Chance a junior with a nonexistent spike and overly optimistic hopes (HYPSM) [4.0 GPA, 1560 SAT, creative writing/physics major]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics: Competitive public school. No hooks

Intended Majors: Creative writing and applied math/physics/astrophysics… These majors are as discombobulated as the rest of my application, as you’ll soon see

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0/4.0

  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.7/5.0 (still have to work out some GPA waiver shenanigans, but it should be somewhere around there)

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 36 ACT/1560 SAT (will retake SAT for 800 Math… oopsies)

  • APs (until senior year): Bio (5), Calc (5), 4 on CSA, soon to take AP Physics C E&M, Physics C Mechanics, Lang, APUSH, and Spanish 5 (and retake CSA for that 5… oops once again). Next semester taking Gov, Micro, Chem, Lit, Spanish 6, Stats. Self-studied freshman year: Physics 1 (4) - likely won’t submit, Music Theory (5 with 4 subscore) - likely won’t submit, Precalc (5)

  • Other courses: Calc 3, Linear Algebra, maximum rigor except for band

Awards (very doxxable, so I’ll try to be vague… unfortunately if you know me, you know me)

  1. One of the most prestigious writing competitions
  2. Numerous Scholastic medals and gold keys (and other national writing awards, may squeeze some of them together)
  3. Awards at state science fair all years
  4. AIME qual with distinction (this probably doesn’t mean much with the prolific cheating nowadays), other math statewide and regional awards, some mid (top 40 scorers, top 10%, etc) physics contests awards (not USAPHO). Also may squeeze some of these together
  5. All-region (first chair)/all-state honors band

Extracurriculars (also doxxable, apologies for vague wording)

  1. Independent science fair research (three yrs), invited to and presented at conference

  2. Physics research (two summers), presented at conference

  3. Created/led class for nonprofit teaching middle schoolers, other volunteer work for science fair and olympiads

  4. Four online writing studios/workshops (lol) + in-person writing camp (mildly selective but not one of the big names)

  5. Summer science research internship (mildly selective but not one of the big names)

  6. Founded a science magazine and a literary magazine, edit school litmag + two other online litmags, audition-selected member of spoken word team

  7. Independent writing - Published writing in journals, wrote two chapbooks (w/ minor recognitions in contests), currently trying to publish but no guarantee by app deadlines

  8. Band (marching captain, school section leader, community band member, subbed for professional band once lol)

  9. Physics Club Board (+ publish instructional physics videos personally), space law mentee freshman year

  10. Math modeling/math tutoring… kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel here, might split some of the earlier writing activities and combine some of the STEM ones

Cost Constraints / Budget

Parents are willing to pay for a “good” (top ten lmao) school; otherwise they’ll pay for my state school. Finances are not an issue.

Schools

Still definitely working on this list and would like feedback on where else (or where not to!) apply… I’m hoping to attend a college with interdisciplinary opportunities and a strong liberal arts presence (note the clear shift away from STEM and toward creative writing in my junior year haha), which is why I’m shooting to go somewhere other than UIUC though my school is a feeder. Professionally, I’m almost certain I’ll pursue something in STEM for stability reasons (possibly engineering; even though I haven’t yet taken formal engineering courses, it’s something I’d like to explore). So, I value the ability to switch majors and explore a variety of interests.

Stanford REA - my “dream” school if such a thing can be said
UIUC EA
UMich EA
UNC EA
UVA EA
UT Austin EA
Iowa
UChicago ED II

I’m fairly confident I’ll get into UIUC as it can be considered a safety for my school; if I do, for RD, I’ll shotgun all of the standard ones… Probably Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern.

Looking for a “chance me” and general feedback on my list:

  1. Is my profile competitive for these schools? I thought I had a chance, but looking at the results for this cycle has got me seriously doubting…
  2. Are there any other schools I should consider applying to, and are there any schools I should take off the list?
  3. Should I consider EDing to a “safer” school (ex: my school has an excellent track record with Northwestern) in lieu of shotgunning? How should I think about admission “strategies” in general? Is it worth REAing Stanford at all?

Many thanks for the infinite wisdom of all those on College Confidential. :slight_smile:

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Congrats on a fine record.

  1. Are you competitive? Yes

  2. Are there other schools you should consider? That’s up to you - but I see schools with more open curriculums - Brown, Rochester, Hamilton and others - and maybe some LACs.

  3. I agree UIUC is a given - and other than for writing, I’m not sure why Iowa. I think Purdue might be a better choice than Iowa as a UIUC backup - they have a CW major and more strength in physics. Emory might be another worth applying to.

So what is your budget? Can you afford $100K a year - that’s the most important question before anyone can truly chance you. But - you can get in anywhere - but wondering if your list is optimal given your interests.

Have you visited any schools - you want to ensure you find a place you’d enjoy as you’ll be there day after day for four years.

Good luck.

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