Another one of those chance topics.

<p>I am currently a junior in Highschool, and I have no idea where I want to go to college. Nor am I really sure what I want to do in my life. I had a rocky start, but stabilized myself in my highschool career. I am not a bragger/affirmer, and I will chance anyone back!</p>

<p>State: Washington
Income: $70-$90,000 (I would think it's more in the realms of 70K-mid 80s at best)
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
School type: I guess a competitive public, we always send the most kids to UW Seattle. We send 30-50ish kids to top 50 schools every year.
First generation college student</p>

<p>Financial info: Sister in 2nd year of college (entering 3rd) at a state school, with no financial aid or scholarships. We have not made any extravagent purchases in the last 5 years, probably longer. We have no incredible assets to speak of. I think our home equity might be a bit high?</p>

<p>Career paths: I am interested in the medical field, but on the other spectrum I'm also interested in law and business.
Degree options: B.S., B.A., but if I can I want to duel-major or duel-degree, not sure if I have to be selected for this/apply, or if I can just opt to do it.</p>

<p>Schools applying to (subject to change)
CMC (4+1 program)
Pomona
Stanford
Colorado College
UW Seattle (honors college?) [safety]
Reed College
Whitman College</p>

<p>First and foremost, financial aid is crucial for me. Need blind and no-loan policy is prefered. I also have high consideration for the weather (I HATE East coast weather). Also, to some extent based on environmental issues (IE, I hate smog). But do you think I could get into UCB, UCI, and UCSD? And if I could get some good financial aid? </p>

<p>Highschool Academics</p>

<p>IB Diploma Candidate</p>

<p>Freshmen: Japanese 100, PE/Life fitness, Physical Science, English, Math core 100, and Social Studies. 3.05 and 3.15 GPA respectively
*during summer I took the equivalent to freshmen “Honors Math core 2”, but crammed into a month)</p>

<p>Sophmore: Beginning Marketing, Math core 200, Pre-IB English, Japanese 200, Pre-IB chemistry, Pre-IB World History. 2nd semester same courses, but switch Pre-IB chemistry to Pre-IB Biology. 3.23 and 3.75 GPA
*during summer I took “Intro to chemistry”, “ceramics 1”, and "intensive intermediate algebra" at a local community college, earning A equivelent grades in them</p>

<p>Junior: IB Philosophy, IB History of the Americas, IB Biology I, IB English, Advanced Marketing, Japanese 300, Math core 300. First semester 4.00, (expected 4.00 2nd as well).
<em>during fall I took intro to organic chem/biochem, and Pre-calc I</em> Earned A equivelent grades
<em>During winter I took Pre calc II</em> earned an A equivelent grade
<em>During Spring I took discrete mathamatics</em> earned an A equivelent grade
<em>During the summer I'll be taking concepts of the physical world, ceramics 2, and intro to stats</em></p>

<p>Senior: IB Calculus, IB Biology II, IB Senior English, Retail Marketing, IB Senior History, IB Theory of Knowledge, Japanese 400. I predict a 4.00 for the year, but not indefinite.
Final unweighted GPA I predict a 3.75-3.90/4.00
I don't think I'll take any more courses at this community college</p>

<p>I don’t know how my school does weighted, but I know they don’t give us one as sophomores. Though, I am sure I will be in the top decile of my class.</p>

<p>Test scores
ACT: Math (30), Science (30), English (36), Writing (12), Reading (36). Composite: 34, I don’t think I’ll retake
PSAT: 230 (80 writing, 80 reading, 70 math)
SAT: 2320 (800 writing, 800 reading, 720 math). I don't think I'll retake it
SAT II Literature: 790
Biology M: 780
Japanese: 730</p>

<p>Leadership/Extra Curriculars</p>

<p>Medical Club/HOSA
10th Grade- co-founded with a friend, Co-President
11th Grade- Co-President
12th Grade- Co-President</p>

<p>JSA
10th grade- Public Relations officer
11th Grade- Secretary
12th Grade- President</p>

<p>Key Club
10th Grade- Fundraiser
11th Grade- Fundraiser
12th Grade- President</p>

<p>Work Experience
10/20/07-04/23/08: Ostroms, Cashier
4/30/09-Present: Jamba Juice, cashier/juicer
09/1/09-06/11/10: Student Store, Manager (non-paid job, we sell food, clothing, etc to kids during lunch)</p>

<p>Volunteer
Key Club- expected 150 hours by senior year (50 hours each year from soph-senior)
Hospital- 1000ish hours by senior year (I am the "Senior Volunteer")</p>

<p>Awards
Freshmen: Honor Roll, Japanese Award
Sophmore: National Honor Society, Japanese National Honor Society, Key-club member of the year award, Reflections Honorary participant award (literature)
Junior: NHS, JNHS, Key-club member of the year award, 2nd place at DECA regionals, 1st place at DECA state, 1st place at DECA nationals, Reflections State award (lit)
Senior: TBA (I predict the first 3 though)</p>

<p>Other information
Reischauer Scholar
My poetry has been published by our school literary magainze, and in national anthologies/magazines
I attended “Business Week”, “Advanced Business Week” qt colleges during the summer
National Hispanic Scholar (???)
National Merit qualifier (???)</p>

<p>Reccomendations:
1. I am choosing an english teacher I had for two years (I participate strongly in class, have shared poetry with her, and make her laugh alot
2. My current math teacher who helped see me through practicing and studying so I could get into IB Calc as a senior.
3. My IB philosophy teacher/hopefully my IB senior history teacher, who is also the IB coordinator.
Essay: Should be strong.</p>

<p>Other notes: During my freshmen year my grades were a combination of not realizing the ramifications it would have on my future, as well as just a nonchalant feeling about school. I got a C+ first semester, and some B-s. And in my sophmore year I did well in all of my classes, except for Pre-IB freaking chemistry where I got a D (I took the class because I wanted to pursue IB bio, and it was required. 2nd semester I did step up alot, but as always things occur and sadly I didn't hit my 4.00 I wanted.</p>

<p>My poor chemistry grade prompted me to do something on my own about it. Part of me wanted to retake the class at my school to "change" the grade on my GPA, but that would have made me ineligable to do IB Diploma due to scheduling problems. So, I took a couple classes at a community college.</p>

<p>In addition, my original IB-diploma plan had me going core-2 math, core-3 math, and then IB Math studies. It would essentially be "IB pre-calc lite", what the normal IB-diploma kid at my school would take as a junior (IB pre-calc that is). I really wanted to get Calculus in my highschool career, so I took pre-calc at the same community college, and got tutored by my teacher and my advanced math friends. And I have officially taken a requirement test to get into IB Calc, and passed!</p>

<p>You have a very good shot even at Stanford. You’re an URM (Hispanic) with execllent grades, scores, and activities, and seem like a humble and nice kid. Aim higher. You could probably get partial scholarships to those other schools too.</p>

<p>Match for Reed, but interview and recs are important, essays very important. Four years of need aid are guaranteed. You’ll be doing grad school, so see [REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College) for an indication of schools with good advanced grad school prep.</p>