Am I On the Right Track?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm just an generic Asian kid trying to get into a good college. I have no hooks :( but I think I'm fairly well-rounded. But let's get to the point.</p>

<p>I'm currently a junior. Thus, I will be making a few assumptions for what will happen for the rest of junior year. But I wanna see if I'm on the right track for the following five schools: </p>

<p>UM
Cornell
Wash U
Duke
JHU</p>

<p>GPA: 3.91 (school doesn't weigh or rank)
One minor/big problem: I'm not taking any foreign languages in my high school. I took Chinese at a local Chinese school; I'll graduate this year. However, I have SAT II Chinese and HSK score results (Certificate of Chinese Proficiency) to back that, and I will be taking two semesters of Latin at a community college senior year. But I'm not sure how college language classes and high school language classes correspond.
Another question: Do A+'s on the transcript mean anything? I have 7 and will reach 11 by the end of this year, but our school counts all those as 4.0's for calculating GPA. </p>

<p>PSAT: 225 (And thus I'm expecting at least a 2250 on the actual SAT; i studied a lot more)
ACT: will take it soon (got a 29 as a 9th grader through the talent search thing, expecting 33 this time)
SAT II's: Math II - 800, Physics - 800, Biology - 780, Chinese - 760</p>

<p>AP's thus far: Biology - 5, Physics B (self-studied) - 5, US History - 5, AP Music Theory (didn't take AP exam)
AP classes this year: Physics C, US Gov, Calc AB, Chemistry, Psychology (expecting 5 in all...yes, i'm very confident about this)
AP's next year: Calc BC, Economics, Statistics (self-study), maybe Latin</p>

<p>Awards thus far:
- A bunch of meaningless (in my opinion) school rewards including GPA and departmental awards
- 2nd place score for AMC 10 school-wide, AIME qualifier
- Division I PhysicsBowl first place for my region (this one probably means the most thus far)
- AP Scholar (again, completely meaningless)</p>

<p>Awards expected:
* Although nothing is a guarantee, I feel very very very (do I need to emphasize it more?) good about these, probably because I was borderline last year and I studied like 200+ hours more:
- National Biology Olympiad Semifinalist (reaching for finalist)
- National Physics Olympiad Semifinalist (reaching to be a member of the 25 member team)
- National Chemistry Olympiad Local Qualifier
- AIME qualifier again
- Division II PhysicsBowl first place (D-II is actually higher than D-I for some reason)
- National AP Scholar (will receive the actual certificate in fall this year)
- Some form of National Merit (think semifinalist or above)</p>

<p>School-Wide Extracurriculars:
- Freshman Soccer Team
- Quiz Bowl (will be for 4 years)
- Science Olympiad (will be for 3 years)
- Model UN (will be for 2 years)
- National Honor Society (will be for 2 years)
- Local Youth Community Action Council (will be for 2 years)
- Volunteer Tutor for numerous subjects (will be for 4 years)
no leadership in any... yes, I know, very very bad</p>

<p>Extra-School Extracurriculars
- Organized a large publicity/fundraising event at community college for a local charity
- Cohosted the 2006 and 2007 Chinese New Years Celebration for our Chinese school; will cohost the 2008 one as well
- Volunteer Work: 250+ hours at a hospital
- Research: Did it for 2 summers thus far, will do it again next summer, wrote one paper that has not been submitted to Siemens or Intel, hoping to write another one and submit both this year (one to Intel, one to Siemens)
- Piano: Completed Level 10 (highest level) of the state Student Achievement Testing
- Member of the National Society of High School Scholars (i don't think this means much at all, but w/e)</p>

<p>Recs: Expecting a super-uber-amazing one plus another exceptional one (one science, one english)</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your feedback!</p>

2

<p>Ughh..chill out dude.. You're definately FINE... and well above FINE.. But a major problem is you're almost the exact Asian Stereotype tbh. You do Piano, Some Clubs, and Science/ Math, and that doesn't mean as much since so many other Asians do it.</p>

3

<p>I don't think you'll have any problems getting into the schools you're planning to apply to.
Definitely will get into UM. (personal opinion)</p>

4

<p>UM, Cornell, JHU not a problem. The others, probably not a problem. If you want to stand out and look less stereotypical, you still have the essays and interviews. The Duke book essay has been important in the past- pick an unique one. You can look different just by being interested in something unusual. It doesn't have to be a big deal with ECs and all.</p>

5

<p>ya, i do acknowledge i am a stereotypical asian, hence the name UndeniablyAsian and my disclaimer in the first line</p>

<p>but any comments on the foreign language issue?</p>

<p>and about how much scholarship can i expect from UM? because this is actually my first choice</p>

6

<p>You'll be accepted to everyone of these schools except possibly Duke (even there I expect it--but it is less of a guarantee than the others).</p>

<p>Your 11 A+ scores will be the difference in my opinion. They only count as 4.0--but the fact that you went to the extra effort in a class where you weren't getting anything extra (for the 99 average versus the 95 average) makes all the difference.</p>

<p>Same for the ECs--they are all top-notch and show academic distinction in regional and national competitions--just what the Ivies love.</p>

<p>I'd even consider UPenn and Columbia if I were you. Your scores and background would support acceptances at both of those schools as well.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p>I feel like this stereotypical Asian thing is going to hurt me a lot, but I also think my involvement in the National Olympiads means that I have actual talent besides just doing good in Science/Math in school.</p>

<p>Should I also consider Dartmouth and Northwestern? </p>

<p>And anybody have thoughts about my foreign language issue and scholarship money at UM?</p>

8

<p>You would have a great chance at Northwestern and Dartmouth. I think that you are fine with the Chinese and the Latin. They will probably be impressed that you took Latin in addition to already being fluent in Chinese. Are you a Michigan resident? Aid depends on whether or not they have a program that you are eligible for, and you would probably need to be a resident. Other than that, do you expect to get need-based aid from the private schools? You're in good shape for admissions, but it sounds to me as if you have not done much research on the financial aspects. You should start now. No sense being accepted to colleges that you cannot afford.</p>

9

<p>I am indeed a Michigan resident, but I do not believe I'm applying to any need-based financial aid, just merit-based scholarships. Having said that, do you think I'm likely to be considered for UM's Bentley and/or Shipman Scholarships (maybe if I pull off a finalist or something)?</p>

10

<p>im curious what you think about AP US Gov</p>