Chance me (Well rounded with strong ECs) for Ivies, Stanford, MIT, other t20s [PNW resident, 3.96 GPA, 1550 SAT, economics/finance or engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Junior applying this fall

Demographics: Male, middle Eastern/indian, Muslim, PNW, Upper class, Dual citizen (American and Canadian)

School: Mid sized Private School

Students placed well at Stanford last year + many to ivies

Hooks: Legacy at Cornell and Columbia, very connected and smart parents with connections

Intended Major(s): Econ/Finance or Engineering

SAT: 1550 (780 math, 770 English)

GPA: 3.96 (unofficial calculated bc school does not give GPA or rank only transcript - some private school bs thing)

9: 5 As

10: 3 As 2 A-

11: 6 As

Coursework : No APs but hardest classes at school (considered college level)

Senior Year Classes: Honors Calc B/C, Advanced Calc-based physics, Latin 5, Econ, Random English Elective

Awards:

Scholastic gold keys for writing, poetry, photography x4 (Regional Award)

Scholastic national award for poetry (National Award)

International awards for public speaking, poetry, and writing x5 platinum (International Award)

Prize in Race Relations for DEI work (Regional Award)

Duke of Ed bronze, silver, and gold (International Award)

Definitely forgetting smthn

Extracurriculars:

Sports

  1. Sailing (Takes up most my time)
  • Competed in local, regional, national, and international events and had amazing experiences around the world
  • Level 1 Sailing Instructor, worked as instructor
  • Adaptive sailing guide: Did a lot of volunteer work taking people with disabilities out sailing
  1. Skiing
  • Level 2 ski instructor (Canada), worked as ski instructor
  • Level 1 adaptive ski instructor, A lot of Adaptive skiing volunteering, teaching people with disabilities how to ski or acting as a guide
  1. Lifeguard
  • Certified American Redcross Lifeguard

Academics

  1. Research
  • Published research with professor on Islam, pluralism, and globalization
  1. Internship
  • Revenue management internship (responsible for pricing hotels - very complicated and a lot of training)
  • Front-desk at hotels
  • Accredited Investing course

Other

  1. Diversity
  • South Asian Affinity Group & Middle Eastern Affinity Group (Leader(
  • Muslim Student Association
  • Middle School Affinity Group Facilitator/Leader - very significant
  • Took course on Modern Middle East
  • National Student Diversity Leadership Conference
  • Led workshops at school
  • Princeton Prize in Race Relation
  1. Volunteer
  • Local food bank stuff
  • Adaptive sports: Sailing, skiing, biking, kayaking
  • Mosque community volunteer (international)
  1. Clubs
  • Leader/founder of biggest club at school (soccer/futsal club)
  • MUN and Debate - gone to a lot of conferences and staffed
  • Leader of Business and Entrepreneurship Club
  • Overlap with diversity stuff

Thats mainly it for ECs but I might be forgetting some stuff

Essays/LORs/Other: Probably all really strong (Very smart parents who have done this before and access to a lot of strong resources)

Aight I think that’s it. Idk what to expect, I think I am pretty well rounded. Strong grades at top private school, a lot of awards for writing, public speaking, etc., International athlete, a lot of work with adaptive sports, strong academic pursuit and interest in subjects I enjoy. So competitive nowadays tho. Anything else I need or any recommendations for apps?

Schools: Chance me for all ivies, MIT, Stanford, and any schools you think would fit (Prob REA Harvard or Princeton)

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I would think your HS college counselor has a good sense of what sorts of qualifications their students have had in the recent past when admitted to such colleges, and what their hit rate is for those students. So I am not sure there is much those of us outside your HS can add to whatever they can tell you about your chances.

If you are looking for some less selective alternatives, chasing merit, considering LACs or non-US universities, or so on, we could likely give you some ideas for that, but you would have to tell us more about what you are looking for.

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If this is the high school I think it is, then @NiceUnparticularMan is absolutely right. Listen to your high school counselors.

Your high school has a capable college counseling staff that knows the details about admissions to each college, such as how many students were unhooked, and how many were legacy, athletic recruits, or some other admission preference.

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I agree with the comments above. If you go to “one of the best private schools in the country”, none of us here can do better than your counselor.

Starting with a budget.

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Will you be recrutied for sailing?

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Unfortunately no, I have talked with all the Ivy coaches and it is very unlikely for a few reasons. There is only one spot at most of these schools for recruits and I reached out a bit late. But I am talking with them about how to use sailing to my advantage in the apps as it is a pretty major event.

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That would be great. I have talked with my counselors a bit, but they are just a little too “positive.” They are great at what they do and the team is amazing but they focus on low stress and making sure the process is fun and enjoyable, so they are not the most helpful. One thing that I would love to have suggestions for are schools that are high caliber but are less selective “safety” or “likely” schools. Especially for either business/econ or engineering. I am just not really sure where to start or how to look. I would prefer to stay in the US and budget is not really a factor. Thanks!

