applying to 13 schools... bad idea?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I applied to 13 schools because I suffer from severe paranoia. Haha, just kidding. Well, okay, CC scared me into thinking that all the top schools in the US are tossups, and so I had to make sure I had my options open and my bases covered.</p>

<p>So really, how many schools do you think I'll get into? More than 1? (I'm already automatically in at UT Austin.)</p>

<p>Large Texas public school.
Rank: 10/1251.
GPA: 3.99 UW, 4.35 W
SAT: 1560 (760 V, 800 M)
SAT II: Writing 790, Math IIC 800, Spanish 740
IB Full Diploma Programme (haha, silly Europeans.)
8 APs (have taken 4, got two 5's and two 4's)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Info
Music:
Marching band (9-12), section leader in drumline (pit captain 10, 12)- Best Percussion at several marching & drumline contests
Band historian & Band Council(10)
Clarinet (9-12)- superior ratings at solo contest (9-12), All-Region (9-12), All-Area and TX All-State, 1st alternate (11)
Jazz Band- lead pianist (9-10) </p>

<p>School-related activities:
Speech & Debate team (9, 10, 12)- Special Distinctions standings in NFL (National Forensics League)
National Honor Society (9-12), Freshman Representative (9), President (10)
Whiz Quiz (9-10), qualified for nationals (10)
Spanish Club (9-12), Secretary (10) </p>

<p>Religious activities:
Church choir (9-12), youth group (9-12)
Sunday school teacher (9-12) </p>

<p>Volunteer / work:
mentoring at elementary school (11-12)
summer tutoring (10-12)- individual tutoring sessions with elementary/middle school students in writing, reading, and math
worked at AIDS help center (9) </p>

<p>Other Awards:
National Merit Semifinalist (12)
Pan-American Student Forum- Spanish awards for Reading and Grammar, state-level (9-10)
Texas Instruments- Korean American Math and English Contest- 1st place (10)
Dallas Korean-American Scholar Award (10) </p>

<p>** speak/read/write Korean fluently; Korean citizen (moved in kindergarten)</p>

<p>Schools I applied to:
Harvard EA (deferred.)
Yale
Northwestern
Amherst
Pomona
Williams
Duke
Emory
Stanford
Haverford
Wash. U @ St. Louis
Princeton
UT Austin (Plan II Honors)</p>

<p>Ahhh, I still have 3 more essays to write. Maybe I should be working on those instead of CCing. But yeah, I'd appreciate if you could tell me my chances. Thanks!</p>

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<p>u will get into, anything below stanford... i am sure u will get into princeton. surprised u didnt get in harvard.</p>

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<p>no way... princeton is below stanford?? haha i'm surprised i didn't get rejected from harvard. (but then again, they only reject like 4-5%, which is crazy.)</p>

<p>haha i WISH i could get into all my schools. thanks for the encouragement though.</p>

4

<p>...why is 1/2 of ur leadership stuff in 10th grade? like ur NHS president in 10th, u were secretary in 10th, band council in 10th, why hasn't it carried through? i can understand not winnin president 3 yrs in a row, but at least u shoulda gotten a lower position. </p>

<p>ur just like every1 else applyin to those top schools, including me :) the more u aply to, the higher the chance u'll get in somewhere, right? </p>

<p>but remember, having 2 many colleges 2 choose from in April will make ur decision REALLY REALLY hard. u'll only have 1 month to decide ur next 4 yrs. once u finish ur apps u might wanna start rankin the schools in the order u'd rather go.</p>

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<p>haha that's because of marching band. i explain that in all of my apps, don't worry... we have marching band practice til 7 every day, so that keeps me from being able to attend officer meetings for any clubs after school. like in 11th grade, i was interviewed to be junior rep, but was turned down cuz i wouldn't be able to make the meetings. it really sucks, but oh well. that's life. haha.</p>

<p>haha yes, that's exactly my philosophy :)</p>

<p>good idea, i should start that soon.</p>

<p>thanks for commenting!</p>

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<p>anyone else? thanks!</p>

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<p>You can get into any of the schools you applied to, but since everything is seeminly random, its good you applied to alot of places.</p>

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<p>As long as your essays and rec's are good, I would think you will be accepted at half (at least) of the schools your list. As a Korean citizen, are you ok with financial aid (or lack thereof) at your schools?</p>

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<p>i'm actually a permanent resident, so i quailfy for financial aid.</p>

<p>thanks, nealious and ohio_mom!</p>

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<p>Oh, good, glad you're not classified as an international for finaid. You should be fine. Best wishes on your remaining essays.</p>

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<p>a class of 1251? thats insane. but i guess everything is bigger in texas.</p>

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<p>and 13 schools is awesome, as long as youre willing to put the work in for all those apps. good luck</p>

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<p>My list for grad school will be similar in length with several reaches....how did you manage all those apps? Did you use the same essays for each app? Did you ask yoru reccomendation writers to write generic letters of rec only slightly changing them to cater to each school, OR did you choose seeral different teachers to write your letters thus resulting in completely diff letters for each app?</p>

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<p>Ugh, I still have 3 more essays and 2 short answers to write.</p>

<p>Uhm, let's see... I had 3 teachers for academic recommendations, and my private lesson teacher also wrote an additional one. They all used the same letters, because most of my colleges accept the Common App, and the others that had their own application forms said that the teachers could just attach the letters instead of filling out the form.</p>

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<p>hey i had the similar sort of situation...where I couldn't be president of a certain club because it met the same time as another committment...what did u say? and where did u write about that?</p>

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<p>i just wrote in the additional information section that i had to give up my leadership positions because of band. and in some cases, i mentioned that in my interview.</p>

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<p>um yes i applied to 17 schools, haha wow im messed up</p>

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<p>oh wowww... 17?!?! that's CRAZY! haha what happens if you get accepted to all of them??</p>

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<p>oh btw, i was also wondering: how good do you have to be for music to be your "hook"? national-level? i play a lot of instruments, sing, and compose, but i'm sure there's lots of people who do that applying to all of these schools, so i'm kind of worried.</p>

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<p>prolly state / national level, depending on the instrument. ex--violin / viola / any other instrument essential for orchestra prolly state</p>

<p>but for the instruments that aren't so needed, like the paino or something, national level.</p>