Chance Me for College

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Ohk I won’t be disowned but I’ll be very unhappy. I’m actually Swedish/Chinese and I heard that I’m allowed to just put myself down as white…

Stats:
ACT: [35]
SAT: [1500] I know its good but its less than a 35 ACT so I’m not sending
SAT SUBJECT TESTS: Took 3, haven’t gotten scores yet but feel confident
GPA: [3.7] unweighted [4.0] weighted
My school is top in MA so I know my grades are low, but for my school they are actually really good, I’m top 10% (of 200)

I will have taken 5 AP’s by the time I graduate, the most anyone takes at my school is 5 or 6, my school has the worst scheduling system ever and we don’t offer many AP’s

LEADERSHIP:
Student Government
Student Council
Head of Prom Committee
Chinese National Honor Society President (2 years), previously the secretary
Band Officer
Section Leader
Founded badminton club, model UN

AWARDS:
Highest Award in Mandarin
National Honor Society
Chinese National Honor Society
Global Citizenship Award
Honors Oboist, top oboist in the state

EXTRACURRICULARS:
Varsity Tennis 4 years, not good enough to play in college lol
Oboe - marching band, counselor at a band camp, section leader, band officer, play in musicals
Volunteer every weekend at a Food Pantry, translates for clients
Run social media account for a global non profit
Global Citizenship Project - Traveled to China, 30 hrs community service for Chinatown, 3 research papers in Chinese
Church Youth Group - visit nursing homes, clean parks, promote fire safety in houses

  • all the above leadership

COOL STUFF:

  • Oboist (uncommon, and it’s not piano or violin which is a turn off for Asian apllicants)
  • Fluent in Swedish Finnish German English (duh), proficient in Chinese (took for 7 years in school, not a language spoken at home my chinese parent is the whitest person ever)

REACH:
UPenn
Brown
Georgetown

LIKELY:
Boston College (big time legacy)
Emory
Northeastern

SAFETY:
GW
American
Harvard (jk - I know this is surprising cause I’m Asian, but I’m not applying to Harvard)

I’m afraid my GPA is too low and also my EC’s are not strong enough, even though they are diverse :frowning:
Thanks for helping and any feedback is welcome, even if it is about what race I should mark myself as…

MODERATOR’S NOTE: Clickbait title edited.

2

You look like a perfect Georgetown applicant! You may not have one massive EC that makes you or breaks you, but your EC’s form a lovely constellation around your intended major. Your odds for Brown and Penn are well above average, too.

Keep Boston on your list, but be sure to apply to a true, true safety (70% acceptance rate or so). I’ve seen way too many problems with lack of safety schools.

3

Thank you so much!! I’m definitely going to apply to a bunch of safeties if I don’t get into one of these. Probably GW or American but we’ll see!!

4

your ACT is good! but your gpa is pretty low for the schools that you are aiming for. all of these schools are very top tier, so I think you need to strengthen your ecs. although they are good and diverse, they should focus more on the field you are planning to enter. overall, you are a strong candidate and i wish you the best of luck!

5

I think you have a decent profile. The strongest point for you is actually your intended study which aligns well with the ECs… First, you are not a typical Asian Male going for Engineering, Comp Sci or Pre-med (that helps)… Second - being biracial and speaks both English and Swedish a plus (unique among Asian applicants)- Third - make sure you get international ECs align well with your essays and goals. Try to get as many ECs that are relevant to IR and show your passion on why IR is a choice for you - what do want to do with the degree? Indeed, being an Oboist will help. Too many Asian applicants with Violin, Piano, Flutes, and playing Tennis/Badminton going onto expensive mission trips building homes in Central America - those will pretty much get the - here we go again shrugs. JMHO

6

Definitely say you are mixed race instead of Asian as it is unfortunately harder for Asians to get into top colleges. Try to develop your ECs a bit more towards IR/Politics as being well rounded at a top college will hurt your chances. Practise your Chinese, German and Finnish more and definitely talk about your love for languages as being near fluent in 5 languages is VERY impressive, especially if you want to go into IR. Your ACT is great and hopefully your subject tests will be too. Just so you know you can only apply to one of these schools early. If you have a preference then apply there early, obviously, but if not then apply to G’town as they have EA whereas Penn and Brown are ED (although this may slightly raise your chances). I would also apply to another safety just in case and another match as at the moment you only have Emory (which is a high match), Northeastern and GW.

Overall I think you have a fair chance at getting into one of these ‘dream schools’ and I wish you the best of luck.

7

@BigflowerSusie I think you make a great point about stereotypes. For instance, I’m half Chinese so I feel like people assume I can just naturally speak Chinese although I’ve never spoken it and my parents don’t speak it etc. Thus my accomplishments in Chinese aren’t as impressive if I had been 100% white. For international, I’ve been to China and Europen, but I don’t know if I should emphasize those because they were school trips and vacations. Thanks for the feedback!!

8

How much asian are you? If you are half white and half asian, I highly recommend applying as only white. You are allowed to do so.

Your GPA, while low, matters most in relation to others in your school. What is your rank or percentile?

Your ECs seem pretty average and you don’t have much leadership. Make sure you build your application around your interest in International Relations. Order your ECs from most to least relevant to your intended study. Write your essays about International Relations, or write essays that would show why you want to study in that field.

9

If your last name doesn’t imply asian ancestry, don’t even mention asian on your applications.

10

How good are you in tennis, is it something you can possibly use to get recruited?

11

@justverycurious HA! To be blunt I am not going anywhere because of my tennis skillz. I list them more because it’s something different in my ECs

12

… your title is the most off putting thing I have ever read. You are not qualified enough for most of you colleges, I would advise looking for more safeties.

