Care to give a "mediocre asian" chances for his almost finalized list?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So I'm more or less copying what I posted a month and a half ago, but this time with a bit more info.</p>

<p>Asian male from NJ
Difficult Public School (consistently ranked in top 10 public schools in NJ, every year ~5-8% go to ivy league schools)
Income: 200k+ (will this help me anywhere? my guidance counselor said at most places no, but is that entirely true?)</p>

<p>SAT: 610 CR 730 M 750 W
SAT2: 740 Math 2, 560 Bio, 640 Chem (taking SAT2 in French and Math 2 in December)
ACT: 33 (32 E, 34 M, 31 R, 35 S, 30 E/W, 9 Essay)
GPA: 4.2 (W)/4.3 (my school does GPA wierdly, an A in a regular class is a 4.3, but in an AP or Honors class is a 5.0, then they go down .3-.4 each step, so like an A- is a 4.0 i regular and a 4.7 in AP/Honors)
Rank: School does deciles on weighted GPA, I'm in the 2nd one, but ranking wise I'm towards the top of the range of that decile, so I'd say 10-15%</p>

<p>Course Load:
9th Grade (hardest): H English, H Alg2/Trig, H Physical Science, French 3
10th Grade (hardest): AP Bio (3 on exam), H Intro to Analysis, H US History, H English, French 4
11th Grade (difficult, but not most difficult): AP Chem (4 on exam), AP Calc AB (5 on exam), H English, US History 2, French 5
12th Grade (one of most difficult): AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP French Language, AP English Lit, Sociology (Semester 1), Introduction to Economics (Semester 2). Currently straight A's with the exception of French and English where I have a B+ in both (May be able to bring up to A- if I'm lucky)
Class Size: 252
School Size: 1053</p>

<p>ECs:
Viola: 4 years
Piano: 12 years
Orchestra: 3 years
Teaching Piano: 2 years
Babysitting
NJ Math League: 4 years
Photography
Book Club: 4 years
Volunteering: mainly at Susan G Koman, but I suppose it might look good since I'm a guy?
Quizbowl: 1 year
Some amount of travel (Ireland, England, France, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, various US states)</p>

<p>So yeah, that looks like it. If there is anything that I seemed to have missed
just say so and I'll try to get it. Most likely I'll be submitting my ACT scores.</p>

<p>I'm planning on majoring in either business or economics (business over econ unless business isn't offered)</p>

<p>U of Chicago (EA) (yay, just submitted my application)
NYU (Stern)
USC (Older sister is a current student there)
BU
Brown
Rutgers
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
Stanford
Columbia
Georgetown
UMich
UNC-Chapel Hill</p>

<p>Georgetown, UMich, and UNC I'm debating on which to apply to, but I'll most likely end up applying to only 1 of the 3.</p>

<p>Thanks for any help you guys can offer and if anyone else has any suggestions of schools I might like, please post your ideas.</p>

2

<p>Oh quick thing I forgot to add, from freshmen year (almost all A's, I think 2 B's), I went down in my sophomore year(1 C+, several B's, and a few A's). However, I have had an upward trend since then (Junior year low A's/high B's in all classes, senior year already stated above).</p>

<p>Will that drop look bad or will it be ok since I have an upward trend from there?</p>

3

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-Top30 LAC near Boston. HC has very strong alumni NETWORK.</p>

4

<p>At most schools I'll be sending in my ACT's, so I'm not worrying to much about SAT's, mainly just SAT2's, but hopefully I'll score decently on the French exam.</p>

<p>And thanks for the suggestion par72, I'll look in HC.</p>

5

<p>Anyone else?</p>

6

<p>bump (10 char)</p>

7

<p>I went to NYU Stern's open house, and the admissions officer told me they look for people above the average on the SAT I/IIs and anything in the 700 range is fine as long as you have other stats to support you. People make SAT scores seem bigger than they are; although Stern is stat heavy, your SAT score isn't going to kill you. They are looking for above-average performance, and you have that. The adcom went on to tell me that he considers ranges, not specific scores. So your 740 is in the 720-760 range, which is pretty good. </p>

