Chance a sleep-deprived Junior for NYU please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>There are definitely a few things I've forgotten, but this is a pretty good picture so far.</p>

<p>Partial List of Schools: NYU (1st choice), University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, USF</p>

<p>Location: HI
Financial Aid: Yes, but it's very unlikely I'll get it. However, we do have medical issues in the family.
Ethnicity: Full Chinese
SAT: Haven't taken yet. Currently 1980, hoping for 2200 when I do. 700 Writing, 700 C.R., 550 Math.
SAT II (Planned): Chinese, U.S. History, maybe Lit.
"Hook": First-gen, first to go to college in continental US, ESL
High School: Private Catholic prep, <500 students K-12
Rank: N/A
Field of Interest: Law school, possibly a Psychology/IR double major for undergrad</p>

<p>Freshman GPA: 3.03 (Strange and severe family situations led to this)
Sophomore GPA: 3.5
Current GPA: ??? (Hoping for a 3.7)
Noteworthy Courses/Electives (Both current and past): APUSH (Only AP offered at junior level), Psychology, Art History, Personal Finance, Creative Writing, Honors Eng 9-11, Honors Math 9-10, Japanese I-III, World Religions
Planned: AP Bio, AP Lit./Eng., AP US Gov, Calculus, Japanese IV</p>

<p>ECs:
- Debate/Speech (Policy and Impromptu, respectively.)
- Drama Club (9-12, secretary for 1 year)
- Internship at school (11)
- Sound operator for school musical (10)
- Interact Club (11-12)
- Banquet Committee (11-12)
- Culture & Arts Club (11-12)
- Took summer Hawaii Pacific University course on the American Political System. Got an 89...</p>

<p>Titles/Etc:
- Honor Roll (10)
- National Society of High School Scholars
- National Forensic League (11)
- District Science Fair (10, didn't win anything, should I even mention it?)
- Poetry chosen to appear in a publication (11)</p>

<p>Volunteer:
- 6 months tutoring elementary ESL kids English, stopped when the main tutor went to MIT/Columbia (Can't remember which), starting it again by myself immediately.
- Various in-school tutoring (9 + 10)</p>

<p>Summer 2010 Options (This is where I need help in deciding. All of the options below are possible, I just don't know which would be most helpful.):
- Teach children English in China
- Internship in Taiwan at a relative's architecture firm.
- Work on my relative's tea farm in China's countryside
- Apply to do a selective Hawaiian environment conservation program</p>

2

<p>NYU - match/high match
Chicago - mid/high reach
CMU - high match/low reach
USF - safety/low match</p>

3

<p>Thanks a lot, phuriku! Those are very close to my predictions as well.</p>

4

<p>Your list is not great if you really need aid. I think NYU is a reach and you’d be unlikely to get aid if you do get in. Same with CMU. Chicago meets need, but it’s also a big reach. USF looks more like a match, but I don’t know how much aid they give.</p>

<p>Keep in mind you’re not first gen if a parent went to college anywhere. Anyway, most schools don’t care about first gen, that’s a top school seeking diversity thing. I’d also skip the Chinese SATII as a native speaker, schools hate that.</p>

5

<p>hmom5 - I don’t NEED a great deal of aid, but naturally the amount given would affect which schools I would be able to go to. </p>

<p>My understanding of first-generation is that it applies to anyone who is born in the United States, regardless of what his/her parent did in the country. Dad transferred from his Taiwanese university to HI’s state university, and mom didn’t even go to a four-year college. </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks greatly for the input, I’ll work very hard in the future.</p>