I have a 3.9 unweighted GPA, 1500 SAT and 35 ACT. I have taken rigorous courses all throughout high school and have scored all A’s except for an unfortunate B in first semester sophomore year in AP Calculus BC, which I made up for by getting an A second semester and a 5 on the AP test. Some extracurricular activities of mine include being on our school’s nationally recognized Rocketry team where we have placed 16th in the nation, qualified for the NASA Student Launch Initiative, spoken at the California STEAM Symposium (60 second introduction for the whole program and a 60 minute presentation), community outreach for STEM, etc. I also work at Kumon 8 hours a week tutoring math and english. I am part of the UCLA math circle and take classes there as well. I am passionate about math and am the furthest accelerated student in math at my school (ap calc bc in 10th grade, now taking classes at community college). I play tabla, a Persian percussion instrument as that is part of my culture. Finally, I volunteer at a local clinic 4 hours every other week that provides medical care for disadvantaged people in our area since I am interested in becoming a medical doctor. I have great recommendation letters from my AP Chemistry teacher and AP English teacher who are both reputable educators. How do my chances look for these top schools?
EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I compete in Academic Decathlon for my school and I have won several medals in math, literature, science, interview, speech, etc.
With your profile, you have a solid shot at all of these schools. The only thing I’d advise is to adjust the themes in your essays to reflect what each of these schools are looking for in their applicants. There isn’t a formulaic way to put this, but you probably understand what I’m getting at-- that you should adjust your presentation to fit the school’s culture better.
Yeah I totally get what you mean. Do you think I have an above average chance for UCLA and Caltech? Obviously Stanford is going to be a crapshoot compared to the previous two. Also, how bad do you think my B in Calc bc semester 1 will appear? I think they will see me as lazy because my 5 on the ap test clearly shows I know the material.
However, applicants to UCLA engineering and CS majors should expect it to be more selective than overall admission rates may imply. The same is true for many other UCs.
One “B”, one semester will not be the reason you don’t get in to highly selective colleges. I wouldn’t give it another thought.
Continue to do well in HS this year and 1st semester of senior year and your grades will be fine. Checked the box.
Remember, highly selective colleges reject 1000s of perfect stat kids, being accepted is much more than that.
If you can afford it, hire a reputable private college counselor who can review your personal HS transcript and “resume” in detail and can “package” you to showcase your unique talents, background, personal essays, etc. You want the adcom to read your file and have the ammunition to go to bat for you in these committee meetings.
And make sure you know what the college wants from an applicant not just why you think college x is amazing place.
Good luck. You are already a strong applicant for many colleges.
No one can say a good shot when 95% will be rejected. It fosters an unrealistic confidence. And is often based on what personally impresses others, not necessarily the adcoms. Or versus the competition.
OP, how much do you understand what tippy tops look for (in general and more specific to individual colleges.) Start there, what the schools themselves say and show. What sorts of energies and traits.
Eg, many solid applicants will have 3.9 or 4.0 uw. We dont know what you mean by rigor: the college math is good. But what’s the rest? AP in cores matters. But just stuffing in the known easier AP, for a count, isn’t it.
You’re basically at the SAT bar for S, but they wont be looking at the total. If the 1500 is 800/700, that 2nd score is low. Likewise, they’ll look at the ACT subscores, not just Composite.
Your ECs are nice. But you’ve mostly listed stem and tippy tops like depth and breadth, some variety in peer interaction.
It’s worth looking for this understanding. It helps you self assess, know what to tweak and how to present your best. Think about it. Best wishes.
Would national merit finalist be considered a hook? I forgot to mention that but I’ve heard a lot about schools loving them but I wasn’t sure if it was a big deal.
Not a hook, but certainly an impressive achievement!
Being a NMF also opens up significant scholarships at some schools (up to and including full rides), should that be of interest. The schools named in your post are not ones offering merit money for NMFs.
See, asking if NMF applies does suggest you have much yet to learn. Miles to go. That’s ok. But it hints you’re more focused on finding some hope, now, rather than stopping to do the learning. Then begin to self-match. For stratospherically competitive schools like those two, there is no magic dust. In fact, the sort of kids they look for are up for the due diligence. Imo, you’re not ready for chances or tweaking until you learn what a great and compelling app is and whether you’re there or not, what might add.
@minimickey , the student has a 35 ACT which is better than 1500 on the SAT.
I don’t see a need to retake that, unless one subsection is low compared to the others. It’s entirely possible that he/she will get a lower score on retake. Up to 40% of students do, when they already have a very high score. If the school requires all scores, that could be a problem.
OP, you’re qualified for all those schools. Are you instate for UCLA? If so, I think you have a good shot, though your major might make it harder. Otherwise, it’s very tough to get in, no matter how good your stats are.
We can’t say yet that OP is qualified. We don’t know the component scores and the ECs, while good, are light. (He’s got primarily stem-related things, the Kumon/job, and a musical instrument, no hint of what he does with the tabla, besides play it. No idea of his broader engagement with peers.) Nor the course history. Only one AP score. And OP has yet to get his bearings. He or she has work to do.
Are they feasible targets, right for his list, considering the fuller picture Stanford will look for? The ridiculous competition for them and Caltech? I don’t think we know that yet, either.
But OP could come back in a few months, having done some learning and fine tuning, and certainly get more feedback.
“Fair” is neither to blanket discourage nor set his mind at ease that he’s “there” yet. He has the opportunity to take this further and that’s his choice. We wish him the best.
Yeah I’m instate for UCLA. Probably a biochem major as that really is my passion. In addition to my ecs i’m working on applying to the Stanford summer institute to do one of those programs. I guess I have a lot to work on and i’ll do more research. I thought my ecs were good but i guess not I’ll think about what i can add.