<p>Hello, I am currently a rising senior from northwestern NJ (most rural part of NJ). My top choice right now is Princeton but I do not know if I should apply early there or to other lower schools. My other interests include Columbia, MIT, Dartmouth, CalTech, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Emory among others. I will also consider other suggestions. Thanks!</p>
<p>Race/Gender: Asian Male (Korean)</p>
<p>GPA (W/UW): 4.21/4.0
Rank: 1/200
School: Small Public School</p>
<p>SAT I: 2310 superscore (800M, 800W, 710CR)
SAT II: Chem (800); Math II (770); US Hist (760)</p>
<p>AP: Chem (5); US Hist (5); Eng. Lang. (4); World Hist (4); Eng Lit (?); Comp Sci (?); Bio (?); Calc AB (?); Physics (?); Spanish (?) (The last ones with a ? are in my senior schedule)</p>
<p>Senior Schedule: Basically the above AP courses (physics and Spanish are not AP though) plus band and gym</p>
<p>ECs:
--NHS (11-12)
--Spanish NHS (11-12); Committee Chair
--Ecology Club (9-12); VP (11)
--Academic Bowl (10-12)
--Golf (9-12)
--Band (9-12); 1st trumpet
--Pep Band (9-12)
--Pit Orchestra (10-12); violin
--County Orchestra (10-12); 2nd violin, performed in UK & France
--Chem and Spanish Tutor (11-12); total of ~40 hours
--Math League (9-12); 2nd in school (11)
--Science League (9-12); 1st in county (11)</p>
<p>Community Service (~40 hours):
Currently volunteering at local retirement home by teaching Spanish
Have volunteered in S Korea at Seoul YMCA and National Palace Museum of Korea</p>
<p>Awards:
AP Scholar with Honor
NJ MERCK Test (2nd in county)
High Honor Rolls
Various Academic Awards in School Subjects</p>
<p>Intended Major: Chem/Astrophysics</p>
<p>I am a fluent speaker and writer of both Korean and English. I am a very worldly person as I have traveled a lot. I know that I lack achievements but hopefully I can overcome that with great essays and recs. I will be submitting the Arts supplement to Princeton.</p>
<p>I’m certainly no expert, but you have plenty of good things here.
Your GPA and SAT are both fine, plus being rank 1 is always a pretty sight to admission officers.</p>
<p>Your APs are alright, a 5 in all would’ve been better but that’s not a big deal.</p>
<p>From a glance your ECs are good as well.
In comparison to other people looking to get into Ivies, you have alot of what they do and some more. Do you have any independently begun ventures? Things like starting a company or an organization for whatever cause you thought worth? If you do that would be good as well.</p>
<p>Overall I would say for Ivies you would be somewhere for Low Match - Reach, but that’s general because some Ivies are tougher than others.</p>
<p>If you’re a rising senior I’d strongly suggest you rake in the hours for the community service part, and maybe starting a club at your school or something. More emphasis on the first, though.</p>
<p>Well I am trying to increase my volunteer hours at the moment by serving my local retirement home and I am enjoying it. Hopefully I have near 100 hours by the time I submit my app</p>
<p>Don’t get hopes up for Princeton or any other less than 10% school. That doesn’t mean you should lose hope, but don’t be too optimistic. Here’s why: Academics ok, val is not necessarily a plus (general rule) given that your school isn’t probably the most highly ranked school (rural area you said?) Other applicants (like Asian applicants) will have 2350+ scores so in that respect, academically you are not the very top, but it’s probably fine. Given that you don’t have any major accomplishments, your acceptance will rely on your passion for activities and your genuineness. Leadership is a bit lacking, a quality almost necessary for top schools. There seems to be no activity that you’re significantly involved in, maybe music to a degree, but other Asians have higher level of achievement in orchestra. Overall, it just seems like ECs are bland and don’t show genuineness or leadership and being an asian male doesn’t help. Of course this is by Princeton, Caltech, etc. levels. For schools like Emory and Vandy, your accomplishments should suffice.</p>