Chance for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>100% Korean (have been living on Canadian Soil since grade 5)</p>

<p>Piano
- ARCT (Associateship of Music, Performers Diploma) Honors with Exceptional Distinctions 96
- 1st Place Open Class at Kiwanis Piano Competition
- 1st Place BC Conservatory of Music Competition
- 1st Burnaby Clef Open Class
- 500+ hours hosting mini concerts at +10 senior care facility centres, hospitals, and covenant houses.</p>

<p>(competing at International Kiwanis Concour in April 2011)
(competing at Kiwanis Provincial/National Competition in May 2011)
(auditioning for a provincial orchestra for Rachmaninoff No.2 Concerto)</p>

<p>Clarinet
- 1st clarinet (3 years) school orchestra and wind ensemble
- Grade 8 Royal Conservatory of Music with Honors</p>

<p>Speech and debate
- 1st place at Independent Schools British Columbia Debate Tournament Juniors
- 2nd place at British Columbia Debate Camp Tournament
- 5th place at Westerns Provincial Public Speaking Competition<br>
- School Debate Captain</p>

<p>Model United Nations
- Director of Economic and Social Council at Vancouver MUN
- Under-secretary general of Committees at Canadian High School MUN
- Best Delegate in International Monetary Fund at Canadian High School MUN
- Best Delegate in ECOSOC at VMUN
- Honorable Mentions DISEC VMUN 2009
- President and Founder of school MUN Club</p>

<p>Sports
- Taekwon Do Black Belt 3rd Degrees
- +300 hours Instructor TKD
- MVP Badminton Team
- School badminton captain</p>

<p>Grade 11 Student Government Member</p>

<p>My grades are as followed:
Grade 9: 3.6 GPA (:S)
Grade 10: 4.0 GPA (3 APs)
Grade 11: 4.5 GPA (5 APs)</p>

<p>My PSAT was 215.</p>

<p>SAT II math: 800
SAT II chem.: 770</p>

<p>I am taking the Reasoning in January 2011.</p>

<p>SAT II Lit (June 2011)
SAT II French (November)</p>

<p>Competition Results:</p>

<p>AMC to AIME (grade 9 score of 127.5)
Canadian Mathematics Contest (Gauss, Pascal, Euclid) First Place at School, 25% National Distinction</p>

<p>List of APs:</p>

<p>grade 10:</p>

<p>AP Music Theory: 5
AP Chem: 4
AP Psychology: 4</p>

<p>grade 11:</p>

<p>AP Eng. Lang
AP Euro History
AP E. Micro
AP E. Macro
AP Calc AB</p>

<p>Grade 11 First semester mark was a 92% average.</p>

<p>My Grade 12 course load is as followed:</p>

<p>AP Eng Lit
AP French
AP Spanish
AP Human Geography
Law 12
Orchestra
Human Services
Study</p>

<p>Frankly, I am quite worried about my freshman grades: my average was 84%.
I am hoping universities look at my grade trends: I have a tremendous incline from grade 9-10-11. I am going to really focus on my grade 12 grades and maximize my chances.</p>

<p>What are my chances?</p>

<p>I am thinking of applying early to Yale with supplements.
I know Yale is a proponent of the Arts. I will sent a piano CD. (professional level)
I have a 20 page research paper on Universal Green Tax. As I am the director of ECOSOC, I am thinking of incorporating the backgrounder with the working paper and the resolution tha will be created at the conference. (maybe academic supplement?)</p>

<p>Regular:</p>

<p>Yale
Harvard
Columbia
Princeton
UPenn
Cornell
UC Berkley</p>

<p>I am still a junior and I have more time than seniors. I am thinking of maintaining the 93 average and maximize my ECs. I have Regionals for Debate and an important public speaking competition. However, if I succeed with the near-future piano competitions, I am sure my chances will be more likely.</p>

<p>Instead of doing SATs during my Winter and summer, I am practicing + 6 hours of piano everyday. Yes my poor hands, but interminable practice makes perfect.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. I will make sure to chance you back absolutely immediately. Just put the link. Just list the chances and hopefully, some comments.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone. I hope all your academic, musical, or university endeavors taste the succulent fruit of dilligence!</p>

<p>from Vancouver, Canada</p>

2

<p>Yale low reach early
Harvard reach
Columbia low reach
Princeton reacj
UPenn low reach
Cornell low reach
UC Berkley idk</p>

3

<p>you seem like a great candidate for all of these schools! i’d say it’s around like this:
Yale: reach
Harvard: reach
Columbia: low reach
Princeton: reach
UPenn: high match
Cornell: high match
UC Berkley: match</p>

