<p>Why post and then be defensive? Apply, you’ll get your answers soon enough.</p>
<p>I also think you are being overly defensive. You asked us what we thought. I still think you are overly fixated on too many schools that are the hardest to get into. I also don’t think that being Asian from Arizona makes you that much different from being Asian from California. I would add some schools like Cal Tech to your list. It’s not so much that I think you won’t get into Stanford or MIT, it’s that I don’t know if you will and I think you have a good shot at a place like Cal Tech.</p>
<p>haha guys sorry if i was coming off overly defensive! honestly i can take criticism and i do want it! i just felt that his ideas in general (not just applying to me) were wrong so i was arguing, but this isn’t the place to do so since i technically asked him for his opinion in the first place! </p>
<p>The difference in demographics between California acceptances vs Arizona acceptances are quite clear, but that’s a different discussion altogether. I’ll look into Cal Tech as well.</p>
<p>I know a number of people who have at least 3.8 UW GPA, selected for all-area or all-state teams for their respective sports, play intruments, dedicate 200+ hours to community service, and work on top of everything I listed. Some of them are Hispanic, some are Asian, some are white. Only well rounded kids will most likely get accepted into the top Ivy schools, and all I am saying is I wouldn’t consider you “well rounded” enough.
A kid I used to play basketball against in high school went on to Princeton on a full scholarship. He received a High School Heisman award in 2007. [Scholar-Athletes</a> From Arizona, Pennsylvania Achieve Heisman Glory – re> NEW YORK, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --](<a href=“http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scholar-athletes-from-arizona-pennsylvania-achieve-heisman-glory-58637097.html]Scholar-Athletes”>http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scholar-athletes-from-arizona-pennsylvania-achieve-heisman-glory-58637097.html)
That’s a well rounded individual.</p>
<p>I agree that those people are extremely all rounded, but then none of those people have research, which is also a tremendous time commitment out of school if participated in seriously. I’m not saying that makes them lacking, I’m just saying I believe that there are different ways to have ECs. But I think we just have different perspectives and thats totally cool, so instead of going into a huge debate, lets just agree to disagree.</p>
<p>I think you have an ok chance at those schools, they are reaches, but it is better than average with your research. A lot of colleges want a well rounded student body, but the best colleges create a well rounded student body by having angular individuals in many areas, don’t worry about that too much.</p>
<p>Enigma, I totally agree with you that those with research awards (I see that you have several local ones in addition to the more notable ones) usually do exceptionally well in college admissions. Instead of asking advice from random people on the internet then arguing with them about the validity of your accomplishments, leave the chance thread and check out the decision threads instead, or check out the old research related threads - being on CC for a relative long time, I did notice that those of us with continuous involvements in research almost all ended up at our top college choices. And despite the popular consensus, having volunteer experience is not a requirement in any way (though you already said that you were leader of several service clubs, so I don’t even know where that came from), nor is well-roundness more preferably than concentration in one area.</p>
<p>For some reason I disagree with much of the posts on this thread. Yes, being an Asian male with an interest in science may put you at a disadvantage, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of world and you’re never getting into college. Apply, be cautious and keep the expectation low, work hard on the essays because it is super-important and can make a huge difference, and I’m sure you’ll end up at somewhere you love in the end.</p>
<p>Athletic ability is primarily something that an individual is born with and it is not evenly distributed throughout the population and has a large hereditary component. Someone who is not born with significant athletic ability may get better with practice but they are certainly never going to be “all state” or even “all county” in any sport. Since the ability to excel at a sport is mostly a luck of the draw type of thing, unless the student is so athletically talented that the college is going to offer him a full athletic scholarship and he is basically going to college to play a sport I do not think sports should be considered a requirement for well-roudedness. Academic ability is essential for success in college, athletic ability is not unless you are there on an athletic scholarship.</p>
<p>^I agree with what you said, but also want to add that well-roundness is not necessarily better than in-depth pursuit in one area.</p>
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<p>Sorry, but Princeton does not offer scholarships, especially not for athletic reasons. </p>
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<p>Dear Analgin, you seem to be erroneously informed on so many admission-related topics. Please do some research. With that said, I hope you’re not ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>lol well rounded. How many kids who are “well rounded” get denied from HYPSM every year? Hundreds of thousands?</p>
<p>How many kids who are exception at only 1 single event are accepted? Lets take a glance the recruited atheletes, the Siemens/Intel/ USA Science Olympiad squad, all state trombone player, and the next picasso. </p>
<p>I think as long as the OP can provide a decent Abstact for his research and tell his research in layman’s words, he will stand a 60%+ chance at making it into at least 1 of HYPSM, assuming 50% above average chances.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with “seeming asian and only doing school.” Let me remind you everyone that asians have successfully OVERREPRESENT themselves by 400% in HYPSM and medical school (4.5% asian population, 20%+ in Elite status). Thats better than the white people and even the well respected jews. I think we white people can learn something from them.</p>
<p>Hey, don’t be discouraged, I’m an Asian male and did typical Asian activities and I got into some great schools.</p>
<p>And don’t worry, being well-rounded is overrated … sure, I kept up my grades, did academic competitions, played a sport, volunteered, etc. but my application was still heavily, heavily lopsided toward music. My top 2 ECs were music, my top awards were all music-related, my essays gushed about music, I answered many of the short answer questions about music; in fact, I’m surprised colleges didn’t find it weird that I was a prospective science major writing all this corny, passionate stuff about music!</p>
<p>In any case, my point is that it’s fine to be lopsided. You seem to be one of those type of applicants, and your research stuff sounds pretty legit. If you can keep it up and write good essays (passion is the key), then I say you certainly have a chance at HYPSM. Your scores are good but not great for these schools, but that GPA and rank will certainly help.</p>
<p>It can be argued that athletic ability is not merely genetics. Without hard work, talent is nothing. Being all state and having good grades and good scores is Ivy league worthy.
I didn’t say the kid got an athletic scholarship. He got a scholarship for academics, and received a number of other scholarships from different organizations, which paid all of the costs for his tuition.
I agree with Enigma to stop this opinionated debate, so I’ll just leave it at that.</p>
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<p>From Princeton?</p>
<p>LOL at EasyIvy: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-2014/954320-how-get-into-ivy.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-2014/954320-how-get-into-ivy.html</a></p>
<p>You make my day.</p>
<p>In my own opinion, your resume looks really, really good. The problem is that I’m not an admissions officer of a really competitive college that gets thousands of applications that are really, really good. As for the whole well-rounded vs. good at a particular area debate, I think that colleges would probably prefer someone who is extremely good at something as opposed to someone who is quite good at multiple things. However, it’s not easy to be that good at something.</p>
<p>Anyway, no matter what, I’m sure that with the right attitude you’ll succeed in life. Just remember that although Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Yale and such may be fantastic schools, they might not necessarily all be the best fit for you. As a rising junior, I’m starting to look at colleges, and of course I’m interested in the really prestigious colleges, but I plan to do some extensive research to find the colleges that will truly further my goals in life. Good luck to you in the college admissions process! :)</p>
<p>Honestly, saving a 3rd world village is essentially doable. I mean it sounds tacky and far-fetched but doing something like saving eyeglasses and shipping them to a village sounds good!</p>