ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION!!!!!! (what are my chances)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Some backround information, I go to school in California, I am an asian male, I was born in Beijing, China and came to the US when I was 5. Still a citizen of China though.</p>

<p>I know three languages, Chinese (fluent in speaking and listening, but dont really know how to read/write. thats why I didnt take the SAT II), English, and Spanish (Learned in HS).</p>

<p>I know I should've put this in the "What Are My Chances?" section but I thought maybe you guys would have more knowledge.</p>

<p>Lets see.......</p>

<p>2240 New SAT I (750 V 760 M 730 W)
790 US History SAT II
760 Math SAT II</p>

<p>Biology AP- 5
US History AP- 5</p>

<p>Taking 3 AP classes senior year (English AP, Economics AP, Calculus BC AP)</p>

<p>Our small high school does not offer that many AP classes...basically freshmen and sophmore do not have any AP classes available to them. I took the hardest courses that were offered to me.</p>

<p>U/W GPA 3.996 (Only 1 B in my entire HS career and it was in freshmen year, straight A's both sophmore and junior year)
Weighted 4.225
Weighted (10-12) 4.38
Weighted (11) 4.67</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Debate Team- 4 years (Captain jr Year, President sn year). Awards at many tournaments. Also, unlike many other schools, our school doesnt have a debate team coach so I pretty much taught all the novices (some of whom are pretty successful) and handled all the administrative issues. All my success has also been attained without a coach. I plan to write about this in my essay.</p>

<p>Junior Statesmen of America- 2 years (a member since it was created my junior year). Leadership position guaranteed, either vice president or speaker of house/senate senior year.</p>

<p>Socio-Political Activist League- 3 years (a member since it was created my sophmore year). Vice president senior year. We hold mock elections at school, organize protests, ect.</p>

<p>Student Representative on Student Site Council senior year. We meet once a week. This is where the school decides where it allocates its' funds.</p>

<p>Internship at Xceive (Start-Up Company) for 4 weeks. 8 hours each day. Helped them complete numerous projects like writing for their website, powerpoint presentations, analyzing their statistics and making graphs, ect.</p>

<p>Some other ECs like jv football for a year, numerous community service clubs for a year each, but nothing significant.</p>

<p>My essay will be very good but my letters of rec might not be spectacular.</p>

<p>SCHOOLS IM THINKING OF APPLYING TO:
-UPenn (Wharton) Early Decision
-Yale
-Stanford
-Columbia
-Duke
-Cornell
-UChi
-Northwestern
-UC Berk
-UCLA</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Wow... Everything before "EC" is basically just me... A few differences, but basically the same</p>

<p>Haha, nice.</p>

<p>:)</p>

3

<p>You certainly are in range for all of your schools. I would, however add a safety or two.</p>

4

<p>Your EC's are fine, but you have to be careful to make them come across in the best way possible, as your EC's are more on the "typical" side.</p>

<p>Wharton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and Duke are reaches (but attianable).</p>

<p>Cornell, UChi, & Northwestern are low reaches / high matches</p>

<p>Berk & UCLA are matches as a Cali resident.</p>

<p>Look at the rest of the UC's for safeties. USC would also be fairly safe, but be sure to apply to UCSD/UCI/UCD just in case.</p>

<p>A decent to great chance at all the schools on your list.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the input guys!</p>

<p>Hahaha so much nicer than the comments in the Ivy forums.</p>

6

<p>BreakOrDeath88:</p>

<p>UCB: Match
UCLA: Match</p>

7

<p>If you do not get good recommendations, then you will, unfortunately, fall into the "typical" Asian category~ pure academics and nothing else. You are a match for the top UC's if you aren't applying to an impacted major. I would not be surprised to see you get rejected from all those privates. Perhaps consider some other ones? Best of luck,</p>

<p>TTG</p>

8

<p>My letters of rec arent going to be mediocre, they're just not going to be spectacular. Both the teachers im going to have write the letters know that i am a good, smart student and one of them probably likes me the most out of anyone in the class (I participate a lot in in-class discussions). And I'm also going to be getting our debate advisor to write a rec telling about my leadership skills, teaching novices, ect. My boss for the internship will write one as well. The one thing I dont do is I dont talk to my teachers that much at all outside of school and I dont think they know me THAT well.</p>

9

<p>You will really need outstanding recs at the top schools. Prep your teachers. Write them detailed notes on your accomplishments, interests, etc.</p>

10

<p>If your teachers basically say "he's a good kid, nice, sweet, and participates a lot" then it's good as trash. It's rather harsh and this is applicable to everyone vying for the top colleges. It should be a given that you have all those qualities, in fact, it should be the bare minimum for consideration to these schools. What are the personal aspects that they will talk about you? If there's essentially none, then those recommendations will surely hurt you more than help. Imagine the admissions official reading the recommendation I mentioned above, and one where the teacher/advisor/employer says "this kid is one in a million! blah blah blah" for two pages.. it's simply no contest. Managing good grades and good test scores is enough for a good school, demonstrating excellence elsewhere will be the key into an excellent school. Best of luck,</p>

<p>TTG</p>

11

<p>ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION!!!!!! (your chances are decent to good.)</p>