Chance a US German Asian! Any comments will be appreciated!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Hi all, you may wonder what a German Asian is :>, I was born in China, and moved
to Germany when I was nine. I went to a US High School in Michigan for the junior year and will graduate 2012.</p>

<p>The purpose is to decide whether I should go American for college or rather German, because in Germany there are great colleges such as Munich, Heidelberg or Aachen, those are on the same level as ranked ~#20 US colleges and they don't require tuition, in addition to that I have good chances to get in them.</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>*** I speak German, English and Chinese fluently(all three are on the same level, all "first language") I have an A2 degree in French(equivalent for SAT II with listening) I have studied 2 years of Latin and 2 years of Ancient Greek**</p>

<ul>
<li><p>ACT: 29(I took it 3 months after I arrived in US, language barrier etc.)
Will take one/two times more, looking forward to get at least a 32</p></li>
<li><p>SAT I: Will take in Oct</p></li>
<li><p>SAT II: Will take in German, Chinese, Math, Physics and Chem</p></li>
<li><p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.0 in 1st semester, 3.7 in second (I was straight A in Germany)</p></li>
<li><p>Rank: School neither ranks nor release val GPA</p></li>
<li><p>AP: Will take in Chem, Physics and German</p></li>
<li><p>Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, AP Literature</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Individual Awards- (weakness on my application): Non(there are no such awards in Europe)</p>

<p>Team Awards- all in Germany/Europe)
* Basketball:two-times U16-Division II Champions
U16-European Championship Ro32
* Tabletennis: ITTF junior-world-championship Ro16</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Extracurriculars: Basketball(SG/PG, teamcaptain), Lego NXT robotics/programming team(Teamcaptain), choir(3 years), Chem Lab</p></li>
<li><p>Summer Activities:
-Volunteered in a orphanage(200 hours) and church basketball league(50 hours)
-travelling: I visited about 30 countries on 3 continents, visited all EU countires plus UK, Swiss and Norway</p></li>
<li><p>Work: FIBA licensed basketball-referee for Division IV, about 15 games experience</p></li>
<li><p>Essays: Working</p></li>
<li><p>Teacher Recommendations: N/A</p></li>
<li><p>Counselor Rec: N/A</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Other</p>

<ul>
<li>Apply for Financial Aid?: No</li>
<li>Intended Major: Math or Physics(I have a passion for Fusion Power technology)</li>
<li>State: MI</li>
<li>Country: US(my high school)/Germany(permanent residency)</li>
<li>School Type: Privat</li>
<li>Ethnicity: Asian</li>
<li>Gender: Male</li>
</ul>

<p>I recognize there are certain glaring weaknesses in my application, also do I realize that I lack awards. The fact that I'm Asian (east Indian) may hurt me; however, my stay in Germany, US and my language skills should make it up. I just hope all of the above factors and whatever weaknesses you may see will add up to multiple rejections from all of these top schools.</p>

<p>Best Regards and Good Luck to everybody else applying!</p>

2

<p>I assume that you aren’t a US citizen, which will make it very hard for you. On top of that, your ACT is a bit low, and since junior year GPA is the most important, it’d be harder. IIRC, Stanford’s SAT II guidelines recommend not taking a test in a language that you speak natively, so you should probably focus on math, physics, and chemistry (that’s more than enough anyway).</p>

<p>At the same time, you do have an interesting story: being east Indian, born in China, partly raised in Germany, having spent some time in the US, and having been to more countries in your short life than most will ever travel to. You do also have some interesting accomplishments, like the world championship in table tennis, and you have strong leadership. So your story + not asking for financial aid + strong grades in Germany + an upward trend in junior year (with the language barrier as an explanation for the difficulty at first), all would give you a shot, but it’d be very important for you to do well in senior year and to get a much stronger ACT or SAT score, plus SAT II scores.</p>

<p>That said, the acceptance rate for Stanford is approaching 1 in 20, and even amazing applicants with a stronger academic background are rejected, though their background might not be as interesting as yours. I think you might also be better off going to a German university, most of which are pretty awesome (if you didn’t know, most US universities are modeled after German ones). It’d be worth it to apply to Stanford if you can improve in the above areas, since you just might have a shot, especially if you explored your background on the application.</p>

<p>Fun story: there was a poster on these boards a few years ago who was quite simply awesome and had very unique accomplishments (like making his own violins). He was a Caucasian US citizen, but was raised in a Chinese family, and learned German in high school. It seemed that Stanford was his first choice, but he applied to a German university (I think Munich) on a whim. He got into Stanford and was likely going to attend, but at the last minute before the deadline, he turned Stanford down and decided to go to Germany. I don’t know how he’s done since, but it goes to show that Stanford isn’t the be-all-end-all and that German universities can be very worthwhile.</p>

3

<p>WOW pretty awesome resume, but i agree with ^^ above* choose a school because it suits YOU not the other way around.</p>

4

<p>^
Thanks alot :D, funny story hehe, I appreciate a lot what you ahve written! I have some specific questions so I PMed you :></p>

5

<p>I’ve got a nice story about myself: ppl asked me in what language I do my inner monologue… I told him tbh I don’t really know haha because I always try to remind me to remeber what language I use for monologue, but I never realize it xD </p>

<p>But I told him that I actually dream in four different languages ^^</p>

6

<p>Wait what does being a US citizen have to do with the admission process?</p>