<p>jamescchen - I’m partial to THE EARLY ADMISSIONS GAME, Steinberg’s THE GATEKEEPERS, and Golden’s THE PRICE OF ADMISSION.</p>
<p>If you are writing your own book, please let me know when it comes out–I am quite fond of narrative/case-study college admissions reads.</p>
<p>I doubt that SoCal Asians would be in much demand at Pomona, but AWS, yes.</p>
<p>jamescchen- Do you go to Columbia? Because I know someone from my school who graduated last year and is going to Columbia…same first/last name =p</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yea, I just found out she is a double State Champ for California (1st place in state for TWO events in track…=p) And she really wants to go to Stanford.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well I’m actually applying through Questbridge, which is a scholarship program for low-income people…if that helps? </p>
<p>But my question is, how can I distinguish myself from other math/science Asians? Is it simply writing passionately about a non-math/science thing in my essays? Something personal? </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yea, I’m applying to Williams, Pomona, etc. too, just to expand my options.</p>
<p>Since Stanford is EA, I would not be surprised to see the black track champion apply to HYP and other Ivies just to compare their offers. This is the logical thing for her to do. Unless she does something very stupid, she is a lock on virtually all of these schools assuming she meets minimum requirements (around 1800 SAT, 3.3 GPA, roughly).</p>
<p>I’ve seen the Questbridge hook work at the tippy-top tier mostly for Vietnamese and Filipino students (underrepresented Asians, as opposed to the big 3: Chinese, Korean, Indian). I do not think it will work for you, but I’ve been wrong before. No one is infallible. And yes, I did attend Columbia as a freshman, but a long, long time ago. I later transferred to Cornell (BS) and went to graduate school at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Mr. Jones, it’s not wrong to aim for the top, but my suggestion is to plan for a more realistic scenario as I pointed out in message #37. Is a 150-to-1 shot at HYPSM worth risking a doubling of your chances of ED success at Penn or Cornell (perhaps 3-to-1 odds)? It sounds like you are already thinking strategically by expanding to Williams, etc. This is good. Your Questbridge status will certainly be helpful at other campuses.</p>
<p>The big question is “how can I distinguish myself from other math/science Asians?” As I’ve mentioned before, ultimately, you’ve got to prove that you are not an Asian Robot. That’s easier said than done.</p>
<p>Here’s my take on college admission to the Ivies and Super Top colleges.</p>
<p>The Ivy and Super Top College Preferred Groups (in order of preference).
<p>If you are in group 7, good luck, because there are plenty of super smart Asian kids just like you who wants to go there. However, don’t give up hope. You have pretty good stats, whatever will be, will be.</p>
<p>Shoot I’m in group 7</p>
<p>Keilexandra,</p>
<p>The book is in the works, but I am still testing some theories on the (college) Class of 2014. Questions still to be answered:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How much does it hurt to apply for financial aid? For the Class of 2013, it appears to have been much worse historical data would indicate. Making<em>A</em>Point lumps poor and middle class together in his ranking, and this I think is a mistake. Middle class looks to me to be the worst off by a wide margin. But is this only temporary, given the economic situation?</p></li>
<li><p>The First Effect - How superior must an Asian student be in order to be “pulled in” by the white admit at the “suburban refuge” high school? Clearly, there are advantages for Asians to be at high-performing, majority-white high schools. But as Dan Golden showed in “The Price of Admission”, just as good as the white student is NOT good enough. The margin of safety needs to be quantified. I don’t think Chang and Espenshade’s study (2005) of SAT score disparities between whites and Asians goes far enough.</p></li>
<li><p>New Schools - For schools without an established Ivy-pipeline, what does it take for an Asian student to be admitted to the upper tier of schools? With Charter Schools on the rise, this will become an increasingly important distinction. I already have some student “guinea pigs” lined up for this experiment.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>jamescchen-middle class is included in my ‘Rich’ grouping. In the past when the top Ivies are flush with cash, admitting top student on a ‘need-blind’ basis was the best policy. Unfortunately, when the endowment took a hit, all these colleges pull back dramatically. I am very certain that Kid who request for fin aid will be look less favorably than kid who does not. Unless, you are a super Asian kid, than it would be fine to apply to HYPMS. Than again, the competition is so stiff that only a few lucky one will be admitted. I emphasize ‘luck’ because, I know of an Asian kid from my school who is not even in the top 10% of the graduating class got admitted to Harvard. Not sure how he did it but he did it. Everyone was surprised. One theory is that he was not a typical Asian, his emphasis was in the humanity.</p>
