An Asian who's not good at math...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>This is my first of these types of threads, so don't kill me please! And this'll take a minute (or 5) to read, so...</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian (Korean)
Family Income: $22,000/year taxable income (No...That's not a typo)
Place of Residence: Affluent suburb in the Midwest
School: Homeschooled for Pre-K-8th grade+skipped 9th grade; racially diverse (60% minority), small charter high school in downtown area of a large city for grades 10-12, large public school in suburb for grade 12 in a suburb of said large city.</p>

<p>Major: B.A. in Classics (Greek/Latin) and Pre-Pharmacy/Pharm.D at the same time</p>

<p>Sophomore GPA S1: 4.58 W
Sophomore GPA S2: 4.71 W
Junior GPA S1: 5.00 W
Junior GPA S2: 4.85 W
Senior GPA S1: -- (Will probably end up being a 3.4-4.3 W, depending on grades)</p>

<p>Class Rank: 9/106 (For grades 10-12 school)
Class Rank: 3/~600 (For grade 12 school; not eligible for valedictorian/salutatorian)
Senior Schedule: French IV, Health/P.E., Intro+Advanced 3D Art, AP English Lit./Comp, AP Biology, AP Physics C: Magnetism, AP Calculus AB, AP European History (self-studying), AP Psychology (self-studying)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2010 Single Sitting (780 CR, 550 M, 680 W), 2020 SS (780 CR, 560 M, 680 W)
SAT II: Planning on taking the Latin, Math II, and U.S. History or English Lit (Unsure)
AP Scores: U.S. History (4), U.S. Gov.+Politics (4), English Lang./Comp (3)
ECs: International Club (Grades 10-11; Founding Member), Cross-Country Varsity (Grade 10), at least 80 Hours of volunteer work at various places, NHS Member (Grade 11)
Part-time job working around 20 hours/week during the school year...Ben working since junior year</p>

<p>Honors: Latin Student of the Year (Grade 10), French Student of the Year (Grade 11), National Merit Commended Scholar, High Honor Roll for Grades 10-11 (4.0 W GPA or higher)</p>

<p>In a nutshell, my high school years have been a mess. I skipped 9th grade due to family problems and began attending a charter school that is now attracting national attention, which I attended for grades 10, 11, and a bit of 12th. However, it was a 45 minute drive from my home, and due to that, I switched into my city's public HS at the end of September of this year. My new school is competitive and well respected, so I'm not worried there... I just feel like it may have hurt my chances for college. </p>

<p>My old school offered Latin classes, which I felt were important for my major, but I'm planning on taking the Latin SAT II since my current school does not offer the AP Latin test, nor do they have an option of taking it off campus. I completed Latin up to AP Latin, as well.</p>

<p>I am taking the most demanding classes at my current school (anything w/o AP/Honors wasn't available with it). Since I skipped 9th grade, I had to recover my credits online. I did so, but was unable to use that for Health, P.E., or Art, which is why I have those slotted in.</p>

<p>Due to my being behind by a month in the curriculum, I'm still playing catch-up in certain classes and am unsure of whether I will be caught up by the end of the first semester, particularly in AP Physics. Colleges might see this as senioritis, although I wonder if I can explain the situation?</p>

<p>As you can see from my SAT scores, I dislike math, and that worries me a lot since my SAT scores are so unbalanced. Also, I don't really have that many ECs. Will that hurt? </p>

<p>I am going to write my main essay on the situation that arises from being an adopted Korean w/ Caucasian parents....Is that too cliche? Also, my family is a therapeutic fosterfamily (hence the low taxable income), so I've so much experience w/ medically fragile children and children in general. I wonder if that would tie in anywhere? And my parents did not graduate from college...IDK if that means anything. </p>

<p>College List: </p>

<p>UNC - Chapel Hill
UC - San Diego
University of Southern California
Samford University
Ohio State University
University of Cincinnati
Purdue University
Butler University (IN)
University of Illinois - Chicago
Rutgers SU of New Jersey - New Brunswick
University of Houston
Pomona College
Colorado College
Northeastern University (MA)
University of Michigan
Columbia University</p>

<p>It's a long list, but I'm just wondering.... As it is, I see about three that are matches. The rest are reaches? Am I wrong? Also, I'll be applying second semester most likely, or in December and will need financial aid. I have a feeling that it'll hurt me.</p>

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<p>Oh, and maybe the University of the Pacific in California (it’s expensive, though).</p>

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<p>A 550 on math is just too low for Columbia and Pomona, and probably UC San Diego and UNC, especially since you don’t have great EC’s. How are you in Physics C if you dislike math so much? Also, I don’t understand why you skipped 9th grade. However, writing about being an adopted Korean with Caucasian parents is not cliche at all. I think it could make a great essay.</p>

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<p>math scores are far too low for a ton of those schools. Increase your math score and you stand a shot. Otherwise, try your hand at some of the lower tier colleges and keep some reaches and i guarantee youll be happy with the results. Chance back :
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1233558-my-story-will-my-dream-schools-understand.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1233558-my-story-will-my-dream-schools-understand.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^Yeah, I thought so. I was wondering if a better Math II score would make up for it. How am I in Physics C? Well…That’s just what guidance put me in when I switched schools. It was that or AP Music Theory. I’ve taken a good majority of the classes that they offer, so… Anyway, Physics is no walk in the park at the moment. >_<</p>

<p>Family/Health circumstances concurrently forced me to withdraw from school a little bit into my freshman year. That explains my 9th grade absence.</p>

<p>I was wondering about the essay…I have a couple other topics up my sleeve, so I should be okay there. </p>

<p>Not making excuses, but it was difficult for me to get established at my school. After being uprooted in freshman year, it took a bit in sophomore year to get back into it. And then moving again in senior year didn’t help a ton either. I didn’t take advantage of ECs in my sophomore year, but in my junior year, I got a job and had zero spare time anyway, so… It would’ve been difficult, to say the least.</p>

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<p>About the new school thing, that would make a great essay topic. Acclimation to new environments is a pretty unique topic and ive seen people write about things like that and get into yale. As far as physics goes, i agree that its not easy lmao. Remember to chance back haha.</p>

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<p>^I chanced you based on what I know…Good luck! </p>

<p>Anyway…Does anyone think that a major in Classics would provide a bit of a bump up to cushion my lower math score? In general, classics departments are underenrolled at many colleges. If I got a good Math II score, maybe that’d help. </p>

<p>Interesting idea about the essay…I’ll have to think on that. It was just that I didn’t want to have to go into the reasons why I had to withdraw/change schools… But maybe I wouldn’t have to.</p>

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<p>Bumppppppp</p>

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<p>Bumpity-bump :)</p>

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<p>Bump…Again :)</p>

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<p>“I am going to write my main essay on the situation that arises from being an adopted Korean w/ Caucasian parents…Is that too cliche?”</p>

<p>I think it is a good essay topic.</p>

<p>Stanford, Columbia and Pomona: Chances are very slim
USC, Michigan: Decent chances</p>

<p>I do not know much about other colleges.</p>

<p>Good luck to you</p>

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<p>I knew that Columbia and Pomona were slim. And I’m not sure I’d get offered enough financial aid anyway (Pomona is expensive). And Columbia has been getting more selective recently. </p>

<p>Oh…I meant Samford (in Alabama), not Stanford. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I actually really want to go to USC, so it’d be nice if I stood a chance there. My CR is above their 50% range and my Writing is in their 50% range. It’s just my math score that drags it all down. </p>

<p>Maybe they’ll see that I want to major in something not heavily math related and cut it off a bit.</p>