Chances for an Ivy League-Caliber School

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>What are my chances at these reach schools? I’m currently a rising senior in high school. These are my current top choices (not in any particular order):
Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Cal Tech, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, UChicago</p>

<p>Thanks so much for reading.</p>

<p>-Personal Qualities
White Male
Lutheran (if it matters)
Middle-Class (family yearly income ca. $70,000)</p>

<p>-GPA
Junior Year: 4.86 weighted, 4.0 unweighted
Cumulative: 4.29 weighted, 3.95 unweighted (one B sophomore year)</p>

<p>-SAT’s
2170 combined
760 Critical Reading
720 Math
690 Writing</p>

<p>-Courses
Pretty much all my non-AP’s were honors or program-specific (I’m in a Science and Technology program). I also took three years of an audition-based choir class.</p>

<p>-AP’s
U.S. Government - 4
Chemistry - 5
Latin: Vergil - 5
World History - 5
Language - 5
Calculus: AB - 5, BC - 5
Physics B: 5</p>

<p>I’m taking Statistics, Literature, Human Geography, and Physics C next year and expect
similar results in the classes and tests. If it helps, I’m also taking Bio-Organic Chemistry,
which I’ve been told looks good to colleges even though it isn’t an AP.</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>I’m active in my school’s Drama Department and a member of our Thespian Honor Society chapter. I’ve performed in around ten productions with my school.
I’m a regular volunteer and board member at a local community theater where I’ve been involved in three to four shows per year since eighth grade.
I’ve been a member of my school’s improv team since the end of my Freshman year.
I’ve studied voice with a focus on classical and musical theater with a private teacher since eighth grade. My current teacher is a professor at a fairly well known university.</p>

<p>Jobs:
Last summer I worked at a local university in the engineering department, cleaning and organizing a composites lab.
This summer I’m working there again, but I’m doing machining for some graduate students and doing some projects for a professor (ex. designing a small wind tunnel for displays at college fairs and such). The professor that I’m working for is pretty distinguished in his field.</p>

<p>Well, that’s all I could think of. Thanks again for reading that whole thing. Any and all feedback is welcome.</p>

2

<p>Well, one of the things you can easily work on over the summer is to increase your SAT scores a little more, since the writing section is quite easy to improve upon. How many times have you taken the test? Also, how did you do on the subject tests? It would also help if you’re one of the top students at your high school. Same for if you live in an underrepresented state.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>That sounds interesting :]. However, I don’t think the prestige of the professor matters that much— it’s more about what you have done and accomplished.</p>

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<p>What is your class rank?</p>

4

<p>Thanks so much for the reply and feedback, xrCalico23. I’ve taken the SAT’s twice, but I didn’t have access to many review materials at the time. Are there any resources you’d recommend especially? As for the subject tests, I plan on taking them in October. I would have done them earlier, but my parents were slow in getting me registered, so I wasn’t able to take the SAT’s until this Spring. I’m planning on taking Math II, Physics, and Chemistry, but if you (or another poster) suggests a different test I certainly haven’t set those in stone.</p>

<p>I didn’t think my boss’ presitge would make a difference, but I figured I’d mention it anyway =P. </p>

<p>I’m from Maryland, which I’d assume is probably not an underrepresented state. My school doesn’t explicitly tell students their class rank until their senior year, but I believe I am in the top 20 of a class of 700 or so. I go to a public high school in a Science and Technology program.</p>

<p>Thanks again for providing such helpful feedback!</p>

5

<p>For the SAT review materials, the general consensus on the CollegeConfidential SAT forum is that the collegeboard blue book is the best, along with Direct Hits for vocab (though I personally never read the latter so Idk myself). </p>

<p>Some useful resources:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/955109-silverturtles-guide-sat-admissions-success.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/955109-silverturtles-guide-sat-admissions-success.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/763933-new-feature-best-sat-prep-forum-faqs-please-read-before-posting.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/763933-new-feature-best-sat-prep-forum-faqs-please-read-before-posting.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There are several prep book reviews in those threads.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, keep track of everything yourself then :). Especially for college admissions-- I know if I were to depend on my parents for anything, I would’ve probably missed every single deadline :P.</p>

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<p>I’ll check those out. Thank you!</p>

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<p>Your ECs are very focused on theater/drama, which is definitely a benefit. Your grades, class rank seem very strong as well.</p>

<p>SAT scores - especially the writing and math - need work. Try breaking the 2200 mark and definitely get a 700+ in each section.</p>

<p>And, needless to say, make sure you do well on your SAT IIs.</p>

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<p>Will do, Grisam. I appreciate the honesty.</p>

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<p>And, of course, thank you for reading and replying!</p>

10

<p>The only part of your application that is relatively lacking is your SAT score. Everything else is fantastic, especially the rigor of your courses and your extra-curriculars. I think you’ll have a good shot.</p>

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<p>Thank you, Puggly :D!</p>

12

<p>I think you will get into Berkeley and CMU (but they don’t sound like financial matches). Rank and scores are low for Harvard, MIT and Caltech. Math is very low for tech schools. Chicago is possible.</p>

<p>Maryland, like the rest of the mid Atlantic, is very overrepresented at all of these schools. Berkeley is over $50K/yr with no aid beyond federal for the OOS, CMU does not meet need and it’s hard to get much there.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Redroses. I was wondering how Berkeley did financial aid since they’re public but not in my state. Like I mentioned before, I plan on retaking and hopefully bumping writing and math up to the level of my reading score. Thanks again for the honesty.</p>

<p>I don’t know if region makes a difference, but the area of Maryland that I’m from is not the one full of people going to these schools. Do admissions people consider the region/county you live in, or just state/general area?</p>