Best thing i can do...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>i'm a chinese female, junior, at a 45% asian school in California. our school usually has around 20 people per 450 graduating class admitted to UCberkeley. Each year, 2-3 get admitted to Stanford, Ivies, etc. </p>

<p>schoolwise - i guess i'm doing alright:
soph - 4.3 gpa, got 5's on AP Euro & Chem tests... 800 on Chem SAT II, 2190 on SAT'S
now i'm taking 6 honors/AP classes and surviving</p>

<p>extracurriculars are not that great - 150 hrs of community service, varsity tennis soph year but i quit; in CSF, Red Cross clubs, but not officers; </p>

<p>i want to know my chances for getting into top schools, whether or not Stanford is impossible, and if it is worth my time to retake my SAT I's. For example, whether or not i'm too ordinary or the typical asian student and will not stand out much... also, what things i should do to make myself stand out more?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance</p>

2

<p>The best thing you can do to make yourself stand out more is to have something you really like doing and show through your essays and/or awards that you spent a lot of time and energy on it. It can be academic (as in winning math competitions at the state level) or it can be non-academic (such as being volunteer of the year for your community service organization). If you don't have an award then your essay can talk about how you LOVE what you are doing, how it led you to choose your major, etc., but you better have the time commitment to back up your essay. I think colleges want to see people who live life with a purpose other than just to get into college. They figure that even if the person changes her purpose later, she has still shown that she can apply herself wholeheartedly to something of her own choosing.</p>