Chance me for Stanford, Brown, Duke, etc!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I am a rising senior attending a somewhat competitive high school. Chance me for the following colleges!
Stanford (first choice)
JHU
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Brown
Duke
Cornell
Rice
U Chicago
Boston U
U Penn
Yale </p>

<p>SAT: 2110 (640 CR 790 M 680 W), Will be taking it again this oct.
ACT: 31. Will be taking it again this sept.
SAT2: Korean (800), Math 2 (750)</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 5.32/5.0
Unweighted GPA: 3.89/4.0
College GPA: 4.0/4.0
Class rank: top ten/559 </p>

<p>APs: AP Art history, AP World history, AP Music theory, AP US History, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Biology, AP Psychology (self-studied), AP English Lang</p>

<p>Dual credit classes (started since my freshman year): College Algebra, trigonometry, Pre-calculus, Spanish I (equivalent to AP Spanish 4)</p>

<p>Senior Sched:
AP Eng Lit
AP Calc BC
AP Chemistry
AP Government/AP Macroecon
AP Environmental Science
AP Physics B
AP Human Geo (online)
Speech (online, second semester)
Spanish II (dual credit, =AP SPAN 4)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Work at Kumon, head teacher of the preschoolers (11, 12)
-Founder and President of a nonprofit organization (11, 12; expanded by creating chapters and clubs around the world including Japan, China, and Korea)
-Spanish Club Vice President (9, 10; had to quit bc I moved out of state)
-Founder and Webmaster of a website about test preparations (more than 100,000 viewers including teachers) (10, 11, 12)
-Volunteered at the library, shift leader and new volunteer trainer (8, 9, 10)
-school nonprofit (the one that I created) club President and founder (11, 12)
-work as an English/Korean translator for a restaurant manager (9, 10, 11, 12)
-church praise team pianist (11, 12)
- Asian American leadership board (10, 11, 12)</p>

<p>Awards:
- Presidential Serivce Award, Gold
- Accepted to a highly prestigious high (prep) school that accepts only 100 students in the state (acceptance rate is 24.4%)
- Presidential Congressional Award
- Best Student of the Year in Spanish Departmental Award (Perfect score)
- Teen City Volunteer of the Year award (honored by the city mayor and had an article about it on the local newspaper)
- Discus Award
- Gold Star Award from the library (perfect attendance)
- will apply for the Prudential Service Award this year
- AP Scholar in 10th grade </p>

<p>Recommendation Letters:
- Counselor: very strong. My counselor knows about me really well from academics to family problems. She said I took the most rigorous course loads among all her students for the past 8 years.
- College Algebra Professor: strong, told me that I am the youngest but also the smartest student in her class.</p>

<p>Hooks:
- raised in a single-parent (mom) house with three younger siblings
- income bracket is less than $35,000
- moved around globally including Korea, Guam, and the US
- really bad family problems (it was really bad that my mother, my siblings, and I had to move out of the country, Korea)
- was placed in ESL in 6th, 7th, 8th grade
- homeschooled for a semester but took online classes</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>“raised in a single-parent (mom) house with three younger siblings
income bracket is less than $35,000”</p>

<p>This might help you.
Raise your SAT or ACT score.</p>

<p>Do you know anything about Quest Bridge Program?</p>

3

<p>@20more: Yes, I did hear about Questbridge. But isn’t it only for juniors?:)</p>

4

<p>1: Founder and President of a nonprofit organization
list specific name to impress people</p>

<p>2: SAT and ACT a bit low for Ivys</p>

<p>3: If you hadn’t already, add safety schools</p>

<p>4: Recommendation is good. However, “smartest” is not the best comment you could get. You may not be the best student but still be the smartest. Therefore, don’t count on it too much, though it is unique that you had a college prof. to write a recommendation letter. It certainly helps.</p>

<p>5: No sports?</p>

<p>6: Founder and Webmaster of a website about test preparations
Requires specific name.</p>

<p>7: Accepted to a highly prestigious high (prep) school IS not a prize.</p>

<p>8: Teen City Volunteer of the Year award
This is good. Better yet, extract the article from the newspaper with specific date.</p>

<p>Your test scores are good, but not excellent. Your CR score may reflect badly upon you (for Ivys). Your extracurricular activities are impressive. However, you should make sure that you put exact details so that they don’t look generic. For example, if you founded CollegeConfidential, then write that instead of “I founded a influential test prep website”.</p>

