<p>Currently I'm it's the summer of my Junior-Senior year and I am pretty stressed on what colleges I should be looking into for my decision this year. Currently I have 9 schools in mind.</p>
<p>Cornell University
University of Pennsylvania
Washington University in St. Louis
U.C. Berkeley
University of Michigan
University of Southern California (USC)
U.C. Los Angeles
New York University
University of Oregon</p>
<p>These are my current statistics:
SAT: 1920 (CR:610 , M: 720, W: 590)
I am looking to retake these in October and possibly even later than that. The score I am shooting for is 2160 and I'm far from it :-(
SAT II: Biology 740 , Math IIC : ??? , History: ??? <--- not taken yet hopefully both in 700's</p>
<p>G.P.A: 3.92 UW (4 B's) with the following AP's
AP Biology 5
AP Chemistry 3
AP U.S. History 4
AP Language 3</p>
<p>I plan to take AP Economics, Government, and Calculus next year.</p>
<p>E.C.:
Boy Scouts of America (eagle scout)
Key Club
Model United Nations
National Honors Society
Cat Crew (Leadership program at our school)
Volunteering 3 hours a week at the public library
Rugby (2 years)
Marching Band
Jazz Band
Generation Outreach Christian club
Recreational Basketball (3 years)
Speech and Debate
Saxophone Ensemble
DECA Marketing convention
Student Government</p>
<p>I also took 2 classes at a community college in Portland and got A's in both BA101 (business administration) and PHY101 (Physics intro)</p>
<p>I feel that the only thing truly holding me back is my SAT score and currently I am looking at Cornell and U.Penn as true reaches. I would appreciate it if you guys could give me some input. Thanks!</p>
<p>BTW , I'm Korean so I don't think that will have too much to do with my admittance.</p>
<p>Don't sell yourself short. Just because you are not satisfied with your scores, etc. does not mean you're out of the running. Regardless, you should keep practicing, and still apply- that way you'll still have a chance.</p>
<p>P.S.- SAT scores are probably your weakness right now, but it's not necessarily going to keep you out of schools. I actually talked to my aunt the other day (who's a doctor at Penn but is familiar with other aspects of the school, etc.), and a very important part of admissions is character. Many may tell you otherwise, but what do they know? :P Anyway, good luck</p>
<p>Practice a lot & retake your SAT, then practice a lot & take the ACT. Even if you can improve your scores, it's really tough to get into those schools w/o some kind of "hook," or some outstanding EC achievement. Maybe consider schools such as: Brandeis, Boston U, Northeastern, Seattle U, Pitzer College, lesser UCs.</p>
<p>i think we need to give a closer look beforce concluding tht myk's score is too low. cuz from wat i see, myk seems to be leaning towards the math side. and one reason to explain the low english sections are becuz hes a korean, do u live in korea or wat? tht definitely helps to compensate a little for the lower SAT scores. and u mite needa take the toefl. Of course, they are on the low side for those top schools, but not the extend tht will kill all ur chances. i think u should work hard on ur SAT2, esply 2c, and retake the SAT to get like 2100, keep up with the grades, write good esssays and get good recs (duh), and ull have a better chance.</p>
<p>That actually reminds me of myself. I'm Korean and I always felt that it was more of a hindrance when it came to the verbal/reading section of the SAT's. I was not born in Korea, and in fact, I am a first generation Korean-American. Though I did have more of an opportunity to excel in English (compared to my parents), etc., a setback is the fact that my parents do not speak English that well. I don't want to use this as a scapegoat or anything, but many overlook the fact that having English-speaking parents is a bigger advantage than it seems-- the vocabulary is different, grammar is significantly better, etc., and this all contributes to being better at English (reading, writing, speaking, comprehension). I know I could've spent 10 hours a day reading books or whatever I could do to strengthen my English, but nevertheless, a student with English-speaking parents (and is in the same position as I am) has the advantage. Any opinions or questions on what I just typed are welcome!</p>
<p>KRabble,
What you say is very true. However, the problem is that there are plenty of Asian students who come from your kind of background yet manage to get much higher SAT verbal scores even though they may have moved to the US in high school or late middle school. Because there are students who are able to achieve high scores despite their disadvantages, colleges aren't likely to give you the break that you are hoping for.</p>
