Another frenzied "Do I even have a shot" Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>There are already loads of these on CC, so sorry in advance for sounding really worried but Brown is a super reach for me, I swear. And hey, a girl can dream!</p>

<p>DO NOT be afraid to be honest and say: Wow, you’re not gonna get in.</p>

<p>==================================================</p>

<p>Bio:
Mathematics major, Pre-med
Female
First generation to go to college
Asian American
I speak English and Korean
Competitive public high school
American born citizen, 1st generation</p>

<p>GPA: 4.2 weighted
Class Rank: top 10%</p>

<p>SAT I: Reading 670, Writing 740, Math 800
–Out of 1600:1470
–Out of 2400:2210</p>

<p>SAT II: Math I 770, Math II 720, US Hist 670</p>

<p>Classes: take all pretty much all the APs I can and all my others are honors </p>

<p>EC:
Tae Kwon Do (10 years, black belt), 4 regional medals, i also teach (probably the one EC that really shines)
Operation Smile: (jun, sen) [co-chair]
Big Brother/Big Sister (jun, sen) [liaison]
National Honor Society (jun, sen) [advisor]
Tutoring middle school kids (fresh, jun)
Job: work a lot as a secretary at my mom’s business
National & State recognition/awards in Latin
National Youth Leadership Forum in Medicine (summer of 2009)
The National Society of High School Scholars (all high school)
Volunteered one summer at a hospital
Bunch of filler school clubs (Asian Culture, Latin, French, newspaper, etc)</p>

<p>Other schools:
BU
UConn
USC
URochester
RPI</p>

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<p>I’m probably not the best person to take advice from–I’m also a senior in high school. But to me, you seem really impressive. In fact, I’m surprised that you don’t really have any other top schools on your list (that is, nothing really in Brown’s range). If anyone says anything about your SAT scores, don’t listen, because Brown has an incredibly holistic process and I know someone who got in with an 1800ish score. I’m applying to Brown, too, so I guess in the end, we just have to wait and see what the admissions committee thinks. But you really should apply if you like Brown. Good luck!</p>

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<p>1800ish? Dang.
I was thinking of Cornell too. I just forgot to put it on the list. And maybe another Ivy for hahas.
Thanks! Good luck to the both of us!</p>

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<p>Anyone else???</p>

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<p>i think your SAT is fine as well, so are your SATIIs. You have good extra curriculars so there’s no trouble there. Overall I think you can definitely get in, although you never know. If the average chance of acceptance is 15% I’d put yours at 40%. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Seriously? No offense OP, I wouldn’t trust these chances seeing as how they were done by posters w/ <100 posts. I say you have an average chance.</p>

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<p>Seriously, yalefanboy? I could almost swear that you’re ■■■■■■■■ right now. Post count and ability to chance have a direct relationship, right? Your 46 additional posts make you an infinitely better chancer than all the experienced lurkers who know what they’re talking about. Please. Everyone knows that no one can adequately chance anyone else unless they have at least 147 posts.</p>

<p>Sorry TKDpro, I guess I should chance you now. Or, you know, “assess your ability to get accepted” because, by definition, I can’t chance. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll reach 100 posts someday…</p>

<p>Your reading and writing are in the mid-50%, and your math is spectacular. Your SATIIs are good, too. Admissions officers will like your 10 years of Tae Kwon Do, as they like to see passion through long-term commitment and depth. Also, you have your 1st generation status working in your favor. Overall, I think you’re an adequate contender, and you need to give yourself more credit.</p>

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<p>I usually avoid these threads but I’ll bite.</p>

<p>You are first-gen and a girl with an 800 SAT math score. There aren’t many girls who score 800 on the math SAT, so admissions officers will definitely pay attention to your application.</p>

<p>Instead of focusing on the Ivies, where so many Asians apply, why not look at some liberal arts college? Many are as academically strong and as prestigious as the Ivies, just not as tough to get into.</p>

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<p>^ What are you talking about?!!?!</p>

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<p>@ Lobz, what are YOU talking about? fireandrain is certainly correct, though, if I may point out, it appears that the OP is exceptional with mathematics and ,as such, would perhaps be better off applying to a larger range of Ivies. Merely a situational proposal.
@Dedede, Upon reading your post, I must say I’ve developed quite a large admiration for your articulate manner; and I must ask your permission in borrowing that excellent philosophy of yours.</p>

