<p>I'm an international student (Chinese citizen), who has applied for permanent residency earlier in the year (my situation's really strange because my family's permanent residency IS approved, but we are still in the adjustment phase, which means we don't have the social security numbers yet, although we are already guaranteed a green card) and who has been living in Virginia for 3 years.</p>
<p>GPA: Weighted-4.29; Unweighted-somewhere between 3.9 and 4.0
Rank: 1/249 at a pretty competitive high school. I also attend a Governor's School specialized in math and science in the morning in addition to my regular school; so my classes are half-half at the two schools.</p>
<p>SAT I: 650 CR (this would make the highest combined; the highest at one setting would be 640); 800 Math; 760 Writing--retaken SATI score unknown yet
ACT: 33 (I forgot if I reported this)</p>
<p>SAT II: Chinese with Listening 800; Math IIC 790; Chemistry 760; US History 720</p>
<p>I lived in China and Canada and skipped 4 grades when I was in China (which made me the youngest in my provinces history to attend middle school, at age 8). I already started Calculus at the age of 10. However, when I went to Canada I was held back 2 grades due to overly young age (they were afraid my classmates would bully me since I was a foreigner and so much younger). I did keep studying Chinese textbooks, and eventually got into interesting challenging math classes here in the U.S. I speak three Chinese dialects (including Mandarin), French, and English (obviously) fluently, and some Japanese, German, and Korean. I guess those could be my highlights...</p>
<p>Some Awards: National Merit Commended Student; AP Scholar with Distinction; awards in national writing contests, Honorable Mention in the USA Mathematical Talent Search; Awards at up to State Science Fair; various awards from Canadian national math contests. There are more, but these are the important ones I guess.</p>
<p>Extra-curriculars: Pres. of Writer's Club, Founder and Pres. of Chinese Connections Club, Captain of Math Academic Bowl, Co-Captain of Debate, All-around Academic Bowl, NHS. These are just senior year clubs; leaderships from past years aren't on here. I used to volunteer at the adult day services at VT starting summer after 10th grade, but then at the start of 11th grade felt that the position was too boring and I didn't feel like I was helping others very much, so I changed to volunteering at the local hospital, where I still volunteer now. Due to my citizenship status I cannot work paid jobs, but I did have an internship in a law office in junior year and an internship in the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute now (both unpaid), and I tutored a college student for free for her GRE Math Exam.</p>
<p>Essay-My essays were unique in topic (I think), but I really didn't use any "big words" or anything...would that hurt? I didn't realize this until I've submitted all my applications.</p>
<p>I know my SATs probably weren't good enough and my ec's probably weren't terrific in such an applicant pool...what do you all think about it? Any chances for me? And please be as honest and brutal as you can. Thank you all so, so much!</p>