Acceptable scores, abysmal ECs - Chance me and recommendations for colleges?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Alrighty... Like half the other kids here, I'm hoping for schools like Stanford, UCs, Claremont Colleges, and the works. I'm really not interested in schools outside of California, but I'm concerned about my lack of a safety school (short of...College of San Mateo XD)</p>

<p>My grades are alright - nothing "OH MY GOSH THAT'S AMAZING" but they aren't bad at all. My ECs are the bane of my existence; I really sound like one of those kids who hole themselves up in their room with cup noodles and outline textbooks all day. I'm not!</p>

<p>I've contacted the UCs and they've said I should be alright for qualifying for in-state. I lived in California for 14 years prior to moving to Shanghai for high school - started in Freshman year. My school is fairly competitive, but we've only had more kids get into the top schools recently. I think there have only been 2 Stanford acceptances, 2 Harvard acceptances, etc.</p>

<p>Anyways... Here I go.</p>

<p>Asian female in an international school</p>

<p>GPA: (my school doesn't do weighting)
3.97 Freshman - Junior (EDIT: The poor grades were from band and PE - I'm not sure which schools, if any, take those out of consideration. If not for those A-s, I would have a 4.0)
4.0 Sophomore - Junior
It follows that I've been on high honor all four years
SAT: CR: 750 (=/) Math: 800 Writing: 800, Essay: 12 (1550/2350)
PSAT: 226
SAT II: USH: 800, and I plan on taking Bio this year
No ranking in the school, but I should be top 10%, if not top 5%</p>

<p>APs
Sophomore: APUSH - 5
Junior: AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Lang, AP Psych
Senior: AP Lit, AP Econ (micro and macro), AP Calc BC, AP Euro
I was thinking about taking AP Comp Sci as well next year, but various people have encouraged me to spend more time on ECs and my apps rather than cram, cram, cram. I do realize that I'm not taking that many rigorous classes (esp. compared to a few other people at my school. See: emz90)
OVERALL: 9 AP classes, 10 exams.</p>

<p>ECs (DOOM):
Founded humanitarian/medical club collaborating with Red Cross and Operation Smile. We are working towards weekly/monthly hospital volunteer trips locally in China.
Habitat for Humanity (4 years) - I went on a weeklong trip to the Philippines to build houses and am a member of the club, so I do fund-raising and projects
Class Senator in Junior year
Elementary math tutor
AP US history tutor
Amnesty International - 9-10 grade
Jazz band - 9-10 grade
Concert band - 9-10 grade
Hospital Volunteer work over the summers</p>

<p>Overall community service should be 250+ hours. This is possibly my only real passion, and it's a pity that my ECs don't show any of that. I can't do sports if my life depended on it and I'm pitiful at math, but I'm very much into social service.</p>

<p>This summer, I might be getting into a program at the Stanford Linear Acceleration Center. I'll be doing that in addition to weekly hospital volunteer work.</p>

<p>Languages: Bilingual Chinese (Mandarin) and English. Three years of French.</p>

<p>A little early to be thinking about this, but I'm getting a rec from my AP US history teacher (should be pretty good) and possibly a rec from a former teacher at Stanford, in addition to the generic counselor recs and stuff.</p>

<p>I'm looking at:
Stanford (haha, I know)
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC San Diego
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Pitzer
USC</p>

<p>Any other schools that I have a chance at? Any ideas for safeties?</p>

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<p>wow. this thread is fairly obnoxious. ur getting in everywhere except stanford and probly even there. just cuz ur not a guarantee at stanford, dont mope. plus u have the summer inbtwn junior and senior year to make nice applications, do an internship, get published, go abroad, do MORE service so u can highlight it as a strength, etc.</p>

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<p>Bie danxin</p>

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<p>thebigticket:
Sorry for coming off as arrogant. I'm actually really insecure about my scores because there will be at least one other student in my class that'll get a 2400 just to spite me. She already has a perfect academic and EC record. Thanks for the suggestions, though! I'm planning on spending a lot more time on social work in senior year since I'm taking a moderate course load and heck, it's more enjoyable than sitting around cramming all day.</p>

<p>Legendofmax:
Thanks, but I can't help worrying. I'm the chronically neurotic girl at school. It's my official title or something. XD</p>

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<p>haha i didnt mean wow ur arrogant i meant wow this resume is ridiculously good quality and obnoxious bc if i had these stats i would not be complaining about anything, and no college cares whether u get a 2350 or a 2400, if its over 2300, its viewed exactly the same, dont stress out bc 99% of america is a worse applicant than u</p>

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<p>Uh. dude. 2350? yeaaahh youre in at all of your choices.
Stanford-low reach/reach
UC Berkeley-match
UCLA-low low match
UC San Diego- f-ing safety
Pomona-match
Claremont McKenna-match
Pitzer-?? never heard of this place
USC-low match (do you really want to go here?)</p>

<p>uh the only reason you think your ec's suck is cuz you go to a school where the students are overflowing with ec's. seriously, i live in WY, and there's not a lot of ec's oppo's here, so your lucky.</p>

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<p>Don't worry about the number of APs. I took a couple fewer APs than other kids (also b/c of my extracurricular commitments) and I still (somehow, lol) got in early to my top choice. It's actually really nice to "only" be taking 4 APs this year...I have a LOT more time to dedicate to my favourite ECs, which are really, really important to me!!! So yeah, if your counselors are telling you not to take APs and spend more time on ECs, they probably know what they're talking about!!! You sound like you really enjoy volunteering (which is awesome!!) so go dedicate time for that. Long-term, it's probably a whole lot more "education" than AP classes :-) Good luck!!!</p>

