Chances for someone with great numbers, and not much else (a followup)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>This is kind of a follow up to my post in College Selection, but with more of an emphasis on “what likelihood?” over “where?” The discrepancies between the two are due to me forgetting things and recent developments</p>

<p>My stats:
Texas resident
Indian
Unknown Major, probably Chemistry
Attending rather competitive school (average SAT=1407 out of 1600)
SAT: 2400 superscore (11 on essay), 2340 single (11 on essay)
SAT IIs: 800 Chem, 800 Math II, 800 US Hist
Rank: 1st Freshman, 3rd Sophomore, transferred to science magnet that doesn’t rank for last two years (4.0 UW GPA, though)
I’ll be taking some rather high level courses this year (senior year): Ochem, differential equations and multivariable calculus.</p>

<p>Big ECs:
3 summers of research on 3 different topics, have a paper submitted but not yet published (it’s a toss up on if it’ll be accepted by app time) based on this summer’s work
1st at State Science Fair, Team Physical
Patent on invention stemming from Science Fair project
NSB top 16 finisher
150 hrs as a counselor at a camp for disabled individuals (adding 120 more this coming semester)
80+ hrs working with disabled youth in various capacities
70 hrs hospital volunteering</p>

<p>Recs: The big Achilles heel. They’ll be positive but fairly generic. Due to my own lack of foresight, my professors don’t really know me beyond how I do in class.</p>

<p>Essays: The other heel. My big ones are right now about my love of cooking and working with the campers with disabilities. My writing style has been described in the past as “textbook-esque” (“lucid, but dry”), but I’d like to think these are a little bit more personal.</p>

<p>The Schools:
Yale (am EA-ing here)
Harvard
Caltech
MIT
WashU
Rice
UT Austin</p>

2

<p>You’re right, you don’t come off that great on paper, although your numbers are stellar.</p>

<p>Write a great essay. Work your butt off. And give the teachers who are writing your letters a mini brag sheet if they don’t know what you do when you’re not in the classroom.</p>

<p>You actually probably have a better shot at Yale than at MIT or Caltech because of how their admissions pan out.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

3

<p>Anyone Else?</p>

4

<p>I hate to double bump, but I’d really like to hear from some more people.</p>

5

<p>I really don’t see anything wrong with your stats. Honestly, you seem quite amazing in that respect.</p>

<p>However, if you do think that essays/recs will be a problem, I suggest just writing them in your style now, and asking a couple people to revise and revise as they see fit. As far as your recs go, I agree with ses. Give them a brag sheet or a letter or something (by the way, I doubt that if you’re really great in class, your teachers will write you only a generic letter).</p>

<p>I hear that this year, Yale is going to be tough EA. But if you work on your “achilles heels,” you may pull through. You’ll probably get into a couple of your other reach schools and all of your “matchy” schools.</p>