I mean, after all, you yourself said you were dumb.

13

@kjake2000 I guess I deserve that but I was hoping for a little bit more specificity in why I would be a good/bad/awful candidate for these schools. Thanks for the advice :)>-

14

I think that your reaches are indeed reaches. The only person I know who applied to Northeastern had slightly better grades, slightly lower SAT, and got in with NO financial aid. I don’t think that I would call GW a “safety”. I don’t know about American, and I am assuming that you are joking about Harvard. As such, you might be short on safeties.

UMass Amherst is the obvious safety, and is in fact quite a good university. McGill might be an interesting “almost safety”, or perhaps match, since they accept students based almost entirely on grades and SAT and your grades are probably good enough (and your SAT is definitely strong enough).

Are you sure that your parents are okay with $70,000 per year, or do you need a financial safety also (which both UMass and McGill might be, depending upon your finances).

15

You have a very good chance. Your test scores are a plus. You should definitely mention the languages you speak (I’m very impressed and I’m sure admission officers would be too). Your GPA might be your weakness, but since you’re in the top 10% it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Overall, you have a very good list of schools. Are you particularly interested in schools in D.C? I live in D.C so feel free to ask me any questions about Georgetown, American, and GW.
You are definitely a qualified applicant but so are most of the other students applying to these schools, especially your more competitive ones. You are a competitive applicant for all these schools but no chance me thread can predict the future. Definitely apply to difficult schools but make sure you have plenty of back up options that you lov

16

@justdreaming thanks so much! I want to go into government and study International Relations, so DC would be a plus for internships etc. Plus all the embassies are so close to Georgetown and I’m in that neighborhood so often (one parent is not American). Would you suggest American or GW? I know they are very different but if you had to go to one which would YOU choose??

17

I am going to chance you simply because I have seen you post a chance thread every few hours, but please understand that people may not have the time to chance you thoroughly and that is why you may not be getting very many good/thorough responses. Posting more often won’t really help.

You have very very good academic qualifications, so I would count on those boosting your chances. However, I see you’ll only have 5 APs by graduation, and that is a BIT troubling since many applicants to these schools often have upwards from 8 or 10 APs. I’m not sure if this is just because your school does not provide you with many AP class options, or if you just decided not to take any. Hopefully if your case is the former, these colleges will view the school profile and understand why you aren’t taking many APs. If your case is the latter, I’m not sure you aren’t taking APs because you do not want to do poorly and ruin your grades or if you just simply are not ready to take them. If you are worried about performing poorly, just remember that it is better to perform poorly in an AP class rather than a regular class. Either way, besides that, your academic qualifications are quite outstanding.

Your ECs (besides the world traveling) are pretty varied and generic. Thus, I cannot look at them and tell you what subject you are interested in pursuing in college. Let’s start with the problem of varying types of ECs, which you may think make you look like a well-rounded student. Being well-rounded is important for some schools, but the schools you have listed want a student who is very focused and very exemplary at one particular subject or area of interest. To show colleges that you fit this student type, you have to participate or get involved in ECs that directly relate to your intended major or area of interest. Sure, having other ECs help, and I don’t think you should omit any of these ECs on your Common App, but I think you should use this summer to get more involved in outside activities that pertain to the subject you want to study. If you let me know what you are interested in studying, perhaps I can offer you a few suggestions on what activities to get involved in. The other problem is that your ECs are rather generic. That is to say, you have not done anything amazing enough to make you stand out from the rest of the applicant pool. What you want to do is achieve something on the national or international level, whether it be winning ISEF or publishing a book or something of that magnitude. These kinds of students are hard to come by and clearly demonstrate their interest in an intended major by doing something BIG to show colleges how focused they are on that subject. I’m not saying you have to cure cancer or invent something, but it would be nice if you could compete in something at the national level and win something/be recognized. To recap, try to get more involved in ECs that not only relate to your intended major, but also allow you to achieve something on a national or international level.

The fact that you are a world traveler may prove “interesting” for some admissions officers only because you may have an experience that nobody else has. However, this does not show colleges how diligent or hard-working you are simply because if you have money, and access to an airport, you too can be a world traveler. What I am saying is you probably should not include this as an EC or as work experience (unless you traveled for a photography internship or built wells in third world countries or something of that sort) since it does not show your commitment or passion for any particular subject, and because it is not like you created this opportunity for yourself. It may, however, make for some very nice essay topics.

Brown - Reach
UPenn - Reach
Georgetown - Low Reach
JHU - Reach
Emory - Low Reach/High match
GW - Low Match/Safety
American - Safety

That is all I have to say. Good luck! I would love if you could chance me back herehttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html

18

you have good test scores but a little low GPA you should get into all of the above except Brown and Upenn which would be reaches based on your essays

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1997112-chance-me-umiami-w-scholarship.html#latest

19

@stressedmhs
What are you mixed with, I’m going to guess White and Asian because of your EC’s. If this is the case.

UPenn - High Reach
JHU - High Reach/ Reach
Brown- Reach
Georgetown- Reach
Emory - Reach/Low Reach
GW - Match
American - Safety
Are you applying EA/ED anywhere?

20

@tripledouble2000 Thank you I will def chance back! I agree my APs are lacking but the most anyone has taken in my school is 6, because we can only start taking in junior year, and only take 2 in junior year. I wanted to include world traveler because I love languages and the world and want to major in International Relations. However, like you said, these aren’t service trips so I feel they aren’t true EC’s.