<p>I'm beginning to explore college options and I would like a rough idea of where I stand. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>About
-Asian-American male (half Chinese, half Korean)
-Second generation college student (parents were born in Asia but attended college in the United States)
-Resident of North Carolina
-Public magnet school with IB MYP and DP Programmes, ranked in 400s by Newsweek
-Currently a junior
-Currently completing my IB Diploma</p>
<p>Courses Taken
Freshman:
-Honors English I
-Honors Algebra II
-Honors Civics and Economics
-Honors Biology
-Spanish II
-Manufacturing I
-Band</p>
<p>Sophomore:
-Honors English II
-Honors Precalculus
-AP World History
-Honors Chemistry
-Honors Spanish III
-Healthful Living
-Band</p>
<p>Junior (current):
-IB English III
-AP/IB Calculus AB/BC
-IB History of the Americas
-IB Physics I
-AP Spanish Language
-AP/IB Human Geography
-IB Theory of Knowledge
-Band</p>
<p>Senior (probable):
-IB English IV
-IB 20th Century Topics
-IB Physics II
-IB Spanish
-AP/IB Chemistry
-AP Environmental Science
-IB Theory of Knowledge
-Band
-Calculus III (@ local college)
-Differential Equations (@ local college)
-Linear Algebra (@ local college) (these last two - I'm not sure if I'll take them)</p>
<p>Testing/Grades
SAT: Taken twice
-January 2008: 2080 (600CR, 800M, 680W-8E)
-December 2008: 2190 (680CR, 770M, 770W-10E)
-Superscored: 2220 (680CR, 800M, 770W-10E)
-I'll probably take it once more in May.
PSAT: Sophomore 203, Junior 208
AP Tests:
-Already taken: World History (5)
-Will take this year: Calculus BC, Spanish Language, Statistics (self-studied), U.S. History
-May take next year: (these are all uncertain) English Language, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Physics B or C
IB Tests:
-Will take this year: Geography SL
-Will take next year: English HL, History HL, Math HL, Physics HL, Spanish SL
HS cumulative GPA (through five semesters): 4.0 UW, 4.87 W
-Freshman:
--UW 4.0, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0 (4.0 overall)
-Sophomore: 3.9, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0 (4.0 overall)
-Junior (through first semester): 3.9, 3.9 (4.0 overall)
Class rank: 5/524</p>
<p>Extracurriculars/Awards
-Band (alto saxophone, four years, I will be section leader next year. I also play piano)
-Soccer (have been playing outside of school for 10+ years, played two years in middle school and one year JV in high school)
-Math Club (president since 10th grade)
-Model UN
-Tutoring (over 70+ hours last summer for algebra I/II and geometry, I also regularly tutor calculus students)
-Science Olympiad
-Spanish Honors Society
-4th place at state - North Carolina geometry competition 2006
-2nd place at regionals and 13th place at state - NC MathCounts competition 2006
-2nd place at regionals - Science Olympiad 2009
-Middle school soccer sportsmanship award 2006
-Winner of 2009 Hanna Ridgeway award for essay contest about environmental determinism</p>
<p>Other Information
-I definitely will not be able to maintain my GPA through the end of this year. IB is tough stuff.
-Leaning towards a major in aerospace engineering with a minor in Chinese. I realize that not all of the schools on this list have these programs - I may change my mind and do a mathematics major instead.
-I have about 60 hours of community service from middle school, and about 250 from high school thus far.
-I feel that I am a fairly strong essay writer, and hopefully this will carry through to my applications next year.
-Middle-class family. Both my parents were born in Asia but attended college at South Carolina. Mother now doesn't work and father got his Ph. D. at Carnegie-Mellon - he is now working in chemical engineering.
-I really have no idea where I stand at this point. I think that I can compete for HYPSMC, but I'm not sure. I feel like my extracurriculars and SAT are not very strong. If I am aiming too high, please tell me. I just don't want to waste money applying somewhere that I would have no chance of getting into.</p>
<p>Schools
Top five:
1. Stanford University
2. MIT
3. University of California, Berkeley
4. Duke University
5. Princeton University</p>
<p>Others I am interested in (in alphabetical order):
California Institute of Technology
UCLA
Carnegie-Mellon University
University of Chicago
Cornell University
Georgetown University
Georgia Tech
Harvard University
UIUC
UNC-Chapel Hill
North Carolina State University
Pennsylvania University
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest University
Yale University</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>