Chance me, an Indian-American male born/raised in US majoring in Physics, for mostly Ivies/other T20s! [NY resident, 98.36/100 GPA, 1530 SAT, 34 ACT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics:

Gender: Male
Race: Asian/Indian-American
State: NY
Income (USD): $75k < x < $100k
School: Suburban Public; 494 ppl in senior class
Major: Physics (possible minor or dual major in Mathematics)

Academics:
GPA: 98.36/100 (basically 4.0 UW); school doesn’t use weighted

SAT: 1530 (730 R/800 M)

ACT: 34 (35 E 36 M 31 R 32 S 11 W)

Class Rank: School does not offer, but predicting 4 or 5 / 494

AP: WH, USH, BC Calc, Lang, Stats (all 5); currently taking Chem, Phys CM, Gov, Lit

EC’s:
-4 years of varsity tennis (always played singles)

-1 year of JV tennis (also singles)

-4 years of orchestra

-2 years of chorus

-2 years of Tri-M Music Honors Society (nominated sophomore year)

-Boys State NY 2023; elected for City Councilman and Commissioner of Health roles. Week-long program at a SUNY; was one of 6 boys in my junior class to be accepted for the program (around 700 kids across NYS).

-Tutoring SAT Math (for Aug 2023 SAT) and high school physics through virtual platform Schoolhouse.world. Class sizes averaged 15 ppl but sometimes went to 25. 45 hrs tutoring

-Piano accompanist for school chorus and orchestra groups in winter/spring concerts for 2 yrs.

-Leader of a musician group performing at local senior centers (mostly orchestra kids from my high school, some of which play piano as well.)

-Volunteering at city hospital (offering care materials and having conversations with patients that had undergone open-heart or spinal cord surgery. 70 hrs)

-Internship for ovarian cancer at that same hospital (140 hours); 3 years. Presented research posters at my high school’s science research symposium for 2 years.

-Coaching/giving tennis lessons to a JV-level tennis player (20 hours)

-Science Olympiad (1 year)

-2 years of my school’s Select Orchestra (regularly scores very high [gold with distinction] at NYSSMA majors and wins out-of-state regional competitions)

-Private piano lessons for 9 years

-Private viola lessons for 1 year

-Participated in local piano competition in its most advanced division (had to prepare 2 Chopin pieces).

Awards:
-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal and Scholarship for $160K (given to one student in the junior class in every participating high school that is outstanding in math and science)

-Boys State completion

-AP scholar with distinction

-NMSQT commended scholar

-NYSPHSAA sectionals final (2022), then sectionals win, regionals win, and states berth on the US Open courts (all 2023). All for tennis.
1 section = 1/12 of the state by population. 1 region = 2 sections.

-Kumon North America Math Program completion, once ranked 78/4498 in the continent among 9th graders in the program

-MVP of tennis team (freshman year)

-Regional Science Olympiad medal for 4th place

-Received NYSSMA scores of 94, 95, 96, and 99 (2 in piano and 2 in viola) for levels 5/6.

Middle School stuff

-Middle School Orchestra Award (8th grade)

-1st place in talent show (8th grade)

-Won 3 singles and 1 doubles tournaments in tennis (all local) (7th grade)

-Winning team at a regional Mathcounts competition sponsored by GE (7th grade)

-some random award that 8/400 ppl in my class got (7th grade)

Schools applied to:

MIT (deferred from EA to RA)

Stony Brook (accepted)

Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Brown, UPenn, Georgia Tech, U-Mich, Northeastern, U of Rochester, RPI

Are most of my EC’s just fluff? Do AO’s even care about middle school stuff?
I wrote this really fast, so apologies if clarification is needed, I will provide it if asked. Thanks guys!

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Did you get all A grades?

You have a nice strong list of accomplishments.

Only if the ECs continue through high school.

Congrats on your acceptance to Stony Brook! Of the remaining schools, I think RPI is realistic and maybe University of Rochester. I think the rest are reaches, but you might get accepted…or not!

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Forgot to include some stuff:

LORs were from my physics, AP lang, and Precalc/AP Calc BC teachers.