<p>Last, but not least, let’s not forget about the main subject of the thread. Though I’m highly inexperience in manners like this, I believe that confidence plays a big role in the “luck” factor, if you will, of the college-application process. Your statistics are very nice, not necessarily “gold”, albeit certainly “silver”; however, in contrast, you, unlike most people with such statistics, don’t seem to exude much self-confidence. You should be elated for your excellent work, and I’m sure many have praised you, unlike my unworthy self. You’ve done a great job, just be sure to have a little fun from the fretful process–it’ll just make everything smoother and will be a moment that you’ll look back in pride to in the near future.</p>

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<p>Once your scores are in the middle range (which your’s are), the Brown admissions processes levels out. You probably have a good shot.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Fireandrain essentially just said that the OP will stand out because SHE has an 800 on the Math section of the SAT- that is almost certainly untrue.</p>

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<p>I’m an avid reader of just about everything admissions, and I have no idea what the hell fireandrain is talking about. Show me the data. (Missourian)</p>

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<p>Thanks guys for the feedback! Irrelevant or not-it was interesting. </p>

<p>@fireandrain: I totally am aware of how prestigious the smaller liberal arts colleges are, but none of them offer engineering. Although mathematics is my 1st choice major at the moment, for the past few months, I’ve been going back and forth on whether I want to major in mathematics or biomedical engineering. I gotta go to a big university with engineering so I can keep my options open.</p>

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<p>@TKDpro, if you are seriously considering engineering you should start of your freshman year in engineering. It will be so hard to catch up if you don’t start freshman year.</p>

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<p>Yes, there are liberal arts colleges with engineering.</p>

<p>Lafayette. Swarthmore. Smith. Bucknell.</p>

<p>There are other schools that offer 3/2 programs in engineering.</p>

<p>joseph: no need to be rude. </p>

<p>I’m sure there are better sources out there, but the first thing that came up in a Google search quoted these statistics for, I think, 2009: </p>

<p>“For example, for perfect scores of 800, males (6,928) outnumbered females (3,124) by a ratio of 2.22 to 1. In other words, 69% of test-takers who got perfect math scores were males vs. 31% of perfect scores by females. Or we could also say that there were 222 high school boys who got perfect SAT math scores for every 100 high school girls.”</p>

<p>And then, “Adjusting for the fact that more girls than boys take the SAT … 0.974% of boys scored 800 on the SAT math test vs. 0.386% of girls, for a ratio of 2.52 to 1 in favor of boys for perfect math test scores of 800, even greater than the 2:22 to 1 ratio for unadjusted scores (see graph above).”</p>

<p>If this source is correct, then there are about 3000 girls applying to college who scored 800 on the math SAT. And it is highly doubtful that all 3000 will apply to the same school at the same time. Most colleges will not see a lot of female applicants with an 800 math SAT score. That’s 3000 out of the 1.53 million who took the test.</p>

<p>Which means, to quote myself, that “There aren’t many girls who score 800 on the math SAT, so admissions officers will definitely pay attention to your application.”</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

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<p>Thanks. I apologize for the rudeness. I have a couple of IB Internal Assessments due tomorrow… but I can’t keep off of here haha.</p>

<p>That’s very interesting. I have oft heard that girls do better on the ACT than boys, yet ACT statistics do not agree with this contention. Personally, I did a good deal better on the ACT. </p>

<p>If that data is correct, you have a good point. I stand corrected—or clarified, at least.</p>

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<p>Oh and I forgot to mention this in my last post: being Asian really can be disadvantageous. All the Asians apply to the UCs and Ivys and loads of other good schools and compete with each other. Every school is after all going to take so many Asians. Plus, being an Asian who’s good at math…I feel unoriginal. I’m not trying to be a downer on myself or anything, just stating some thoughts. Opinions???</p>

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<p>TKDpro: Then look for schools where being an Asian is an advantage, where being Asian is considered an URM. Yes, these schools exist. Yes, some of them will give you a superior education. Some of them will give you a ton of merit money, too. Don’t focus on the Ivies, be creative and think outside the box and you will be rewarded.</p>

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<p>Ivies are overrated. What the hell do they have? Connections? That’s their way of saying “We’ll give you connections if you pay us $200,000”. If you’re good enough, these connections will come to you…for free.</p>