small town girl at MIT/Stanford/Harvard/etc??

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I’m a white female who intends to major in biology, bioengineering or general engineering (depending upon the strengths of particular schools), and I have applied to MIT, Stanford, Olin, Harvard, Brown, U Chicago, Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, USC and Ohio State.</p>

<p>I go to a small public school in Ohio, but we have a smart group of kids this year, and two other similarly qualified students are applying to some of the same schools (2 other good kids to Brown/USC/Case Western, 1 other to Harvard).</p>

<p>Can anyone guess at my chances of getting into any of these? I applied RA everywhere. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>SAT I:
Verbal: 800
Math: 790
Writing: 800</p>

<p>SAT II:
Math 2: 800
Lit: 780
BioL 710
Chem: 710</p>

<p>4.0 unweighted GPA
All Honors and AP classes possible (7 APs total and Multivariable Calculus before school each day)
AP scores: Calc BC-5, Stats-5
Shared #1 rank in a class of 276
National Merit Semi-Finalist (optimistic about chances of being a Finalist)
Various other school-wide academic honors (Harvard Book Award, wrote questions for school Quiz Bowl, leader in Freshman Mentoring Program, ran publicity for community Hurricane Katrina relief effort, etc)</p>

<p>ECs:
Varsity tennis 4 years, 2nd singles (nearly undefeated all 4 years, bunch of Cleveland-area awards and such)
Co-president academic team 4 years - some state medals in Academic Decathlon (math, public speaking, literature)
Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony 4 years, 8 years National Piano Guild, student director of clarinet choir, accompanist for school musicals, member of Tri-M Music Honor Society, other music awards…
Science Olympiad 2 years with regional awards in plane building and robots, expecting better this year
Only female member of school robotics team
National Honor Society 4 years, other community service w/ nursing homes, tutoring kids and Habitat for Humanity</p>

<p>Summers:
Waitressed two summers ago
Took an Intro to Robotics course at Case Western Resrve and taught tennis lessons this summer</p>

<p>Essays are excellent
Rec letters I suspect are good but not overly personal - not sure if teachers’ true opinions (very positive) will reflect well in writing
Senior year grades I expect will stay straight A’s</p>

<p>Your input is appreciated!!</p>

2

<p>Um… I think Harvard could be your safety… I could not have engineered a better set of stats myself.</p>

<p>Well, it wouldn’t hurt you to be an Olympic athlete…</p>

<p>Then again, you never know with Harvard. You really never know… The rest should be pretty good bets… MIT could be a stretcher. Great work!</p>

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<p>wow. why not. those look brilliant</p>

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<p>u really never know w/ harvard (or most ivys for dat matter) but there really is no reason y 1 of them wouldnt accept u…
1 thing u mite want 2 ask around for is if ur school has sent any students to the schools ur applying to</p>

5

<p>Slight Reach:
MIT
Harvard
Stanford
Brown</p>

<p>Match:
Olin</p>

<p>Safe Match:
U Chicago
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Safety:
USC
Case Western
Ohio State</p>

6

<p>This may be the first time I have ever responded to a “chances” thread. I felt compelled to comment this time because your stats are virtually identical (including the EC’s) to those of someone I know who is now enjoying their freshman year at MIT. You are highly qualified and will certainly be admitted to a very good school. As you undoubtably know, there are no guarantees anywhere, but rest assured you have done all you can, and done it well. Enjoy the rest of your senior year.</p>

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<p>My daughter, also a grad of a public h.s. in Ohio, is a junior at Olin.</p>

<p>Your stats and ecs look good for Olin. Have you visited the school? </p>

<p>There are a lot of FIRST robotics alums at Olin, and the school mentors a FIRST team at an urban h.s. in Boston.</p>

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<p>cleveland, eh? what school do you go to, solon? (just a stab in the dark)</p>

<p>/excellent chances where ever you apply.</p>

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<p>chrisd: I actually haven’t had a chance to visit most of my schools. Good for your daughter! I’m leery of the school only because of it’s newness, but its potential is compelling.</p>

<p>duddms: Thanks for the tip, I did start an account on that site!</p>

<p>56forceout: Happy to be the exception! That’s very encouraging.</p>

<p>stambliark41: Very informative response.</p>

<p>KnR-Sight: We had a kid once who got into Yale, but he chose to go to Ohio State instead… generally speaking, we don’t aim very high.</p>

10

<p>You could find some useful/interesting info elsewhere on this board: the Engineering majors section, and each of the schools that you’ve applied to have individual discussion threads. </p>

<p>You might do a google search for the Olin video, “leading the way”, made by a couple of Olin seniors. Olin has students from Shaker, University School, Olmstead Falls, Cuyahoga Falls H.S., Laurel, and Copley. I think there’s a student from Twinsburg applying this year.</p>

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<p>Olin accepted a kid from Orange last year, but she ended up at MIT instead.</p>

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<p>kcastlle, you have some really impressive creds. Which school is your top choice? Not many people think of MIT as a school which offers a music program but they actually offer a degree (and minor) in the music program, course 21M (Department of Humanities) and joint majors. With your background you may want to reach out to some people there (even though not your major) as a way to highlight what makes you unique. Also, awhile back The Boston Globe interviewed the director of admissions at MIT and she talked about the application and selection process - you may want to research that in the Globe’s archives to help you get a sense of how to target and highlight your accomplishments so that you enhance your desirability factor to the school. Do make an appointment for a personal interview and tour of the campus. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>I go to Chardon, actually. And thanks, I’ll look for that article.</p>