<p>I'm an Asian - Vietnamese female, both parents escaped Vietnam during the Vietnam War (mother was part of the Southern aristocracy, went to the "re-education" camp, escaped by boat to Malaysia; father was in the lower-middle class, escaped by Navy ship).</p>
<p>School Type: Public/ Magnet (very competitive high school; I come from out of district, commute 40min-1hr total every day to go to school)
Location: California
Income: 200K+
Prospective Major: English/ Business/ Biology/ Microbiology - want to become a pathologist
UW GPA: 3.81
W GPA: 4.33
UC GPA: 3.8-ish? Not sure
Decile: 1st decile (top 10%) (no rankings at high school) out of approx. 550</p>
<p>SAT I (just took it again today) - 2050 (I was considerably ill when I took this :/); aiming for 2200
ACT - 32
SAT IIs-
Biology - M: 740
Math IIC: 780
APs -
Biology: 5
AP Euro: 4
APUSH: 4
AP Eng. Lang: 4
IBs-
Biology SL: 4 (not sure whether or not to include that in application...)</p>
<p>Honors/AP/IB Classes:
English 1 - H: A/A
Biology - H: A/A
NWC-IB: A/A
Geometry - H: A/A
English 2 - H: A/A
Chemistry - IB: B/B
AP Euro: A/A
Algebra 2 - H: B/B
AP/IB English 3 - H: A/B
APUSH: A/A
AP Bio: A/B
Senior year courses: AP/IB French IV, AP Calculus AB, AP Economics, AP Government, AP/IB English 4 - H (trying to get into AP Art Drawing/Painting, depends on if I can draw/paint fast enough to submit for the test) + Physics and NJROTC IV</p>
<p>CSF f- all 6 semesters so far (don't know if that counts for anything...)
National Merit Commended Scholar
AP Scholar (so far)
Principal's List (4.0+ weighted GPA) - all 6 semesters so far (don't know if that counts for anything...)</p>
<p>(If the following is too wordy, please tell me so I can cut it down some.)
ECs (I have a Public Affairs/ Publicity/ Web and Graphic design stress)
Arts & Crafts- I draw/paint, so I'm a tad bit creative, which led me to an interest to web/graphic design; I also do crafts, such as jewelry-making, sewing clothing, knitting, plus other odds and ends, leading me to create and run a pseudo-company (company sounds like such a grand word :x I don't want to over exaggerate) and find collaborators (became established online and we purchased ads and such, as well)
Web and Graphic Design (7 years) - I taught myself how to code and graphic design and all that jazz (I also taught my best friends how to graphic/web design as well :D); now I'm occasionally commissioned to do web work for small companies or make print work (flyers/ invitations/ programs) for events and such; basically, brought out my interest in publicity and public affiars
NJROTC (4 years) - I now teach freshmen students and write tests and such; I'm the Public Affairs Officer for the program, also am a Platoon Leader; creating website
FBLA (2 years) - Went to National Leadership Conference in Chicago, earned 2nd place for Website Development nationally; Senior Chairperson of Technical Department for AEP (which is aiming at the film industry this year by holding a Northern Orange County film festival; I'm basically going to be in charge of creating the necessary websites and publicizing the film festival); competing in Website Development again this year... :D (Planning to do FBLA in college)
Ilium Yearbook (2-3 years-ish) - Was an official staff member for 2 years; couldn't make room for yearbook in my schedule this year, so I occasionally help with it and such... (Planning to do in college)
Ecology Club (2 years) - run the school's recycling program and encourage park clean-ups and all of that green community service related stuff (I'm a conservative environmentalist); was the Public Affairs Officer, now Vice President</p>
<p>Minor ECs
Project Post-It - ongoing project; developed an idea to inspire students at my school in culturally expanding their horizons (we already have a culturally diverse school, so it makes it even better) by posting post-its all over the school with quotes on them (some in different languages, some from historical events) INCONSPICUOUSLY :D; found the others I needed to actually carry this out (we were a group totaling 4; we were trying to impact about 2496 students and staff) and this actually was done (we even got approval from the school administration); went to school at 6 in the morning (traffic was amazingly nice) and took the school over with at least 500 post-its/ different quotes; made me feel nice and fuzzy inside after the event was over [:
Classical Piano (8 years?)
New Media/ Technology Club (1 year)- aiding in establishing the New Media/ Technology Club at my school; Vice President in Graphics and Imaging; I teach people graphic design (from the aesthetic to business aspects) and partner up with the web design sector of the club in creating websites for school organizations
Vietnamese In Person (2 years) - must stay loyal to my culture :D Public Affairs Officer; represent my high school at Vietnamese High School Alliance meetings
Japanese Culture Club (2 years) - I really become interested in Japanese culture and aided in forming the JCC at my school (was the Publicity officer); JCC collaborated with ASB in winter formal (the theme was "Take Me to Tokyo"...); created the flyers and the website
Lions Club (1 year) - helping to establish the Lions Club at my school; Publicity officer and webmaster
Guest Cartoonist for school newspaper (2 years) - self-explanatory
NHS (1 year) - our school doesn't really do this until senior year :/
Photography - I kind of do photography; photos were published twice
Tennis (4 years) </p>
<p>Work experience (Kind of?)
Intern at Vision Center - worked with one of the view optometrist certified in Vision Therapy of Southern California; really amazing experiences in working with VT patients (:
The fore mentioned pseudo-company
Freelance Web/ Graphic designer</p>
<p>I'm mainly worried about my grades... but, the thing is that:
1) my uncle died 1st semester of sophomore year; my close friend was suffering from depression and hypothyroidism 2nd semester
2) found out my aunt was dying from both lung cancer and leukemia 2nd semester; thought my father was going to die due to kidney failure 2nd semester (doctor disregarded that possibility when prescribing my father medication for HBP)
SO, my grades are affected in my sophomore year and the 2nd semester of my junior year. In addition, all these events seem to be too coincidental and common(ly occuring) and I'm afraid they might not be considered :/ And also, I got a straight A's my freshman year, but UCs don't look at that. (I also got straight A's in 1st semester of junior year.)</p>
<p>Applying to:
UCLA (#1 choice; mother went there)
UCB
UCI
UCSD</p>
<p>Not applying anywhere else.</p>