chance an ambitious student with good grades/scores but uninspiring ECs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>It's my first time chancing myself, so I apologize if my post is too long...hope you guys don't mind taking a look.</p>

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<p>Personal Info:
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian (American-born Chinese); Can speak Shanghainese (Mandarin dialect) fluently
Location: MI
High School: Public, ~1800 students/450 in my grade, semi-competitive
currently a senior
Interests: computers/technology, music, biological sciences</p>

<p>Academic Info:
GPA: >4.0/4.333 unweighted
~5-10% class rank
SAT I: 2280 (CR 720, M 780, W 780); plan to retake w/ a goal of >=2300
SAT Subjects: Math Lvl2 800, Bio-E 800, Chem 780
ACT: 35 (English 35, Math 36, Reading 33, Science 35)
AP Tests to date: Biology (5), Chemistry (5), English Language (5),
Psychology (5), Statistics (5), US History (5)
Senior year classes: AP English Literature, AP Physics C, AP Calculus BC, chamber orchestra
will be lab assistant for my AP Chem teacher next year</p>

<p>ECs (kinda weak, I know, but reasonable given opportunities @ school):
Quiz Bowl (Gr 9/10/11/12); went to state finals for 2008
Public forum debate team (Gr 9/10)
Science Olympiad (Gr 9/10/11/12)
Piano (8+ years, plan to submit on Arts supplement)
Violin (4 years); school orchestra for Gr 9/10/11/12
Interact Volunteer Club (Gr 9/10/11/12); will be Director of Technology this year (tasked w/ designing website)
Student Senate (Gr 10)
Student Council (Gr 12); tasked w/ designing website</p>

<p>Volunteering:
only a little, ~15 hrs</p>

<p>Sports:
none in school. occasionally do tennis/basketball (nothing fancy)</p>

<p>Summer Programs
took a genetics class, AP Computer Sci, and AP Statistics at Northwestern U (2007, 2008)
bioresearch lab program @ U of Chicago (2008); wrote a 10-page research paper that could be attached w/ app</p>

<p>Application and Recomendations:
Essays: should be solid/decent, somewhat creative
Teacher Rec 1 (Social Sciences): should be excellent
Teacher Rec 2 (Natural Sciences): good/above average</p>

<p>Prospective Colleges
Please chance me for each of these:</p>

<p>Reach/Dream:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Columbia
MIT</p>

<p>Down-to-earth:
WashU
U of Chicago
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
Rice</p>

<p>Backup:
U of Michigan
UNC-Chapel Hill
UC Berkeley
UCLA</p>

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<p>Sorry - I know it's a lot, but I just want a wide variety of info first before narrowing my list. Thanks to anyone that can help.</p>

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<p>You have the reaches down…but UCLA and Berkeley are not back-ups since your OOS. They’re more like slight reaches.</p>

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<p>thanks for the reply. bump</p>

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<p>You need to do three things imo:

  1. Do not rely on getting in at Berkeley. OOS is insane. You probably will get in, but if not, U of M still will serve as a nice back-up
  2. Do not attach that research paper to your app. Admissions committees want to hear that you did great stuff like that but don’t have time to read the essay (and won’t be impressed if you shove it down their throats)
  3. VOLUNTEER! 15 hours is nothing. Aim for at least 50. There are plenty of opportunities, but 15 hours is just weak. 50 hours, while not super important, sends the right message. 15 says, “My chem paper is more important than people in need.”</p>

<p>Good luck! You may even make it into more than one of those reach/dream schools!</p>

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<p>UCLA and UC-Berkeley are most certainly not backups; actually they could be considered reaches for OOS applicants.</p>

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<p>UCLA and UCB cost $45,000/year for OOS.</p>

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<p>lol, point taken about the UCs :)</p>

<p>BUUUMMPPP</p>

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<p>the daily bump</p>