<p>the one thing you should work on is your SAT; your projected score is really good but you should try to raise it if you want to be more competitive. also, since all the schools you’re thinking about right now are so selective and their process gets a little arbitrary, you should look into more schools that are match/safety schools, just in case. </p>

<p>good luck! :)</p>

4

<p>and i wouldn’t worry about your freshman grades; most colleges don’t take them into consideration at all, and even if they notice, they’ll see the huge improvement.</p>

5

<p>you are a very impressive candidate. assuming that your class rank will be good, you do decently on SAT, and you rack up those national/international accolades in piano…and i hope your teachers have a high opinion of you</p>

<p>Yale: low reach
Harvard: low reach
Columbia: high match
Princeton: low reach
UPenn: rejected due to yield protection
Cornell: in
UC Berkley: in</p>

6

<p>Yale: mid-high reach
Harvard: high reach (same for everyone)
Columbia: low-mid reach
Princeton: high reach (same for everyone)
UPenn: reach
Cornell: high match-low reach
UC Berkley: match</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<p>bump…
will chance back</p>

8

<p>Yale/Harvard/Princeton are never low reaches, unless you’re hooked and have great scores/ECs/essays/recs to boot.</p>

9

<p>^ i strongly disagree with that statement, HYP are even matches for some people who arent hooked</p>

10

<p>^wrong, check the decisions thread for each school. Trust me bro, you’d be amazed at the people who get rejected.</p>

11

<p>^ admissions is not a crapshoot like most think it to be. you would be offending a lot of admissions officers by saying that, and i am sure they have been trained very well to judge applications. i’m not claiming HYP are safeties in any way so stuff happens sometimes… there have only been a few cases i’ve been amazed at from past decision threads</p>

12

<p>

^never said or implied that. HYP are still not matches for anyone, unless their absolutely spectacular, and the OP does not fall into that category. (no offense to OP)</p>

13

<p>^ oh please, if you can play Rach 2 when you’re 16, you are definitely something</p>

14

<p>^Wait man, hold up, the real question is, what is Rach 2? And the OP said he was auditioning for it, so he hasn’t got it yet.
And just for the clarification, I do think the OP is a really good candidate for CC standards which is great, but he we have no idea how his recs or essays will be.
For the record though, I think if he applied to Yale SCEA he’d get in but its not a match. Unless your saying his music is so good that hes a Mozart prodigy?</p>

15

<p>Rach 2 is Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano concerto. Let’s just say it’s difficult…</p>

16

<p>Yale: mid reach
Harvard: high reach (same for everyone)
Columbia: low reach
Princeton: high reach
UPenn: ur in.
Cornell: ur in.
UC Berkley: low reach. </p>

<p>Chance me!!!</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>What makes you think that Yale would be easier to get into? Harvard and Yale’s acceptance rates are roughly the same.</p>

<p>Also, I don’t think any candidate is guaranteed acceptance to UPenn or Cornell.</p>

18

<p>thanks guys, will chance back! :D</p>

<p>and tuning into your discussions, yes, I have finished playing Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (owe it to my awesome teachers!) It’s an extremely hard piece, but unfortunately, I know that there are extreme amount of people who are amazing at piano or an instrument, or even instruments who are applying to these top universities.</p>

<p>My essay will probably be on a particular day playing the piano for a dilapidated senior care facility center (personal and emotional?).</p>

<p>Recommendations will be good, I hope.

  1. Eng Dep. head (AP Eng teacher, Debate Coach)
  2. Socials Dep. head (AP Human Geo, MUN coordinator)
  3. counsellor</p>

<p>Yes, Harvard and Yale will be a very extreme high reach, I assume. And unfortunately, I have an international visa, my quota is significantly less than most others, like Americans. I heard only 10% of the people who are admitted in are international students. Had I been born in America, tbhonest, my chances would be much higher. But the fact that I am an international student makes it much challenging, which does me good, frankly speaking. It challenges me, thus I am motivated; I try and reach for the top. :)</p>

<p>Thanks! any more opinions?
I heard from a consultant that MUN is nothing because it’s non-selective.
Plus, my freshman grades are sub-par, looking at 82%… :S
Would they see the trend? And should I do a campus visit??</p>

19

<p>6 hours of Piano every night.</p>

<p>I play that much Xbox?</p>

<p>But to be honest, you are really really overthinking this. You are extremely qualified, and if you are this serious about it, then I’m thinking just go with what you think will show you the best. Visiting always shows interest, but if you are going to take that much out of your time or money to do so, you can probably get someone to vouch that. </p>

<p>And if not that isn’t going to show who you really are… I think the piano does that already</p>