<p>Regarding the Asian kid accepted to Harvard :</p>
<p>1) It’s not random
2) There’s a reason for everything that happens</p>
<p>And the reason why I’m here:</p>
<p>3) The better informed you are, the more likely you are to get what you want</p>
<p>The “rich” grouping should be composed solely of students receiving no financial aid (other than loans). Depends on your definition of “middle class,” I suppose, but if you are barely disqualified for FA, you are UPPER middle class. I am middle class and still qualify for over half-COA in need-based aid at top schools (not just HYP top, but the full-need schools).</p>
<p>One problem out here on the West Coast is the cost of living. An income-level that might be “upper-middle” class elsewhere, is barely middle class in Northern California and parts of Southern California. We also have the 2nd highest tax rates in the USA, and when you factor that in, six-figure salaries don’t seem so high.</p>
<p>The middle class bracket is also the largest cohort of applicants to the upper-tier of colleges, and so they face the decision of whether or not to apply for financial aid. In most cases, they are looking at eventual college costs even with some financial aid that make it impossible to save any money.</p>
<p>jamescchen-Regarding the Asian kid accepted to Harvard :</p>
<p>1) It’s not random
2) There’s a reason for everything that happens
+++++
And what might that reason(s) be? You will never find out unless you are a ‘fly in the wall’ during the admission committee decision discussion. Perhaps a very compelling essay that protray him as an interesting candidate. If this was the reason, then I think the admission committee is doing a real disservice to the bright boring kid who is in the top 10% of the class. Hard working kid who consistently do well in academic work I believed is a good indicator of future success. I would rather select a kid who has substance rather than just interesting. Ok, this is just my opinion, the whole admission process sometime is fraud with biasness and stereotype.</p>
<p>^ Your approach–favoring the “bright boring kid”–is notably not shared by most (almost all?) college admissions officers.</p>
<p>Here’s a true story: It’s my freshman year at Columbia Univ. I get into a conversation with my neighbor across the hallway about college applications, as I am filling out my transfer applications to Penn Engineering. I ask him if he was accepted to Penn, and as it turns out, we were both rejected by Penn. I ask him who he chose as the response to the Penn essay, “Who would you have dinner with, any person living, dead or fictional?”</p>
<p>He had chosen Johnny Carson. Me, Ed McMahon. We both happened to be watching the Tonight Show when filling out our Penn applications as high school seniors. Luckily, Columbia application didn’t have such a question.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me why we were both rejected by Penn?</p>
<p>Hmm…well does anyone have any specific tips for trying to seem unique/different from the typical math/science Asian? How bout…a weird, philosophical essay about some really random yet interesting topic? Or an essay about sports? Or one that talks about how I am a leader in my community? (through ASB student government, volunteering, school board representative, etc.)</p>
<p>There are tons of essays written every year about sports!
Also, colleges want to know about you, not “some really random yet interesting topic” unless it really reflects your personality.
Take advantage of the essay to show them what an awesome person you are, not what awesome topic is awesome.
Leader in community is good. They love that stuff. Just make sure it sounds original. Which is tough to accomplish.</p>
<p>How do you prove that you’re not an Asian robot?</p>
<p>Well I’m assuming that the answer to that question^ is that we simply have to be honest, passionate, and have a strong voice in our essay, yet making sure that it is original and thoughtful, and unique.
So I guess if I write about being a leader in the community, I would have to talk about what specific positions I had, what I did, how I changed the lives of others and myself, what I learned from the experience, how it can shape my future, etc. in such a unique way that it distinguishes myself from others…</p>
<p>Mr. Jones, for you, definitely I think that would work. Others would have to take a different approach (the math genius, for example). Basically, there’s no cookie cutter approach to defeating the Asian Robot Syndrome. But you’ve captured the essence of the task at hand.</p>
<p>Congratulations, and best of luck to you in your college search!</p>
<p>at this point, i am SO glad that i’m a non-robot Asian. yesh!!! :D</p>
<p>you’re ECs only sound impressive to people who really don’t know about major contests and stuff. No usa_o, intel, or the other stuff that tons of asian guys from california have.</p>