Chance Me: GPA 5.4 [NJ resident, 4.0 unweighted GPA, 1540 SAT (800M, 740RW), applied math or industrial engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me
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My first choice schools are Duke and Vanderbilt (full list below)

Demographics

  • Junior, male student

  • NJ

  • Public HS

  • No budget

Intended Major(s): Applied Math (or Industrial Engineering)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.00

  • Weighted HS GPA: 5.4

  • Class Rank: potential valedictorian

  • SAT Scores: Math 800/ELA 740 (retaking in June)

HS coursework

Computer Science Magnet Program

AP Computer Science Principles: 5

AP Computer Science A: 4

AP Statistics: 5

AP Chemistry: 4

currently taking: AP lang & comp, AP physics, AP calc BC, AP US History, AP microeconomics, AP macroeconomics, honors computer science data structures & algorithms

Senior year courses: Multivariable Calculus (possibly DE if school gets approval), AP Physics C or 2 (school is deciding which one to offer), AP lit and comp, AP psych, honors discrete math & cybersecurity, honors web development and senior seminar

Awards:

West Point Society Eisenhower Leadership Award for excellence in academics, athletics, community service, leadership, & character 2026

Lumiere Rising Scholars Essay Award 2026

Outstanding Achievement Award in Computer Science 2024

AP Scholar with Honor Award

College Board Outstanding Academic Achievement National Recognition Award

  • Class President x 2 years

  • Battle of the Classes

  • HS Soccer Team

  • HS Track & Field

  • TSA

  • Chess Club

  • Math League

  • DECA - states as a junior

  • Sports Medicine Club

  • Club Soccer Team

  • Volunteer hours 100+ including 3 projects for rehab center that I have worked with for 4 years. Created and implemented a digital system to track the circulation of books and led collection efforts to supply books and a cart to bring the library to patient’s rooms. Also designed an outdoor activity space with accessible equipment to help rehabilitation residents stay active at their individual ability levels.

    ADDITIONAL CONTEXT

    Overcame significant health challenges requiring curative cardiac surgery during high school.

LOR:

  1. teacher from AP Stats, AP Calc BC and math club advisor who chose me for an award

  2. teacher from AP comp sci principles, AP comp sci A, multivariable calculus and advisor for TSA who chose me for an award

  3. teacher from AP chem and also school soccer coach

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You’ve omitted a large piece of information: your budget.

Also, how many years of foreign language and social sciences have you taken?

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Thanks I’ll update- no budget, full pay

3 years of Spanish

3 years of history

Will have 4 years of English

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You’re obviously going to be able to go almost anywhere you want to - with the caveat that even top students get some rejections at top schools. But you’ve got a long list and a compelling story, so you should have a lot of acceptances. You can afford to look at factors like class size, campus setting, location, and student body.

Given that you should have choices, I suggest that you look past the name of the college and look at what you’ll actually doing with your time. For example, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Purdue, Berkeley, and MIT are all great for industrial engineering. But would you prefer the project based learning approach at a school like WPI? Or the way that schools like WPI, RPI, and Northeastern get students out into internships during their 4 years? Or does the fact that schools like WPI and Lehigh provide opportunities to combine the study of industrial engineering with their business school, These are just examples to suggest that you dig into whatever programs you’re looking at to see what you’ll actually be doing there during your 4 years.

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Just curious if you have an LOR from a humanities/social science/foreign language teacher.

Admissions committees tend to like seeing a wide base of recommenders. Having a nice list of math and science recommenders is fine, but it can be viewed as narrow in scope if you haven’t included a humanities teacher.

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I had heard that but unfortunately all 3 of my English teachers retired. The one I have currently is not writing any letters bc she is retiring.

As far as foreign language, I took Spanish in school freshman year but the other 2 years I took it virtually bc I didn’t have room in my schedule due to my computer science program required courses.

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A retired teacher may still be willing to write a LOR for you!

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Thanks but I have no way to contact the 2 already retired and also they were only one class freshman year or one class sophomore year. My current junior year teacher won’t write for anyone.

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Social studies? History? Those count too.

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[quote=“NJ24, post:6, topic:3704694, full:true”]
I had heard that but unfortunately all 3 of my English teachers retired. The one I have currently is not writing any letters bc she is retiring.

As far as foreign language, I took Spanish in school freshman year but the other 2 years I took it virtually bc I didn’t have room in my schedule due to my computer science program required courses.
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I’m sorry but I really don’t believe that you cannot find a history, language, nor foreign language teacher who will write a letter of recommendation for you.

I happen to have friends and neighbors who work on admissions committees at the local colleges, in undergrad and graduate admissions, at several private and public colleges in my area.

(I worked at a high school for eight years and I was on a scholarship committee for 12 years.) Most of my teaching colleagues would bend over backwards to write recommendations for their “highly capable” students.

So, if my read on this is correct, you didn’t foster active learning relationships in the humanities?

If that’s the case, for the schools that require letters of recommendation, you will be limited. The counselor will have to explain your position in his/her comments to the colleges.

This, of course is just my opinion and based on my experiences with my former students and my own children.

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If a school only allows 2 teacher LOR, you think it’s better to have 1 humanities that was for just one class and didn’t know you well +1 great STEM — or 2 great STEM letters from teachers that had taught you in 2-3 classes + advised a club you’re active in + gave you an award?

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My daughter was also told to have one LOR from a math or science teacher, and one from a humanities teacher. The school of thought is to show students as being multidimensional. Some colleges require one LOR from a humanities teacher so check your list carefully.

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Where can I find that information?

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Each school will have the information on their website for first year applicants. You will need to look up each school on your list to see what they require.

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I can ask my AP microeconomics/AP macroeconomics teacher bc that is a social science

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Not relevant for the OP but this is directly from MIT’s website:

MIT requires two letters of recommendation from teachers. One recommendation should be from a math or science teacher, and one should be from a humanities, social science, or language teacher, although this is not a hard requirement. You should ask a teacher who has taught you in an academic class in high school.

I guess we can discuss the difference between a “hard requirement” and just a requirement. But students often over-estimate the importance of the “advised a club/gave an award”. The point of an academic class in HS recommendation is for the adcoms to learn about the applicants classroom experience.

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Let me emphasize that you need to look well rounded and that means including recommendations from AP language, foreign language teachers and history teachers who didn’t teach any sort of math.

Every one of my children and their friends received awards. When you get to the level of over 1500 SATs and perfect grade point averages, it’s expected to receive multiple awards; it’s not unique amongst that crowd. Our Caltech son received multiple recommendations for the academies from the California state Senators. Our daughters did as well.

My colleagues who taught AP lit and language (AP government) and who happened to retire, always advised the school and district office that they would be willing to write letters of recommendation for their students, post their retirement. If you didn’t have any of those fostered relationships with any of your humanities teachers, then that just happens to be your record.

I need you to understand that the colleges, that you’re targeting, want people who aren’t “in a box”. They want students who will step out of their comfort zone to contribute to the university’s social diversity. That’s why the schools want a letter recommendation from a humanities teacher

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Would my AP micro/macro economics teacher be useful since that’s a social science?

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Agree that the OP should check those teachers.

However, some students have encountered significant difficulty getting recommendations:

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Yes.

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