<p>Hi, using a friend's account.
Asian Female from northern CA, competitive high school (top 100), sends a couple hundred kids into UCs every year. </p>
<p>Dartmouth ED
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Northwestern
UPenn
Duke
UChicago
UC Berkeley</p>
<p>ACADEMICS
3.96 UW GPA</p>
<p>APs: (9 total)
Jr Year:
Calc AB (5)
APUSH (4)
English Language (4)
Biology (5)
Sr. Year:
Stats
English Lit
French
Gov
Econ</p>
<p>ECs:
Yearbook: 3 years, Student Life section editor this year
tutor after school at tutoring place, 2 years (started out 10 hours/week, now doing ~5 hrs/month due to scheduling)
Figure skated competitively freshman/soph year, placed in some competitions
CSF 100% life member</p>
<p>ESSAYS: decent
RECS: decent, but not phenomenal</p>
<p>I'm in pretty much the same situation as you...=decent scores/GPA/APs, but somewhat weak ECs. Isn't it sad that Asians who would clearly stand out academically in top colleges could ever label themselves "average". Shows how wack the process really is imho. Good luck to you anyway and I suppose we can only hope we all, ultimately, end up where we belong.</p>
<p>You sound kind of like me in high school: Asian, 4.0 UW GPA until my final semester (icky calc-based physics); 2250 SAT (780 bio, 800 math-II, 800 lit); 5's in AP US history, European History, Calc AB, Calc BC, English Lit, Bio, a 4 in German and a 3 in physics (skipped the gov and econ tests); was in science olympiad, several non-school orchestras, won a lot of SoCal-wide flute competitions (the people I beat mostly ended up at conservatories or big music programs...but I was into science). I did the CSF bit too, and was a National Merit scholar.</p>
<p>Harvard waitlisted me with an eventual rejection, Yale said flat-out no. I didn't apply to the other Ivies you mention, but Brown wasn't keen on me, either. No problem with any of the UC's...got several Regents scholarships too. I ended up coming out to Indiana (lots and lots of scholarship money), where I met with droves of people enthusing about the wonderful geniuses at their high school who passed, like, four AP tests! And they were National Merit /Finalists/!...who all got into Harvard. California is a bad place to be.</p>
<p>But don't despair. Playing the Harvard guessing game is kind of like roulette, but there's a chance luck will be on your side.</p>
<p>Oh, shut up. I'm sick of people using 'average' in thread titles just so they pull in arrogant CCers hoping to condescend. WAHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'M NOT IN THE 99.8TH PERCENTILE OF SAT SCORES, ONLY THE 98TH, I'M GOING TO FAIL AT LIFE. OH JESUS, MY GPA IS .04 AWAY FROM PERFECT, SOMEONE TAKE ME OUT OF MY AGONY. Oh, lord help me, I haven't devoted 600 hours to the cure for AIDS, I'm going to be stuck at an entry-level job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>But yeah, your obviously extraordinarily intelligent. Besides grades though you don't seem to show much passion. I would say figureskating is good but you only seem to have been interested in that freshman/sophmore year. Here's how I would chance you.</p>
<p>Dartmouth ED-Waitlist, could go either way after that
Princeton-Reject
Harvard-Reject
Yale-Reject
Columbia-Reject
Northwestern-Accept
UPenn-Reject
Duke-Accept
UChicago-Reject
UC Berkeley-Accept</p>
<p>I can only base that just on what you've provided, there's lots of stuff that enters into the equation I'm not aware of so take what I or anyone says with an ENORMOUS grain of salt. just make sure your essay's are top notch and who knows!</p>
<p>You have a good list of academic but your EC's are weak. Try to think about some other things you've done, even if they were with your school (ex: breast cancer awarness, race for the cure, walk for life...etc.) I'm sure you can think of some things that don't automatically stand out. Did you do community serivce, even just once, with your class, or made cookies for a senior home?</p>
<p>
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You have a good list of academic but your EC's are weak.
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</p>
<p>I disagree. "Figure skated competitively freshman/soph year, placed in some competitions". This is a strong EC. It requires a lot of time and commitment.</p>
<p>samurkai, I have been figure skating for twelve years in total and have competed for eight years. Although I have not medalled nationally, I have placed over 40 times, which shows my longterm devotion to the sprt. How many hours a week do you skate? It is a great way to show commitment, but many people only devote 1-2 hours a week, which is not a major ec imho.</p>