Am I on the right track? Tell me and...

<p>...I'll be forever indebted to you!</p>

<p>Now that you've come on to this thread, please do reply! Don't say it's too early or something like that, I just want to know if I'm headed in the right direction for the following schools:</p>

<p>Brown
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
Wesleyan
Pomona
Oberlin
Bowdoin
Colby
Macalester
Tufts
Amherst
Rice
Duke
Wake Forest
Carleton
OSU
Boston University</p>

<p>I'm a 10th grader from India, interested in biology. I'm also female, if that helps </p>

<p>Will be applying for class of 2014.</p>

<p><em>Won't be needing financial aid</em></p>

<p>Let's split this up into sub-fields, so that it's easier to read.</p>

<p>Grades:Awesome. Top few students in the class. No problems here.</p>

<p>Standardized tests: Taking the ACT in October, let's see how it goes, but I'm getting 34's in practise tests from the Real ACT Book. SAT 2's should be pretty good as well.</p>

<p>EC's (where I think I may be lacking):</p>

<p>National level athlete
Zillions of sports at the school level
Heavy involvement in MUN.
School magazine stuff.
Over the next 2 years, I'll probably be highly involved with in-school and some state-level cultural activities.
Gonna start biological research in a few months.
Plan to do quite a bit of volunteer work from next summer on (I'll have a 2 or 3-month break in May)</p>

<p><em>These EC's are the ones I'll be continuing till I'm done with school</em></p>

<p>Recs: I'm on amazing terms with all my teachers ;)</p>

<p>Essays: Expect them to be good, I feel I'm quite a good writer. I also think I'll have quite a unique topic to write about.</p>

<p>So what do you think? I repeat, don't say I'm too young as I'm not asking for chances. I simply want to know whether I'm on the right track or not for those above-mentioned schools.</p>

<p>From what it sounds like, you are definitely on the right track for those types of schools. Most 10th graders aren't even thinking about college, but you seem to be very focused. Just make sure your grades stay great and that you don't get senioritis in a couple years, and you'll be able to get into at least a couple of those schools.</p>

<p>Haha fa-la-la-lena, what if those two schools are OSU and Boston University, which I presume are blackorder's safeties? ;)</p>

<p>Well blackorder, since you put it this way this time, I feel I must post on this. You are a strong applicant considering you're Indian, probably as strong as ajayc and the twins (who I feel are the strongest Indian applicants I've seen on these boards). Not too many Indians pursue national level sports, that's great. If you can win a few MUN awards (like best delegate. or main submit some resolutions), that would be fantastic. Stick with those in-school activities, shoot for captaincy in the 12th. The research would also be a nice touch.</p>

<p>I definitely say you're on the right track.</p>

<p>Oh thank you guys!</p>

<p>fa-la-la-lena, lol OSU and BU are my safeties. It'd be sad if I only get into those lol! I think I might apply to Brown ED. Think I'd fare well doing that?</p>

<p>Oh yes my MUN achievements till date:</p>

<p>2006</p>

<p>SISHMUN - delegate of Argentina to the Human Rights Committee
CHEMUN - delegate of Myanman to the General Assembly</p>

<p>2007</p>

<p>SANMUN - delegate of France to the Human Rights Committee. Main submitted a resolution. Nominated best delegate.</p>

<p>SISHMUN - delegate of USA to the Social, Cultural, Humanitarian Committee. Main submitted 2 resolutions. Nominated for best delegate.</p>

<p>Well, your list is all over the map--quite literally--as well as in terms of size of school, focus on undergrad vs grad, and LAC vs university (OSU/JHU vs Pomona/Colby). What is it you are looking for?</p>

<p>South, North, East coast, West coast, midwest, Texas?</p>

<p>Big, small?</p>

<p>Research focus? Small class size with lots of interaction with professors?</p>

<p>Urban, rural, college town?</p>

<p>I don't see a theme of any sort.</p>

<p>What I think is that you need to think some more about what you are looking for. No need to decide at this point. When it comes time to write a convincing application, you need to know why you are interested in a particular school if you plan to convince them that you are what they are looking for.</p>

<p>I have my reasons for each university.</p>

<p>Brown - I posted this in the Brown forum, but it is by far my top choice.
Dartmouth - Similar to Brown in many ways
Johns Hopkins - amazing at bio, great research opportunities
Wesleyan - similar to brown
Pomona - great weather+bio program+undergrad focus
Oberlin - similar to brown
Bowdoin - smiilar to pomona, only on the east coast
Colby - similar to bowdoin
Macalester - matchish-safety
Tufts - research, undergrad focus, boston
Amherst - like bowdoin
Rice - like brown, only down south
Duke - like rice
Wake Forest - like JHU
Carleton - like pomona, in the midwest
OSU - ultimate safety (family nearby)
Boston University - ultimate safety (family nearby)</p>

<p>Whaa...this much research so early in the game? Chill, dude!</p>

<p>And I sure hope that list ain't final...</p>

<p>..damn, blackorder decreased my chances by 0.0000000000000000001%..</p>

<p>"Carleton - like pomona, in the midwest"</p>

<p>But i think it's significantly more liberal. Also, comparing Wake Forest to JHU? hmm.</p>

<p>davinci, why did i decrease your chances by .0000000000000000000000001%?
And why isn't Wake Forest like JHU?</p>

<p>You’re definitely on track to get in to many of these schools. However, I do agree that this list needs cutting. Maybe not yet (wait until you get a little older to completely discard any schools), but some things to think about: </p>

<p>What about Brown do you like? It’s true that Wesleyan/Oberlin are like Brown in many ways, and that Dartmouth/Rice (and also Tufts) are as well. But for ENTIRLEY different reasons. Wes/Oberlin have the same “alternative” vibe (in fact, it’s arguably a stronger vibe, maybe even a much stronger one at Wes and Oberlin). Dartmouth/Rice have the same “Uni that feels like an LAC” thing going on, but without the same amount of alternativeness. </p>

<p>What about Brown do you want? If it’s the alternativeness, than schools like JHU, Wake Forest, Duke, even Dartmouth seem odd to be included. If it’s the LAC-like uni thing, than are you sure that Oberlin and Wes won’t be TOO quirky for you?</p>

<p>You seem to really like smaller schools with an undergrad focus (LACs and LAC-like unis)…are you sure you would be content with bigger ones such as OSU, BU, Duke and JHU? (You could find some smaller schools that are safties).</p>

<p>blackorder: "Grades:Awesome. Top few students in the class. No problems here."</p>

<p>I think your school reputation will count more than your grades.
There is an issue of verification with regrad to grades from international schools.
So unless your are from a well known school like DPS RKP, grades may not play a big role.</p>

<p>Good point, Weskid. I definitely think the OP should look into that.</p>

<p>Hey, anyone else wanna comment? I feel compelled to know!</p>

<p>Bumpity bump</p>

<p>Jesus, pal, chill!</p>

<p>Please come back in a year. Without SAT scores and with little to go on in terms of academics and ECs, no one on CC can possibly advise you. </p>

<p>As a foreign student from India, the competition at the top schools will be extreme. </p>

<p>Go get a life.</p>

<p>geeeez u started 3 threads for this?</p>