Chance a sophomore with a weak freshman year for Stanford, Ivies, MIT etc.

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello everyone,

I am curious about where I fall in relation to some of the other applicants for Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, MIT and Georgia Tech. I am interested in science and journalism. Additionally, I am not great at math and (if I’m lucky) can only take AP Calc AB and IB Math Methods SL during my senior year of high school. Calc BC is not an option due to middle school and freshman scores. I am a caucasian New York State resident with an annual income bracket of $150,000-$200,000. My school is an IB school and has one of the best IB programs in the state.

Tests:
I didn’t do so well on my PSAT, but I am confident that I can get 2100+ on the actual SAT.
I may take SAT IIs in Physics and US History.

Freshman Year:
0 honors classes
UW: 94
W: 94

Sophomore Year:
3 Pre-IB (honors) classes and normal math
UW: 95
W: 98 (Just guessing here)

Junior Year:
I am already signed up for all of these courses:
IB English 1 HL
IB Spanish 1 SL
IB History of the Americas 1 HL
IB Physics 1 SL
IB Design Technology 1 HL
IB Theory of Knowledge 1
Algebra 2 Trig (normal)

If everything goes well with my guidance counselor, I will take Pre-Calc at a community college over the summer

Senior Year:
These are the courses that I will most likely take senior year
IB English 2 HL
IB History of the Americas 2 HL
IB Physics 2 HL
IB Design Technology 2 HL
IB TOK 2
IB Math Methods SL
AP Calc AB

I am seriously considering dropping Spanish during my senior year. I am not an exceptional Spanish student and would rather show colleges that I can handle advanced math

ECs:
School Paper-- Staff writer (9th), Chief reporter (10th) and I don’t know what position I will be next year, but I applied for some of the highest positions
Future Engineers Club (Plan to continue and maybe obtain a leadership position)
Student Council (freshman year only)

Others:
-1 year of Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists
-Columbia Scholastic Press Association Fall Journalism Conference (2015)
-Hofstra University’s 2015 Student Journalism Conference (2015)
-Attended the New York State Assemblymen Andrew Raia and Chad Lupinacci Press Conference
-Long Island Science and Engineering Fair 3rd Place Environmental Science
-WAC Invitational Science Fair 3rd Place in Environmental Science
-WAC Invitational Science Fair Sustainability Award
-Bronze Award in the category of Sports Feature in the 2014 Empire State School Press Association Competition
-1 year of varsity badminton (we made it to the county semifinals and I started)
-Assistant at a professional water testing laboratory (~60 hours)
-Internship at a local pharmacy (~40 hours)
-New York State Public High School Athletic Association Scholar Athlete (2015)
-National History Honor Society (if I get accepted)
-120 total community service hours (I am going to be joining the local ambulance corp and volunteer at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital over the summer. Hopefully, I can get more service hours)

I have been working on my new research project for about three months. I think it is going to be a really competitive project in some of the science fairs. Presuming I can get into Intel ISEF this year and maybe become a regional finalist in the Siemens Science Competition, then what would my chances be for the schools previously mentioned?

2

you are doing great in school you for sure could get into a majority of these

Stanford (a reach for everyone)
Princeton (a reach for everyone)
Yale (a reach for everyone)
Cornell (low reach/high match)
MIT: if you write a good essay you have a great chance (low reach if you write a great essay)
Georgia Tech: match

Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1786085-brown-university-ed.html#latest

3

Bump

4

Your course load and involvement is very good. A 2100 would be in the lower percentile for some of these schools, so I would study very thouroughly and aim for a ~2200. I am not sure about your gpa, given that it’s in percentile form, but a 90 has to be above 3.5 so I am assuming your GPA of ~95 is close to 3.8-4.0. @girlapplicant1 has very accurate chances, and I recommend doing something unique to grab MIT’s attention (perhaps discussing your works from the science fairs). With that being said, I think youre on track for acceptance to GAT, MIT, and Cornell. Continue your ECs, do well on your standarized tests, and I think you’ll have a shot at your other schools. Best of luck.

5

Alright brother. Your chances at GT are great. Cornell is a low reach if you do RD but high to mid match with ED. All the others I’m going to have to say are reaches for you unfortunately. You have a chance, but like everyone, they’re not ridiculously high. Maybe Penn u could get into for maybe engineering or science. It’s a slight notch above Cornell in that field.

6

@alpha525 Thank you so much. I have visited UPenn once before and loved the campus. It has always seemed like more of a business school to me though. I will look into it a little bit more.

@ChiefMonger Thank you! Unfortunately, 2100 seems more realistic. I can only manage about a 700 on each section. I have a year to study though and will strive for 2200+. I am sort of hoping that Siemens and Intel would grab the attention of MIT and GA Tech. I know that MIT and GA Tech are sponsor schools of the Siemens Competition and thought they would like to see that I excelled in the competition.

7

I believe you have an amazing chance! I’m not an expert at what colleges want, but your extracurriculars are out of this world. So I’m assuming you want a career in some kind of science field? It would be great to raise that score even more, but if you cant that’s fine! You have a lot of other EC’s that they’ll look at.

8

You’re an excellent candidate and you’re definitely thinking ahead, which is great! I think Cornell and MIT are both low reaches/high matches and very likely if you apply ED. Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are probably mid reaches, just because of the nature of admissions, but certainly possible. You’re qualified for everywhere that you’re looking and I’m sure you will get in somewhere awesome. Good luck!!