<p>First post on CC!
Objective:
* SAT I: 2340 (superscore)
* SAT II: 800 US history 800 Math II 750 Bio M 800 Chem
* Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0. My school is a little strange and does not do GPA but does numerical averages. My average is a 97% for all four years of high school.
* Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/435
* AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Government (5) Biology (5) World History (5) US History (5) Calc AB (5) AP Language (5) AP Physics C: Mechanics (5) AP Chemistry (5). I think I'm a National AP Scholar, but I haven't received anything about it yet.
* IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
* Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics C E&M, AP Statistics, Anatomy, AP Psychology
* Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP National Scholar, Maybe Siemens, 3 Science Olympiad State Medals (does that count?)
I don't seem to have very many large awards, but I have a lot of small stuff like art competitions, having my artwork exhibited at a museum, Policy Debate Awards, etc.</p>
<p>Subjective:
* Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Policy Debate (Captain), Science Olympiad (Captain), Science Bowl (Captain, will probably go to nationals this year), Math Honor Society (President), Honor Council (Haven't voted yet), NHS/Beta Club
* Job/Work Experience: None
* Volunteer/Community service: 300 hours at the VA, 250 hours this summer in a laboratory.
* Summer Activities: Research/volunteering/preparing for debate.
* Essays: I'm going to talk about a mundane part of my daily life, like my morning drive to school, and relate it to my aspirations and view of the world. I guess I'm a fairly decent writer.
* Recommendations: One from AP Bio teacher (I'm expecting excellent) and one from Lit. teacher (I'm expecting very good.)</p>
<p>Other</p>
<ul>
<li>State (if domestic applicant): GA</li>
<li>Country (if international applicant): US</li>
<li>School Type: Public</li>
<li>Ethnicity: Asian</li>
<li>Gender: M</li>
<li>Income Bracket: Mid</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college in US. Not much else.</li>
</ul>
<p>I was also wondering if I should take the SAT again. I have taken it three times already, but the single sitting scores were not as high as I wanted them to be (2300+). I have been thinking about applying for Stanford Early Action, but that is before the Siemens results will come out. Please give me any advice you can. Thanks!</p>
<p>Most Ivies (if not all) superscore your SAT, so there’s no need to retake it. Other than that, you don’t need us to tell you whether or not you’ll be accepted. You’re a solid candidate, and in all likelihood will get accepted to several Ivies (assuming you apply to them all).</p>
<p>While it may be true that asians are at a slight disadvantage when it comes to appplying for top schools, I don’t think you have much reason to worry. You are just as qualified as anyone else applying to these schools (even you fellow asian applicants).</p>
<p>You don’t need to retake the SAT. With a 2340 SAT I, three 800’s on SAT IIs, and a 4.0 GPA, your academic stats are near unbeatable. I don’t think you need anyone to tell you that you have a good shot at all Ivy League institutions. That being said, anything is possible in the college admissions game, so you most certainly need to apply to 2 financial safeties and a few match schools that you’d be happy attending.</p>
<p>If you apply to all the Ivy League schools, you’ll almost certainly get into at least one of them, probably more assuming your teacher recommendations and application essays are decent or better.</p>
<p>Congratulations on all your successes throughout high school. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Best of luck. :)</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I was wondering about what I should do for my essay topic. I’m currently working on an observational essay, basically the essay equivalent of Seinfeld standup (not as funny of course). After browsing through some CC posts, I was thinking of changing my essay to my efforts with the debate team. Our team, once a state champion, is now unranked. My partner and I spent the entire summer training and preparing a completely new team for the next year. Unfortunately the season hasn’t begun yet, but I am hoping for good results.</p>
<p>That could be a great essay if crafted well and written in a unique, semi-narrative fashion. What a good essay does is show, not tell. What this means is that, rather than directly stating how much the debate team has changed you, share an experience or chronicle a series of events that show how much it truly means to you. That’s what’s most important. Read through your entire essay when you’re finished and, if there’s a distinct voice in there and it reveals something important about you as a person, that the rest of your application couldn’t convey, you’ve written a good college essay.</p>