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business/econ or engineering.

Maybe come back when you have a clearer idea of what you want-?

Check out Olin and Babson. They are right next to each other and share some classes and resources. Olin is engineering and Babson is business.

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Just wondering, what do you think about the level of ECs. That is my main worry. I just want to get an outside opinion on this, because I feel like they are strong, but I have seen kids with so much major accomplishments.

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Honestly, both is ideal. I have been looking at M&T at Penn, or ORFE at Princeton, and Applied Math + Econ at Harvard. It is just so hard to decide what is best. The focus is getting into the schools, but also where to EA. I think all the programs are great, but I am just not sure how to decide. I have done so much research, but I am not really sure.

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It seems you are from a background and school that prioritizes prestige, but I hope you will look outside that small box as well. When my son was looking at schools, Olin was as selective as MIT but it is not included in the usual Y20’s and i have no idea what its status is now. Just an example.

You probably have a good chance at schools you are interested in. I also like to suggest looking at the Colleges that Change Lives website.

Do you like large lectures or small classes? TA/TF’s or professor doing all the teaching? Independent work? Proximity to internships? Competitive or collaborative culture? Urban, rural, suburban? large or small? Lots of things to think about besides prestige.

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I think you’re a strong contender for all your reach schools and smart to look for some targets/safeties. Some to consider for business or engineering may be:

Still Very Competitive but at least some of these might be lower reach than Ivy:

Georgia Tech
Cal Berkeley
UT Austin
UMich
Carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
UVA
UNC

Target/Likely
Purdue
Indiana
UMD
UIUC

Good luck!

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Yes, I completely agree that prestige isn’t everything. It is hard coming from an environment where it is regarded highly, but I am trying to keep an open mind. I also have many friends at Ivies or other top schools and I have seen a direct correlation between schools and jobs post-college. The opportunities at the more “prestigious” schools are unmatched. But I know that they’re so selective, so you never know. That is a great website, thank you for the recommendation, I will definitely look at it more.

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Thank you, I am definitely going to do some research on these - great starting point!

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Some of the “little Ivies” and “public Ivies” might also be of interest. Tufts, Wesleyan, Amherst (with access to UMass engineering and 3 other schools), Williams, others…and are prestigious with excellent alumni networking. For public, UVA, UC Berkeley, UMichigan others. Somes tate U’s are really excellent for engineering.

The Public Ivies and Little Ivies Explained | BestColleges

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@lilgoat Based on your interests you may want to look into the Industrial Engineering major, which combines engineering and business disciplines. It is branded a bit differently at various schools.

Since GaTech was just mentioned, here is information on their ISyE, which has long been ranked #1 in this area.

https://www.isye.gatech.edu/

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So non-recruited athletics is always a bit tricky to gauge as an EC at the most selective colleges. I personally think the fact you did sailing at such a high level should count as a very good EC even absent being recruited, and I suspect the odds are in favor of one or more of the most selective colleges agreeing with me. So I would think you can apply anywhere.

That said, I also agree having some really interesting not-the-most-selective options just in case is a good idea. Interesting to me means special in some way you would be excited about. So . . .

I think it is very reasonable to be looking at colleges where you can in some way easily combine interests in STEM and Econ or Business. However, I think you do not necessarily need a formal program, because at many colleges you could do something like a dual major or major and minor. Often top publics are very good for this sort of thing.

That said, some cool programs exist!

One thing I wonder if you have considered is smaller colleges. Smaller colleges with engineering are somewhat rare, but I wonder if you might want to check out Bucknell. They have a five-year Dual Program in Engineering & Management you might find interesting, and Bucknell is really, really well networked, particularly in the NYC/Philly area:

No Engineering, but I think another small college you might want to check out is the University of Richmond. They have all sorts of cool businessy stuff, lots of people dual major, and again it is a well-connected school. They also have a sort of honors college (not direct admit), Jepson, for something they call Leadership Studies:

Jepson has a specific program for Science Leadership you might be interested in:

In terms of universities, Lehigh has an Integrated Business and Engineering Honors Program–they only admit something like 50 students to this program, so it is very selective but I think may be something you could be a great fit for:

Finally, this is a little outside the box, but Georgetown has a really cool Science, Technology, and International Affairs program run out of their School of Foreign Service:

It is intentionally designed to apply to leadership not just in government/public service but also business as well, and in fact one of its four concentrations is Business, Growth, and Development:

And you can also combine it with business programs (with, as they say there, some careful planning).

Anyway, just some ideas I thought you might find worth looking into.

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Case Western has in interesting 3/2 program
Dual Degree Program | Case School of Engineering | Case Western Reserve University

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Would you be interested in rowing (crew) at the varsity level? Definitely an adaptive sport and extremely possible as a walk-on at the little ivies.

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That’s really interesting - I did a bit of research and definitely an interest. Thank you so much this is very helpful.

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