<p>Stanford - Reach
JHU - High Match~Low Reach
UC Berkeley - High Match~Low Reach
UCLA - Match~High Match
Brown - Reach
Duke - High Match~Low Reach
Cornell - Low Reach
Rice - Low Reach
U Chicago - Reach
Boston U - Match
U Penn - Reach
Yale - Reach</p>

<p>Your essay looks like it’s going to be impressive</p>

<p>Your ECs lack focus. It’s good to be all-rounded, but you also have to show depth. You need both breadth and depth.</p>

<p>I think, with a higher SAT/ACT score, you would have a decent shot at all the universities provided you write an excellent essay.</p>

5

<p>I’m not going to chance all those colleges, but look:
-Your EC’s don’t show passion and are “meh”
-ACT/SAT is bad for all “top” colleges
-So many AP’s? lol
-Good work/volunteering stuff
Do good at the interview and have GREAT essays and you may do well!</p>

6

<p>Thank you for all the replies!
@Skyrior: For getting accepted to a prestigious prep school, can I write it down on the “honors” section then?:slight_smile:
@GahhOP: Should I write my ECs in more details? For example, my nonprofit organization (it is legally registered with a 501(c)3 status btw) focuses on supporting the education and future of underprivileged children. We provide tutoring programs in various schools and libraries! Also, we’ve been fund raising money to buy tablets which will be distributed to an underfunded school:) Lastly, how can I show passion in my ECs…?</p>

7

<p>@kirasam72</p>

<p>For me, showing passion through my EC is simple. I have around 70 ECs tbh, but I only put 12 down. 3 of them are related to my field: computer science. So I made a student card sensor combined with a signing-in software for my school; I made a software to teach mentally challenged students how to type; I made an app on AppStore and Google Play to teach economics students certain economics concepts and help them revise. All these are SPECIFIC and RELEVANT to what I want to do at university. You don’t have to put so many things. Put the BEST and most relevant you’ve got. That being said, you don’t have to put ECs related to your major by the way. You could also put ECs specifically focusing on social work, like your mayor thing.</p>

<p>I don’t think you should write your high school anywhere. The CommonApp should take care of that. (Universities already know how prestigious your high school is, most of the time)</p>

<p>Fundraising how much? 10k? 100k? Give specific numbers. If it’s impressive, good. If it’s not that impressive, never mind, it still shows incentive and commitment to society, and that’s good.</p>

<p>Try to be as specific as possible in order to come out as a unique applicant. Even if you’re doing the same thing as everyone else, if you have the specific names and numbers you would stand out very easily.</p>

8

<p>Thank you so much for your reply! (:
Well, I did not “attend” that prep school. My mom and I later found out we had to pay $1500 monthly for the school. So I decided not to go and continued attending a public high school. Is there anyway to mention that I got accepted to that prep school? Or should I just not mention it?</p>

9

<p>uh…then I’m not sure. Best if you consulted more people and ask everyone’s opinions on this. My opinion is that you should try to include that in the essay but not in the ECs.</p>

10

<p>In your interview, definitely talk about your EC’s and how you like doing them. Explaining them is great, but show that you are passionate about them (not that you’re just doing them just to write it down).</p>

11

<p>Your academic stats indicate that you’re a competitive applicant, as are 80% of the people who apply to Stanford. But you seem to have a genuine passion for social service, which is excellent (especially for Stanford). Focus on highlighting that passion in your essays, which should definitely be written in a style that reflects your own voice. The essays that stand out really are those in which a student’s voice is apparent.</p>

<p>Also, you shouldn’t list your acceptance to a prep school as an academic honor. You really don’t get any additional credit in the college admission process for being admitted to/attending a prestigious prep school. Prep schools only help because they give you access to more resources and surround you with highly motivated, talented people. </p>

<p>Unlike one of the above posters noted, you don’t need a sport.</p>

12

<p>Thnak you for all the replies! I really appreciate them:)</p>

13

<p>dont apply to brown. you knwo why its called brown? cuz its a piece of ****</p>

14

<p>Your SAT and ACT scores are not at the level for Ivy caliber schools. Also, you may need to take another subject test as native language is often not counted as one of the two required subject tests. For example, Harvard explicitly mentions that in their FAQ. Many schools would just do that without even telling you.</p>

15

<p>@billscho: I will be taking the ACT this september and SAT in october. If I take the SAT Bio in November, wouldn’t I be late for Early Decision? or Regular Decision? And lastly, if I get to take the subject tests again, do u think I shud retake math 2?</p>

16

<p>Is there anyone who can answer the question above?</p>

17

<p>If you sent it right away after testing, you should be able to just send the scores in time…</p>