Chance me and -UCs, Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Duke... etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Asian Male
Low income house (Less than 30k. Can this be a plus? Since i have to work to help support family.)
First Generation</p>

<h2>Classes</h2>

<p>Freshman Year:
English : A / A
Biology : A / A
Spanish 1: A / A
World History Honors : A- / A
Alg 2 / Trig : A / A
Pe (Basketball) : A / A
Geometry (summer school) A / A+</p>

<p>Sophomores year:
Pre-Calculus: A- / A
Chemistry: A / A-
AP European History : A- / A- (4)
English Honors: A / A
Spanish 2: A / A
Pe(Basketball) : A / A
Health (Summer school) : A</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Spanish 3: A- / A-
Physics: A- / A-
Calculus AP: A- / A
Chemistry AP: A / A
US History AP: B+ / A-
English Honors (weighted): A / A</p>

<p>Senior Year Classes:
AP Statistics
AP Spanish
AP English
AP Civics / AP Macroeconomics
AP Biology
AP Art History</p>

<p>This is the hardest schedule possible at my school.</p>

<p>Current 9-11 Weighted GPA : 4.31
Current 10-11 Weighted 4.5
Current 9-11 Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Rank 5/490
AP Scholar</p>

<h2>Test Scores</h2>

<p>ACT: 32 (Writing 10) [Retaking in dec. (should I?) I am getting 33-34s on practice tests]</p>

<p>Sat 1: Superscore: 2050 (retaking Dec)</p>

<p>Sat 2: Math 2: 800
Chem : 650
US history: 670 </p>

<p>-My schools i am applying to only ask for 2 sat 2s i believe.
They would consider my ACT only right? cuz that is way better than my sat score.</p>

<h2>ECs (by Seniors year)</h2>

<p>-4 Years Basketball (Freshman year captain + MVP), (3 years varsity) (2 years Varsity captain) (Scholar athlete 3 years)
-Boys State Delegate (CA)
-CSF - 4 years
-NHS - 3 years , Vice President
-Interact Club - 4 years
-Worked 15 hours a week since Sophomore year to help support family.
-Active Church Leader: Contribute 10 hours a week. (feed homeless, build homes, missionary, etc.)
-Class Cabinet - 3 years
-Coach youth basketball team (4 hours a week)
-Formed a rock band with a couple gigs.
- 500+ hours of community service at a hospital
- Church Praise band leader</p>

<p>Recs should be great.</p>

<p>Essays: I think they will be pretty unique. One talks about how my rock band writes music on school topics (government, stoichiometry, mitosis, quadratic formula...) And my other essay talks about how i have to work to help support my family.</p>

<p>Please chance me for UCB, USC, UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, Cornell, Brown , Duke, and Dartmouth</p>

<p>And some advice how i could improve my application would be nice. Thank you.</p>

2

<p>well i'm a freshman and brown and your stats/life story are very very similar to my roommate's. her sat was even lower than yours, so i think you will get in , especially if you write good essays. one more thing: waht you list as an intended major makes a difference.</p>

3

<p>I'd focus on retaking the SAT instead of the ACT. What are your one-sitting SAT scores, since the UCs don't superscore the SAT?</p>

<p>You should be good for USC and the UCs. Others are a crapshoot, but I think you have reasonable shot and should apply.</p>

<p>Submit polished essays.</p>

4

<p>What's your UC GPA?</p>

<p>But, judging from your stats without it...,</p>

<p>Ivies : Reach (with current SAT/ACT scores)
UCB/UCLA:Slight reach to high match(SAT/ACT bringing you down)
UCSD:Match
USC:Match</p>

5

<p>Thanks for quick responses!</p>

<p>I will definitely polish my essays to truly convey who i am.
Also what window of test scores would put me as a competitive applicant?</p>

<p>About the intended major subject: Would it be wiser to go in as undecided for the upper-echelon schools rather than biology?</p>

<p>Keep chancing!</p>

6

<p>well in my opinion, it would be wiser as an asian male to indicate a humanity, like classics or comp lit. </p>

<p>for example, i got into brown and dartmouth with ethnic studies as my intended major, but i got waitlist at cornell, which has a 28% admit rate, because i identified as premed.</p>

7

<p>Is it simple to change your major when you are admitted? I am thinking of indicating comp lit as my major, as of now.</p>

8

<p>a plus that if you get in, you'll be going for free!</p>

9

<p>yes you dont have to declare a major until sophomore year, and they dont bind you to the one you indicate on your app. even though i put down ethnic studies, i am now a neuroscience major</p>

10

<p>I know this sounds very Machiavellian, but what intended major for an Asian male would help admission the most?</p>

11

<p>I don't think you're the only one (or even one of few) who supports family with a job...</p>

12

<p>^ thats true, but imo, helping to support your family with a job is very admirable and much more impressive than other ec's. on top of that, this applicant clearly demonstrates the ability to work, do good in school, and have good ec's. the op has a good shot at the school's he listed. only thing i see that could maybe be a problem is the sat score.</p>

13

<p>UCB/UCLA: Match-Slight Reach
UCSD: Match
USC: Match</p>

<p>The other you listed are anywhere from around a slight reach for Cornell, to a reach for Stanford.</p>

14

<p>How much would it help if i am able to raise my SAT score to 2150 (i can't see it going any higher) and my ACT to a 33-34? And if i were to take my ACT again and drop to a 31 would it hurt me a lot? Because since i am testing in december i don't have the luxury of seeing my score and then sending it.</p>

15

<p>The key to your "application major" is it should be something that your EC's reflect.</p>

16

<p>Berkeley: slight reach - high match
UCLA: high match - match
USC: match
UCSD: safety</p>

17

<p>to answer your earlier question, a really dumb guy at my school frkn cheated his way into Berkely by putting "forestry/wood management" for his major and was accepted. And I'm serious - he was WAY WAY WAY worse than your stats.</p>