Chance for Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, MIT?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>ATTENTION: Long post. Sorry! :(</p>

<p>Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese). (ugh one big disadvantage)
Status: complicated. Moved here from Hong Kong in 2007. I might be a citizen, or an international student. The former is more likely though.
Family: Adopted twice. Living with my aunt's family. Bio parents were never married. Mom has been gone since I was 2. No contact or whatsoever. Dad was in a serious accident when I was 6. Grandparents took care of me since I was a baby and before I came to the U.S.
High school: Public charter for students from low-income families in California.
Rank: N/A (although I know I'm the valedictorian.)
Language: Fluent in Cantonese and English. Okay in Mandarin. Can write and read in Chinese (and English).
Additional: play guitar and piano.</p>

<p>Courses: (School doesn't offer Honors courses. So all are regular except the AP's.)
-Freshman year: Bio, English, Speech and Composition, Spanish 1, Geometry, Pre AP World History, Orchestra (all standard 9th grade core courses)
-Sophomore: Chem, English, Spanish 2, Algebra 2, AP World History, War & Peace
-Junior: AP Physics, English, PC/Trigonometry, AP Psychology, USH, Athletics (Required for athletes, mostly basketball players)
-Senior: about to take English, AP Environmental Science, Finance and Investment, Applied Math, AP Calculus, Athletics (again, for athletes), AP Comparative Government (independent study so I can take an extra academic course to compensate for my Athletics) </p>

<p>Scores:
-GPA: 4.27 out of 4.33 (last time I checked)
-SAT I: 720 CR, 710 W, 790 M (first and the only time)
-SAT II: 740 WH, 770 Math II, 760 Physics, not sure if I should take SAT Chinese (all first time and no retakes)
-ACT: N/A
-AP: all 5's (APWH, AP Psych, AP Physics, AP Chinese)</p>

<p>EC/work experience:
-Volunteer (different places) since 9th grade
-Varsity Basketball since 9th grade (Captain since 9th grade as well)
-Summer Staff (for my school's Freshman Orientation) in the past summer
-Scheduled the entire school (430 plus students and 25 plus faculty members) the past summer
-Math club (10th grade). It was disbanded in 11th.
-No real work experience though.</p>

<p>(My school is really new—I'm the second graduating class. So there are very few extra curricular activities offered. Of course I can always organize events or create clubs, but basketball takes most of my time away. Even though basketball shows my dedication, I'm scared that having only one activity is not enough.)</p>

<p>Awards:
-school awards: Top Student/Honor in Geometry, War & Peace, APWH, Jr. Eng, AP Physics, USH, Pre Calc/Trig)
-sports awards: among the team, Outstanding Player of the Year/MVP (twice); Conference Player of the Year (in 10th and 11th grade); regular season champion in 10th and 11th grade; 2nd place in playoffs in 10th grade</p>

<p>Rec: Great. My basketball coach/AP Psych teacher/school counselor, Pre APWH/USH/W&P teacher, Jr. Eng teacher will write good letters for me.</p>

<p>Essays: I'm stuck but I think I will do fine. </p>

<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP. This whole college matter has been stressing me out. I'm still trying to figure out what schools to apply to and these four are the ones I'm sure I'll apply to. I think I might be aiming too high too. So please tell me your honest thoughts! I realllly really appreciate it. I would LOVE to chance back, but I really don't know much about this whole thing. However, if you need any other help, I'd love to help! :)</p>

2

<p>Don’t take Chinese SAT II.</p>

<p>ECs are not that impressive and SAT I and SAT II are rather low for an Asian.</p>

<p>Stanford: Strange one but high reach for you (<- high reach for everyone)
MIT: high reach
Yale: high reach</p>

<p>Dartmouth: reach</p>

3

<p>All of these schools in their own rights are such coin tosses that it’s almost impossible to gauge chances, especially being teenagers and uninvolved in the admissions process.</p>

<p>However. I agree with 20more about the EC’s and the SAT I and SAT II being on the low side. Just kill your essays. :slight_smile: Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Dont take the SAT II for Chinese. Everyone that takes it is a native speaker anyway and the curve is ridiculously tough.
I feel like your SAT’s are probably average. Not great, but they probably wont hurt you either. Your family situation might actually help you though, cause its so unusual. EC’s are a tad weak though. </p>

<p>Stanford- high reach (just cause I feel like they just flip a coin to see who gets in)
MIT- reach
Yale- reach
Dartmouth- low reach/high match</p>

<p>Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1199146-insert-snappy-title-here-i-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1199146-insert-snappy-title-here-i-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>That’s really hard to say. Since your an international Asian student, you’re at a major disadvantage. Those are all reaches unfortunately.</p>

6

<p>Because of your story and the hardships you’ve undergone I think that you have the chance to get into those schools! You really need amazing essays and maybe talk about your family situation! Good luck!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1196782-chances-brown-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1196782-chances-brown-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>find out your citizenship status asap. it’ll make all the difference to your admission chances. applying as an international student attending an U.S. school system is almost the same as applying directly from another country because your app will be grouped into the same category to be read by the same people.
not only do many colleges cap the number of international students, but you also face huge issues with financial aid.</p>

<p>look into match schools. there’re many, many more colleges out there that can offer you a fabulous education, even if they’re less well known than the couple you’ve listed.
I’m also highly interested in why you want to apply to MIT. nowhere in your profile did you show a liking to the subjects areas MIT stands out for, and I don’t know if the school is the right choice for you.</p>

<p>your grades are fine, in the normal range for applicants who apply, and so are your standardized test scores. your interests in basketball and guitar are both points of asset, unique aspects of you that you can subtly highlight in your app by the way your present them.
for the lack of clubs and school activities, ask your guidance counselor to explain that your school is new, and therefore few opportunities were available. if that is indeed the case, I think your counselor will be glad to help you explain that to colleges.
your life story really stands out from the other applicants: in fact, if you’re interested, consider applying through Questbridge, or at least look into how they encourage you to use your background to your advantage.</p>

8

<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH you all for all your thoughts. Bleh I knew I’m aiming too high. </p>

<p>Do you guys have any suggestions for my match schools? I have some liberal arts in mind.</p>

9

<p>And oh, I wanted MIT because I’m 80% sure that I’m going to major in science/math (mechanical engineering? accounting?). Maybe with a humanities major.</p>

10

<p>"THANK YOU SO MUCH you all for all your thoughts. Bleh I knew I’m aiming too high. "
There’s nothing wrong/that disadvantageous for aiming too high, as long as it doesn’t cause stress that causes too much pain and you can deal the disappointment of not getting in. But overall, you never know. ^^
Try to not think about your heritage being disadvantageous.
Truth be told, I think you stand a very good chance of getting in. But these schools are pretty much coin tosses at certain points as heyimpeter.</p>