<p>SCHOOL: Westwood High School, 2010 (my school is i think 70th in the nation, and very competitive. Always sends graduates to the elite schools. I think we had 3 UPenn, a couple Columbia, One Yale, etc)
STATE: TX
SAT/ACT: 2200, (730 CR, 760 M, 710 W)
SAT 2: US History 710, Literature 690 (will retake) Am taking Biology and Math 2 in october
GPA: 3.76 unweighted. 5.06 weighted
RANK: 74/588
APPLYING FOR FINANCIAL AID: Yes</p>
<p>AP tests:
US history 5
Biology 5
Literature 5
European History 5
Psychology 4</p>
<p>My grades has been improving throughout high school. I was rank 120 my sophomore year. I am also a IB diploma candidate. Our school has one of the best IB programs available.</p>
<p>Clubs: (Not my passion)
DECA (competed at the state level)
Chinese Club. (Student council rep)
NHS</p>
<p>Volunteering: (my passion)
Camp CAMP- 100 hours as counselor for mentally/ physically disabled children
Habitat for Humanity- 150 hours helping underprivileged family have homes</p>
<p>Travels:
I go back to China almost every summer, and I love seeing the huge changes each year, but also take notice of the great poverty and low living conditions affecting most. I wrote a reflective essay about my experiences there, will send to colleges under the additional info.</p>
<p>Awards:
DECA State finalist
2 Piano awards, one for theory and the other for the Bach festival</p>
<p>HOOK: My passion for helping the underprivileged especially children.</p>
<p>Applying to
Yale
Princeton
Harvard
Columbia
UPenn
Dartmouth
NYU
Washington University at st Louis
Johns Hopkins
Stanford
Cornell
University of texas at Austin
Texas AM (safety)</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how do you qualify the statement that your school has “one of the best IB programs available”? Is there a rank or something?</p>
<p>I assume you’re Asian… and your GPA/SAT scores aren’t stellar, so that puts you below the belt to start with. Emphasize in your app that you don’t like doing the canned “I’m in 10 clubs” thing that all other Asians do, but that you find more enjoyment and passion in actually being out there and volunteering (you have a very impressive comm. service record).</p>
<p>weeelll, no. theoretically, you could retake your SATs and hope for a higher score, but Idk how much you’d want to do that. the point is, by this point, you’ve played out all your cards and now you just need to show them in a favorable light to the admissions committee. for your particular app, it looks like the way to do that it through talking about your community service</p>
<p>mkay, so do u think my college list is a good match for me? or should i delete some of the ivies and add some other privates like washington lee or rice?</p>
<p>You won’t get into HYPMS being a ORM and from a over-represented state with no hook. Your stats are far below that of even the lesser ivies. I suggest trying to find some more matches and have less reaches.</p>
<p>If you want a shot at the above schools, raise your SAT to atleast 2350, preferably higher to make up for your low GPA.</p>
<p>i guess u can say my gpa is low, but coming from such a competitive school, and having 6 AP classes my junior year, all pre AP classes freshman and sophomore year… im pretty sure my 3.76 doesn’t exclude me from HYPS…</p>
<p>and it certainty isn’t “far below” the lesser ives. </p>
<p>2200 vs 2350 ahh the classic argument. but i think im just gonna write a damn good essay to make up for those 150 points.</p>
<p>well, this is my 2 cents. I feel that once the GPA and the SAT scores are in the ball park, the essay becomes the most important thing. You can’t say you are passionate on here all you want. But you need to let your essay do the talking. I think you are applying to waayy too many schools. Keep in mind you have to write individual supplement essay for each school. If i were you, i’d cross out all the schools that use individual application, like Columbia and Stanford.
What’s all the schools in HYPMS? does S stands for Stanford?</p>