"typical" math/cs asian male gets blessed with t20 schools (skill or luck?)

General Information

• Intended Major: Computational/Applied Math + Computer Science
• Grade: Senior (Class of 2026)
• Background: Asian (Indian), Male, Upper Middle Class
• High School: Public, semi-competitive
• Hooks: None

Academics

• GPA: ~3.9 UW, ~4.5 W (1 B)
• Class Rank: 10/500
• Standardized Testing: 36 ACT
• APs (by graduation): ~14, including Calc AB/BC, Stats, CS, Physics 1/2/C/E&M, Chem, Macro, Gov, Lit, Micro, Psych
• Dual Enrollment: Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations

Extracurriculars

• Math Research (x2): Co-authored and sole-authored papers in combinatorics on generalized Catalan numbers; both published/accepted to arXiv and a math journal
• Computational Summer Program Research (~7% acceptance): Researched register machines and recursive functions; published functions for widespread use, featured on their website
• Math Outreach: Lead coach and curriculum designer at a nonprofit serving hundreds of students; managed a large team of instructors
• MATHCOUNTS: Founded a chapter at an underserved school; assistant state coach with students achieving record state results nationally
• Chess Organization (Founder): International student org teaching chess to K-8 students; grown to 15+ chapters and hundreds of volunteers
• Math Team (Captain): Led team to multiple state championships; developed curriculum and mentored teammates
• CS Club (President): Doubled club size; trained members for USACO and ACSL with measurable competition results
• Swimming: 13+ year competitive swimmer, varsity captain, multiple state meet appearances and top finishes
• Cultural Education: Curriculum designer and teacher at a large Indian cultural school

Awards

• USAMO Bronze Medalist; 5x AIME Qualifier; 3x AMC Top 1%; HMMT Top 1%
• USACO Platinum, 3x ACSL 1st Place
• Multiple 1st place state math competition wins; $11k in math scholarships
• Coca-Cola Scholars Semifinalist; 2x Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award
• 2x DECA International Qualifier, 2x Top 3 State Finishes

Letters of Recommendation

• Math Teacher - 8/10 (Worked a lot with her but she didn't really mention a lot of those things)
• Research Mentor - 10/10 (Phenomenal, was able to get my entire "narrative" out of him.
• Humanities Teacher - 7/10 (Talked about my struggles in her class and how I changed my study habits to improve my grade, could be seen as a strength or weakness depending on the AO)

Essays

• Focused on math/research/teaching narrative throughout, making sure to highlighting specific instances of such.

RESULTS!!!

✅ Accepted

• MIT (EA)
• Caltech (RD)
• Columbia (RD, Selected as 1 of 10 for the Rabi Scholars Program)
• CMU SCS (RD)
• UCLA (RD)
• Georgia Tech (EA, Honors program)
• UIUC (EA)
• UT Austin (EA)
• UNC Chapel Hill (EA)
• Northeastern (EA, Honors program)
• UMaryland (EA)
• UMass Amherst (EA, Half tuition off)

⏳ Waitlisted

• UMichigan (EA)
• UC Berkeley (RD)

❌ Rejected

• UChicago (EA)
• Harvard (RD)
• Princeton (RD)
• Yale (RD)
• Stanford (RD)
• Duke (RD)
• UPenn (RD)

🔙 Retracted Application

• Rice (RD)
• Tufts (RD)
• Northwestern (RD)
• Cornell (RD)
• Johns Hopkins (RD)

Committing to Columbia or MIT!

So let me know what you guys think; do you think its deserved? Also feel free to ask me questions on anything or if you want to join my non-profit!