<p>Be as honest as possible. I'm applying to top schools with perhaps a little bit of too much hope, so I need someone to bring me down to earth in case it's obvious I'm not qualified enough.</p>
<p>Colleges I'm applying to:</p>
<p>Amherst (high chances of Early Decision!)
Williams
Pomona
University of Southern California
NYU (both NY and Shanghai campus)
Northwestern
Brown
Cornell
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this counts as being a legacy, but my brother did his undergrad in Amherst College. I'll also be applying for financial aid. </p>
<p>GPA: 3.86 (unweighted, we don't do weighted in Bulgaria). No class rank - we don't do them but would be top 5%-10%.
SAT I: Approx 2200 total. Math: 760, CR: 720, Writing: 720.</p>
<p>SAT II: Math IC - 750, Math IIC - 790, Biology (E) - 730</p>
<p>ECs:
1) People to People International - Secretary - grades 9, 10, 11, 12 - promote peace through understanding through different campaigns against discrimination; participate in Sister chapter program; do community-service, mostly fund-raising through concerts, charity sales; visit WW2 veterans home and orphanage home
2) StudyUSA Club - Founder and President - grades 11, 12 - organize visits to the American university in Bulgaria; hold presentations about USA's history, literature, economy, film in different schools; organize festivities around American holidays which aren't celebrated in Bulgaria, such as Thanksgiving and Halloween; help lower classmen with the struggles of applying to the USA as an international student; offer peer assessment of SAT prep etc;
3) School newspaper - Treasurer and Editor - grades 10, 11, 12
4) Youth Red Cross - Volunteer - grades 10, 11, 12 - did fund-raising for a region after a massive flood, campaigns to raise awareness of cancer, AIDs, etc.
5) English for the Talented Club - grade 11 - club was opened by the ministry of education after I got 3rd place in the national olympiad. Basically 5 hours a week for the kids in my academic year with the highest academic achievements, purpose to better language skills and achieve higher scores on future olympiads.
6) Annually organize homecoming and alumni reunions
7) Annually volunteer in the organization of the town's open nights of Museums and Galleries - help people figure out routes to museum, be a tour guide in different museums, etc.
8) Annually organize and take part in the Chemistry Fair at school.
9) Throughout 11th grade: History research project about tobacco-workers' protests in 1940 for a national researching contest: still awaiting results, could very well be a winner. I'll update. </p>
<p>International experience:
1) Comenius Cultural Exchange - Took in a German girl in 2013 and went to a host family in Germany in 2014. Theme of the project was Natural Beauty and Beauty of Nature.</p>
<p>Honors/Awards:
1) Best in school and region in English Olympiad
2) 3rd place in national English Olympiad
3) Honorary mention by the European Commission as a runner up in the Juvenes Translatores contest for young translators in European secondary schools.
4) Won regional Valentines Day poetry contest in English</p>
<p>Good essays, 3 strong recommendations.</p>