Are my hooks swell enough?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>rebranded from my post in the Stanford Forum:</p>

<p>First off, my test scores aren't absolutely amazing...</p>

<p>Combined SAT 2010: 790 Math, 620 Verbal, 600 Writing
That is with old SAT Math and Verbal and New SAT Writing, my New SAT scores sucked to the max (720 in math, 580 in verbal).
SAT II's: 780 Math IIc, 720 Chem
AP: 4 Calc BC, a whole slew of other tests pending
Rank: 10/200 (approximately)
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
National Merit Scholar
President of Interact Club
Section Leader of Drumline
Senior thesis example for International Baccheloreate program
"Band Award"
Drama Club, Extracurricular chorus groups
No Sports</p>

<p>6 credits from Stanford for calculus A and B
3 credits from JHU for Intro to Engineering
12 ACE College credits</p>

<p>HOOKS:
-Graduated two years early (16 years old)
-Taught myself Calculus in 10th grade when I was 14 (took algebra in 5th)
-Going to Taiwan to study, hopefully, electrical engineering at a technical and commercial highschool (all in chinese) <--Hook of my life</p>

<p>I hope to prey on the fact that I'm goin to Taiwan to put me at an advantage with China beginning to take over the world economically.</p>

<p>And... I'm your typical upper middle class white kid</p>

<p>What do y'all think would be the highest I would be able to get into?
My dream school is Stanford, which I doubt I could get into
Other Schools:
UCLA
Berkeley
University of Michigan
University of Illinois
Carnegie Mellon
Purdue (Safety)</p>

<p>And do other people think that an exchange program like the one I am in will help significantly or at all?</p>

2

<p>If you are as you say a "typical white kid", studying in school in Taiwan in a different language should definitely be a hook. If you can write about this in your essay well, this should give your application a decent shot at any college; of course, there are no guarantees in the toss-up that is elite college admissions.</p>

3

<p>no hooks......</p>

4

<p>haha bandit_TX you're posts are super pessimistic and anyways, i'm being sponsored by rotary the local club, i didnt just pay my way to anything--i had to do an application and all that long and boring crap for it too (in response to your earlier posts)</p>

<p>and yes, i'm a plain old white kid, haha like 98% of my class is white--about as cultural undiverse as possible</p>

<p>oh heh, and thanks ExRunner, thats the kind of boost i've been looking for, since my parents are so obsessed with it all.</p>

5

<p>no hooks
-too many kids graduate early nowadays and that might even be a problem of maturity in the eyes of an adcom
-study abroad is also common</p>