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<p>sriharifez:
Pitzer is another of the colleges in the Claremont colleges system. I think it's easier to get in than the other Claremont colleges I've listed (I'm not applying to Harvey Mudd or Scripps). As for USC, I don't -really- want to go there. A friend of mine who got into Stanford ED this year with similar stats designated USC as his safety and suggested I do the same. Also, is UCLA that optimistic a prospect for me? I've heard that the adcom over in UCLA is notoriously unpredictable - actually, all the UCs are, supposedly.</p>

<p>mochamaven:
Haha, yeah. When I think about what I will get out of AP Comp Sci compared to what I'll get out of more community service, I can see that the latter definitely provides more "life experience" than writing programs all day. Great to hear that taking less APs and being more dedicated in ECs worked out for you - super encouraging for me =)</p>

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<p>aninvertedlove: yup ucla is kinda sporatic, but you got a bigger chance at it than me: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=302802%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=302802&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Uh yeah the reason for the USC thing is that both my parents have lived very close to it and dont trust the area very well. Though it has excellent access to the necessities, its not too great of an area to live in. ucla is good tho.</p>

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<p>i'm really tired of people saying "average applicant" or "acceptable test scores" with a 2300+</p>

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<p>your ecs are not bad at all.. they show passion! colleges care about quality not quantity. you're all set don't worry! ;)</p>

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<p>"My grades are alright - nothing "OH MY GOSH THAT'S AMAZING" but they aren't bad at all. "</p>

<p>Dude :/ you'll have a 4.0 UC GPA and even your normal GPA is practically a 4.0 and "acceptable scores"? If yours are acceptable, then mine are ****. "Absymal ECs"? Are you kidding me? You'll do more than fine. Like everyone else said, the only one that might be iffy is Stanford.</p>

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<p>lol...."pitiful at math" math SAT 800?</p>

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<p>it must be one of those really secluded asian areas like cupertino where everyone is smart and incredibly good at math; ie mission san jose ;p</p>

<p>jk. forget your worries, that really is more than enough for any UC.</p>

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<p>your EC's aren't doom, they're actually quite good. You founded a club that works with the red cross for christ's sake, you are going to be in at so many places you won't know where to put all of the acceptance letters.</p>

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<p>your trying to use reverse psychology on us, by making us feel bad for you, both of us (ccers and u) know your application is competitive, quit trying to get pity from us (ccers)</p>

<p>seriously be realistic, your not insecure, and i am quite sure that you know your actual chances</p>

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<p>Not to be mean, but I have to agree with Moonracer.</p>

<p>You have to be kidding if someone at your school has scoffed at at 2350. If not, never talk to them again. And your grades are great. And your EC's are good (you aren't saving the world, but whatev)</p>

<p>You aren't in at Stanford (Friend w/ same stats = rejected) and she was 1, and got better on the SAT's etc. Pomona is a high match. Just don't make us feel bad that our test scores are probably dirt in your eyes...</p>

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<p>runpunk:
I think the math thing on the SAT was a fluke. All the diags I've done have given me a score from high 600s to low 700s. And I'm just on the average math course progression at my school and we've got some math geniuses in our grade. I guess pitiful was an exaggeration, but I think the 800 was all luck - I could've just as easily gotten 100 points lower >.></p>

<p>CynicalBliss:
Well, I live in Asia, so it's almost worse than San Jose/Cupertino XD I'm just grateful I don't go to a local school.</p>

<p>Moonracer:
In my defense, you don't know what some of the students in my school are like. There are people in my class with -insane- grades and a way more rigorous course load as our school offers a huge number of APs. My concern is that since I'm in direct competition with people in my school, I won't shine at all in comparison to those 4.0 MUNers, Business Club-ers with more APs, etc. I fully realize that in many other schools, I'd have (comparatively) a competitive app and such, but even compared to many of the people being chanced on CC, it's not a remarkable app. </p>

<p>skyhawkk08:
Nobody's scoffed at the 2350 here, but I remember seeing a CCer once offhandedly remarking that somebody's 2300+ SAT score was nothing special (I can't remember the exact words, but when I have the time, I'll look it up and post a link...) But about Stanford and Pomona - that's what I've been thinking. I know that Stanford is a reach, but then I do have a friend with a lower SAT score who got into Stanford, so I'm thinking it's not -completely- out of my league. What did you mean by your friend being 1? </p>

<p>=============================</p>

<p>Sorry to anybody offended (or even disgusted) by my wording. I really didn't mean to come off as pretentious. I'm just around a lot of overachievers and I guess I've come to this mindset where I feel I can always do a little better. That's why I'm hesitant to be optimistic about my scores and such.</p>

<p>Overall, I was worried about my ECs because I'm not one of those four year varsity sports kids with awards bursting out of their closets and because I left a handful of those activities after sophomore year to focus on a few specific activities. Does it seem like I'm just resume padding if I left clubs like Amnesty after only a short stint?</p>

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<p>skyhawkk08:
Actually, never mind about my last question. I just found the answer on another one of your posts. Your friend sounds amazing, academically o.O</p>

<p>Does anybody have an suggestions or recommendations for other colleges in California? I'm not sure if I'm applying to too few schools if I only go for the ones I've already listed. And what can I do to distinguish myself for Stanford, short of finding the cure for cancer...?</p>

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<p>troll (10char)</p>