<p>hello. I am a rising junior at a very rigorous private boarding school in the east coast.
i am hoping to get some feedback about my career and future pursuits because honestly, i have really no idea whether I am on the right track. Am I doing well? What else should i do?, etc. </p>
<p>I am Asian, no US citizenship.
my gpas (unweighted both) for freshman year -- 4.0
soph year -- 3.83 ish? not sure. i got a b+ in ap euro, but I got a 5 on the exam itself, so im hoping that the exam would compensate for the b+ grade. :)
as a rising junior, I do not have too many standardized test scores, just yet. but I got a 5 on the ap euro as mentioned, and 760 on sat 2 chem. oh and my psat score last october (As a sophomore) was a 208.
I'm not entirely sure what fields are my interests. But I am hoping to go towards literature, maybe creative writing!, or communications & media. Writing is one of my passions and Im hoping to explore more on that field and maybe apply for some contests to qualify my interests really correlate with my talent.!
course planning next year!:
ap calc ab
ap ush
ap spanish
ap chem
english </p>
<p>senior year:
ap stat
ap geo/ap world (not sure!)
ap physics(probs)
ap lit
ap spanish lit
one elective course :)</p>
<p>I know this doesn't help much and that i need far more information for you guys to really understand my academic career as a whole. but based on what I've said, do you think I might possibly have some chances at brown, or dartmouth? those are two place I am really hoping to get into.... and judging from my interests on music & writing, are there any volunteer works/extracurricular works that might help me distinguish myself from all those other people whose lists are deluged with ec activities?! </p>
<p>Can we assume you don’t need financial aid? It changes the picture considerably if you do. </p>
<p>As for ECs, laundry lists of activities don’t help you get admitted to selective schools. They make you look like you are just padding your applications and don’t know what you care about. Pick 2-3 things that matter to you (sounds like writing is one of them) and focus on distinguishing yourself there. How? By doing the things you would do anyway if you really care about it: Find jobs or internships at magazines, newspapers, publishing houses, corporate communications departments, PR firms - any organization that has a dept that deals with the media would be a good start - especially if those organizations are in your country of origin and can give you a unique perspective on the culture. Write a lot and submit it for publication. Tutor others who aren’t as good as you are in writing. Create a portfolio of work you are most proud of. If you are putting in the work and impressing people, opportunities have a way of coming up.</p>
<p>Needing financial aid won’t change the picture if you apply to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, and Amherst. These colleges are need-blind, even to international students like you!</p>
<p>Brown might be a little iffy if you apply for financial aid–if you don’t, then you’ve still got a chance.</p>
<p>Thank youboth of you!!! I think im a bit more assured.and fyi, i am not seeking fa. Im not sure if that wpuld change the picture a whole lot esp. In terms of brown. </p>
<p>M’smom – thanks so much that was a whole lot of very helpful answers. You mentioned something about relating qriting to my nayive culture. I have recently discovered a volunteer/internship oportuinity at a korean(my country) foundation. My job is to basically introduce this foundation and the ffigure it commemorates by translating the brochire into english and through facebook twittter etc. Maybe is this along the same line as what you were talking about? Involving culture. Writing. And media as well! I hope the experience is worth it…</p>
<p>Anyways thaks all for the help and answers!!!</p>
<p>“Needing financial aid won’t change the picture if you apply to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, and Amherst. These colleges are need-blind, even to international students like you!”</p>
<p>Yes, but the students who get these offers are the stellar students with exceptional ECs and recs. If your PSAT is 208, it probably doesn’t make sense to consider these schools. If you get your score above 2200 and have some steller ECs and letters of rec that say you are the most exceptional student they have seen in the last x years, then you have a chance. Otherwise, I suggest you consider the midwestern LACs where being Asian makes you a URM and they offer generous financial aid to increase the diversity of their student body. Grinnell is one such example. Macalester is another. Kenyon has excellent writing program but I’m not sure how much financial aid they offer. You would still have to get your SAT up, but Grinnell, for example, doesn’t include the writing score in the analysis, so if writing in English is your weakest area, this might help.</p>
<p><em>shrugs</em> you never know what kinds of students these people accept, and I assumed that parkie, as a rising junior, would be doing everything he could to get his scores up. If his ECs are good…</p>
<p>Anyway, since you’re not applying for fa, you get into college so much easier than an international student applying for fa. M’s mom’s suggestions for colleges are wonderful, you should check them out.</p>
<p>i do not know why there is an assumption that i would by applying for financial aid because I won’t be. I understand my PSAT is still not in the top notch range but that is surely something I am working really hard to pull up until i get back to school this coming fall… so hopefully that works out!!! anyways, thank you guys a lot and i’ll make sure I check out the wonderful recommendations I got! :)</p>
<p>i do not know why there is an assumption that i would by applying for financial aid because I won’t be. I understand my PSAT is still not in the top notch range but that is surely something I am working really hard to pull up until i get back to school this coming fall… so hopefully that works out!!! anyways, thank you guys a lot and i’ll make sure I check out the wonderful recommendations I got! :)</p>