<p>Furthermore your ACTs are very good. You seem like a solid candidate for Stern (also applying to Stern, it's my first choice), but you can never be sure.</p>

<p>Hope my input helped.</p>

8

<p>jeez, stereotypical asian with really low critical reading SAT score, not to mention weak extracurriculars... Forget brown, stanford, columbia... you won't get into them.</p>

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<p>Haha, meant to take Brown out of there. After consideration, I decided that it didn't seem to be what I was looking for. And bobmallet1, I was going to send my ACT scores to most schools anyways because of that, so really it's just my SAT 2 scores that I need to worry about (which I know are low, which is why I'm planning on retaking them).</p>

<p>And I wasn't expecting to get into Stanford, Columbia, or the UCs, those are more for fun.</p>

<p>So anyone want to give me chances?</p>

<p>And thanks for the input victorm. I actually REALLY liked NYU when I went to their open house several weeks ago.</p>

10

<p>Blah, anyone want to give me chances?</p>

<p>and add Claremont McKenna and and Pomona to my list</p>

11

<p>blah, no one wants to help me?</p>

12

<p>blah, still no chances</p>

13

<p>Wow this list sounds almost EXACTLY like mine, along with the schools i'm applying to, grades, scores, and major. Only differences are my ecs and I'm from California.</p>

<p>From what I know about these colleges, you need something that makes you stand out. Scores aren't too big of a deal but there has to be something you did that makes you 'pop.' I can see that you're very experienced in piano and traveling. Is there a reason you're so passionate about piano or was it a 'parents forced me' kind of thing? The personal statement can change their whole perception of you as a person so I suggest making the most out of that opportunity. </p>

<p>As for scores, I'd have to say Stanford and Columbia are a stretch. But hey, doesn't hurt to try the luck.
Pomona and McKenna are actually quite prestigeous so don't underestimate their small size and 'non-Ivy' status. McKenna especially likes creative innovative liberal students.</p>

<p>Question - is there a reason you chose business/economics? It's hard to tell from your extracuriculars that that's what you want to major in.</p>

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<p>ur scores and gpa seem to be low.. are u a CA resident?</p>

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<p>Agree with Bobmallet. Not in the top 10% of your high school, average stats (for top schools) and no outstanding EC's : you have too many reaches and almost no matches, let alone safeties. You might get lucky and get into one or more of these schools, but you may not. You really need some true safeties. Pomona and Claremont McKenna are both reaches, too. And the state schools you've listed (UC's, UNC, Mich) are all very competetive OOS.</p>

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<p>Yes, I know my list has way to many reaches, but the way I looked at it was that hopefully at least 1 would take me. And with the exceptions of UMich and Chicago (because I have not visited either), the rest seemed like places I would be happy at. And if I was rejected at them all, I would LOVE to be at BU (which along with Rutgers are my safety schools). Do you guys think though I should take out some of my reaches and put in more matches? Because I wasn't really sure what would be a match.....</p>

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<p>You might want to apply to some schools you think you are sure of getting into because what you the ones you have posted are pretty difficult to get into to. You're EC are pretty mediocre. Are you in band or any other school activities? It would seem like filler to me putting some of that stuff in like photography and where you have traveled. No leadership, no sports with good, but not amazing test scores is going to hurt you.</p>

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<p>i think u can deff get into rutgers:]</p>

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<p>I'm in orchestra, but not band. However, I probably will not put that in my ECs simply because it's a class and will be included with my transcript. The reason I put photography is because I have a passion for it, but I suppose without a portfolio, it doesn't do me any good. Would it possibly be worthwhile to submit a few of my pieces to some of my colleges if I have no intentions of majoring in any art related major?</p>

<p>Yeah, I've actually decided not to put it down on the actual applications, but if I have time, I'll make a resume and include it simply because I'm interested in either majoring in Economics or International Business and I figure that some travel experience would help with the latter. But if it's pointless to include it, then I might not.</p>

20

<p>If you have won any competitions in photography I would send some stuff in. I think I'm going to send in some papers that I have won contests in.</p>