<p>I'm aiming for these schools, but are they too high?</p>
<p>Current Grade: Junior
Weighted GPA: 4.014
Every class that wasn't an A
Freshman: Hon Precalc (B+,A) Hon English (B+,B+)
Sophomore: Electronics (B-,A-) Hon English (B+,B+)
Junior: none
SAT/ACT: not yet, but PSAT 212 and PLAN 29
AP's: BIO (5) Calc AB (5), the ones this year are 99% sure Chem (5) and Stat and Econ
Major Awards: <strong>Qualified for the National Chemistry Olympiad</strong> (people at school say this is great, but really how good is it?)
EC's: Varsity Tennis, Math Team, School Newspaper, about 50 hours community service only</p>
<p>In my humble opinion, I think you’re reaching a bit high. </p>
<p>To put it bluntly, you’re clearly Asian American (Math Team, Tennis, Chemistry) and if I can pick it out without you explicitly telling me what your ethnicity is, then it’s a bad sign for the Ivies. They get loads of applicants such as yourself this year, and while some may get accepted once every blue moon, it’s not something that will increase your chances. Granted, if you’re an Asian American that succeeds in the international arena in tennis, math, and chemistry, that’d be a different story. Not sure about Chemistry Olympiad - personally, all I’ve heard of is USAMO/IMO, USABO/IBO, and Science Olympiad. </p>
<p>Furthermore, you don’t have the impeccable grades and community service many other applicants will have. Don’t get me wrong. Your grades are no doubt extremely high when compared to every other high school student in the United States, but schools of Princeton and Stanford caliber get so many applicants with perfect 4.0UWs that they can fill their entire class with them and still have quite a bit left. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, you have a shot higher than the standard 7% for the schools above. After all, many of the applicants just apply “for the hell of it”.</p>
<p>I’d suggest starting prepping for the SAT if you have not already done so to increase your chances even more. I don’t know much, but I know this much: things will look a lot better for you if you can successfully manage a 2350+ and write amazing essays. </p>
<p>I think your chances are great for Berkeley if you’re in state, though. I’m speaking strictly about the Ivies and Ivy-caliber schools.</p>
<p>I incorporated your scores, GPA, leadership, and extracurriculars into a systematically devised function of calculatory means that I developed to precisely calculate percent chance of admission to various universities in the US and abroad. The results are as follows (these are the percent chances that you will be accepted at the below named institutions of higher educatory education):</p>
<p>Stanford University: 21.001%
University of California Berkley: 19.353%
Princeton University: 16.400%</p>
<p>Please note that these are only derived from my own personal formula which seems to accurately predict admissions chances pretty well. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>If you factor in his test scores (assume his SAT score is 10X his PSAT score), theres no way it can be that high. OP is at the bottom quartile edge. Those kinds of test scores simply do not stand him out.</p>
<p>Why take an asian with a 2120 less than 4.0 UW when there is another one with 2300+ with a 4.0 UW?</p>
<p>I also refuse to believe OP made USACO as a sophomore. He might be advanced past the open exam but i vehemently refuse that he made it to finals, much less than nationals.</p>
<p>@ jasonInNy,
“I also refuse to believe OP made USACO as a sophomore. He might be advanced past the open exam but i vehemently refuse that he made it to finals, much less than nationals.”
Actually, I just qualified for the USNCO this year, just two weeks ago as a junior, what did you even mean by this?</p>
<p>And yes, only 50 hours of community service. I don’t go out of my way just to put something on my resume, not that colleges will care or know if your community service is truly for others or for yourself.</p>
<p>berkeley seems to be at a better level, a target but its hard to say w/o a little more info about you. Stanford and Princeton are completely different, definitely reaches. Also I believe you made it National Chem Olympiad, its not that hard to do unless you are at a legitimately competitive school. My friend last year made the camp (top 20 in the nation) last year as a sophomore and our other rep (who was also a sophomore) got top 50 in the nation. Good luck on the exam.</p>
<p>USACO is amazing. You will have high chances for all your colleges assuming that you score higher on the SAT (if you got 212 and 29 PLAN without studying, 2300+ is expected). </p>
<p>Good luck. If all goes well ,you can go to any school.</p>
<p>This sounds really cliche, but I just finally realized this year that it’s SO true: Do what you love to do, no matter what anybody else says, and you will get in where you fit best. XD</p>
<p>I never thought I was the perfect applicant - I chose to follow my passions and extracurriculars, I took the SAT twice (the first time was horrible), I didn’t make National Semifinalist, I didn’t get perfect 800s on my SAT II’s, I barely made top 5% (because I took lots of elective courses), I didn’t have legacy…and I managed to get into Stanford. And after talking with several other Stanford acceptees, I realized that none of them fitted the stereotypical “perfect applicant” formula either (some had 2100 SAT scores). However, everybody was different in such amazing ways, and completely brilliant in his/her own specialty.</p>
<p>So moral of the story: if you love science and chemistry, go for it. Don’t let anybody else get you down. (Oh, and I didn’t have many hours of community service either, if that makes you feel better).</p>
<p>think about the international asians you will be competing with. You could get into berkeley if you’re lucky, otherwise it’s a reach. As for stanford and princeton, well…it has a lot of foreign nationals who scored 7 for IB Higher Level math/ A for A level maths and further maths. So i dunno how you’d stack up against them.</p>
<p>But then again I know an idiot who got into stanford (he went to philips academy). Maybe Stanford’s getting easier? Maybe coz he’s a home applicant? Who knows.</p>
And after talking with several other Stanford acceptees, I realized that none of them fitted the stereotypical “perfect applicant” formula either (some had 2100 SAT scores). However, everybody was different in such amazing ways, and completely brilliant in his/her own specialty.</p>