<p>Your best bet to get into the colleges that you want to is to spend time improving your verbal scores. Frankly, your doing so well on the SAT v despite not being a native English speaker indicates that you have a lot of talent in learning foreign languages. Put that talent to more use by raising your verbal scores.</p>
<p>You have very good grades, good but not great SATs. In addition, your EC's are a bit weak as they really are mostly participatory and do not demonstrate leadership and service qualities. Honestly, you are making a mistake by considering only such elite schools. All are reaches (some far reaches) except for Oregon (which could be a reach if you are OOS), USC and possibly NYU which could be considered borderline matches. Matches do NOT mean you will get in, they just mean your stats are average for those that are enrolled. On average that translates to ~50% chance of acceptance. That's why you need to identify multiple matches. I would strongly suggest that you look at schools that are next below the elite in selectivity: Rochester, Brandeis, Tulane, BU, BC, Tufts, GWU as matches and some less selective schools for safeties. The most important thing is to find schools that are good matches for your personality and academic interests based on location, size, campus culture, academics, and so on. Do not get hung up on the prestige of a place. Some of the most prestigious places even if you were to get in would not necessarily be an enjoyable place for you to go to depending on your individual personality and needs. On the other hand there are many somewhat less prestigious but excellent schools out there that are perfect for you. And keep in mind that for grad school how you perform at school is much more important that what school you go to. Going to a school that you love (because of the intangibles and pieces mentioned above, not because of the prestige) will make it much more likely to be successful academically. You just need to spend the energy on finding these schools and spend less time fantasizing over your wish list of elite schools. There is a time for that later when you have found your true matches and safeties. Then you can have fun choosing a few elite schools to shoot for. Not now.</p>
<p>I don't understand why people believe that UC berkeley, LA, UMich are such high reaches for me. I indeed plan to increase my SAT and take the ACT's but I mean I know people who have had much less than me in their transcripts and still have made it to these colleges. Are they just lucky or what's going on? It's just frustrating to see that many people believe that I have no chance at these schools when I believe that they are mid between reach and match.</p>
<p>I am also a first-generation Asian American (I'm Chinese, but the basic premise is the same). My dad's English is extremely limited and masked by a huge accent, even after 20 years of living in the United States. My mom's English is significantly better, but even as a little kid I started having to correct her in grammar and such. </p>
<p>So so far, we're basically in the same situation. Neither of our parents are great English speakers, and both of us were born in the United States.</p>
<p>I am a rising sophomore and I scored the equivalent of a 640 on the CR and 690 on the writing sections of the SAT (I took the PSAT). I know those scores aren't that great, but keep in mind I have yet to start my sophomore year. </p>
<p>I figure the effort is about the same for those with fluent English speakers for parents and those with nonfluent English speakers for parents. It just takes initiative from the student.</p>
<p>And besides, you're probably spending most of your time at school if you're a high school student. And unless the primary language at your school is not English, I doubt you're not getting enough exposure.</p>
<p>Uc Berkeley and UCLA are indeed reaches for you. Accept it, okay, you asked for our input, if you dont like it, I do not know what to tell you....you shouldnt have asked. They have a 24% acceptance rate. It is difficult to gain acceptance, especially for out of state, and your SAT scores are pretty low (i.e. CR 610 M 590) If you raise the scores, you will stand a better chances, but they are still undoubtedly reaches....sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear, but you have obviously underestimated the rigorous admissions standards of Berkeley and LA.</p>
<p>michigan and the UC's are kind of out of the question til you get that score up 100-200 pts. also, do some unique ECs and win at them, always helps.</p>