A little advice/chances for a junior :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So basically,</p>

<p>1.) I was wondering whether or not I should try and tackle the SAT (would it help me be more competitive...? etcetc) or even possibly retake the ACT?
2.) Chances, obviously :)</p>

<p>By the way, I'm doing a little extrapolating of my senior year to give you guys a better picture.</p>

<hr>

<p>Asian male from CA (Indian…even better…-_____-). Very competitive high school (top 50 in nation)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Rank: somewhere in top 5% (class of a little over 550)
ACT: 34 (33 English, 36 math, 31 reading, 34 science, 33 English+writing with 11 essay)
SAT II's: 790 chemistry. I’m still going to take math II, bio, and world history</p>

<p>AP's
School doesn’t have AP’s for underclassmen, so as of now I have no tests. Class wise….
Junior year: chem and bio. Self-studying for world history and psychology.
Senior year: English, physics, calc BC, ap government (if school institues it next year), possibly French 5?</p>

<p>EC:
• Founder/President of MISSION: SOS (11, 12) – Stanford based program that a group of 5 us introduced to my high school. Basically, this program helps the community, student body, and school administration deal with the stress and other stress-related issues that are a huge problem at my high school. I’m pretty proud of this because it will definitely leave a mark at my school and will allow future kids to enjoy high school as much as I did, rather than “do it just for college.”
• Class officer (10, 11, 12) – sophomore and junior class vice president and senior class president or ASB president
• Track (9, 10, 11, 12) – varsity junior and senior year. Captain junior and senior year
• Cross country (10, 11, 12) – varsity junior and senior. Captain senior year
• Kung Fu - (9, 10, 11, 12) – green-black belt so far
• planning on bio/chem Olympiad/National Science Bowl… (11, 12) I really want to :( Time is such an issue LOL.</p>

<p>Awards:
• NM commended (FAILURE :()
• AP scholar with Honor (unless I completely fail …)
• Track/Cross country awards.</p>

<p>Jobs:
• Marketing with Perfect 2400 (10th grade-derno when LOL) – basically, I was employed to market a SAT prep company</p>

<p>Recs should be pretty dang good, along with essays. Rec from counselor (duh), English teacher, AP Chemistry teacher, and Cross country coach.</p>

<p>Applying to TASP, EPGY, RSI, and Harvard SSP. I really want to go to TASP and EPGY. They look so freaking interesting … hopefully I get admitted to one...</p>

<p>Iderno if this will help me stand out and show my ability to overcome obstacles, but my parents divorced and my father just recently remarried. I’ve moved from the east coach to the Midwest to the West coast overseas and back to the West coast… Obviously there’s a little more here and there, but yadadimeannnn…</p>

<p>College-wise, I’m most likely applying to Stanford (SCEA), Duke, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD…?</p>

<p>THANK YOUU :)</p>

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<p>come on you guys... over 30 views and no advice? :(</p>

<p>someoneeee? :D</p>

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<p>are those summer programs? THey are all really easy to get into Harvard SSP just wants to make sure u can pay them</p>

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<p>no haha i was wondering:</p>

<p>1.) I was wondering whether or not I should try and tackle the SAT (would it help me be more competitive...? etcetc) or even possibly retake the ACT?
2.) Chances for colleges (listed at bottom)</p>

5

<p>Well from what I've seen UCSD,UCLA and UCB look pretty good for you. As for the other elite schools it varies. Nobody is guranteed.</p>

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<p>should i try the SAT/retake the ACT or will it not really help?</p>

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<p>awww come on CC! :( </p>

<p>and i really have to figure out whether i should take the SAT soon due to scheduling....:/</p>

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<p>i think your act is score is high enough for you to not even worry about taking the sats and wasting your time. just make sure all of your schools will accept the act with the sat ii scores. and spend your time studying for the iis instead of worrying about the sat.</p>

<p>as for chances:
I don't know much about Cali schools so I'm not going to comment on those
The rest of your schools are all reaches and though I know that you are a viable candidate, so are most of those schools' other applicants. I would add a few safety/target schools to that list to be on the safe side.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

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<p>A 4.0 and only top 5%? You have great scores and average ECs. You should seek out more honors/awards that will distinguish you, though those largely come to you. I'd encourage you to join more clubs that are relevant to your interest, and seek out leadership positions. With all that in mind, you'd stand a good chance at Berkeley and UCLA; if you make ELC, then UCSD would be a safety. You'd have a shot at the others.</p>

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<p>thanks man! hmm but more leadership? :( i thought my ec's portrayed that more than anything.. class officer three times, president/founder of an organization, and captain of two varsity sports... dang it :/</p>

<p>thanks for the advice on SAT greentopaz and on awards kyledavid. i know awards are a big thing i need to ..find? if that's the right word LOL.</p>

<p>any other suggestions/opinions? :)</p>

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<p>Why are you interested in each of those particular schools? I think that question is just as important, if not more so, than your chances of getting in.</p>

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<p>take the SAT. do not retake the ACT.</p>

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<p>First off, don't even bother giving College Board any money - if you have a 34 ACT, I wouldn't bother with SAT reasoning or retaking SATs for that matter. Second, if you're in the top 4%, as Kyledavid80 stated, you'd make ELC, so at least you'd have a safety. But what is your focus, or at this point, even an intended major? Your ECs, while demonstrating leadership, still lack focus, and looking at your list of schools, it looks as though prestige is the only reason you're even considering applying to those schools (UCs are safeties it seems, as you've listed them last). Decide what you want to study and then finalize your list of schools based on which schools have the best programs for that field - don't let the title of "Ivy" dictate where you apply. In some cases, state schools are better than Ivy league schools, so keep that in mind.</p>

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<p>well location has a lot to do with where i'm applying. california is my number one place, which narrows it down to a couple of schools. duke is my birthplace, and i recently went back there and visited. the environment reeked everything i look for and duke is known for its strength with its sciences..</p>

<p>and then comes the campus/environment itself for me, and i've fallen in love with stanford. program-wise, i intend to major in biochemistry, and i know that stanford is best for me out of those in california. i've run races at stanford, looked at their teams, talked to friends there who are under programs similiar to those i want to enter.. and it all seriously fits :/ on the other hand, harvard, princeton, and columbia do deal with prestige... i'm going there this spring break to see how it all fills out. i might not even end up applying there. if it says anything, as of right now i'd probably go to duke (maybe UCB and UCLA) over harvard, princeton, and columbia.</p>

<p>missy jo, as for lack of focus.. dang LOL :( how do you suggest tying this all together? aw man i feel kinda bad now.. </p>

<p>thanks to the above people!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
thanks man! hmm but more leadership?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>My point was, you should seek out leadership in activities related to your passion/focus.</p>

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<p>ahah makes more sense thanks. :)</p>

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<p>I just wanted to let you know, my post wasn't meant to criticize your accomplishments - you should be very proud of what you've done - but I wanted to make some suggestions to help you tie together your r</p>

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<p>yeah i understand ahah. that's one of the things i've always been iffy with though. i've always wanted to do national science bowl competions and stuff, but class officer duties and sports take so much of my time that i just read the stuff in my spare time (LOL nerd-status, i know :p)</p>

<p>i'm really pushing for it this year and hopefully it works out? and i applied to epgy bioscience and rsi (obviously, this will be extremely hard) and a lot of other science-related things for the summer. i've gotten to the point where i want to apply science rather than just read about it though.. </p>

<p>but college-wise, will it be too late or something?</p>

<p>thanks for your help, btw missy jo :) seriouslyyy.</p>

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<p>i like this more than the traditional "bump" LOL: </p>

<p>bumper cars! anyone else?</p>