Physics: 9.5/10. Only had her for 1 year but I got a high A in the class + made over 40 physics jokes in the class…

AP lang: 9/10. Also had for 1 year. Got an A- in the first 2 quarters, but high A+ for the last two + 5 on the exam, so that’ll make for a good rags-to-riches story.

BC calc: 9/10. Had for 2 years. Finished precalc honors with 100 as well as BC Calc, and was the only person in her class ever to have gotten a 100 on all her tests. However, she is not as personal as the other two teachers.

Will not be needing significant fin aid.

I also added a list of over 100 physics jokes in my apps…

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Congrats on the Stonybrook acceptance. If you’re happy to go there (worst case) then you’re all set. Any other acceptance you get is icing.

Have you run the NPCs at any of these schools? And have you discussed budget with your family? Unless there are substantial savings or other sources of funding, most families making the income you’ve indicated cannot afford to pay over $90k/year for college.

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Thank you so much for your analysis! I did indeed receive all A grades, and thanks for clarifying the middle school stuff.

May I ask, for the reaches, how do you think my profile stacks against those of other T20 applicants? Below, above, or just about average?

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I would have NO way of knowing this without seeing all the other applications.

But even with that, please understand that these colleges accept a VERY low percentage of applicants. Many many many well qualified applicants do not get accepted simply because there are not enough seats in the freshmen class to accommodate them all.

So…you apply and see, and hope for the best. You already have a great acceptance. So :crossed_fingers:t2:that some others are in the yes column as well…and are affordable.

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Deleted

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Understood, thank you so much!

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Just curious. You seem to have listed your household income as btwn 75K-100K/yr. How could your family NOT need fin aid? You’d certainly be eligible for it at most of the private colleges you’ve applied to, unless your family has major financial assets.

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You are what is called “average excellent”, which is translated as high grades, very nice ECs, very nice test scores, but no achievement that is best in state, or best in nation, or international level.

That’s why people are saying congrats on Stony Brook (which would be a great school for you, and affordable, too), and that you probably will get into RPI and Rochester, and have a chance at the others, but might not get into any of them. If you do, you would definitely be able to hold your own, academically, at any of them.

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Everything looks solid to me. I think you are likely going to be considered academically well-qualified for your reaches. It is the rest of holistic review where colleges like that cut that pool way down. There is no knowing how that will go, but it is worth a shot.

I note that RPI Medal is worth a lot of money, and you could conceivably also get a merit offer from Rochester. Those are both really good Physics departments, so I’d say those are a couple of very strong possibilities as well.

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Seems like I was incredibly, incredibly misinformed about my financial aid requirements. Thanks to all that pointed this out.

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Great record, and you probably have as good a chance as any at most of these schools (make sure you’ve got target and safeties you’d love to attend). But I’m just chiming in to recommend that you leave middle school accomplishments off your list of ECs. Unless you won a major national competition (like the Spelling Bee), putting middle school achievements on the list only detracts from attention from your more recent accomplishments, and it looks like filler on your resume (even if it’s not). The exception, as someone pointed out further up the list, is if you’ve got an activity you’ve been doing continuously since before high school, and you can just reflect that with the start date.

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Please don’t predict. I hope you left it as unranked. Your counselor can inform, if they want.

Stony Brook physics is well respected - so it’s a great get.
Congrats.

I don’t see your ECs as fluff but you might have included fluff whic was unnecessary.

4 years varsity sports, orchestra, two years chorus - alone are fantastic. 140 hours at a hospital, etc.

They seem strong to me. and no middle school doesn’t matter.

You’ll certainly get into RPI and potentially Rochester and who knows on the rest.

But if SB is your worst case, you’ve done well.

Best of luck.

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Thanks for your take! Don’t worry, I did not include rank on my apps.

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On the financial aid issue…Many of the ivies (and possibly Some of your other reaches?) offer full financial aid with no loans to all admitted students in Your income bracket. They are also need blind in admissions.
So IF you get into one of those schools you should receive great financial
Aid. Best of luck!

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You’re welcome. But please get a budget from your parents and let us know here.
While the Ivies on your list will meet full demonstrated need, others (like UMich, NEU, RPI) will not. And Rochester includes loans in their package. So it’s important to know a) what the NPCs say your family contribution should be and b) what your family can actually afford to pay.

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