Chance me for Princeton and Cornell?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Admission: Early Decision, class of 2016.</p>

<p>Race: Asian (Pakistani)
Gender: Male</p>

<p>GPA: 5.0 weighted, 4.0 unweighted out of 4.0
Class rank: 1 out of 300 or so
School's rank out of U.S.: #3 last year, #4 this year. Very competitive.
SAT: 2200 (Not good; taking one last time in November in hopes of a 2300+)
SAT Biology: Taking in October, expect 780+
SAT Chemistry: Ditto
SAT Math 2: Ditto
ACT: 34 (taking again in October for hopefully a 36)</p>

<p>National Merit Semi-Finalist</p>

<p>APs:
Not too many because I just moved to America a year ago. But I <em>do</em> have:
European History: 5
Calculus AB: 5
English Language and Composition: 5</p>

<p>Am taking this year:
Spanish Language (predicted 3... 4?)
Calculus BC (predicted 5)
Biology (predicted 5)
Chemistry (predicted 5)
Microeconomics
English Literature and Composition (predicted 5)
U.S. History (predicted 5)
Physics B (predicted 4, self-study because I have no room in my schedule)</p>

<p>I'm also in the IB curriculum, and am planning on:
English A HL (predicted 6, 7)
Mathematics HL (predicted 6, 7)
Biology HL (predicted 7)
Chemistry HL (predicted 7)
Spanish B SL (predicted 6)
Contemporary History SL (predicted 6)</p>

<p>I know the predicted scores matter not, but just for kicks.</p>

<p>EC's:
President of Environmental Society (1 year)
Vice-President of Activist Club (1 year)
Editor for IB Magazine (1 year)
Historian of Medical Society (2 years)
NHS (2 at completion)
History NHS (1)
Science NHS (1)
English NHS (1)
Mu Alpha Theta (1)
Sartorial Society (1)</p>

<p>Frequently play tennis and piano
Have held regular jobs while balancing school work
Some others I may be missing</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Several hundred hours, mostly doing some humanitarian work. One in particular, around 213 hours, stands out as I helped an NGO save millions of lives in Pakistan, after the Taliban drove out citizens from Swat and the neighbouring areas.</p>

<p>Some 90 hours at the hospital nearby, probably will end up getting another 50 or so from there.</p>

<p>The various NHS hours will add up to about 50, too.</p>

<p>Grades:
Straight A's all the way through. All my classes have been weighted classes, hence why my GPA is 5.0. </p>

<p>So! There's my profile, basically. I've also been thinking of starting my own Activist Club right here in my own school, too, but I'm not sure just yet. </p>

<p>If some admitted students have similar profiles, I'd be deeply obliged if they shared their thoughts. But even otherwise, thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Statwise I would say you are highly competitive, but EC wise I would say that you are slightly less competitive. It seems like the majority of your activities are solely academically related and have only been done for one year. If you can continue with these activities next year and do something impressive with them- such as magazine wins an award- then I think you have a good chance. Also, are you a US citizen as that makes a big difference.
Finally, I am not sure you should mention the volunteering where you say that you helped save “millions of lives.” It comes out sounding wrong and doesn’t create a very favorable impression.</p>

3

<p>I’m not going to word it like that, precisely; that comes off as arrogant. I listed it here that way to illustrate that it really was quite a big deal and there were over 3 million people affected that we aided over those many months.</p>

<p>I’m in my senior year now, so these ECs are all I have. I’m a U.S. citizen, but I did most of my high school in Pakistan, at a school where ECs were basically nonexistent. The one EC I was engaged in at Pakistan was the Environmental Club, above.</p>

4

<p>Bump for a few more responses?</p>

5

<p>Grades are good an ECs weak. Normally I would say that you would have no chance at princeton, but your unusual background might provide you with a diversity bump that could get you in. Write about your Paki NGO work in your essay.</p>

<p>For Cornell, I would say 40% chance if applying RD, perhaps 60-70 if ED.</p>