, medium large), environments (rural, urban, suburban), weather, sports/greek life, etc.

Keep up the great work…make sure to add a third social science and at least three years of foreign language, in addition to English all four years.

You don’t need engineering or CS coursework….make sure to get your core items covered and if in CA, you’ll need a Visual Art. You say multiple years guitar but has it been through a school class?

As for ECs, you want quality, not quantity - meaning, you want tenure and depth, increased responsibility - not a list of ten that are shallow. For many schools, you don’t need ECs at all.

Keep up the good work and come back in a year with a test score, a more formal GPA and budget (an actual $$ figure, not I need scholarships). And in the meantime, visit some local schools or others when you’re on family trips so that you can get a sense of what type of school you like.

Good luck.

1 Like
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Thanks for the feedback, to clarify the important details i was missing, I live in the state of new jersey and I just mostly wanted feedback on my EC’s too, so your comments really help a lot!

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Do what you want - whether it’s walking dogs at the shelter, a job at McDonalds, band, theater, or those you’re currently doing. But do them for you, not for others or for thinking it will give you a leg up. And again, many schools won’t even look at them.

Keep up the great work.

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There is absolutely no way to meaningfully match you since you are only in 10th grade.

Colleges look at grades from 7 semesters, and you only have grades from 3. Some colleges only look at 10th to 12th grade, so for those colleges, you only have grades for one of the 5 semesters that they consider.

So nothing that you will read here will actually be helpful for you. You should, instead, look to see what the courses that you will need to qualify for acceptance, what courses will help you with acceptance. These are available on the Common Data Sets of colleges, and on the websites. You can also ask about ECs.

If you want to know whether you are on the right track for being accepted to a colleges that will help you be qualified to be an engineer or have a degree in Science, that’s a different question.

Good luck!

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Where might I find constructive criticism on my extracurriculars to help me improve?

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The best place to post such questions would be, IMO, in the Pre College Topics Forum:

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This! Do the best you can do in your classes. Prep for the PSAT and SAT. Clarify what your parents can and will pay annually for college.

And enjoy your high school years. Have fun! That’s important too!!

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Your ECs are fine. Don’t stretch yourself too thin! Better to have meaningful ECs than a laundry list.

Your EC strength will not make up for lower grades and standardized test score.

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Here’s the thing - at schools that care about ECs (not all do), they are a complement, not a substitute for other deficiencies (like grades).

One doesn’t need to be a founder (you are) or start a charity. One can have a job, be in the band, play a sport, volunteer at a senior home, walk shelter dogs - whatever.

Do you enjoy what you’re doing or are you doing it to impress someone?

Now, when I look at yours, I start to wonder - can this be real - can the student do all this and go to school - so you might need to provide “evidence”. Why do I say that:

EC1 - 10 hours/40 weeks

EC2 - 12 hours/52 weeks

EC3 - 5 hours, 45 weeks.

When I add up all your stuff, that’s 51 hours a week - and at a minimum of 40 weeks.

Is it true - I can’t imagine so - but if it, you’ll have to prove it - but you are list building and planning things like internships too. I’m not calling you untruthful but I find it hard to believe a 10th grader has done all this, is working 50+ hours a week and going to school. If i don’t believe it, what is an admissions pro going to think. So you’ll need to be very descriptive - so they will believe you.

Do what you want to do - not what you think is impressive. That’s my constructive criticism on your ECs. I just assume you scoop ice cream or play ultimate frisbee anything you’ve listed. But if you are doing things that bring you job, I say great.

Many here post this blog.

Good luck

Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions

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Which courses did you take last year and which do you take this year? Does your school offer AP/IB/DE courses? If so, why not take them?